Book Review: Just Courage

Book Review
Haugen, Gary A. Just Courage. Downers Grove, Il. Intervarsity Press, 2008

I just finished reading this book this week. This book was written by Gary A Haugen, who gave up a six figure income to work with the International Justice Mission, an organization dedicated to living out God’s command from Isaiah 1:17,

“…learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”

Haugen’s book is a short book (150 pages). It starts with s story of Haugen as boy, going with his brothers and father to Mt. Rainer for a day of hiking. While his father and brothers go on a hike up the mountain, Haugen decides to stay in the Visitors Center, where it is warm and comfortable, He is afraid he can’t keep up, although his father has always waited for him, helped him. When they return his brothers are filled with stories of an unforgettable day on the mountain with their dad. His point? He went on the trip, but missed the adventure.
Haugen spends the rest of the book reminding us of the adventure that awaits us with our Father if we choose to go where He is going. Haugen draws on his personal life to illustrate points and shares anecdotes from the work of IJM around the world. He tells of the violence often faced by those who are working for justice and compassion, how day after day he and his associates brave the darkness of the sex trade, slavery, and other disturbing injustices that comfortable suburbanite American Christians would rather not think about.
I liked this book for a couple of reasons. First, it is a relatively easy and quick read. Second, it has quite a few illustrations that come in handy in preparing sermons or talks. And, three, Haugen really opens the eyes of the reader to the realities of the darkness of this world. It makes me confront myself and say: What am I doing in the area of injustice, of following Jesus’ command to “set these captives free?”
Ultimately, the book is a reminder that as a Seventh Day Adventist Christian, I need to move out of comfort and safety and into the world where I might get dirty, and that being a Christ follower is not about comfort and knowledge.

“Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your GOOD DEEDS and praise your father in heaven” Matthew 5:16


Review by Ron Aguilera
9.16.08