He went on to ask if any of the men present had ever seen iron sharpened. He indicated that when it occurs, large sparks fly all over the place. Rough edges are broken away, sometimes torn away in big pieces. There are long, dangerous metal splinters left all over the floor to be gathered up. There are loud harsh noises made as one piece of iron contacts the other piece of iron. It takes strength, patience, and accurary to sharpen a tool made out of iron. So this phase that is easily spoken is actually quite difficult and dangerous to carry out.

- Living Life in the Zone, p. 189

Summary: Living Life in the Zone is a 40-day “spiritual gameplan for men” to be used as part of a men’s group or for personal devotions.  The book is heavily oriented around sports and each day’s reading is divided into the following 7 categories:

• Thought of the Day – A short idea to ponder
• The Coach’s Corner – Discovering the relevance of God’s word in your life
• The Game Plan – What the word of God has to say about today’s topic
• Playmakers – Real life examples of men in the real world
• Time Out – Questions for personal reflection
• Today’s Assignment – Action items for today
• Home-Field Advantage – Praises and concerns you want to bring before God

The book has six sections:

• How do you know when you are “Living Life in the Zone”?
• Finding the Zone in Your relationship with Your Wife
• Finding the Zone in Your relationship with Your Children
• Finding the Zone in Your relationships with Your Friends
• Finding the Zone in Your relationships at Work
• Finding the Zone as You Look to the Future

The book seems to make the following assumptions:

• You are a man
• You love sports and possibly coach a team
• You have a wife and children
• You are more of a marginal Christian and your wife is committed

Positives: The strength of this book is the “Playmakers” section.  These stories about well and lesser known sports figures were excellent in providing real life examples of people either living out or failing to live out the concept being discussed. Learning via the story method drives a multitude of points home according to the needs of the reader. Also, this book does a great job of making spiritual matters interesting for men who love sports and thereby reaches a key demographic.

Weaknesses: Many of the the scriptures chosen in the “Game Plan” section didn’t match the point being made. Also, persons not meeting all of the assumptions listed above will find this book less appealing. For example, I am a Christian male who loves sports. However, I do not have a wife and children and believe myself to be more interested in spiritual matters than this book assumes. So, while I enjoyed the stories and will have things to keep in mind should I one day have a family, I didn’t connect with this book as much as I thought I might.

Rating: 4/5 (Excellent book for the right audience.)

“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.” – 1 Chronicles 29:17

This book was provided for review by the Thomas Nelson Publishing Group.  To purchase this book on Amazon, click here. To learn more about the In the Zone organization, check out their website at INTHEZONE.org.