It was the subtitle that first caught my attention. One Man's Year of Almost Living Truthfully Could Change Your Life. No Lie. Phil Callaway was going to attempt to go an entire year without telling a lie.
At first this might sound like something every Christian could write a book about. But how many of us would be willing to put our failures so freely out there. That's what Phil does, as well as discussing several other shortcomings in his life.
To tell the truth, which seems like a good idea given the book I'm reviewing, I was a bit concerned about reading a book by a comedian. Because I was expecting it to be funny, I feared it wouldn't be funny enough. I was not disappointed.
Callaway is a long-time comedian and has written several other books. He writes this one journal style, taking us through 365 days of this experiment. He admits at the beginning to stretching some truth in the writing, but assures us the difference is negligible.
He groups about 30 days at a time into chapters. Conveniently, each set of 30 days has a theme. Life may not always work out that perfectly but it does make it convenient for the study questions that go with each chapter. I'm not sure I would think of this book as fodder for small group discussions, but Callaway sets it up that way. He does touch on some pretty important life questions, so perhaps it's not a bad idea.
From being honest with people who tell bad jokes (complete with punny one-liners) to other life situations where truth might be found to be uncomfortable, Phil does a good job of pointing out just how tough honesty can be in life.
My good friends at Waterbrook/Multnomah Publishing sent me this book for free. They only asked that I blog about it. Which I have now done. You can find this book, and others, here.
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