56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful guide for living an intentional Christian Life, March 2, 2005
In his latest book, TO BE TOLD, Dan Allender encourages readers to examine their lives in a search for the story that God is telling through their existence. Allender says we often don't know our own stories because we doubt their existence, dismiss their importance, or we're distracted.
"Too many people are missing their story because they're watching the stories of others. We live vicariously through television, sports, magazine, and talk shows. Such stories may occasionally educate us, but most often they sedate us. They free us from admitting that our own life is dull and lifeless. They attract us because they offer life without risk. They are deathly safe."
Fans of John Eldredge's writing, especially THE SACRED ROMANCE, will find similar themes of brokenness, revelation, desire, and narrative redemption here.
"Something must awaken us to the fact that we are asleep. And what awakens us is usually a moment of exposure when we see that the conventions that guide our steps and promise us a good life are nothing more than illusions."
"The stories told in most families are a kind of propaganda."
"You must listen to the heartache and hope that etched in the narrative of your life. And you must find the meaning God has written there."
"Your plight is your redemption."
"Desire is both our greatest frailty and the mark of our highest beauty."
Allender has a humble and disarming tone that is humorous and relatable. It can be hard at times to wade through the jargon of "story" --- feasting on story, editing together, writing your destiny ... what does all that mean? But the effort to truly understand what Allender is getting at is worth it. In essence, he's trying to get people to remember. It sounds simple, but it's not given that so many people have a dysfunctional relationship with the past. Whether good or bad, it can be hard to deal with, and so people tend to forget. But by entering into the past, Allender says that we can understand the present and help write our futures.
"God is the Potter, and we are the clay. Even the word human --- derived from the Latin word humus, meaning "dirt" --- shouts loudly about our origin. We are dirt. The name Adam (Hebrew 'adama) means "red," the color of clay. God shaped, molded, and formed us to reveal something about himself. He is a Being who loves to reveal and who invites us to join the process of revelation by calling to ask, seek and knock. God always intended for his children to join him in completing creation. We are no inanimate entities that merely reveal glory but living stories that are meant to create glory."
In other words, by seeing and understanding the stories God is telling through our lives, we can be more alive.
TO BE TOLD will provide insight for just about everyone interested in living an intentional Christian life. In addition to his wise observations about life, Allender gets practical in his suggestions for knowing one's story, including fasting, prayer, and of course, writing. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a bit of a memoir-writing fad ensues. And frankly, if Allender is right, we'd be better off for it.
--- Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended!!, March 17, 2005
Dan Allender in his book, "To Be Told" presents both the tools and the inspiration for each of us to understand the stories that God has written in our lives. By understanding the story that God has written in the past, he contends that it will help us to understand the direction that God would have us to take for the future.
Allender does a great job in this book of presenting a method for understanding the difficulties of our past. His sharing of his own difficult background shows that he personally knows of that which he speaks. And since he keeps it simple it is accessible to anyone.
One area that I wish Allender had done a better job of was to broaden the application of understanding our stories. Although dealing with the past and understanding the direction for the future are both important applications, I think that there may be a whole host of others.
However, that small difference aside, Allender's book is well-written and includes powerful practical ideas on how to understand how God is writing your life. I highly recommend it and the accompanying workbook.
For a longer review, go to the blog listed in my nickname and click on the 'Reading' category.
(...)
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful view of your story and God's story, March 2, 2010
To Be Told is a unique book, a challenge and inspiration for people to take a close look at their own story, what God has been doing in their life, to gain insight as to what the Author has in store for the rest of story. More than that, it challenges us to become willing and active co-authors in that story. Dan Allender also makes a case for doing this in community, becoming listeners and editors in each others tales. Over the course of the book, he shares freely from his own story, getting extremely personal at times - which helps us understand his call to understand your Real self. Although the book is more than the sum of its components or a how-to book, here is the table of contents.
Part One: Your Name and Your Story
1. The Tale to be Told (Reading your life as God has written it)
2. What's Your Real Name
3. What Makes a Good Story (A better way to read your tragedies)
Part Two: Reading Your Story
4. Listening to what moves you
5. Facing the Tragedy that Shapes you
6. Getting Caught by your Calling
Part Three: Writing your Story
7. Writing your Destiny
8. Editing Together
Part Four: Multiplying Your Story
9. Story Feasting
10. Prayer that Reveals
11. The Fruit of Fasting
12. Giving Away Your Story (Allow your story to reveal God)
From the style of the book, I can see where many readers will be blown away by the power of the book, while others might well scratch their head and wonder "What am I supposed to do with this?" While the book offers questions for the readers to consider as they ponder their own story, there is a separate workbook that offers much more of a guided journey to understanding your story. (The book itself has too few questions, the workbook perhaps too many!?) Quotes praising the book are provided from John Eldredge, Brian McLaren, Stanley Grenz, and others. Readers with a strong artistic/creative side who revel in "story" will likely love this book. Those who scratch their heads confused by books like Wild at Heart or Epic (by Eldredge) may likewise have trouble connecting the dots with Allender's book. As an engineer I found myself somewhere in the middle - I really enjoyed the chapters on a better way to read tragedies and on getting caught by your calling but started to get lost in the second half of the book. It's an interesting read by itself, but those willing to actually put their own stories to paper will get the most out of To Be Told.
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