The Comeback, by Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio is a gifted communicator.  Like gifted communicators do, he can take one great idea and stretch it into a sermon, and stretch that into a sermon series, and stretch that into a book.  The Comeback: It's Not Too Late and You're Never Too Far is just such a book.  Drawing on abundant Bible stories and stories of people Giglio has met, he encourages the reader to look to God for a comeback.

Here's how Giglio describes a comeback: "What looked to have been destroyed wasn't destroyed after all.  Our plans were changed to God's plans, and God's plans were always good."  Everyone experiences setbacks in one form or another.  This points to another gift of great communicators, and to Giglio's gift: he writes in such a way that I can believe he's writing just for me.  He touches the universal experience of failure, frustration, loss, or pain, and points us toward God.  He writes, "the entire story of humanity is a story of people who have stumbled and fallen, yet somehow in this ocean of God's grace and mercy he provides a comeback for anyone who puts his or her faith and hope in Jesus."

Giglio's writing is honest and transparent.  Lest the reader think Giglio is exempt from failure, he writes about his own comeback stories and offers hope to those who have hit their zero moment.  He offers this encouragement: "God is still at work.  God has not forgotten you. . . . Wait and believe.  God is the God of the comeback, and God is creating a comeback especially for you."

The Comeback is positive and encouraging.  Just to be clear, Giglio's book is not a self-help book.  If anything, it's a self-helpless book.  When we hit zero, it's not about making our own comeback, but relying on God, trusting in the Lord, trusting his promises, and letting him lead us into his comeback for us.  That's a message I can believe in, if only I am patient and faithful to wait on him.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!