The Book

My first book released from Tyndale House Publishers as an e-book on July 1st. It is available on the Kindle, Nook, and iPad (via the free Kindle app for iPad). Based on sales the book may become a print book at a later date. Below is a book summary and some endorsements:

40 Days without Food:
Divine Goodness to a Starving Soul

Book Summary / Product description:

“I had a college degree, and soon a seminary degree to accompany it, yet I didn’t know where to go or what to do.” Russ Masterson had read and heard about purpose, but didn’t have a clue what his own purpose was. And there was emptiness where there should have been value. As he puts it, “I kept hoping a step would arrive when it was time to lift my foot.”

Disillusioned with his life, as well as with God, he heard this advice: fast from food for 40 days. Faithless and frazzled, Russ accepted the challenge, hoping for direction, reflecting on the past, and wrestling with issues like purpose, faith, and love.

In this book, readers will find a fresh literary voice — an insightful thinker who meets people in their humanity while helping them to see they can be rescued from it. The journey of these forty days without food will help you explore what really matters in life.

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Endorsements:

“Though quite entertaining, and casual in style, 40 Days without Food caused me to confront the motives behind my daily actions. The book is a short, yet profound, look at what it means to truly live–something today’s fast-paced society woefully lacks.”

- Jim Reimann, editor of bestselling books My Utmost for His Highest and Streams in the Desert

“Russ tells a story filled with contemplative and entertaining insight. His prose proclaims the faithfulness of God is experienced bit by bit in slow drawls as much as in sudden blinding epiphanies.”

- Jordan Green, editor of Burnside Writers and the book, Besides the Bible

“Russ has done an excellent job in opening a window into his inner life to reveal to us the human side of faith.”

- Dr. Michael Youssef, founding rector at The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia

“In 40 Days without Food Russ courageously tells the truth about himself with unfailing insight, negotiating the treacherous internal terrain of self-doubt and self-pity, deftly avoiding the pious pitfalls that normally plague such accounts. He fearlessly allows us to witness his fearfulness, not to mention God’s love for him in the midst of it. For anyone wrestling with questions of purpose and value—of what it means to be human—this book will be a source of immense wisdom and comfort. I can think of no better guide to connect all of us weary travelers with ‘the heart of the matter.’”

- David Zahl, editor of Mockingbird Blog