Not Your Average Joe: The Real St. Joseph and the Tools for Real Manhood in the Home, the Church and the World is written by Rick Sarkisian, PH.D. I can't remember exactly when I read this book, but it was sometime around last spring. I was talking to my wife about all the books I have read lately. She said that this book seems to have had more of an impact on me than most of the others. She described it as my becoming more patient, tolerant and understanding. To affect this kind of change it must be quite an amazing book. While I don't attribute that much to this one book, I do think it has had an impact on me.
In today's day and age a lot is expected of fathers. Many demands are placed on them and the pressure is great to provide more and more for their families. The problem I see is what constitutes "the more". We don't need more things. Most of us don't really need the things that we already have. We often don't even appreciate them. Often times we are blind to the most precious things that we do have.
Sarkisian's book is about 85 pages. It is broken into 3 parts - The Man, The Call and The Mission. Each section within the parts describes some attribute, action or mission of St. Joseph. He then shows us how we should use those examples to behave in our own lives. There are many examples from his life and the lives of others about behaving more like Joseph. He really holds up St. Joseph as an example of what real men should be and need to be to become better fathers, Christians and people. In his conclusion, he confesses that he wrote the book to remind, encourage and motivate him to be more like the man that God wants him to be.
There are a number of valuable references in the appendices including scriptural references, prayers and information about St. Joseph. The book is not written for an audience of scholars and theologians. It is written for men of every walk of life. My wife highly recommends the book for all fathers, husbands and those men who have or are about to become fathers or husbands.
2 Comments:
I just ordered this book for my husband for Christmas. I wish there was a way to distribute this book to all fathers as a hand book for parenting. For dads, many things are not instinctive and children today need a good relationship with their fathers to build a solid foundation. Thanks for recommending this book.
You just made my day.
Thanks.
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