Review of Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life by
Jeff Goins
Jeff is one of my favorite bloggers. His posts on writing and life are always encouraging and challenging – the perfect combination in my book. So I couldn’t wait to read his first trade book, Wrecked.
Being “wrecked” can look slightly different for each person, but Jeff says,
“To be wrecked is to be disabused of the status quo.
“It means to have a transformation that goes beyond mere words—to be introduced to another way of life, to follow in the footsteps of a teacher who is calling you through the eye of a needle….The process is horrible and ugly and completely gut-wrenching—and at the same time, beautiful” p. 32.
Somewhere around chapter three it hits me. I stop and put the book down. “Father God? When have I been wrecked? Have I been wrecked?”
He reminded me of a day over a year ago when I volunteered as a test monitor at a public elementary school. As a test monitor, you’re just there to observe so I didn’t really get to interact with the kids. What “wrecked” me was seeing kids who looked defeated from the moment they picked up their pencils. They attempted a few questions, but their lack of confidence was overwhelmingly apparent. It was so hard not to go over and give them a hug and an encouraging, “You can do it! You’ve got this!”
I remember I left the school that day, my motherheart in turmoil. “How can I help those kids and kids like them to see how smart they are? To learn how to learn? To learn to love learning?”
I’ve heard it said that “wisdom is knowing what time it is.” And honestly, at the time, my life wasn’t all that comfortable. I was getting two kids ready to go to college in the fall. Life was full and busy. When the kids started school, I joined my husband in his painting business full time. We were focused on making a living and paying tuition payments, but we sensed that change was coming. I thought Bob would be moving on to other work, and then I’d find my place.
Until the Saturday morning when I asked that question.
The next thing the Father reminded me of was an email I had received from our church. It was a mass email, not specifically to me, but I might as well have been. They were meeting a need in our community by taking over an after school care program and they were looking for a director.
I just sat there breathing in the presence of that moment a still, small “eureka!” in my heart.
I took the job, knowing I felt incapable and unqualified, but as Jeff writes, “It’s the unfamiliar that calls us to be more than we can be on our own” (p. 65). I had certain skills and life experiences that I knew would make it a good fit for me and me for it, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it in my own strength. I knew I’d have to depend on the Teacher – the Holy Spirit – to lead and guide me.
“There’s something about the process of giving up on other possibilities and sticking to a path that brings life in ways that other thrills do not” (p. 82). The moment I accepted that it was my job to do, I received a vision for it too. I don’t yet see exactly how that vision is going to come to pass, it morphs in and out of focus, and I’m often tempted to let my doubts discourage me, but I’m learning anew to listen and to trust and to quit thinking so much and just enjoy it.
Have you been Wrecked? Get Jeff’s book here.
