Customer Reviews

If God Disappears: 9 Faith Wreckers and What to Do about Them

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3 star:		(1)
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Has you been so shattered by some tragic event, disappointment, loss or death that you've thrown in the towel on your faith and given up on God? Have you come to accept that everything about God you have ever believed has turned out to be nothing more than a man-made lie? If this describes you, you MUST pick up a copy of David Sanford's new book IF GOD DISAPPEARS. In a "been-there-done-that," non-judgmental fashion, Sanford exposes nine of the most common faith wreckers that not only take away our faith, they literally steal, kill and destroy the very quality of our lives. Sanford boldly faces the toughest faith challenges, reveals truth (yes, truth) and offers hope in the midst of numbness and hopelessness. Could it be that you have come to misread or misinterpret the facts of your own circumstances to mean something they in fact do not mean? What is truth, really? And who, what and where is God when he seems to disappear? Do yourself a favor and pick up David Sanford's book to find out. After all, at this point in your life you have nothing to lose.

If God Disappears by David Sanford is a powerful book about the times when we question God in our lives and how we can seek and find him. Sanford picks nine crises that when they strike can make us wonder what God is doing or if He is even paying attention. Sanford offers several anecdotes about the ways that God has worked for him and people he knows, and sometimes when God hasn't worked, but we still have to trust him anyway. I can't help but admire Sanford's deep faith after growing up with an atheist father who disapproved of his son's decision to follow Jesus. The chapter about betrayal by the church resonated strongest with me. After the deep pain Jesse and I suffered at our previous church, we are healing at our current one. But it isn't perfect, and we still have issues with commitment there. Sanford reminds me that no church is perfect, but God is there, and I need to trust in and wait on that. The most powerful part of the entire book just may be the epilogue. Sanford tells the story of how Jesus got Peter and his brother to follow him; by meeting them, hanging around, and then disappearing so that they had to seek him out. Perhaps that's just what God does on occasion: disappear so that we seek Him out. The book is intelligent with a great deal of heart, the type you want to read over the course of several readings so that you can really take in the message and let it soak into your soul.

David Sanford's book, If God Dissappears, ministered to me and encouraged me from the very first page. Mr. Sanford has an uncanny ability to weave simple, real-life stories with timeless principles. I loved how the chapters were easy to read, yet very engaging and filled with scripture. It's obvious that this author has invested a great deal of time in the Bible. He shares some of his own times of anger, discouragement and failure throughout the book. He teaches with authority about the nine "faith-wreckers," because he has personally encountered every one of them. Yet,through prayer, God's Word and other Christians, he overcame them, and his faith was strengthened. I have family members who are still angry at God for things in their past. I intend to share this book with them. I believe Mr. Sanford's words and loving, conversational writing style may help break through and soften their hearts toward God again.--Dwayne Moore, author of Pure Praise: A Heart-focused Bible Study on Worship

This book is well written and David Sanford offers a number of good anecdotal stories that illustrate his points. The chapters are laid out nicely and the flow of the book is much like a Sunday morning sermon--moving along with a targeted message but still free to drift off to tell a story that gives life to the delivery. However, I'm not sure if this book will reach its true target audience.

The tone, coupled with its assumptions about church and God, keep this book in a category of readers that are already feeling okay about God and themselves; but the message seems more appropriate for those who may be angry with God or feel He's no longer around. Readers who embrace the tone and assumptions will likely agree with (and enjoy) this book, and hopefully remember it in a time of struggle. I agreed with (and enjoyed) the book. But it seems the true target audience is one having a crisis of faith. I could be wrong, but I'd venture a guess that if a person struggling with his or her faith were to receive a recommendation to read this book or even be given a copy as a gift, they would likely stop reading only after the first chapter. I'm not sure David Sanford connects with that struggling or angry person early enough, if at all. And while this is an informative, well-written book, it's just preaching to the choir if it's not reaching its intended audience. It is for this reason that I only give this book three to three and a half stars.

Some books are difficult to review. It is not that they are difficult reads. Neither is it because they are poorly written. A book can be an excellent book with excellent material and workmanship, but still be difficult to review. If God Disappears is one of those books.

If God Disappears is written with the hurting in mind. That being so, the book is not written in a manner which can be easily outlined. It does not merely appeal to the intellect and walk the reader through some sort of "10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Cry." Neither does it present "12 Steps to Regaining Your Faith (AA for the Fallen Christian)." It goes straight to the heart. That kind of writing is not easily written about.

All these things being so, how does one review such a book? Good question.

Have you ever felt forsaken and forgotten by God? Did you come out of it victoriously retaining your faith? If so, you know that you probably did so because your heart was stirred by the compassion and kindness of others who sympathized, empathized, and wept with you. As great as theology is, it is theology practiced that helps people overcome depression and the feeling of being deserted by God. Not a lecture, but a hug, dinner, compassionate deeds of kindness, and understanding. These are the sort of things the writer does for us on these pages.

I was amazed at how much compassion can actually be felt when reading a book. The writer knows that of which he speaks. He has been there. He understands. Thus he shows us various things that tend to bend, or break our faith. He also comes along side us and helps us to see how we can triumph over tragedy, heartbreak, grief, desertion, sin, and the hardships of life that often leave us with very little faith.

