Six Hours One Friday: Living the Power of the Cross
By: Max Lucado / Narrated By: Ben Holland
Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
Prepping for Easter? Prepping for Life?
Religion and spiritual thought were kinda hodgepodge affairs whenst I was a kidlet. Nothing, then a bit o’ Transcendental Meditation (And we were NOT EVER s’posed to reveal what our single Mantra was, but mine was ING… There! Cat outta the bag, impressive!). And finally a very devout Catholicism where Scripture was spoken -AND- backed up by awesome works for others less fortunate (Go Mom, go!!!).
Then m’ dad got into the picture and it devolved into: Fasting before receiving the Eucharist and a new dress for Easter Mass. Go Pop, go!
And then I grew up, and all sorts of scandals were revealed, plus I just kinda had to find m’ own path. As such, it’s been … odd … giving Christian audiobooks a go. Still, gotta tell ya? I do so love Max Lucado. What a gentle man, and so very eloquent. Six Hours One Friday is a lovely treatise on how to navigate Life’s challenges, all with the main reframing: You think YOU have it bad? Look around you, AND dude! You have any nails through your palms? Now THAT’S bad!
There isn’t any sermonizing, just some wonderful concepts and advisements. All as delivered by very personal accounts from Lucado’s own life. Starting with his younger more ridiculously naive self trying to moor fast a boat against a coming hurricane, he’s taught by someone with far more experience about how to do it properly: Ya need anchors to weather storms.
Lucado offers them here, for those times when we are brought low by thoughts: Futility, Failure, and Finality. Why are we here (Cuz there ain’t no purpose, right?); Oy we’ve messed up within our lives (We certainly can’t succeed, we’re flawed, we’re incapable, right?), and Jeez we’re going to die and be dead for, like, forever?
He provides anchors to secure ourselves to the earth, to our lives, to engage with life even as we keep an eye on the other world, a richness unseen, but a faith that can sustain us. He shows us through Scripture and through stories of his own how Jesus, through six hours lived on Good Friday, can nurture us tho’ we’re constantly beset by those three Fs of Futility, Failure and Finality.
Ben Holland does his usual stellar job with conveying Lucado’s words, sounding earnest yet as folksy as that gentleman from Texas must sound, tho’ I do admit that I’ve yet to hear Lucado speak. Rather, I’ve come to rely on Holland to navigate m’ own touchy Soul as I embrace a belief system that uses Jesus and the Bible instead of my own Loving Universe and Nature. We’re different, Lucado and I, but Mr. Holland makes me truly appreciate the warmth of words, the honesty of teachings.
What I have come to dearly love about Lucado is just how very flawed he is, and just how very much he strives, and just how much peace he’s found in his life. That he’s willing to share via writing, egad! a gazillion (And six!) books, and that most of them are narrated by Holland? And that several of them are in my Library? Awesome indeed.
I’ve grown away from the Church, but I do so admire individuals who walk their talk, who extend themselves to help others, no matter where they might be on their own journeys. Yeh yeh yeh, this weighs heavily on the lives of The Businessman and The Housewife, but pretty much anyone who leads a life where the basic necessities are already in place will find much to ponder. If, however, you’re struggling just trying to put food on the table, or if you’re living in a world of systemic racism, Six Hours One Friday might sound a bit foreign.
Still, I’m so very blessed in my own life that it felt urgent and was appreciated.
Nope, not going to any Easter Masses any time soon (And Jiminy H. Cricket, was I always fainting during Palm Sunday, or what?!). But when I’m low, it never hurts to look for uplifting words of hard-won wisdom, of well-worn Faith.
And when it DOES all hit the fan? Man, I’ve got a Mom who’s ready to hear a Mass for me to help out.
Now THAT is awesome!
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