Losers Like Us

The author Daniel Hochhalter, picked this title because as he was sitting across from two people who had just told him that all of his work for hi PHD was for not, it was not accepted. He had no plan B. he felt like a lot of people like a failure. How could I spend so much time and money and come away with nothing to show for it. How I am I going to look to my family and friends, to my place of employment, will I still have a job? He then goes through his failure or not by writing about how each one of the disciples had short comings or failures. He brings these out from stories from his past but also through scripture and brings to life each one and you begin to see that they had fear, doubt, and other human short comings and this was after being with Jesus. How does a Zealot, a tax collector, and fishermen all seem to live and work together? This is all something I had never thought about before. What were the disciple’s lives before and what about during or after Christ? Then of course how did they, like us overcome our own short comings that at times makes us feel like a loser. This is a fascinating book and one that I really enjoyed reading. Maybe if he had gotten his PHD he would not have written this book, so in the long run he is a winner and God had the plan b all the time. A great book.

I have long known that I am broken.  I would have never thought to call myself a “LOSER”; yet, like the apostles, I am.

I find some books fun to read.  I find some books helpful to read.  There are some books I think will be helpful to others.  But, every so often, I find a book that is life changing for me.  Losers Like Us is one of those books.

One of the first books that opened my eyes in this way was Charles Swindoll’s “The Grace Awakening”.  Losers Like Us does it again.  The author takes each of the apostles and describes why they had no business being chosen by Jesus as one of the twelve.  He could have chosen almost any individual from Biblical history, but because these twelve spent the most time living with and around Jesus, these twelve serve as perfect examples of who not to choose as a disciple.  There were the no-bodies, the do-nothings, the followers, the faithless.  Each, in their own way, were losers. Yet, Jesus chose them, not by default, but individually, to be leaders in the early church.  Similarly, there is no reason that God should allow me to serve Him, but he does.

That is the significance of this book, God can take individuals, regardless of how broken or lost they are, and remake them into His image.  Whether it be an unscrupulous tax collector, an unknown named James, or two apostles that we know nothing about other than they appear in lists of the twelve that spent three years with Jesus.  
______________ This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.