"The Year of Living like Jesus" was a quick, interesting read for me. I began it on Monday evening and in just a few sittings had it completed this (Wednesday) morning. I have a feeling the questions that arose while reading will take me much longer to ponder than the actual time it took me to read the book.
Besides growing out his beard during the year of living like Jesus, Dobson set out to:
- Eat Kosher (no meat and dairy in the same meal, no rare meat etc.)
- Give to anyone who asks for anything
- Spend time relating to people in bars and other "drinking" situations
- Fast
- Spend time alone in a desolate area
- Pray often
- Observe the Sabbath
- Dress Modestly
- Observe Jewish Holidays.
He found many of the things listed above to more arduous than he expected. Part of the difficulty is due to Dobson's battle with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). The progression of the disease made much of his journey understandably more difficult and complicated. In fact, I found his perseverance to be heroic at times.
"The Year of Living Like Jesus" did not give me a list of ways to follow Jesus that were easily transferable to my own life. I think I was hoping that I could cut and paste his story into my own and follow Jesus in new, practical ways after finishing the book. I did experience through Dobson's brutally transparent memoirs several light bulb moments that will keep me thinking way beyond the last page of the book.
I have found myself asking God to heal him of ALS even this morning. If you would like to get a better understanding of Ed Dobson, this book and other things he is working on go to livingjesusly.com.
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