Crazy Busy: A Short Book about a Big Problem Author: Kevin DeYoung | Language: English | ISBN:
B00D6IRTC0 | Format: PDF
Crazy Busy: A Short Book about a Big Problem Description
I’m too busy. We’ve all heard it, we’ve all said it. Sometimes being busy seems like the theme of our lives. Yet this frenetic pace poses a serious threat to our physical, social, and even spiritual well-being. In this mercifully short book about a really big problem, best-selling author Kevin DeYoung rejects the “busyness as usual” mindset, arguing that a life of constant chaos is far from what God intends. DeYoung helps us figure out a better way forward as he strikes a mature and well-reasoned balance between doing nothing and doing everything. With his usual warmth, humor, and honesty, DeYoung deftly attacks the widespread “crazy busy” epidemic and offers up the restful cure we’ve all been too busy to find.
- File Size: 287 KB
- Print Length: 128 pages
- Publisher: Crossway Books (September 23, 2013)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00D6IRTC0
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,134 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
Crazy Busy is a book that I enjoyed and got a lot more out of than I thought I would going in. I am a fairly low key guy. I don't enjoy high stress situations. I usually start feeling stress when my to-do list has more than a handful of things on it. I do not view myself as `crazy busy' and I am not by the standards of most people.
But this `mercifully short' book on busyness was still helpful. I think it fits well with my unintentional book focus this year, that it is the normal, mundane every-day things that are really important in the long run.
DeYoung is the pastor of a large church, author or co-author of more than a dozen books, father of 5 under 10, husband, and well understands busyness. As he says, this is one of those books by someone that sees a problem through personal experience, not because he has solved the problem of busyness.
So he uses 3 things to avoid, 7 diagnosis of the problem and one thing you must do, to try and overcome busyness. This is not so much a `how to' book as a `here are the important things' book.
If I could summarize the argument it would be 1) God has created you with limited time, 2) In order to make best use of the time you have to prioritize around what you must do and what you are gifted with and who is around you, 3) do not get distracted by the less important things (or your own pride that thinks you can do more than you can) and 4) God has to be first and central.
There are a few places where I would quibble about emphasis or an illustration. But for the most part this is a very helpful book. He talks about not doing everything, saying no to less important things, prioritizing family (and not being controlled by your children), getting appropriate amounts of rest and other helpful advice.
What is one of the greatest dangers facing all of us? What is one of the most debilitating issues with which we will constantly deal? I think the frantic, hectic, all-consuming nature of our cultures day-to-day existence could possibly be the answer. Never in history has there been so much to distract, so much to fill every waking hour and every quiet moment. If Pascal is correct that "All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone," then most of us are so omni-connected and our lives so full that we will never even have a chance to not be miserable.
DeYoung warns the reader from the beginning that he is not speaking as an expert on how to be not busy, but rather as a fellow pilgrim struggling through this particular issue. Crazy Busy is a short, simple and clear presentation on a very practical issue. DeYoung outlines his book as 3,7,1; three dangers to avoid in chapter 2, seven diagnoses to consider in chapters 3-9, and one thing you must do in chapter 10.
DeYoung cites many culprits in the struggle against chronic busyness including people pleasing, pats on the back, poor planning--all rooted in pride. One of the greatest, for me at least, is when the believer attempts to do what God doesn't expect them to do. DeYoung argues that the believer needs to understand that they are not the Savior. They do not have to do everything because, quite frankly, they cannot do everything. "Along with the Apostle's Creed and the Belgic Confession and the Westminster Confession, make sure you confess John the Baptist's creed: I am not the Christ."
Just because a cause is worthy does not mean that God expects you to engage in it. Just because there is a need, does not mean that God expects you to meet it.
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