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Mid-Course Correction: Re-Ordering Your Private World for the Second Half of Life

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Gordon MacDonald, one of my most favorite authors, has written and excellent book on the need for us to evaluate our lives as we enter the 30s and 40s and beyond. Granted, this book may be more appropriate for older readers, but younger ones will also benefit as they prepare for the "prime of life".

Among the principles MacDonald covers include:

1. Abraham exercised great faith when he left the comforts of his home and followed God's voice to go to a new land.
2. Although Abraham experienced scars in his life, he was a man who learned to trust God.
3. We have to go to quiet places to get a glimpse of God's majesty. Faith is built in the tough places of life.
4. Character is what truly exists in the hidden life of a person. A fall in character is often due to the neglecting the inner life.
5. Principles of perseverence.
6. Jesus was (and is) very interested in a person's character.
7. A person's character is revealed in impossible situations.
8. To have life change, we must be willing to reach for the unfamiliar.

All in all, an excellent and highly recommended book!

I have been a fan of Gordon MacDonald's books for almost a quarter century because he is so strongly focused on the practical aspects of the Christian life. This, his latest book, deals with the question of moving onward to the next step. He is convinced that God has more for His people if we live a life of continuing "mid-course corrections". No matter what apparent disaster has befallen the Christ-follower, God can use it to bring good. If you are finding your spiritual life a bit flat, here you may find hope from one who has learned from experience that God is a God of the second chance.

"Mid-Course Correction" is Gordon MacDonald's best book to date. As in all of his books, this is a very practical book, full of concrete suggestions. He suggests that all of us need to be in a lifelong process of continuing conversion. Either we need to escape from a certain staleness in our life, or we need to become more dedicated "Christ-followers" He sees Abraham as the most relevant model for conversion because his conversion was most like that which people today face. He, and we, come from a pagan culture and need to learn much that some from the culture (or subculture) take for granted. MacDonald is a gifted storyteller who uses events from his own life as well as biblical narrative to illustrate his points effectively. read this book, you will be better for doing so.

I read this book when I was in my mid thirties (preparing for mid-life) and now I have read it a second time in my mid forties (wrestling and struggling with mid-life). I must admit that I enjoyed it more this time around, because I have been bruised, bent, and broken a lot more than I ever experienced in my thirties or up until that point. I suppose I will probably be reading this book again in my mid fifties too!

I am partial to MacDonald's writing because he is a deep thinker, good story-teller, and weaves biblical principles in ways that are practical, well thought ought, and go beyond clichés.

This book is beneficial in helping one pause and take stock and evaluate their life. It is especially geared to helping those who aren't sure what to do with their lives; have had to, or desire to change careers, or are out of work; wrestling with meaning, purpose, and in need of hope and direction. It is thought provoking and doesn't necessarily give all the answers you may be looking for, but sets you on the right course - and helps to correct taking the wrong course for sure.

In the body of the book MacDonald weaves his own story (and our own) with those of Abraham, Moses, The People of Israel, Paul, and the Disciples and uses the outline of the fact that we need to leave something behind; learn to follow Christ; and reach for higher possibilities. Learning, following, and reaching are well developed emotionally, spiritually, and practically and steeped in a good theology of "being" like Christ, rather than merely "doing" all the time.

Gordon emphasizes the fact that God wants us to have depth of character, and this depth can really only be achieved through suffering, faith when we can't see, trying when we don't know if we will succeed. However, all these factors and more are necessary in our lives in order that we may become deep people internally (in and from the soul) with proven character.

I have been helped significantly through MacDonald's writing as a broken man to another broken man, and have been given more hope through his writing in pointing me to Jesus - the only One worth following, being like, and living for. Gordon writes like a master surgeon on the soul - taking out what needs to be removed and fixes what needs to be repaired. GMAC (I'm told that's what his friends call him) - thanks again for your writing that goes deep into the mind and heart and for healing wounds and souls for the glory of God.

I purchased this title with high hopes, after having read the author's book "Ordering Your Private World." I'm a little disappointed -- he could have done better here. His basic principles are good, but the way he develops them lacks clear focus.

When reading the title, the impression many potential readers will have is, "I have been in the Lord's service for years, but I sense God taking me in a new and different life direction. Surely this book will have some detailed answers." MacDonald does offer some basic insights, but he fails to develop them well. The author looks back to the life of Abraham and other Biblical characters for guidance as to how God may lead us to change mid-course in our lives. The three ideas he seeks to develop through the book are leave, follow and reach.

For those to whom God offers mid-course correction, the first thing He does is to call them to leave something. Just as Abraham was called to leave Haran, so we may be called to leave something with which we are very familiar. The second thing God does is to require them to follow. Abraham had to follow God in his journey of life, growing deeper and deeper in character. He was changed into someone who learned to rely more and more on God and less and less upon himself. So we too, once we leave something, must follow God as he refines and strengthens godly character within us. The third thing God does is to compel them to reach. Abraham was never content with the status quo, but was always reaching for more of what God desired for him. The Apostle Paul also was one who pressed forward toward the mark, willing to strain and to stretch to become more of God's man. So we too much always be reaching and yearning to stretch for all God has for us.

The threefold theme of this book is very helpful -- leave, follow, and reach. Many of the stories used and the comments made to develop the theme however, lack clarity. MacDonald sets the bar very high with "Ordering Your Private World." This title falls short of that standard, so despite its good insights it is disappointing.

Gordon MacDonald is, in my opinion, one of the best possible writers on how to surffer, survive and grow through living those awkward years of a man's growth to maturity. We think we are mature until the bottom falls out, and then we relequish control to the One Who should have had it all along, but somehow, we didn't get it. Gordon, bless him, has cut right to the chase and helps us to progress in Godliness throughout all our days. Thanks. This book is emminently worth reading, two or three times.

This book is not as good as thought. His first book (ordering your private world) is still the best