Jonathan Parnell - Never Settle for Normal: The Proven Path to Significance and Happiness

Never Settle for Normal may be the key to help you doubt your doubting of God, because the god you are doubting might not be the real God. And if you lose reality while turning from the imaginary, you lose everything. You long for happiness and significance. Jonathan Parnell makes a compelling case that the whole history of the world exists to show you where this is found. This book is a journey from eternity to eternity. You may find what you are longing for not in a collection of ideas organized around themes but in a kind of earthy itinerary from creation to the end of the world. I hope so.

J OHN P IPER , founder and teacher at desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary, Minneapolis

Jonathan Parnell shares astounding truth, making what it means to be a Christian understandable for any readerfrom the wanderer to the veteran in the faith. Never Settle for Normal is a helpful primer and tool for anyone exploring Christianity.

T RILLIA N EWBELL , author of Enjoy,Fear and Faith, and United

Jonathan Parnell has written an engaging book about our relentless quest for satisfaction that takes us down thousands of culs-de-sac and dead-end streetsuntil we follow Jesus. Its refreshing to read about God as a happy, loving Father in a book that doesnt minimize his wrath against sin. Never Settle for Normal shows sin for what it is and does, exalts Christ, and powerfully portrays his violent rescue of his people.

R ANDY A LCORN , author of Heaven,Happiness,Truth,The Treasure Principle, and other books

In moments of true awareness we look around at one another and this world and we know. Deep in our soul we know there is more than what we can see with our eyes. Proverbs tells us to get wisdom and insight; there is no quest as noble as this. The stakes are high and we need real help for the journey. Parnells book is a trustworthy guide for all who are seeking God or any who are unsure where to begin.

G LORIA F URMAN , author of Glimpses of Grace and Alive in Him

Most people I meet have a gap between the life they live currently and the life they believe they were born to live. The frustration that comes from wanting to live a life that matters, while seemingly never getting there, can be maddening. The way to bridge that gap is through the way, truth, and lifeJesus. Jonathan Parnell has written a captivating book to help show this reality. Read it, embrace it, and share it with someone you know who is searching for more.

A LVIN L . R EID , senior professor of Evangelism and Student Ministry and Bailey Smith Chair of Evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

And I dont want a never ending life

I just want to be alive while Im here.

Spirits, The Strumbellas

T here is nothing necessarily wrong with normal. It all depends on how youre using the word.

A lot of times normal is good for you, like that garbage bag that needs to be taken outthe one with the little hole in the bottom that leaks a trail of some unidentified substance from the kitchen to the front door and demands an extra five minutes to retrace your steps on hands and knees with a paper towel.

Normal like that is an everyday sacrament meant to train humble hearts and level heads. Thats why its good for us to put on our socks one at a time, scrub the frying pan with a sponge, and stand in line for an hour just to buy a sheet of stamps so we can mail out our Christmas cards. This book is not about turning your nose up at menial things.

We need menial things.

Instead, this book is about not settling for the normal that has become our cultural mind-set. Im talking about the kind of normal that pretends God doesnt exist, that casts a vision of life devoid of ultimate reality and then acts like were better off that way.

Im not talking about your nine-to-five job that feels boring. God bless your boring joband I think most books that would tell you anything different are a sham. So I want to be clear from the start.

Youre not going to find in these pages a message that runs with the whole find your inner champion glibness. You dont have an inner champion. You have an inner brokenness that desperately needs to be healed by Jesus. All of us, including me, are sinners who have bought into the lies around us, at least at some level. And if were really honest, weve likely fallen for them hook, line, and sinker. Thats because the lies are so many and so common that we dont recognize them as lies. Theyve become too normal. Its what I like to call the stupid normal.