One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life [Hardcover]

Kerry Shook (Author), Chris Shook (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 5, 2008

Take the 30-Days to Live Challenge!

What if you only had one month to live? How would you make each day meaningful? How would you relate to others differently? What would you do to make the rest of your life really matter?

With eye-opening insights and soul-inspiring truths, One Month to Live will challenge you to embrace the life God has entrusted to you and you alone, and to live it out moment by moment with wholehearted authenticity, honesty, and integrity.

Each chapter overflows with inspiring quotations, colorful true stories, and questions for reflection. The four sections, which can be read over four weeks, help you examine the core areas inside you that long to be exercised and expressed: how you’re made to live passionately, love boldly, learn from your mistakes, and leave a legacy that endures for generations after you’re gone. Complete with uplifting action points, each of the thirty chapters– one per day in a life-changing month–offers you fresh strategies for overcoming habits that mire you in mediocrity.

Open yourself to the challenge of embracing your mortality and being empowered to live each day engaged in being fully alive.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for One Month to Live

“So many of us waste our lives with ‘when and then’ thinking, believing that ‘when’ this or that happens, ‘then’ we will really start living and do something for God that really matters. That approach is guaranteed to leave you with regrets. At the end of your life, the only thing that will matter is whether you accomplished God’s purpose for your life. Jesus was just 12 when he said, ‘I must be about My Father’s business.’ Barely 20 years later, he could say to the Father, ‘I have completed the work you gave me to do.’ If we all had that kind of focus and concentration in our lives, there’s no telling what God could accomplish in the world! Kerry and Chris Shook want you to grasp that amazing insight: Embracing your mortality sets you free to live a meaningful and significant life without regret. One Month to Live is a great way to discover the purposeful, joyful, abundant life God created you to enjoy!”
–Rick Warren, founding pastor, Saddleback Church, and author of international bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life

“Kerry and Chris Shook are world-class leaders whose lives and ministry have impacted untold numbers of people, including me. Regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey, One Month to Live will challenge you to passionately live the life you were made for and leave an eternal legacy.”
–Bill Hybels, Founding Pastor, Willowcreek Church and bestselling author of Too Busy Not to Pray 

“Kerry Shook is a friend, devoted father, supportive husband, and inspiring pastor. As one of today’s most gifted communicators, Kerry’s unique and creative style enables him to take the most complex issues and make them practical and relevant to daily living. He has a genuine love for people that is contagious. His ministry is changing the lives of individuals and families here in Houston and transforming communities all across the nation.”
–Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church and bestselling author of Your Best Life Now

“If you want new urgency, fresh purpose, and a sharper focus for your life, then this book is for you. Read it and your future may be changed forever!”
–Lee Strobel, author of The Case for the Real Jesus

About the Author

Kerry Shook and his wife, Chris, founded Fellowship of The Woodlands in 1993; and since then, the church has grown to 16,380 in average attendance each weekend. Fellowship of The Woodlands, now Woodlands Church, is one church in three locations with its Fellowship campus in The Woodlands outside of Houston, Texas. Winner of the prestigious Church Health Award presented by Saddleback Church, Kerry and his church have been featured in numerous publications and media outlets, and his sermons are televised each week across the country and around the world. Kerry and Chris are the parents of four children.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook Press; 1st edition (February 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400073790
• ISBN-13: 978-1400073795
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (116 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 85 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Seize the day! February 7, 2008

By Julie Neal TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was inspired by this book immediately, right from its introduction titled "Living the dash." The authors use that phrase to refer to the dash between the birth and death dates on headstones. The dash represents a lifetime. What a person does during that dash, the authors point out, is completely in his or her hands.

The authors challenge you -- literally -- to make the most of it, to open your eyes and live each day with enthusiasm and meaning. The first page has a contract to sign called "The One-Month-To-Live Challenge" which states "I commit with God's strength to live the next thirty days as if they are my last so I can experience life to the full!" There is a spot for your signature and a spot for a friend to sign as a witness.

