Every Job A Parable

Pastor, author, and seminary teacher John Van Sloten investigates vocations in his insightful book Every Job A Parable: What Walmart Greeters, Nurses & Astronauts Tell Us About God. Published by NavPress, who kindly sent me a copy to review via the Tyndale Blog Network, this book speaks of our Creator God, Who works in and through us in all kinds of work.

As the author of this highly recommended book explains, “The first step may be submitting to the fact that creation really is filled with the thoughts of God, that you are meant to grasp those thoughts, that work is a place where that can happen, and that none of this can happen apart from God’s Spirit illumining your way.”

Equally important, “For this process to play out in an effective way, we need to be very familiar with the God of the Bible. Without a deep knowledge of the God of the Scriptures (the Old Testament and the New) we won’t be able to recognize his signature moves in creation.”

For example, “Sanitation workers image a God who cleans and maintains his creation. Their work points to a central tenet of our Christian faith: that God is a God who cleans up our lives (justifies us through the humble, selfless, servant-like work of Christ) and then keeps them clean (maintains and sanctifies us via the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit).”

In the parables, Jesus used everyday jobs to illustrate deep spiritual truths, for instance, in His stories involving vineyard workers, judges, and farmers, the latter of whom know “they need to submit to and trust an entire ecosystem of outside forces” – all of which remain under God's care-filled management.

Then “the deeper we enter into an awareness of God’s presence at work, the more we will know him as the providential source of all things. As we experience him through our creativity, rationality, sense of timing, physical skills, or entrepreneurialism, we will be reminded that all of these good gifts – just like the sun and the rain – come from (God’s) gracious hand.”

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017, poet-writer and reviewer


Every Job A Parable: What Walmart Greeters, Nurses & Astronauts Tell Us About God, paperback



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Drawn in Bible Study: Mary, the Mother of Jesus

When I heard about Mary: Seeing God through the Eyes of a Mother by Eugene H. Peterson, I immediately requested a review copy from Tyndale Blog Network for at least three reasons:

1. The work of Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message (MSG), is consistently worth reading!

2. Positive writings about Mary, the Mother of Jesus, have been too few, except among Catholic book publishers or devotional writers, who annually focus on the Nativity.

3. The idea of a “Drawn in Bible Study” appealed to me greatly for its fresh approach to study and discussions about God’s Word.

Those aspects of this book by NavPress do not disappoint, despite a couple of negative reactions on my part. To get those out of the way, my first “Oh, no!” concerns the tight binding of the paperback cover, which does not lay flat or cooperate well if you want to color pages as the publisher most likely intended.

My other regret for this book concerns a couple of Bible verses chosen to be illustrated: 1.) “The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold,” from Luke 1, MSG. 2.) “They suspected He was getting carried away with Himself,” from Mark 3, MSG.

Perhaps the publisher felt those verses needed to be emphasized. Regardless, the other quotations from scripture edify readers and build faith. Indeed the overall content of the text makes an insightful, innovative, spirit-filled way to invigorate a Bible study and get better acquainted with Jesus’ Mother Mary.

As part of the “Drawn in Bible Study” series, this highly recommended book also includes:

• artwork and spaces in which you can color or draw,

• contemporary verses from The Message,

• questions to help you connect your life with scripture,

• comments from Eugene Peterson,

• leader’s notes to encourage you to involve others in this refreshing study of God’s Word.

Reviewed by Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2017, poet-writer, Bible reviewer, and lover of God’s Word.


Mary: Seeing God through the Eyes of a Mother, Drawn in Bible Study, paperback