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Book Review: One Big Thing by Phil Cooke

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Two questions.

  1. What are you put on earth to do?
  2. How can you noticed for it?

Author Phil Cooke says that the intersection of those two questions is what his book, One Big Thing, is all about.

onebigthing

One Big Thing is about discovering your passion and finding a way to share it with others.  Cooke says that this sweet spot is where you’ll make the biggest impact with your life.  Drawing from his wide variety of experiences working with both non-profits and the Hollywood community, Cooke delivers plenty of great examples and insightful questions to help the reader zero in on where their life could make a difference.

My biggest problem with One Big Thing is that was way too readable.   I read it faster than I could process it.  Though it has plenty of meaty content, I flew threw it in a little over a day.  I practically inhaled it.  It doesn’t hurt that I’ve always been borderline obsessed with discovering my purpose in life and Cooke keeps this topic engaging and fun.

It’s an easy read.  What’s not so easy is processing the big questions he raises:  “What could you be the best in the world at doing?  If I held a gun to your head and said you could only do one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?  What makes you different from all the others competing for your position?”

Discovering our unique passion, perspective and skill set, Cooke says, is the ticket to getting heard in a world full of people trying to be heard.   It’s how we share what we love with the world and advance our causes or organizations.   It’s even how we make a difference in our own family.

If you’re searching to find your one big thing, the unique thing you were put on earth to do, or if think you know it but want to put it into action by getting others to notice it, this is definitely worth a read.

I got my copy for free from Booksneeze in return for an objective review, but this one I would have paid for either way.

Here’s the book trailer to check out for yourself.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Sounding Out Faith

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My daughter floored me this week, absolutely blew me away. 

We sat snuggling in the big, comfy chair in our living room, a book opened in our lap.  Nothing new there.  I’ve spent way more time reading to her in the past five years than reading on my own.   I’ve been a rabid bookworm since birth, but Emma came into this world inheriting a double-dose of that DNA. 

Our father-daughter book club, however, shot to a whole new level when Emma turned to the first page and began reading to me. 

Wow.  I love those words. 

Emma.  Began.  Reading.  

It wasn’t just a word here or there, not just something she had memorized, but really plodding through word-by-word, sounding them out and telling a story. 

Sure she got stuck on some big words, but she was reading more than she wasn’t.  For someone without a passion for books, the pace would be maddening, but for a book-freak like me, it was pure delight. 

It’s like she’s the first kid who has ever learned to read. 

It’s not that I didn’t enjoy watching her learn to walk or talk or ride a bike, but reading?  Reading  blows them all away.   Those other activities are great – that walking and talking thing especially comes in handy – but if I had the choice in how to spend my day, the book would win hands down.

It’s my passion, and now it’s hers.  But it’s not just that she shares my passion.  We now share an ability to do something with it.    

I wonder if God feels the same way when I take the first awkward stab at doing the things He loves to do – giving generously, forgiving freely, loving someone other than myself.  He’s so good at it.  He’s been doing it for so long.  Me?  I definitely need help sounding out the big words – words like selflessness, faith and surrender.

My spiritual life is often like a five year-old learning to read.  Slow, halting, clumsy, but beautiful to the One who loves me. 

I can tell you from a father’s point-of-view, I only get frustrated with Emma when she gets discouraged and wants to give up.   Could the same be true of God?    

I genuinely think He delights when we love what He loves, but more than that, that He is thrilled when we begin to actually do what we see Him doing. 

Jesus had only one game plan for His life.  Keep an eye on His Father and do whatever He saw the Father doing.  Not a bad way to live.

I want to grow my passion for the things that make my Father’s heart beat fast.  I want to fearlessly take those awkward steps to doing what He does, and I want to turn to Him with confidence and ask for Him to help me walk through the stuff that’s too big for me to understand.   

God, help me sound out the big words of faith!

Sitting in my Father’s lap, there’s a whole world of stories to discover, and I don’t want to miss out on a single one.