Living Life in the Zone by Kyle Rote Jr. and Dr. Joe Pettigrew is a 40 day spiritual journey for men. In it, the authors use real life stories of real life sports figures to illustrate each day’s message.
I understand the reason for such a book (and apparently such a conference, as they reference their conferences quite often in the book), but I struggle with the premise. We have the very glory of Christ Jesus to look upon, set our hearts upon, and follow. Why would I care about Vince Lombardi’s belief that a man can only have three priorities in life?
The premise of the book appears to be an attempt to satiate a sports fan’s appetite for more trivia about their heroes while alleviating some of the guilt of not actually studying the Word of God. The book spends more time on the role, responsibilities, and duties of a “Christian” man, but little on the person and nature of Jesus Christ. And provides short collections of snippets in regards to Biblical truth, while pages and pages are given to the sports figures’ stories.
True, legitimate growth – an authentic, genuine spiritual revolution will never occur by setting ones eyes on their favorite sports figure. And while I consider myself a rabid sports fan, this book takes things a step too far in my opinion and furthers the idolatry of a man’s heart by making someone other than Jesus Christ the example and motivation for life.
This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson.
