Customer Reviews

I Am Not But I Know I Am: Welcome to the Story of God

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Louie is an excellent communicator, and this book was no exception. It's easy to read and makes its point clearly. He also draws on Scripture without making the reader be too weighed down by Scripture references and theology.

The message Louie brings in this book is one that most churches (at least the ones I've been to) gloss over. Here's a basic summary of what he's trying to say:

- Everything in this universe is all about God (whose name is I AM, from the verb "to be").
- The story of God is an eternal story of everlasting significance.
- The story of you is a brief story like a wisp of vaper that disappears.
- So, if you want your life to count, you should join your story with His story.

It's a good book, and a fairly quick read; it'll only take a couple hours to finish. However, it's an excellent reminder that this universe is not about me; creation is all about God.

The writing is easy to follow and full of personal anecdotes. Overall, the book does a good job of showing that:

1) God is amazingly large. (There are a lot of numbers about the universe here.)
2) This is all really God's story, and that he chose for us to be in it.
3) Trying to make our names great leads to death.

I also really enjoyed the re-telling of John the Baptist's story in the context of those points.

However, the book is very short. I finished it in the same day that the UPS truck delivered it. The actual text of the book is about 140 pages, and it's 1.5-spaced. It almost seems like part of another book.

Also, don't expect to get too much "deep" theology. The book uses Biblical support for its points, but it doesn't feel like a book that really makes you stop and think.

In conclusion, the book is well-written and makes good points, but it feels like it only skims the surface of the material. It could certainly have been longer. That's why I gave it 4 stars.

Louie Giglio invites you to embrace the bigness of God from cover to cover. I completely loved this book for the many simple truths that it provides, namely to live a life that makes much of Jesus. The message the book communicates was revolutionary to me and to my friends. It was an easy read and fun to read.

In a world of self-improvement and self-help books it's great to find one that reminds us all that the real answer is to take our focus off ourselves and onto something bigger: GOD. Playing on the "I AM" name of God, Giglio helps us to restore the direction of our focus onto God. Giglio has a great perspective of how small we really are in this universe, but reminds us that even though we are infintely small, we can know the One who is infinitely bigger than the sum of who we are, our problems, and the world around us.

I heard Louie speak at a Passion conference and decided to check out his books, and this one was excellent. I liked it better than The Air I Breathe, but they are definitely on different topics.

This book focuses on humility in the truest sense, coming to know who we are in relation to God. Louie does an excellent job of going through examples of how we try to make our story the center of the universe, turning God into a bit player instead of the star. He is a very relatable guy, and I think it helps to hear someone who could very easily think they are a big deal to seriously discuss how we have to conciously overcome that mentality to be servants of Christ.

Louie brings theology to the table in a very edible format. I am a HUGE fan of this book. God has blessed Louie with a firm foundation and a teachable smarts that extends past what should be expected of a normal man. His heart for the colleg generation exudes itself on these pages. His personal stories he shares tie into an unprecidented look at how small we really are. And how GREAT God is. Thanks Louie.

Humility and confidence are natural by-products from realizing how big God is and how small we are. Great book written in "plain-speak" with a refreshing approach. I love Louie's transparency and authenticity. Simple yet profound. Fresh perspective on God's timeless truth.

Louie has done it again. I've seen this guy preach about 20 times in my lifetime, and the way that is he able to communicate God's word is just amazing. Louie (the author) breaks down the concept of God in a way that we can understand things easily. We are to be part of God's big story, and to let go our our own dreams and our "tiny dreams".

We must decrease, He must increase!

A wonderful book on the bigness of God. The more we grasp the bigness of God in our lives, the more we will trust Him, awe Him, follow Him, and join Him in His purposes rather than try to do our own things for our own story. Our culture entices us to "make much of yourself!" or "make a name for yourself!" and this book stands in such refreshing contrast to those messages. Real life starts when we realize there really is only one story, and we decide to accept God's unthinkable invitation through Jesus to join that story, His Story. As Louie says, furious rest (rest from worry, from fears, from people-pleasing, etc.) comes into our lives when we closer approach comprehending the bigness of God. Articulately written in an approachable, easy to read style, we need this reminder that we are small and God is big. Highly recommended.

It's a shame the both Louie and the book have to suffer from the poor Kindle formatting. Repeatedly, "little" is formatted as "litdle", and sometimes there are several words on a single page with the first letters formatted as symbols. "I am not" is often "1 am not". Sometimes it's even hard to figure out that the word means in context with the section.

This is definitely one of those purchases that I would expect to see an email stating that an upgrade to correct formatting errors is available. I've received several of these opportunities on books with far fewer errors.

I'm unclear what needs to be done to alert the appropriate people about things like this.