Nancy Ortberg

Ortberg’s first book is a collection of essays about finding God is the small things. Ortberg reflects on her own experiences and relates the stories of others from her church and her life. Most of them are about finding God in places that one wouldn’t normally look. Each essay is sort of meandering, like a conversation or even a blog post. I liked that about the collection — it was reminiscent of Donald Miller or Anne Lamott in its…easy-going-ness. It was also fairly intimate, which was lovely — to get a feel for the woman Orberg is. Still, I’m not sure I walked away with anything new. In many ways, it affirmed many things I’ve already learned, such as that God is both immense as well as deeply concerned with the details. There was one essay that really resonated with me, and it had to do with our sense of smell and how powerful that particular sense is. Think about the smell of a summer barbecue, an ex boyfriend’s cologne, or an old library. You’re immediately transported back to a certain time and place. This is the reason that the Israelites burned incense during important ceremonies. That way, whenever the smell of incense wafted through the camps, they would remember the good things that God did for them. I absolutely love that concept of remembering.

Read my full review here: http://letseatgrandpa.com/2010/08/10/53-looking-for-god-by-nancy-ortberg/… (mer)