Monday, February 12, 2007

Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven But Nobody Wants to Die


Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven But Nobody Wants to Die by David Crowder and Mike Hogan


This book was written by the the eponymous member of a certain rock band and his fiddler compatriot in same said band. It is largely about grief, dealing with loss, and a smattering of Bluegrass music history interspersed. The premise behind including the music history is that Bluegrass has an implicit understanding of grief. Crowder and
Hogan have personally experienced tremendous loss in their lives with multiple family members and close friends passing into the sweet by and by. The book is partially an account of them working through their grief over the loss of their friend Kyle Lake, former pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.

In typical Crowder fashion, elements of humor are strewn through out the book making a serious subject more readable.

As only God could orchestrate, their album A Collisioncontained many elements within it dealing with death, the Christian response to it, and ultimate victory over it. This album was recorded and released several months prior to Kyle's electrocution in the baptistery. It ended up ministering as much to them as it did to their audiences.

The format of the book takes a bit of getting used to. It incorporates traditional prose but also a short story listed in 3 parallel parts as well as IM conversations and various illustrated examples. At times, the flow of the book can feel disjointed but the end result seems to be an effective presentation of how we deal with grief and the application of Bluegrass.

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