By Adam Musgrave
When it comes to sharing and forming meaningful and sometimes vulnerable relationships, men often find themselves struggling. When that sharing involves their faith, the struggle can become even tougher.
In his book, 10 Life-Charged Words: Real Faith for Men, Derek Maul focuses on some of the most difficult obstacles that men can encounter and, through the use of ten simple words, discusses ways to overcome them.
“Christianity is best experienced as a team sport,” Maul said.
Maul’s book illustrates this concept quite powerfully, at one point describing a church-going man who only speaks to his friends about sports, even when a personal tragedy strikes him. Instead of reaching out to his friends, he internalizes his grief.
According to Maul, this stems from the cultural need of men to be strong, solitary, and withdrawn from their own emotions. Rather than interact with peers through prayer and simple communication, they choose to go it alone.
“Eighty percent of guys in the pew don’t have quality of faith,” said Maul,.
10 Life-Charged Words uses terms like excellence, passion, clarity and authenticity to illustrate ways for men to break out of the rut of faith complacency and to live what Maul describes as “the life-charged life.”
In his book, Maul breaks down the ways to improve one’s relationship with God into simple steps, all while demonstrating the passion for life and faith through his own words.
That passion has served Maul well, with 10 Life-Charged Words being his fifth book; he also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker with upcoming events including conferences and gatherings in Florida, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Kansas. In addition, Maul writes regularly for many local and national publications, including Christian Voice, The Tampa Tribune, USA Today, Newsweek and The Christian Science Monitor.
10 Life-Charged Words and Maul’s earlier books are mainly available online and can be found at amazon.com or directly through the books’ publisher at http://bookstore.upperroom.org.
For more information about Maul or his books or to contact him, visit his website at www.derekmaul.com. See Derek talking about his life as an author, http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GuI9E5K2TBE
