LIFE IS RAW.  SO IS THE LANGUAGE IN THIS BOOK

What is the Dave Test? When life is at its tattered edges and you are faced with seemingly impossible decisions, the Dave Test is a set of searingly honest questions you ask to become the best, most honest self for you, your friends, and your family. Instead of resorting to stained-glass language or offering false hope, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. Take the Dave Test.

Did you show up to work yesterday just to be greeted with a layoff notice? What do you say when your friend miscarries? Or when your brother is diagnosed with a wildly incurable cancer? Hard-hitting issues such as these aren't necessarily part of God's perfect plan or blessings in disguise.

When life tosses you hard problems with only painful options, take the Dave Test. It will empower you to take life head-on with blunt wisdom, soul-searching honesty, and utter integrity.

"We've all been both victims and perpetrators of it--the hurtful bit of spiritual sunshine that is foisted upon a suffering soul. In The Dave Test, Fred Schmidt shows us a better way to be: honest, empathetic, vulnerable, earnest, earthy, substantial, and refreshingly uncertain. It is a beautiful vision for a helpful life." --Mike Stavlund, author of A Force of Will

"In this book find Fred Schmidt’s singular ability to translate chronicles of loss and pain into a sanctioned call for honesty about faith as it is lived and as it is allowed to mature in us." --Phyllis Tickle, author

"The Dave Test is a true and beautifully written book about that most important of questions: What do we do when everything falls apart for us or those we love?" --Greg Garrett, author of Stories from the Edge: A Theology of Grief and The Other Jesus

Frederick W. Schmidt holds the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and directs the Rueben P. Job Institute for Spiritual Formation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. An Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and retreat leader, he is the author of seven books, including When Suffering Persists and What God Wants for Your Life. He also writes and blogs at Patheos.com. Fred and his wife, Natalie, live in Chicago with their Gordon Setter, Hilda.