EMERGENCY RATIONS
Surviving the struggles of life
By Philip De Courcy
Christian Focus. 235 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 781 919 682
These days Christians are ‘crazy busy’ and on top of that often face bad times of various sorts. This book, appropriately titled Emergency Rations, provides daily devotions (of course undated – it’s the way these days) to meet the situation so many believers find themselves in. And it does a great job.
The writer is from Northern Ireland, where he was a policeman before leaving to go to The Master’s Seminary in the US, headed up by John MacArthur. Philip is now the senior pastor of Kindred Community Church, Anaheim Hills in California.
Good formula
His book is fairly formulaic in its approach. There is always an interesting anecdote which leads into some verses of Scripture leading to some well-founded application. However, though it’s a formula, it proves to be a good one He addresses 14 areas of ‘struggle’ within the Christian life. These include the struggle to see God’s purpose, to be thankful, to pray more, to gain perspective, to recapture zeal, to find guidance, as well as to trust God in times of pain and suffering. This is done with tenderness, pastoral insight and biblical faithfulness.
It is full of memorable quotations. Here are a couple which stuck with me. ‘If the devil can’y make you bad, he’ll make you busy.’ ‘Learn to say ’No’, it will be of more use to you than being able to read Latin.’ And, given the gospel and with 1 Corinthians 13.1-3 in mind: ‘Where love is present it matters not what is absent, where love is absent it matters not what is present.’
If you know a Christian going through tough times, this would make a lovely gift.
