Moment Maker by Carlos Whittaker

I chose to review this book through attending a creativity conference last year led by Carlos Whittaker. At the conference, I was struck by Carlos' honesty and straightforward approach to bringing people closer to God. I was also challenged through that conference about making the most of every moment and intentionally seeing God in even the mundane moments of each day. 

So when his new book Moment Maker came available to review, it was a no-brainer for me and I wasn't disappointed. Today's culture is marked by busyness and this book challenges the reader to make the most of every moment and more than that, to make the best out of every moment.

Big moments. Small moments. Amazing moments. Devastating moments. In all of them, I will direct you to the greatest Moment Maker of all time - Jesus - and use illustrations from his life, his ministry, his messages, and his interactions with everyone he encountered to show you what a life of Moment Making is really all about

That is exactly what Carlos does. The book is split into 3 main sections: 

1) Created Moments - moments you orchestrate and create - hard work
2) Received Moments - allowing God to put his spin on moments you didn't have a part of making
3) Rescued Moments - we mess up and there are moments in our lives that need rescuing. 

and concludes with a practical way of intentionally making moments:

1) Understanding: Why is this moment important - once you understand the why, the moment becomes worth having

2) Exploring: Exploring moments in life cultivates attentiveness and intentionality.

3) Pausing: without pausing, stopping and reflecting, the why can get lost

4) Living: choosing to live in the moment with and on purpose

This book is punctuated with stories birthed in practising a moment making lifestyle and personally it provides real challenge as I find it so easy to drift through life in normality and routine. Moment making calls us to step out and step up, expecting God to be in every moment and expecting even the rubbish moments to be redeemed. 

There is something else: Sometimes when I read books by someone I have heard speak there is a disconnect between what they say in the book and how they came across when they spoke. This was not the case with Carlos, I read a book by a person wanting to make the most out of the life he has been blessed with. When I heard him speak, I heard a person wanting to make the most out of the life he has been blessed with. 

To me that counts for a lot!