BitterSweetLife

If you have a name as cool as Telford Work, and you're a published author as opposed to a Dickens character, your prose had better be at least marginally discerning and crafty. In a best case scenario, you would combine a dagger-sharp mind with a cunning sense of humor and you'd communicate ancient truth in jaw-dropping, creative bursts. Fortunately for Telford, the latter is the reality.

I first saw Telford's name last week, and after saying it aloud several times to fully appreciate the resonance, I opened a review copy of his brand new book, Ain't Too Proud to Beg, with no idea what to expect. Within a couple paragraphs, I realized that the book would be a marker-up-er--and I started scribbling notes in the margins, recognizing that I had just discovered a strong, penetrating new voice.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg is an exploration of the Lord's Prayer, but unlike much of anything else you'll have read on the topic. Here are some quotes to give you flavor.

Telford introduces himself:

From childhood I thought of prayer as wimpy, and I have never quite shaken that impression. Even after my conversion to living faith the astonishing words of the Lord's Prayer would slip past me as I recited them. That changed too little as I entered my present career. How can a professor of Christian theology not have mastered five verses from the Gospel of Matthew (three in Luke!)? Believe me, it is possible.