"Just a Minute" review and giveaway

I just finished reading "Just a Minute" by Compassion International's CEO, Wess Stafford.

I don't know where to begin talking about this book.

First, I will tell you what this book is not.  It is not an advertisement for Compassion or child sponsorship or just another "Chicken Soup for the Soul".

When I first heard about the concept for "Just a Minute", I was instantly interested. I am a person who can think of tons of "minutes" that changed the course of my life.  Sometimes when I look back over my life, it looks like those scenes from a movie where someone is dying and their life flashes before their eyes in random snapshots that are unrelated, but come together and make sense. I know that these individual minutes have created a web to make me who I am today. I have always realized that little things we do and say to others, even those we barely know, can have a big impact on them, because they have made an impact on me.  I was indeed like wet cement as a child - very impressionable. Thankfully, I had many adults who spoke goodness, encouragement, and love into my life, even as other adults spoke hurt, discouragement, and judgement. 

So, obviously, I was excited to read this book.  But what I didn't expect was just how well written and interestingly woven the book as a whole would be.  I read most of it while I was sitting by the pool waiting while my kids had swim lessons.  The parents who sat around me probably thought I was a bit crazy.  One minute I would laugh out loud, another moment I would be a bit teary-eyed or choked up.

Years ago, Josh and I tried for several years to get pregnant, with no success. God opened my eyes to the fact that, even if I never had children of my own, I had children all around me who needed adults to take notice of them, encourage them, or support them. They need adults, other than their parents, to tell them that they matter and someone cares about them.  But this book was like a "refresher course" about the power of a simple word or action - how it can build or destroy.  As I read this book, I was even more deliberate in the way I treated my children, my neighbor's and friend's children, and even children I came across in the store.

Now, to be fully transparent, there is a story I submitted in this book and I have been asked to share my opinion about the book with my blog readers.  But after reading the book, I am not quite sure how my story made it in!  It isn't just a book about "average Joes and Janes" like me, but of world and ministry leaders as well.  It talks about minutes in the lives of people like Colin Powell, Tony Dungy, and even Adolph Hitler, who made them who they were.

It talks about parents, grandparents, teachers, neighbors, coaches, and strangers who made people become artists, musicians, teachers, and more.

 I have a copy of this book that I would like to give away to someone.  The only thing I ask is if you enter to win it, I would like you to read it within the next 6 months and tell me what you thought of it or share a review on your blog.

To enter, simply leave a comment telling me that you'd like the book.  You could also share your own "minute" or "minutes" that had an incredible impact in your life and copy and paste it on the "Just a Minute" web site here, but it is not required in order to enter that giveaway.  I will select a winner on Friday or Saturday. I moderate my comments, so your comments will not appear immediately.