The rest of the book serves as a day-by-day manual for your monthlong conversion. There's a chapter for each day. Each one opens with two inspiring quotes (from people as varied as Helen Keller, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Maya Angelou) and includes questions to help you examine your life from a particular perspective. At the end of each chapter are three ways to act on the topic, for example making a list of five things you'd change about your life if you only had a month to live, or going outside and looking at the stars.

Though "One Month to Live" is filled with Biblical verses and stories, its message, and approach, can easily work for those of any faith. Living life to the fullest: What a terrific goal! As George Eliot wrote, in a quote from chapter 8: "It is never too late to be what you might have been."

Here is the book's table of contents:

Day 1: Introduction -- Living the dash

Principle 1: Live Passionately
Day 2: Roller Coaster -- Riding the Big Dipper
Day 3: Time Squared -- Spending your most valuable resource
Day 4: Power Surge -- Connecting with the ultimate source
Day 5: Oxygen Mask -- Breathing first
Day 6: Monkey Bars -- Risking greatness
Day 7: Dreamsicle -- Thawing out your frozen dreams
Day 8: Kick Start -- Living life full throttle

Principle 2: Love Completely
Day 9: Heart of the Matter -- Relating and not waiting
Day 10: Ocean -- Exploring the depths of forgiveness
Day 11: Everest -- Scaling the obstacles to unity
Day 12: Boxing Ring -- Resolving conflicts by fighting fair
Day 13: Sandpaper -- Smoothing the edges
Day 14: The Gift -- Thanking those around you
Day 15: Last Call -- Revealing your heart

Principle 3: Learn Humbly
Day 16: Star Power -- Discovering who you were meant to be
Day 17: GPS -- Finding your direction
Day 18: Hurricane -- Withstanding the winds of change
Day 19: Metamorphosis -- Changing from the inside out
Day 20: Earthquake -- Building a foundation that lasts
Day 21: Mulligan -- Playing with integrity
Day 22: Road Signs -- Experiencing a personal miracle

Principle 4: Leave Boldly
Day 23: Sandcastles -- Creating a lasting legacy
Day 24: Seeds -- Planting for the future
Day 25: Sticks and Stones -- Using eternal building materials
Day 26: Collisions -- Staying the course when your life crashes
Day 27: Starfish -- Making a world of difference
Day 28: Footprint -- Leaving a lasting impression
Day 29: Game Over -- Dying to live
Day 30: Game On -- Living it up

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Power of a No Regrets Life February 9, 2008

By Jeffrey Charles

Format:Hardcover

Like many people, I've spent many years plodding along in a dutiful way--working hard, taking care of my family responsibilities, and thinking wistfully about the dreams I had when I was young about what I'd do with my life. With each year, those dreams get more and more distant, until they disappear on the horizon.

Reading One Month to Live has inspired me to rekindle those lost dreams. Sure, it's important to work hard and take care of our families, but it's also important to live the life we were made to live. Through the four principles discussed in the book: Live Passionately, Love Completely, Learn Humbly and Leave Boldly, I can now see new ways to bring my faded dreams back to life.

The book provides tools for starting to do little things that make a big difference. It's not about having to reinvent yourself or do a major overhaul of your life, it's about loving the people around you more pro-actively, doing things that you are passionate and excited about and serving others in the way that creates a lasting legacy.

I've read a lot of self-help and feel-better books. This is the first book that shows me how to move from where I am today toward a better, more fulfilling place. It is full of great examples that encourage me to create examples in my own life.

We all want to live life without regrets. At last we have the encouragement to start doing that today.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You Won't Regret Reading This February 17, 2008

By Patti Chadwick VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This is an exceptional volume about living life to its fullest. This book grabbed my attention with the introduction and kept me intrigued until the very end. Even though it is written to be read daily for 30 days, I could hardly put it down.

Reading this encouraged me to examine how I'm living my life. When I asked myself how I would change my life if I knew that I only had one month to live, I had to take an honest look at how I'm spending my time.
The authors not only offer sage advice, but make good use of quotes and meaningful illustrations. This is one purchase you won't regret. Get a copy today. It's destined to be a classic!!