Back in early July Caleb Suko asked me if I would be willing to be on the launch team for his new book, “What If…” It is subtitled “How to Kill Worry and Anxiety Before They Kill You.” I was more than happy to help out but then I found out the launch would be less than a week after I was gone on vacation. Bad mix. Read book on vacation. Nope. So I told Caleb and he was okay with me reading it whenever I had the time and then writing a review. I even waited until the book came out so I could buy it and not carry around a 198 pdf file. 🙂 So, here is my review.

First, I met Caleb through blogging. He is a missionary/pastor in Odessa, Ukraine. He is married and the father of five children. Given the events of the past couple of months in Ukraine and being the father of five children should give him some credibility about worry and anxiety. 😉 To make matters a bit more tense, until just about a week ago (August 5th), he and Christine and the five children have spent the past 10 months in the states traveling thousands of miles visiting their supporting churches. All while keeping an eye on his beloved Ukraine (which is also Christine’s homeland).

The book: I wasn’t sure what to expect. I have read many books over the 40+ years of being a pastor on subjects like worry, anxiety, fear, etc. Some have been written from a clinical view. Some have been “cheesy” i.e. offering easy answers or being filled with cliches. Some offered no answers. Some took the therapeutic route, while some took the “super spiritual” route. What I like about Caleb’s book is he did a great job of avoiding all the clinical garbage which comes from a subject like this, while at the same time giving some “meat” to what is behind worry and anxiety and how it affects a person. There is one thing I really like about this book

Caleb saturates it with Scripture. It is everywhere.

I also like that he doesn’t browbeat anyone, condemning them to hell as a hopeless sinner because they do worry. What he does do is give some logical, reasonable answers to the problem which plagues so many of us. In fact, he spends a whole chapter hitting the “Don’t worry…be happy” philosophy really hard. It is really hard to say one of the best parts of the book is such-and-such because that part is chapters 11-15 (“Don’t Worry About…”) and then chapters 17-19 (“How to Kill Worry”).  Both sections are practical, usable information.

I suggest if you have an issue with worry  and anxiety or if you do any counseling which involves these issues, this book would be a good one to add to your library.

I was asked to review Caleb’s book but not told I had to give a good review. I am glad to. Well done my Ukrainian friend and brother!