"O yeah life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone."
- from ‘Jack & Diane’ by John Mellencamp
Al Stewart paints a vivid picture of men as they reach midlife. Men feel trapped by the various aspects of their life. Whether it's marriage, sex (or the lack of it), children (especially the challenges of teenagers) or work pressures, men can feel hemmed in to a life of obligation with no way out.
The common solutions to this problem are examined: denial, quiet withdrawal and worst of all the false freedom of fleeing our responsibilities. Too many men are living lives of quiet desperation and turning to pleasure, possessions and projects to find a solution for the emptiness inside.
In both diagnosis and solutions Al takes us back to the scriptures and especially the wisdom we find in the Book of Ecclesiastes and its fulfilment in the coming of Jesus. Ultimately his service is perfect freedom. "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
Al's book is an easy read with short chapters and pithy quotations from luminaries as diverse as Bruce Springsteen and Bertrand Russell. The two appendices on middle aged men's health and sex are a nice way to finish a very helpful book.
Men - Firing through all of life: Introduction
Henry David Thoreau (1817-62) wrote, "The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation'. This touches a chord with many of us. If he was right 150 years ago in his assessment of how many of us live, it's surely even truer today. Why does this happen to us? Does it have to be this way? Are there any answers?
This is a book for men asking questions in midlife
The midlife crisis has become a cliché, but men do reach a point when they begin to ask questions. What is life all about? How did I get here? What do I do with the second half of my life? Where exactly did my 30s or 40s go? How come every day seems like "Groundhog Day'? Is this all there is? Questions about marriage, and family, and jobs, and success and failure, and God, are ones that midlife has a tendency to throw up at us, sometimes unexpectedly.
Men may ask these questions with varying degrees of angst, but most of us will ask them at some point. Asking the questions is a good thing, but how about some answers? What do we do? Sometimes the wrong reactions to midlife have disastrous results, for our lives and the lives of others.
This is a book for men who want to fix something
Sharing worries and giving sympathy is nice, but men want to fix things. This book talks about problems but it will also offer solutions. Some of them are just suggestions from a very ordinary middle-aged punter, but some of the advice will come with a lot more weight, wisdom and authority, because it comes from the Bible. If the Bible is a new idea for you, good"”it's well worth the effort. If you've been reading the Bible for a while, you won't need to be convinced it is worth listening to.
Click here to watch the video of the launch
