Mark Batterson's new book, Primal, is outstanding.

As most college kids, I was very into music and found great meaning and solace in it. During one descriptive conversation with a fellow student regarding the power of music and why it held such sway on our young souls, I found myself in an epiphany regarding the source of such force: "Music has the ability to put words which are tangible entities, around a feeling, which is in-tangible. Music puts flesh on the soul of a thought or feeling, that otherwise can't be expressed". Then I ate my $.59 bean burritto from Taco Bell.
Primal has had the same effect on me. It has managed to gather some of the thoughts, feelings, musings, and prayers I have emoted toward the church and christianity at large and put them into a tangible, logical, inspiring format.

"When all of the rules and regulations, all of the traditions and institutions, all of the liturgies and methodologies are peeled back, what's left is the Great Commandment It is Christianity in its most primal form." (pg 5) Agreed.

One of the concerns that I see in friends, and in congregants, is the lack of a LOVE of God in their lives that translates to willing obedience. Many of them have a belief in God, and a reverence for him, but they have lost the soul of their faith: a primal love for the person of God. Primal addresses that in four sections. These four sections are straight from the response Jesus gives to the lawyer-Pharisee, who was trying to test Jesus, recorded in Matthew 22. Jesus tells him, and all of human history that the greatest commandment is to LOVE the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And thus, an outline for a book's take on that passage.

Batterson is easy to read, and has poignant stories, quotes and illustrations that are effectively concise. It's only 174 pages long, which show discipline, as Batterson could have elaborated in many places. He hits strong with a call back to the place of faith that is filled with wonderment: "In fact, it's our capacity for wonder that determines the size of our soul." (pg 57) He starts with the heart, and then moves to the soul, followed with how we can love God with all our mind, and ends with our strength. His call involves many well known biblical disciplines, but they find great life and freshness, if you will, when placed in the context of a love-passion relationship to Jesus, as is the point of this book. For instance, a whole chapter on giving and tithing? Chapter 3 no less? And you feel as though he is right, that you should give more, and consequently love Him more. Wonderful treatment of such primal, essential issues of our grand Faith in Christ.
If you received a Barnes & Noble or Amazon gift card for Christmas, this should be a first choice for you to read in 2010.