Come Thirsty [Paperback]

Max Lucado (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004

Are you a dry sponge? Edgy and rigid? Ineffective? Would you like to be softened up some? Would you like to be more useful in the hands of the One who made you? Then come to the well, says Max Lucado.

Scientists assure us that humans can't live without water, and we don't even attempt it. But survival without God? Oh, we sip, we taste, but we're prone to go extended times without a good drink from the well of the Lord. And we pay the price for doing so. We shrink. We coil and re-coil against the world... organs harden... hearts harden.

In this renewing and life-giving book, Max Lucado, leads us to the four essential nutrients needed by every soul.

Come to the cross and know that your sins are pardoned and your death is defeated. Receive Christ's energy and believe that you can do all things through the one who gives you strength. Receive his Lordship, knowing that you belong to him and that He looks out for you. Receive his love and feel confident that nothing can separate you from it.

Come, with Max, to the WELL...

to Christ's Work on the cross, his energy, his Lordship and his Love.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lucado, pastor and bestselling author of more than 50 titles, extends hope to those whose souls are "dehydrated" from neglect, fear and guilt. Lucado teaches that salvation is God's work, not ours, and that we should "[d]rink deeply from his well of grace." He encourages readers to look to God for spiritual energy, to rest in his authority or "lordship" and to wholeheartedly accept his never-ending love. Lucado's signature style—simple, easygoing, occasionally poetic—includes lots of stories that make some of the difficult truths he covers go down easy. He leaves some questions unanswered (like exactly how spiritual energy works), but also handles weighty issues (how can God be good and omnipotent, but still allow bad things to happen?) without being insincere or cavalier. While the book focuses on the grace and life God can provide, Lucado also challenges readers to live up to their faith—to pray, obey and surrender everything to God. Lucado indicates that his own heart has been dehydrated at times: "Don't you need regular sips from God's reservoir? I do.... Drink with me from his bottomless well." His writing seems to come not from the pulpit high above but from the guy next door who understands what it's like to be where readers are.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Lucado's signature style - simple, easygoing, occasionally poetic - includes lots of stories that make some of the difficult truths he covers go down easy."
-- Publishers Weekly (Publisher's Weekly ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849991307
• ISBN-13: 978-0849991301
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,690,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In just under two decades of writing, Max Lucado has accomplished more than most writers hope for in a lifetime. Most of his books have appeared on one or more best seller lists, including those published by the "New York Times," "USA Today," "Publishers Weekly," and the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA). Aside from hardcover books, Lucado's writings have also been published as children's books, videos, CD-ROMs, DVDs, music CDs, mass paperback booklets, apparel, giftware, bookmarks, calendars, study Bibles, workbooks, curricula, and plush products. In spring 2003, Hallmark/Dayspring Cards launched a new gift card line featuring excerpts from Lucado's writings--and has already sold more than one million cards.

All this success has drawn more than a little attention to a previously low-profile Texas author and minister. Lucado has been featured in a wide range of media, including "USA Today," "Larry King Live," and "NBC Nightly News." He has spoken at the National Prayer Breakfast before the President of the United States. He has traveled with internationally renowned musicians as a special speaker on their music tours, such as the highly successful "Come Together & Worship Tour" (sponsored by Chevrolet) with Grammy Award-winning artists Michael W. Smith and Third Day.

Journey to the Top
Lucado was born in 1955 in San Angelo, Texas, and raised in Andrews, Texas, the youngest of four children. His father was an Exxon oil field mechanic who, Lucado remembers, always smelled of grease cleaner. "It makes it easy for me to see a God who is loving and kind--because my dad was," he says. His mother was a nurse who grew up working in the cotton fields.

Lucado went through a period of rebellion against his parents' values and their God during his teens and into college. But it wasn't long before he found himself drawn back to his roots, back to God. He married, spent time serving as a missionary in Brazil, and returned to the States, where he began working as a church minister and writing on the side.

Secret to Success
From all accounts, Max Lucado is not a man consumed by sales, awards, and achievements. He often turns down media interviews since they impede on family and ministry commitments. He spends the bulk of his week serving as senior minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. And he is truly surprised by his own success--more impressed by his one-in-a-million wife and three amazing daughters than by his successful writing career.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A long drink of cool water for "dehydrated hearts", November 2, 2004

By 

FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Come Thirsty: No Heart Too Dry for His Touch (Lucado, Max) (Hardcover)

Prolific author and San Antonio pastor Max Lucado has easily earned his right to a mini department in Christian bookstores featuring his titles alone. At last count, he has written 50-plus books, and like most of the others, his latest release is the kind of valuable gem that should be set apart and given a place of its own.

