Perhaps that’s the greatest reason why He calls us to dangerous places: so that we will know His astonishing, sacrificial, life-restoring love.
Why God Calls Us to Dangerous Places is about what is lost and what is gained when we follow God at any cost.
Soon after 9/11, Kate McCord left the corporate world and followed God to Afghanistan —sometimes into the reach of death. Alive but not unscathed, she has suffered the loss of many things: comfort, safety, even dear friends and fellow sojourners.
But Kate realizes that those who go are not the only ones who suffer. Those who love those who go also suffer. This book is for them, too.
Weaving together Scripture, her story, and stories of both those who go and those who send, Kate considers why God calls us to dangerous places and what it means for all involved.
It means dependence. It means loss. It means a firmer hold on hope. It can mean death, trauma, and heavy sorrow. But it can also mean joy unimaginable. Through suffering, we come closer to the heart of God.
Written with the weight of glory in the shadow of loss, Why God Calls Us to Dangerous Places will inspire Christians to count the cost — and pay it.
Kate McCord lived and worked in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2010. During her years in country, she worked as a humanitarian aid worker, delivering projects to benefit the people of Afghanistan. She also learned the local language and developed deep and lasting friendships with local Afghans.
After evacuating from her home in Afghanistan, Kate transitioned into a mentoring, training, consulting and coaching role to other workers serving in the region. Prior to moving to Afghanistan, she worked in the international corporate community as a business process and strategy consultant. Today, Kate serves Christ through writing, speaking, mentoring and conducting workshops and seminars.
Kate is the author of In the Land of Blue Burqas and Farewell, Four Waters.
Kate McCord is a protective pseudonym. You can learn more at http://www.storytellerkm.com.
A Brief Word from Me:
Last year I read Kate McCord’s novel, Farewell, Four Waters, one of the most moving novels I have read based on the mission experience. (You can read my review HERE.) At the time I read that book, one of my oldest son’s best friends was serving God in a foreign country, a dangerous country that cannot be named. She visited with us a few months later following her return to the United States. Her heart was still with the people and place she had come to think of as home. I knew then she had to read Farewell, Four Waters, because the feelings she related were so much like McCord’s.
A few months ago, I was approached to review McCord’s latest non-fiction work, Why God Calls Us to Dangerous Places. Well, I had a much better idea. I wanted AK to read it and tell you what she thought. The following is AK’s guest review.
AK’s Impressions:
The pages of this book speak to the collective we. We, the Body: the ones who sense the call as well as the ones who love those who sense the call. As someone who has lived in and returned from a place considered dangerous by many, I admire the total inclusion of the full network of people involved (family members, friends, the individual presently serving, the individual preparing to go, and the individual who has returned) in a book that seeks to answer the inquiry for all: Why? It is a conversation that often seems marginalized in communities of believers across America. It is a question worth far more discussion than it receives. Why does God call us to dangerous places? McCord suggests, and I agree, He calls individuals to dangerous places because He loves the people that live there and because we can’t touch people, heal their bodies, hand them a book, or worship and pray with them from [7,400] miles away. Love and truth takes on flesh and walks the earth, and He does so within us. McCord shares her deep-seated wisdom through analogies inspired by the human experience. Her experience and the documented experiences of others are unique in many ways, albeit entirely familiar for any individual who seeks to follow Christ more closely each day. I read most of the lines of this book through water-filled eyes because it was so in tune with the Spirit. Her writing resonates at the heart level.
There are guided questions at the end of every chapter; some may choose to read this book and skim or skip them altogether. I would highly recommend taking the time to digest the words of this book and its contents, particularly the questions provided in the guided discussions at the end of every chapter. It makes the topic that much more personal and sets the stage for great conversation to be had, whether that conversation is with others or in your own head and heart. The questions are chapter-appropriate and formulated in a way in which they could be for every perspective to answer. Each discussion guide encourages delving further into scripture, praying for specifics, and using a journal to document the journey of thoughts inevitably accompanying this book.
Upon completion of this book, I am left with an even greater desire for my own heart to be for the heart of the Father.
Audience: adults.
To purchase this book, click HERE.
(Thanks to Side Door Communications. All opinions expressed are AK’s and mine alone.)
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