Margot Starbuck is back with as much passion and energy as ever. In thirty brief chapters, she invites you to choose the adventure that fits who you are in authentically loving those around you. Yes, she knows: just the thought of adding something more to your life sounds exhausting. But here's the fantastic truth she's discovered in her own journey: "We don't have to add lots more overwhelming activity to what we've already got going. The regular stuff of our lives--the commute to work and the potlucks and home improvement projects and errands and play dates--are the exact places in which we express and experience God's love for a world in need." With a list of resources, a study guide and a six-week "Adventure Challenge," as well as plenty of stories and hilarity from Margot's own life, will open your eyes to the people around you and the huge impact you can have on them through small acts of love. "Small things happen when I learn the name of my daughter's school bus driver," Margot writes. "Small things happen when I listen to the dreams of a woman who lives in a group home on my block. Small things happen when I risk crossing a language barrier even though I look really stupid doing it." And small things add up to big adventures and surprises, for you and others. The biggest surprise of all might be how powerfully God can use you, right in the midst of your walking-the-dog, paying-the-bills, doing-laundry life, when you're living out his love. Do the first small thing by opening these pages--and let the adventure begin!
Margot's first book, The Girl in the Orange Dress: Searching for a Father Who Does Not Fail, was awarded Best Nonfiction Book of the Year, 2011, from the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association.
Margot's other books include: Unsqueezed: Springing Free From Skinny Jeans, Nose Jobs, Highlights and Stilettos (IVP) and Small Things With Great Love: Adventures in Loving Your Neighbor (IVP). Her most recent book is Permission Granted: And Other Thoughts on Living Graciously Among Sinners and Saints (Baker 2013). Her writing has also appeared in Relevant, Rev!, Pray!, Radiant, Neue, Adoptive Families, Family Fun, Fine Homebuilding, and other publications. She blogs at Red Letter Christians and hermeneutics, and is a a popular speaker at retreats, conferences, and college campuses.
Margot is a graduate of Westmont College and Princeton Theological Seminary. She served with Urban Promise ministry in Camden NJ before being ordained in the Presbyterian Church. She's served as a chaplain among folks living with physical and intellectual disabilities. Margot also served as an interim pastor of Ponds Reformed Church in Oakland, NJ.
Margot is pretty convinced that as we receive God's "I am for you"--as we really get it, in our bones--we're set free to live a life of love which is for others, especially God's beloved ones who are poor and marginalized. Her hope is that her readers and listeners who are ambivalent, either about God's great love for them or for those who live on the world's margins, are challenged and transformed by some really good news.
As a young adult, Margot was reunited with her birthmother, and now enjoys a relationship with her & with her adoptive parents. Margot lives in Durham, NC with her husband, Peter, and their three children, by birth and adoption. She likes being with her sweet kiddos & hanging out with friends--with and without disabilities--at Reality Ministries. She's also a pretty big fan of the work of Compassion International. Learn more at www.MargotStarbuck.com.