I think I could recommend this book to a hurting friend.

Once I started reading, I zipped right through the book, catching story after story of people like me. Tips were helpful and stories made me think. If I had negative criticism of the book, it would be that at times it seemed a little oversimplified for deep, emotional situations. But maybe that's what deeply emotional, over-analytical folks might need - a little simple breath of fresh air.

Cindy (not her real name) had stopped attending Young Life meetings, and was partying pretty hard again. She acknowledged as much when I asked her what was going on. Cindy had made a profession of faith in Christ, and tried the Christian life for a few months.

Then she walked away. "It's not for me," she said, owning her choice but avoiding eye contact with me after that. We hung around occasionally after that, but she drifted away. I chalked it up to imagining she felt convicted by my committment to Christ. Though maybe my committment played a factor in our estrangement, years later, Cindy's always-averted eyes flickered onto my memory's replay screen.

She'd grown up knowing she was a change-of-life "accident". Her parents reminded her of it all the time, as if it was her fault. Both parents, well into their careers, were unable to make the shift in their lives to embrace her as they had her much older siblings. She wasn't planned, wasn't wanted. She wore shame like her newest boyfriend's oversized varsity jacket and rarely smiled...

...except for that brief time after she told me she prayed to receive Christ. Cindy laughed like a child on a playground when she told a group of us about her prayer. Maybe she'd found the way to a Father who would be able to heal the deep wound in her soul.

But her newfound faith seemed to lose traction a few weeks...months at the most...after that. The lights went out, and she seemed to have pulled the shades down over her soul. She disappeared. Her pain obscured God, and she turned away from Him.**

I thought of my friend when I read David Sanford's If God Disappears: 9 Faith Wreckers and What To Do About Them (SaltRiver). This slim 158-page hardcover is written in a conversational, approachable tone, designed to respond to the stuff that obscures God's presence in our lives. Sanford discusses faith wreckers like:
- Neglecting time with God
- Experiencing crushing circumstances
- Being wounded by the church
- Living as an individualist
(and 5 more)

If God Disappears is meant to be a safe place for a reader to see some of their own struggles mirrored in the stories of others. There are some general Biblical principles presented in each chapter, along with an empathetic tone. A couple of times in this story-filled volume, the anecdotes of those who've made it through to the other side of a struggle can make the process sound simpler than it would be for a reader. (That's the sometimes the problem with after-the-fact anecdotes: the mess and time passage of a struggle gets compressed into a nugget of a story.)

But that's a small quibble, and it might just be me. The gentle, genuine care Sanford uses to address readers comes through loud and clear. The book is a helpful tool, especially if it's accompanied by the kind of in-person continuing dialogue about its contents that I wish I could have had with Cindy when she first averted her eyes and disappeared from my life.

**I don't know what happened to Cindy. I do know she is priceless to God, and that her story with Him isn't over yet.

A book full of powerful stories - with every chapter I read at least one person comes to mind where I can say - "they need to read this".
A valuable life change tool that will warm your heart, make you cry and draw closer to our creator God.
Easy to read - and profound in its impact.
Stories you want to tell those you love and care about.
Stories that can change your life - forever.

A MUST READ!

If God Disappears is a powerful and moving book that candidly addresses issues of doubt and anger towards God that we sometimes feel. David Sanford gives us an honest look at the feelings we can run up against when we face life's deepest challenges. This book is full of real life examples from the author's life and others about how to confront and overcome our crisis of faith.

After reading this book, I was challenged in my own life to look at my assumptions about God, circumstances, and suffering. There are no easy answers to the questions, Why do people suffer, or Why do bad things happen, but David Sanford wisely steers us to draw closer to God in the suffering, and honesty wrestle with and through our questions and doubts about God. This is a book I will come back to when the going gets tough.
Shane G.

In David Sanford's book "If God Disappears" I found nuggets of truth that I had been searching for some time in regards to the illusive issue of hope. Even as a Christian, with Heaven to look forward to, I often wonder what I can hope for in this life. Answers are hard to find when it appears that for years or even decades, a certain hope we cherish will never come to pass, or when we are suddenly confronted by personal tragedy. At times like that many of us cry out--not, ` Where is God,' but, `Where has the God--I thought I knew--gone?' A crisis of faith is unavoidable for everyone, or for someone we know. For that reason this book is highly relevant.

In Mr. Sanford's book he tackles these sticky questions by looking at nine different faith wreckers. He explores ways of going beyond just coping when we're hit by the pain of losing someone, or the tragic consequences of living life recklessly, or when all our faith and courage has been beaten down. He combines great intellect and years of study with a refreshing lack of rhetoric so that whatever stage a reader is at in their spiritual walk or understanding, they will find concepts to help them re-discover God when He seems to have disappeared.

The easy-to-read chapters encourage those who are new to the Christian faith or who are searching for a faith, whatever their background or set of beliefs. At the same time I found what he had to say, stimulating to a person like myself who has walked the Christian faith for more than forty years. It was as though Mr. Sanford took me to the bedrock of my faith and encouraged me to walk about it from a new angle and see things I had never seen before--mostly what I can hope for in what appears to be a hopeless world.