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The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry cover art

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Written by: John Mark Comer,John Ortberg - foreword
Narrated by: John Mark Comer,Kris Koscheski
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Publisher's Summary

ECPA best seller • A compelling emotional and spiritual case against hurry and in favor of a slower, simpler way of life

"As someone all too familiar with ‘hurry sickness,’ I desperately needed this book." (Scott Harrison, New York Times best-selling author of Thirst)

"Who am I becoming?"

That was the question nagging pastor and author John Mark Comer. Outwardly, he appeared successful. But inwardly, things weren’t pretty. So, he turned to a trusted mentor for guidance and heard these words:

"Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life."

It wasn’t the response he expected, but it was - and continues to be - the answer he needs. Too often, we treat the symptoms of toxicity in our modern world instead of trying to pinpoint the cause. A growing number of voices are pointing at hurry, or busyness, as a root of much evil.

Within this audiobook, you’ll find a fascinating road map to staying emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world.

©2019 John Mark Comer (P)2019 Random House Audio

What the critics say

“As someone all too familiar with ‘hurry sickness’, I desperately needed this book.” (Scott Harrison, New York Times best-selling author of Thirst)

“Necessary. Freeing.” (Annie F. Downs, best-selling author of 100 Days to Brave and Remember God)

“There are those rare books that every single waking person needs to immediately go read. This is that book. We’ve found no better conversation or a more much-needed antidote to our culture’s problem of busyness and hurry than John Mark’s words in this book. Beyond helpful and encouraging and insightful to us!” (Alyssa and Jefferson Bethke, New York Times best-selling authors of Jesus > Religion and Love That Lasts

What listeners say about The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

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Cautiously worth your time.

Reasons this is very worth listening to:
- Important considerations for what purpose hurry is serving in your life and what shifting this may also reveal
- Interesting reasoning and facts regarding where we are as culture with hurry and screen-focused.
- Offers multiple approaches to shifting our relationship with hurry (so long as you do not take his suggestions as rules to follow)
- Particularly enjoyed his inclusion of silence and solitude
- Relatively short, can re-listen later to get some of what you'll miss the first time through.
- Tone is enjoyable and overall the whole thing is very listen-able (basically listened to the whole thing in one day)


Criticisms:
- Still seems very much tied into the American Evangelical culture, to the point much of what is suggested still whiffs of "do this, do that" and some of the ways things are phrased sound like a 3-point sermon
- Fairly dismissive of people with different personality styles, asking people to fit into his preferred style; this is rather inflexible and limits the potential benefits readers/listeners could gain if they are not "rule-followers"
- Both these add up to a sense the author may be a bit young still and possibly has gotten sucked into the Evangelical book culture, this one being a "and my life fell apart so here is the method I used to pick up the pieces" style.
- Instead, could approach the areas he is talking about in a "what effect is this having on your physical/emotional/spiritual wellbeing?" so as to convey the option of a possibly better way of living without saying his way is the healthy way.
- Would be helpful to allow for more uncertainty and flexibility in eliminating hurry. Seems as though following what he says could easily lead you to lay down the yoke of hurry only to pick up the yoke of legalistic rule-following.

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I couldn't finish it. Author too self-absorbed.

I'm a huge fan of titles from authors like Ryan Holiday so, based on the title and description, I purchased this book from John Mark Comer thinking it would be similar. - I was wrong.

After 3+ hours of listening, I could not force myself to finish the final 2 hours. This is the FIRST book I've purchased from Audible that I chose not to finish. Why? I found the author to be way too self-absorbed. I lost track of how many times he talked about how important he is and how busy he is living as a (self-perceived) rockstar while leading his megachurch. - Perhaps it is a cultural thing; I'm Canadian and admire humility. The author was the opposite of humble, so I found his message did not resonate with me.

If you purchase the book, I hope you will get more from it than I did.

Thank you for making time to read my feedback. Take care.

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Thought provoking, challenging & valuable teaching

John Mark Comer has a way with words that spoke to my heart. Very personal, while still being thought provoking and bringing challenge to the way we live & accept fast paced lives without question. A lot of solid reminders and teaching to slow down and walk with Jesus and as He did.

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Such a good read!

Really enjoyed Comer’s perspective and outlook on rest and what that looks like in everyday life. I really like that he read his own book as well. Thumbs up for me! Great read!

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Thank you

Thank you so much for this book… I needed to hear it… I’d never really thought about what it meant to take up the east yoke… now I have a deeper understanding.

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Great book

A Timely reminder for this generation. Very well written and easy to follow. Strongly recommended.

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A hard hitting book for those who rush through life

Wow, this was filled with principles, reminders, encouragement and challenges that I hope to include in my life going forward. Thank you for your wise words and pointing your reasonings back to Jesus. This book will question not only how you live, but the pace you live at. All in a loving way.

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The best book i read in 2023.

Also the first but that doesn't matter. It will probably still be the best book read in 2023 even at the end of the year. Highly recommended. This book spoke to my soul. I am definitely the target audience and I learned a lot.

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Such a good book!!!

People need to read this and try to apply it. I've already implemented some of the things mentioned. Jesus really is offering us an easy joke and it worth to come to Him and do it His way

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incredibly timely and helpful

everything about this book was wonderful it was so helpful timely and engaging John Mark Homer does such a wonderful job and trying to elicit a response of action that doesn't come from a place of manipulation but a place of joy

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