The Impossible Mentor

Book excerpt: Can you live up to the example Jesus set? Why would anyone choose a mentor who's impossible to follow? What if it's possible to experience real transformation? What if we really can be conformed to his image--in this life? The Impossible Mentor explores why Christians find Jesus a worthy role model but also hold the conviction that no one could possibly live up to his example. Discipleship and spiritual formation books come and go at the pace of diet and exercise manuals, with approximately the same results in the lives of believers. It's the same cycle: good intentions, fresh starts, followed by frustration, guilt, and eventually resignation. You can break the yo-yo cycle of false starts and the guilt that follows when you stumble. The Impossible Mentor explores the four great challenges to following Jesus, and suggests five practical answers that have helped people of faith through the ages. You can put these answers to work in your life, right now. Author Ray Hollenbach combines slice-of-life vignettes with Biblical resources in a highly readable, conversational style: part pastor, part theologian and fellow-traveller, he explores how to take the yoke of discipleship Jesus offered in a manner that will break the cycle of resolve-and-failure.