Every Day Deserves a Chance: Wake Up to the Gift of 24 Hours [Hardcover]

Max Lucado (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

Doesn't every day deserve a chance to be a good day? An opportunity? A shot? A tryout? An audition? A swing at the plate? After all: "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." But what of those days when traffic snarls, airports close, friends forget, and spouses complain? Or divorce days, final exam days, surgery days, tax days, or even days when the cemetery dirt is still fresh?

"Yes, every day," says best-selling author Max Lucado. In Every Day Deserves a Chance he unpacks Jesus' delightful formula for upgrading each of your days to blue ribbon status: saturate your day in Jesus' grace; entrust your day to His oversight; accept His direction. Grace. Oversight. Direction. G-O-D. The perfect prescription for filling your day with divine power and giving every day a chance.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beloved Christian author Lucado (Traveling Light), whose books have sold over 55 million copies, follows the psalmist by encouraging readers to "rejoice and be glad" every day. Lucado does mean every day—even the day you get fired, or the day you learn your husband is having an affair. Since God is in charge, even lousy days are opportunities to grow, serve and find joy. Lucado provides a formula for this tall task: "Grace. Oversight. Direction," easily remembered by the unsubtle acronym G-O-D. The first step to rejoicing each morning is to drench your day in Jesus' grace, remembering that Jesus has forgiven you for whatever mistakes you made yesterday. Next, seek God's oversight and provision in all that you do. Finally, if you "want to blow the cloud cover off your gray day," embrace the direction God offers you. To illustrate these three principles, Lucado draws on biblical stories and contemporary unsung heroes of the faith: a Christian lawyer who oversees an orphanage in Beijing, for instance. "Daylifters"—page-long reflections on Scripture—conclude each chapter, and a study guide (not seen by PW) fills out this inspiring, if anodyne, book. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Max Lucado, minister for the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, is the husband of Denalyn and father of Jenna, Andrea, and Sara. He is the author of multiple bestsellers and is America's leading inspirational author.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson; First Edition edition (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849919592
• ISBN-13: 978-0849919596
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,226 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

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Book By Max Lucado, June 20, 2007

By 

B. Hewitt "Trusting in my Savior" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Every Day Deserves a Chance: Wake Up to the Gift of 24 Hours (Hardcover)

"This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." So doesn't every day deserve a chance to be a good day? An opportunity for us?

I know it easier said than usually done, "rejoice and be glad every day." And Lucado means "EVERYDAY", even when you have a final exam, your spouse complains about everything, you get fired, you have messed-up big time, you learn that your spouse is having an affair, the car needs lots of repairs, or you're in the middle of a divorce.

In this book author Max Lucado shows us how to emerse ourselves in Jesus' love, grace, and acceptence of His direction for our lives, and how that will upgrade each of our days to where Jesus wants us to be.

Lucado reminds us that God is in charge. So these lousy days are opportunities for us to grow, to serve others, and to find joy in our lives.

One thing I have learned to do is each morning as I wake is to drench my day in Jesus' grace, telling myself and believing that Jesus has forgiven me for whatever mistakes, sins, I made the day before, even though I have asked for forgiveness the night before. I need to now believe it.

Other things Lucado reminds all of us to do:

We need to forgive others and not hold-on to our hurts or they will become bitter.

We all need to always embrace the direction that God has put us in.

We need to seek God's provision in all that we do.

At the end of each chapter are inspiring and motivational "Daylifters." And at the end of the book is a study guide.

This is a great book. And if you read this book and apply it to your life I do believe it will change your life and will accomplish the goal set out by Max Lucado for writing this book, and that is to help others "have a good day every day."

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His sense of humor provides many laugh-out-loud moments, June 6, 2007

By 

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

This review is from: Every Day Deserves a Chance: Wake Up to the Gift of 24 Hours (Hardcover)

With his trademark enjoyable prose, this short motivational pep talk from Max Lucado, one of America's most beloved pastors, proposes that we live each 24 hours to the fullest. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow isn't here, he writes. But EVERY DAY DESERVES A CHANCE, and if we can stack one good day on another, then we can link together a good life.

