OUTLIVE YOUR LIFE by Max Lucado

Publisher's Description

These are difficult days in our world’s history. 1.75 billion people are desperately poor, natural disasters are gouging entire nations, and economic uncertainty still reigns across the globe. But you and I have been given an opportunity to make a big difference. What if we did? What if we rocked the world with hope? Infiltrated all corners with God’s love and life? We are created by a great God to do great works. He invites us to outlive our lives, not just in heaven, but here on earth. Let’s live our lives in such a way that the world will be glad we did.

This is a good book with stories to illustrate how we can live our lives better. And more. It's a book about service, how we can be used for good in the world, and get out of our comfort zone to help others. Full of good stories, ideas and advice.

Rating: G

Page 69 test:
"Let's be the people who stop at the gate.Let's look at the hurting until we hurt with them. No hurrying past, turning away, or shifting of eyes.No pretending or glossing over. Let's look at the the face until we see the person
A couple in our congregation lives with the heartbreaking reality that their son is homeless. He ran away when he was seventeen, and with the exception of a few calls from prison and one visit, his parents have had no contact with him for twenty years. His mm allowed me to interview her at a leadership gathering. As we prepared for the discussion, I asked her why she was willing to disclose her story.
"I want to change the way people see the homeless. I want them to stop seeing the problems and begin seeing mother's sons."
In certain Zulu areas of South Africa, people greet each other with a phrase that means "I see you." Change begins with a genuine look.
And continues with a helping hand. I'm writing this chapter by a dim light in an Ethiopian hotel only a few miles and hours removed from a modern-day version of this story.
Bzuneh Tulema lives in a two-room, dirt-floored, cinder-block house at the end of a dirt road in the dry hills of Adama. Maybe three hundred square feet. He's painted the walls a pastel blue and hung two pictures of Jesus one of which bears the caption "Jesus the Goos [sic] Shepherd." During our visit the air is hot, the smell of cow manure is pungent, and I don't dare inhale too deeply for fear I'll swallow a fly.
Across from me, Bzuneh beams. He wears a Nike cap with a crooked bill, a red jacket (in spite of furnace-level heat), and a gap-toothed smile. No king was ever prouder of a castle than he is of his four walls. As the thirty-five-year-old related his story, I understand. Just two years ago he was the town drunk. He drank away his..."