Carlos Whittaker is a friend of mine.
Sort of. I mean, we’ve met a few times. We know some of the same people.
Los (if you can’t roll the r in Carlos) is a worship minister and makes a living singing songs about Jesus. And he lives in Nashville.
So when his new book came out, I was pretty excited to read it.
Moment Maker is about living life intentionally in such a way that no moment goes to waste.
But it isn’t a how-to book.
Making it a how-to book would be too easy. Instead, it is a collection of short little stories about moments he has experienced, told through the lens of living like Jesus. Most of it centers around his family, but on some occasions Los talks about how he seized the opportunity to truly be a neighbor, whether it is to the freaked-out man on the airplane or the transgender person at the hipster coffee shop. It’s the way Jesus taught and lived. Stories with personal impact.Some of the Los’ stories are hilarious, and others are touching.
Moment Maker is real and honest.
I know it might come across as somewhat arrogant. One might think Carlos is saying, “look how good a Christian I am since I take advantage of these moments God has given me to minster to people, and see how clever my wife and I are with our kids” but I don’t think that is it at all.Carlos wants to show us how to be more aware of those moments and not be afraid to jump in with both feet. He freely confesses mistakes he made where he failed to seize the moment. For example, he chose to snub someone instead of be a friend to them. More than once. And he regrets that, 30-plus years later.
A 4th of July Thank-You
There are several stories that stand out for me, but right now the thing that really stands out is the time Carlos met some soldiers who had just done a tour of duty in Afghanistan, and he had an opportunity to thank them. (Here’s a version of this story on his blog.)That day, he went from singing on a stage in front of thousands of people to buying drinks for 40 soldiers in a tiny hotel bar. Guess where he had the most impact?
It’s the small things that really count
The biggest lesson I got out of that story was sometimes the thing you think is going to be one of the Big Moments turns out to be less significant than the “unimportant” thing just around the corner. Sometimes being a friend to a soldier on an elevator and giving a heartfelt thank-you can have a greater impact than singing in front of thousands of people at a festival.It is a very quick read; I finished it in a day and a half only because I had things to do (like making sure the kids didn’t destroy the house or each other). Highly recommended, though at times I wanted it to go a little deeper.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review on this blog.
