Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic - Must read for all ages, kids or no-kids, July 24, 2006
There are few books that I have read that have hung around my mind and ruminated within my thoughts as much as Tim Kimmel's Raising Kids for True Greatness. This book is one of the most worthwhile reads available today. Kimmel's brilliant thesis dismantles the success illusion (wealth, beauty, power, fame) and simplistically brings us back to the heart of the gospel message: "True greatness is a passionate love for Jesus Christ that shows itself in an unquenchable love and concern for others." The qualities that identify a great life are humility, gratefulness, generosity, and a servant spirit. The brilliance in this is not that Kimmel had to mine through the scriptures for truths found only Greek lexicons; the brilliance is these truths are boulders that you can't help but stumble upon if your crack open any page in the Bible.
Have you ever heard someone conclude that the wealthy are blessed by God? Does that mean the lion's share of our population is not blessed? Our cultural filter has caused us to misinterpret prosperity with blessing. We equate prosperity, comfort, and a life of ease with God's blessing. Jesus did not say to the rich young ruler, "Just be happy that you have been blessed." Instead, Jesus redefined the man's life purpose and in the process showed that wealth has nothing to do with a life or true greatness. Our Christian culture has been tainted by our ivy-league mind set. Somewhere along the way, money, power, and fame has saturated the gospel that is preached in America; we see it on TV, we invite the wealthy Christian to speak to the business group, Christian CEO's retire to board positions for churches and para-church organizations. Often, the reason is the size of the checks they can write instead of the spiritual insight they can provide. Donald Miller, whose writing has captured the heart of new believers, writes in Searching for God Knows What "If I weren't a Christian, and I kept seeing Christian leaders on television more concerned with money, fame, and power than with grace, love, and social justice, I wouldn't want to believe in God at all." And we wonder why our kids have such a dispassionate faith.
This is where Kimmel shines. He addresses (us) everyday moms and dads and helps us disarm the success illusion that has worked its way into our parenting paradigm. Kimmel writes, "If you aim your kids at anything less than greatness, you'll set them up to miss the whole point of their lives." He succinctly shows us the difference between success and greatness with a 9/11 illustration: "As the successful rushed down the stairs of the World Trade Center, the truly great ran up." He enunciates his point by saying, "when it's time to bury our dead, we mourn the loss of those who were successful, but we celebrate the memory of those who were truly great." Kimmel then gives us the practical advice to "live large by thinking big." Abundant thinkers empower their kids to master fear and joyfully rest in God's limitless power.
Finally - the best part. Kimmel does not just give us a neat simple formula to raise truly great kids, instead, he shares with us concrete mandates found only in scripture that must transform the heart of the parent before they can penetrate the lives of our kids. This book is a great read for anyone - parents, singles, or grandparents. Raising Kids for True Greatness is a book whose time has come; a book that calls us to live out the great life Christ died to redeem.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tim Kimmel presents "True" Greatness, August 17, 2006
I found Tim Kimmel's book truely helpful in thinking through the dangers of wanting the best for your kids. His book leads us in a counter cultural way- against the tide of hoping our kids will attain the "success" of fame, fortune and power. True greatness, Tim writes, is "a pasionate love of God that shows itself in an unquenchable love and concern for people. It is based on grace. It's attitudes are hunility and gratefulness. It's actions are generosity and a servant attitude." These are truely attributes of greatness, modeled by Jesus himself. Parents who push their kids to achievement on the ball diamond or the classroom do not nessisarily lead them to greatness. Abundant thinking, living large by thinking big, embodying God's spirit of abundance in the way they treat each other and everyone they encounter create one of the best environments for preparing kids for greatness in every dimension of their adult lives. It is a book well worth reading and putting to practice in the familuy.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
True Greatness: A Must Read For Parents, July 14, 2006
If you are like me, a Mom spinning her wheels, literally driving your kids to every enrichment activity you can think of HIDE YOUR KEYS AND DAYPLANNER UNTIL YOU FINISH READING THIS BOOK!
I wrestle with it about three times a year. What activities athletic, academic, and social should our three children be involved in so they can either fit in, not be left behind, or feel really good about themselves? Hard to admit but true. After all we want them to be successful right? Wrong, we want them to be Great!
Tim's book gave me solid information on how to redirect my thinking as a parent.
My husband was raised in a family that directed him at the bullseye of success. He hit the target right in the middle. He became everything his parents directed him towards. Good looking, talented, wealthy, and famous. Why is it that his life seems empty in some way? Because he knows first hand that success as the world sees it is a vacuum. It is only when we start living a life for God that our life is truly full.
After reading Tim's book I had to ask myself some hard questions. Am I my kids social chairman, publicist and agent? No, you can hire someone else to do those jobs. According to Tim I need to be "humble, grateful, generous, and others-oriented (servent)". Living a life for God by loving others.
I am excited to finaly have the tools to direct my kids towards True Greatness!
Now where did I put my keys and dayplanner?!
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