I recently had the pleasure of reading through Living Life In The Zone by Kyle Rote Jr., and Dr. Joe Pettigrew. Living Life In The Zone bills itself as "A 40 -Day Spiritual Game Plan for Men". It's basically a 40-day devotional for men on how to live life in God's zone for your life.
Before I received the book, I wasn't sure what I would think about it because I knew that it was really sports focused, although I was very surprised with the content, the moving stories, the thought-inducing questions and overall, the takeway. This book really is about making you process through some of the basic tenets of what you believe and how you operate and trying to align those with God's plan for your life, instead of trying to create your own "zone" to play in.
Each day's devotion is divided into 7 parts. As you can imagine, the "Thought of the Day" is sort of the synopsis, or big thought for the day. "Coach's Corner" helps us to discover the relevance of God's word in our life while "Game Plan" talks to us about what God's word says about the particular topic of the day. After diving into God's word, there is the "Playmakers" section which are just stories of real men in the real world (generally well-known athletes, but not always). These are inspirational stories about their lives and careers that most people don't know, or have not heard. They really are moving stories that setup the next two sections.
"Time Out" asks questions for you to reflect on. I would suggest you have a notebook that you can keep handy, specifically for this devotional, and that you use it every day when you go through your devotion. I would say most devotions are about 10 to 20 minutes depending on how much effort you put into them.
The next section is "Today's Assignment", which challenges you to set a goal and to accomplish certain things from setting a quiet time with God every day to doing something for your spouse.
The part I really loved the most though was the final section "Home-Field Advantage". It simply asks you to write down your praises and concern that you would like to bring before God. I know that shouldn't be a huge issue, but in our busy, overcrowded days, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that we simply need to recognize our needs and take them to God, but also to praise Him for all His provision.
All in all, this book makes really great reading and in a devotional format, that doesn't even cause you to think twice about answering the questions and writing your prayer's and praises. I highly recommend this book, and I believe that women could get just as much out of it as men do, although a few questions may be gender specific, there are not many.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
