jason d
Puritan Board Freshman
Resolving Everyday Conflict
Author: Ken Sande and Kevin Johnson
Narrator: Maurice England
“Everyone encounters conflict--whether it be with a coworker, family member, friend, or complete stranger. And yet we all desire harmony in our relationships. Resolving Everyday Conflict is a practical, biblical, concise guide to peacemaking in everyday life that can turn tumultuous relationships into peaceful ones.”
Thus the book says of itself in a blurb, and it is true. No matter how much we may try to avoid it, conflict of some sort happens. And this book gives an excellent overview of the Biblical principles and mandates to go about resolving conflict.
This book is basically a condensed version of “The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict” by the same author. I took a break from reading that book (only chapters away from being done) to listen to this audiobook and was surprised what a great summation it is of this larger work (which I highly recommend). I typically do not like abridged or summarized versions of books (since it was not the author’s intent), but since this was done by the same author he did an excellent job.
Whether you are a church leader or layman I can’t recommend this book enough. Don’t think about going to it in the midst or after a conflict (like I did), but get it in times of peace so that you may know how to rightly, Biblically, handle a conflict in a God-honoring fashion whenever one may come up in the future.
If you are a light reader I would suggest this book (coming in at 128 pages), but if you want more detail on any of the points in the book or aren’t afraid of larger tomes then get The Peacemaker instead (coming in at 320 pages). Either way, the book is full of practical, real life examples to help you handle conflict with a clear conscience.
I listened to the audio book, so to comment on the narrator, well, this was one of the first narrators I initially didn’t like. He sounded like my grandpa had sat me down by the fire and was going to read a fairy tale to me. I think he would be a better voice for a children’s book rather than a book like this. But, he is clear and easy to understand so I didn’t let that get in the way of enjoying and benefiting from this book.
Case in point, you will get into conflict in your life (even if you try to avoid it), you will need help to resolve issues, and this book does just that.
