Christian author Dan Buckhout says that the Bible is more than a book. He says it is a conversation with God. Start reading, and start conversing.
What is your book about?
My book is about God’s desire for an ever-growing, ever-deepening relationship with you and the lengths that He has gone to ensure its possibility. It’s funny, when I hear this question my first instinct is to get all clinical and explain that my book is about 20 different passages of Scripture, covering various truths, loosely collected into three groups, each with a different area of emphasis, yada, yada, yada. I have to stop myself and remember that the overarching message in all of Scripture is that God loves you, He wants you to know it, and if you enter into a personal relationship with Him, the benefits are astounding and eternal! My prayer is that God can somehow use my book to say “I love you” to those that read it and show them how to “love Him back.” To make it more complicated than that detracts from this glorious message.
Will your book help the world? How?
No, but I pray it will help those in it. If that’s a backward way of saying my book will help the world, then OK, yes. But I hope that my book will reach much farther than this world and have an eternal impact on the lives of those who read it. While I hope that the words in my book prove meaningful, His words in His book are the real stars here. I believe my job is simply to point people to personal nature of God’s Word and the riches that lie therein. If my book can do that, I believe it will help those in this world and have implications far beyond.
What inspired you to write your book?
When I began studying the Bible many years ago I realized that there was something different about this book. I expected to learn about God and about His plan for humanity, which I certainly did, but I soon realized that there was much more going on. I was actually having conversations with God. I was actually investing in a close, personal relationship with Him, and He was reciprocating! I figured if this was a surprise to me, there were surely others who didn’t realize that this rich, intimate relationship comes along as part of the package when you diligently, prayerfully, study the Bible. It was this revelation that inspired me to start YouTruth as an online ministry three years ago and to write this book as a part of that ministry. I believe God has called me to tell as many others as I can.
Who is your favorite author?
Oh my, I can’t narrow it down to a single favorite! I have four clear favorites. I appreciate Donald Miller for his wit. He also reminds me that an earnest faith walk is often gritty and very much imperfect. I enjoy Max Lucado for the way he inspires and uplifts readers and makes difficult Scriptural truths accessible to all. I appreciate Ted Dekker for his ability to keep a reader on the edge of his seat while slipping in powerful truths about the nature of good and evil. And I appreciate C.S. Lewis for his ability to be deeply intellectual in his Christian witness without overwhelming the reader.
What one thing would you like your readers to know about you?
That I’m just a broken, imperfect person searching for the answers, just like everyone else. I think I’ve found a few of them and feel called by God to boldly share them, but I haven’t by any means figured it all out. I learn as much from walking along with others who are likewise searching and struggling to know the truth as I do on my own. I think that’s the way God designed it to work. I expect to learn as much from my readers as we talk about the book, as they learn from reading it. It’s God’s ultimate win-win situation and if that’s the way it works out, I will praise Him indeed!
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