COME THIRSTY offers a long drink of cool water to parched throats and "dehydrated hearts" --- people whose faith has run dry as well as those whose faith was never watered very well in the first place. As with Lucado's other titles, this one is saturated with grace, that aspect of God's love that drenches us with a favor that is incapable of being earned or bought. It's ours for the taking, regardless of who we are or what we've done or how we think of ourselves, and it's central to all of Lucado's books. If we allow it to, he writes, grace will saturate our lives and become as inescapable as the water that surrounds us on all sides when we dive into a deep pool.

The metaphor of water permeates this book, and as always, Lucado squeezes every last drop of imagery out of that metaphor. The writing style is pure Lucado, which never disappoints. A master of the one-word sentence ("Society labels you like a can on an assembly line. Stupid. Unproductive...Quitter. Cheapskate."), the author gets his points across in pretty much the way you would expect him to if he were sitting in a rocking chair on your porch, shooting the breeze on a summer afternoon. Holding a glass of tea, of course. Tall. Fresh. Chilled. Sweet.

Also part of the Lucado appeal is his ability to tell a story and relate it to some spiritual truth. To illustrate the lengths to which people will go to save their lives, for example, he recounts the widely reported story of Aron Ralston, the mountain climber who amputated his own hand, which had been trapped under an 800-pound-boulder. "Upon hearing the footsteps of the Grim Reaper at your door, what price would you pay for an extension?" he asks. "Would you give your right hand?"

And he proves he still has a way with subtle and ironic humor. In the chapter "Hope for Tuckered Town" --- home of weary, unspiritual people who try to work their way to God --- the daily grind and drudgery of life is so boring that Lucado maintains "you'll find more excitement at an Amish prom." Following a delightful anecdote involving a lost pot-bellied pig, Lucado addresses the problem of our struggles, but not before getting in a jab about our tendency toward pettiness: "Perhaps your Rubik's Cube has a square that won't turn. If God is our guardian, why do bad things happen to us?" (You may be heartened to know that he does not give a pat answer to that question, by the way.)

Nearly half of the book is devoted to a reader's guide that is as much a Bible study as it is a discussion guide for COME THIRSTY. Prepared by writer Steve Halliday, the guide combines a question and answer section with a "Drink Deeply" action step, all of which relates to a specific chapter. Those steps are as wide-ranging as watching the movie Les Miserables for the chapter "When Grace Goes Deep" to writing your own obituary for the chapter "When Death Becomes Birth."

Jesus invites people to "come thirsty and drink deeply," Lucado believes. That's not bad advice for the way to use this book as well.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like a drink of water: not heavy, but refreshing, December 30, 2005

By 

Robert C. Rogers (Rincon, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Come Thirsty: No Heart Too Dry for His Touch (Lucado, Max) (Hardcover)

Lucado's splash of living water for thirsty souls is much like the water he uses as an image: not heavy, but refreshing. By "not heavy," I mean that in typical Lucado fashion, this is light reading, not heavy or deep theology (although his summary on the Bible's teaching on angels on pages 108-114 is well-researched).
On the other hand, like water, the book is refreshing and encouraging. Lucado uses the acronym W-E-L-L to stand for receiving the living water offered by Jesus in three ways: receiving Christ's WORK on the cross, the ENERGY of the filling of the Holy Spirit, the LORDSHIP of Jesus, and the LOVE of Christ. He then elaborates on each of these points in his engaging style of fascinating and humorous illustrations and creative turns of phrases. My favorite quote is on page 92: "Denying the sovereignty of God requires busy scissors and results in a hole-y Bible."
Lucado has a strong ending to the book, with a collection of Biblical quotes (indexed in the back if you care to look them all up) as a "love letter from God," summarizing the teaching of the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed his book. Many times I caught myself muttering as I read, "I wish I had said that," and I probably will!
(By the way, the artistic depection of splashing water on the cover is so real I keep wanting to get a dry cloth and wipe it off.)

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pour me a glass, please!, April 28, 2005

By 

Matthew Svoboda "Author of Philip's Real Chri... - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Come Thirsty: No Heart Too Dry for His Touch (Lucado, Max) (Hardcover)

Mr. Lucado continues to write on spiritual truths in a way that makes them easy to understand and relevant to everyday life. "Come Thirsty" is no exception and a must read for all Lucado fans. Also would make a great gift for anyone who feels they are too far from God and undeserving of His grace.