This is my first read for the year from a growing TBR list. It took me a while to finish this 252 pages, inspirational true story of the author of Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom. I really have to catch up on my reading and what a lovely way to begin 2011 with this book, Have A Little Faith.
It focuses on the story of two men, a rabbi whom Albom has known from childhood and an African-American pastor, who did a complete turn-around from being a drug addict/ex-convict to a man of God. Albert Lewis, a charismatic rabbi from Beth Shalom Synagogue, and Henry Covington, an ex-convict who became a pastor because he promised God that he wanted to change his life if he’ll be given a second chance, and Mitch Albom, a newspaper columnist in Detroit are the central characters of the story. How the three lives intertwined in a span of eight years is what Have A Little Faith is all about. It’s a refreshingly simple tale of Albom’s journey towards his own faith, his reflections about life and dying, about growing old and wrestling with one’s own mortality. It deals on family relationship and one’s belief in a higher being, a God. It speaks of joy, hope, pain, anger, grief and Albom’s account of his journey of faith. It begins with Albom’s childhood rabbi asking him to do the eulogy at the latter’s funeral. Although the book discusses the lives and ministries of two different religions, it does not attempt to convert the reader to these two but it makes a parallel comparison with other faith. It focuses on a universal need to believe in God and the greater meaning of life and existence. How he draws the reader to discover his own life’s journey and faith in God is the essence of the book. Find out for yourself and Have A Little Faith.
A few lines that I like best in the book: page 220 (Henry Covington’s dialogue)
“Why still serve God?” he smiled weakly. “What else can I do? It’s like when everyone was turning away, and Jesus asked the apostles, “Will you go too?” And Peter said, “Where can I go Lord?”
“I know what he meant. Where do you go from God? He is everywhere.”
“No.” He shook his head. “You can’t work your way into heaven. anytime you try and justify yourself with works, you disqualify yourself with works. what I do here everyday for the rest of my life, is only my way of saying, “Lord, regardless of what eternity holds for me, let me give something back to you. I know it don’t even no scorecard, but let me make something of my life before I go.”
And these words from the rabbi whom the author fondly calls Reb: page 234
It is summer and we are sitting in his office. I asked why he thinks he became a rabbi.
He counts on his fingers.
“Number one, I always liked people.
“Number two, I love gentleness.
“Number three, I have patience.
“Number four, I love teaching.
“Number five, I am determined in my faith.
“Number six, it connects me to my past.
“Number seven – and lastly – it allows me to fulfill the message of our tradition, to live good, to do good, and to be blessed.”
I didn’t hear God in there.
He smiles.
God was there before number one.”
Nora Ephron’s I Feel Bad About My Neck (And Other Thoughts of Being a Woman) is next on the list. Ephron is the one who brought us, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail and Bewitched to name a few.
Dreams And Escapes 
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