"Doesn't every day deserve a chance to be a good day?" he asks. Lucado formats his book in three sections: Grace, Oversight and Direction. The first is no surprise -- it wouldn't be a Lucado book without an emphasis on grace, and EVERY DAY DESERVES A CHANCE is no exception. What about our shame? What about our mistakes? Our addictions? Our broken promises? Using the scene of Jesus on the cross interacting with the thieves nailed to crosses on either side, Lucado reminds us that grace is possible. "When others nail you to the cross of your past, he swings open the door to your future. Paradise. Jesus treats your shame-filled days with grace."

Each chapter chronicles a different sort of day. One of my favorites was the humorous "Ungrateful Days," which begins with excerpts from the diary of a dog and follows up with excerpts from the diary of a cat. The dog, of course, sees life as an amazing gift. The cat finds life as one long unappreciated imprisonment. Cat lovers may take issue with this, but Lucado gets his point across. "Which diary reads more like yours?" he asks. Gratitude for each new day begins with our knowledge that we are forgiven. "Gratitude lifts our eyes off the things we lack so that we might see the blessings we possess." As Lucado says, "Make gratitude your default emotion."

The themes continue, chapter by chapter. If we refuse to forgive, we hoard our hurts and have "bitter days." Anxiety "ruins our health, robs joy, and changes nothing." Don't be afraid. Find your purpose. These are well-worn concepts, but in Lucado's hands they become something fresh.

Interspersed throughout are the perkily-titled "Daylifters," which offer motivational reminders to make each day count. I found myself tearing out one Daylifter page, which is now posted on my refrigerator, reminding me to "Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life" (Proverbs 4:23 NCV). If you don't want to mutilate your copy of the book in the same way, you can xerox the Daylifters you like best.

Lucado is always ready with a scriptural story and a personal anecdote, often one that doesn't cast himself in a particularly good light. This vulnerability is one of Lucado's most endearing traits as a writer, and one that helps readers connect the ideas he espouses and apply them to their own lives. It's difficult to sound humble when your books have sold more than 50 million copies, but somehow Lucado consistently achieves it. His sense of humor provides many laugh-out-loud moments, although if you take yourself too seriously, you might not handle phrases like "Christ offers a worry-bazooka" very well. But if you relax and go with the flow, you'll find that Lucado offers a solid pep talk for making the most of life. You'll be reminded to be grateful for each new day.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A message many people need to hear, June 4, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Every Day Deserves a Chance: Wake Up to the Gift of 24 Hours (Hardcover)

(Teen version also available July 2007)

Bad days are avoidable, right? Are bad days beyond redemption? Shouldn't there be hope for every day to be a good day? Max Lucado assures readers that each day--regardless of circumstances--has a shot at being a good day because every day is a gift from God.

"He closes the open sores of our heart and straightens the gnarled limbs of our inner being. He swaps sin rags for righteous robes. He still heals. And He still looks for gratitude." p. 23

Lucado looks beyond the usual good days: sunshine-drenched vacation days, super sale Saturdays and unscheduled holidays. He explains that every day--even divorce days, final exam days, surgery days, tax days and days when the cemetery dirt is still fresh--every single day can be a good day. It's possible, Lucado explains because God is at work in every situation. And when we begin to see our days from God's perspective, our focus is sharpened; the good in every day becomes evident.

Lucado shares stories from daily living and from the Bible to illustrate how every day, even bitter days and fearful days can be transformed into truly good days. This book starts with the familiar Old Testament passage: "This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it," and moves through stories from Jesus' life as the ultimate example of rejoicing in the day given.

This is more than a silver-lining attitude, more than seeing the cup as half full, there is more to life than what meets the eye. The book offers a memorable formula for upgrading each day to blue-ribbon status: saturate your day in Jesus' grace;entrust your day to His oversight; accept His direction. --Grace, Oversight, Direction (G O D) pg. 7

One hint that this book has innovative marketing as it is in a container disguised to look like a cereal box. At the end of every chapter is a page called Daylifter that serve as a mini-devotional. Twenty-four blank pages at the back can be used as a place for your study notes.

Armchair Interviews says: Inspirational and uplifting, Every Day Deserves a Chance is a feel good book that would make a great gift for an ailing friend.