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    Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life
    Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life
    Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life
    Ebook178 pages2 hours

    Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life

    By Jeff Goins and Michael Hyatt

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    About this ebook

    What happens when a broken world slams into your comfortable life?

    Wrecked is about the life we are afraid to live. It’s about radical sacrifice and selfless service—how we find purpose in the midst of pain. It's a look at how we discover fulfillment in the least likely of places. It's about living like we mean it. It’s a guide to growing up and giving your life away, helping you live in the tension between the next adventure and the daily mundane.

    This book is for us—a generation intent on pursuing our life's work in a way that leaves us without regrets.

    Author Jeff Goins shares his own experience of struggling as a missionary and twentysomething who understands the call to live radically while dealing with the everyday responsibilities of life. Wrecked is a manifesto for a generation dissatisfied with the status quo and wanting to make a difference.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMoody Publishers
    Release dateAug 1, 2012
    ISBN9780802483645
    Author

    Jeff Goins

    Jeff Goins the bestselling author of five books, including The Art of Work and Real Artists Don’t Starve.

    Read more from Jeff Goins

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    • 5/5

      What happens to your heart when you encounter human need so intense your soul can no longer ignore it? When you find yourself absolutely compelled to respond to the second Great Commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself?” The answer is your life becomes wrecked, but in a way that is both pleasing to God, profoundly blesses others, and gives your own life newfound meaning.

      Wrecked is author Jeff Goins’ (he helpfully assists us in the pronunciation of his unusual surname – ‘Goins rhymes with coins’, he says) personal account of a wrecked life. First he lives it, then he writes about it. The result is a story which will encourage and challenge the reader. I can hardly imagine a person who completes this book without resolving to live and act in a more compassionate way.

      Goins is an uncommonly wise young man, and a very fine writer. His account lags a bit when he reaches the point in his story when he is also called to be a husband and father, and those demands impinge on his inclination to live Mark 16:17 (preach the Word, make disciples, drive out demons, heal the sick.) Yet one gets the sense that the reason is the story of his wrecked life is not fully told – that he has a stirring sequel on its way. By the way, for middle-aged men and women of my generation, I recommend Halftime: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance, a wonderful book by Bob P. Buford, but I digress.

      I give Wrecked five stars out of five. Goins deserves to be discovered by many and read widely.

    Book preview

    Wrecked - Jeff Goins

    Publishers

    INTRODUCTION

    Not too long ago, my wife and I attended a concert. We saw the Civil Wars play at the Ryman Auditorium, one of our favorite venues in Nashville. It was our anniversary, and we knew of no better way to spend it than seeing one of our favorite bands. Little did I know I was going to get a crash course in sociology and the broken condition of humanity.

    For every show at the Ryman, a local printer does a special run of posters that are available only the night of the concert. They usually sell out. We have an entire collection of them in our house, all from various concerts we’ve seen over the years, each representing a unique memory. That particular night, we were excited about getting the print because it had the date on it—our date, the day we were married. There was just one problem: they gave away the last poster to the man standing in line in front of me.

    No problem, I thought. I’ll just offer to buy it from him.

    He wasn’t interested. Nor were the twenty-five other people I asked. Each time, I would tell them the same sad story: it was our anniversary. Then I would ask them, with a little manipulation, if they were sure they didn’t want to sell the print. Two dozen people later, I still had no poster. But something strange happened during each rejection. Here’s how each went down:

    Me: Hi. Can I buy that print off of you?

    Them: Nah … (They would say this looking at me like I was crazy.)

    Me: Okay, I understand. No problem. It’s just that—well, it’s our anniversary. At this point, their eyes would get big. Their grip on the poster would loosen for a moment, and my heart would race. They would look at me with compassion and say softly, Oh. I’m so sorry. I would nod and wait, expectantly. This was followed by an awkward pause in which I assumed they were trying to decide. I would look at them, and they would stare back at me. Then they’d pause, glance at their poster, and turn back to me without making eye contact to say, "Keep asking around. I’m sure someone will help you."

    That was the phrase that killed me. Every person told me a version of this, each time with the same sincerity. I honestly believed they meant it. But the more this happened the more hopeless I grew. It seemed everyone was saying, I’m sure someone will do the right thing. It’s just not me. Isn’t this how life is? We always assume someone else will come to the rescue, but it’s never us. Surely somebody will have the decency to be the hero. Right? It doesn’t work like that. Not when everyone assumes someone else will do the right thing.

    I didn’t fault those people for not giving me the poster—that was their right. What was puzzling was how they struggled with their consciences before saying no. Only a few flat-out refused. Most just stood there for a moment, puzzled. They would say sorry, that they really wanted to help, and they encouraged me to not give up. It was as if they wanted to give it to me but were afraid. That’s what frustrated me. I wanted to say, "Yes, someone can help. You can!" But I didn’t. I kept asking around, kept getting rejected and feeling depressed the more I talked with people.

    It wasn’t until the encore of the show that a young woman agreed to sell me her print. At that point, I was incredulous. We had spoken during the intermission, and she struggled like the others to give up the poster. However, she told me to see her before we left. During the last song, I looked up a few rows, hoping to catch her eye as the band thanked the roaring audience. She finally looked down and smiled at me. I raised my eyebrows in an inaudible question, and she nodded. I couldn’t believe it; I had all but given up. When I handed my wife the print, she was flabbergasted. In fact, she didn’t want to receive it. The gesture was too generous, too surprising. And that’s what made it beautiful. I know we’re only talking about a poster here—nothing life changing. But at the time, it felt like a lot more than that. Maybe it was. Maybe it was a microcosm of humanity in all its grisliness and glory.

    I’m no different from those two dozen people I met that night. I have my own little trinkets I’d rather not give up. I have comforts and addictions I won’t let go of. I’m more selfish than I’d like to admit, bent on my own desires and needs more than those of others. Whenever possible, I defer responsibility. I avoid what is right and protect my own interests. If we’re honest, many of us are like this. It’s human nature to look after your own survival first, even when it’s not a matter of life and death. We can’t help it. We keep scrambling for scraps from the table, until someone is finally courageous enough to do what that young woman did: to obey our conscience. To stand up and do what is

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