Passing Faith Forward

**************The following is taken from the front and back flap of the book jacket:

In Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom offers a beautifully written story of a remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds--two men, two faiths, two communities--that will inspire readers everywhere.

Albom's first nonfiction book since Tuesdays with Morrie, Have a Little Faith begins with an unusual request: an eighty-two-year-old rabbi from Albom's old hometown asks him to deliver his eulogy.

Feeling unworthy, Albom insists on understanding the man better, which throws him back into a world of faith he'd left years ago. Meanwhile, closer to his current home, Albom becomes involved with a Detroit pastor--a reformed drug dealer and convict--who preaches to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof.

Moving between their worlds, Christian and Jewish, African-American and white, impoverished and well-to-do, Albom observes how these very different men employ faith similarly in fighting for survival: the older, suburban rabbi embracing it as death approaches; the younger, inner-city pastor relying on it to keep himself and his church afloat.

As America struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Albom and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; intermarriage; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times. Although the texts, prayers, and histories are different, Albom begins to recognize a striking unity between the two worlds--indeed, between beliefs everywhere.

In the end, as the rabbi nears death and a harsh winter threatens the pastor's wobbly church, Albom sadly fulfills the rabbi's last request and writes the eulogy. And he finally understands what both men had been teaching all along: the profound comfort of believing in something bigger than yourself.

Have a Little Faith is a book about a life's purpose; about losing belief and finding it again; about the divine spark inside us all. It is one man's journey, but it is everyone's story.

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My friend, Annie, whose blog is http://hope42day.wordpress.com/, came up with the wonderful idea of sharing a copy of Mitch Albom's book. Annie purchased the book and offered it on her blog to the first person who wanted to read it and who promised to pass it on. I was the first to request it, so now it's my turn to pass it forward.

Thus, I am offering the book Have a Little Faith to whoever first comments to this blog post and indicates he or she would like to have the book mailed to him or her. You can e-mail me your address at paintit2@charter.net. I will mail it to you within a day or two. The recipient is requested to enter his or her name and blog address inside the front cover of the book, to post a blog about the book and then to forward it on to the first person who responds to his or her blog post.

I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to passing it on.