Christmas Gift Idea #2:
Speed Bumps & Life Lessons
I was so pumped about the
60 stories from Mark Ellis in my most recent eNews that I’m wondering: How can I now move on to another book that also requires high praise? Perhaps you have
two friends and need
two Christmas gift books? If so, here’s my Christmas Gift Idea #2:
What’s not to like about a “lessons” book? By my count, I have reviewed dozens of books with "lessons" in the title or subtitle. (Examples: Maxwell,
Drucker, San Quentin, Pope John Paul II, Panera, Mayo Clinic, and many more.)
Ready for more life lessons? Where do you land on this continuum?I WANT TO KNOW NOW...............GLAD I DIDN'T KNOWBefore this week…you’d find me in the “I Want to Know Now” camp. Now 32 powerful first-person stories later, I’m a fully devoted convert to the “Glad I Didn’t Know” spiritual principles that ooze out of Vonna Laue’s life lessons book. This book may change your mind (and your heart).JIM WEST (Chapter 22), cofounder of The Barnabas Group, was grateful he didn’t know—in advance—that after seeing a throat cancer doctor in 2022, the physician would urge him to go home and prepare his will and estate.
“I am glad I didn’t know that God had this speed bump in front of me,” Jim writes in this stunning chapter.
West says he prayed
Joshua 1:9 hundreds of times each week—“a Bible verse I had often heard came alive for me”—
while lying in the radiation tube about 45 minutes per session for 35 sessions (not a typo!). He lists four life lessons, including this: “…when people ask me what I could have done to better prepare myself for the battle,” he responds, “Memorize Scripture ahead of time.”
The book’s format is brilliant—and each short chapter is perfect for spotlighting at your weekly staff meetings in 2025. Leverage the simple outline: a first-person account, followed by “Glad I Didn’t Know” thoughts, then “Life Lessons,” then three “Questions to Consider,” and a Bible verse. (The Scriptures are powerful.)
LARRY PROBUS (Chapter 9) describes being a new Christian and wrestling with the Lord about leaving his business career to become the CFO at World Vision US. He had read a biography about Mother Teresa and in the mid-90s while on a business trip in India, he met Mother Teresa. She asked him, “Tell me why you are in my country?”
Probus sheepishly responded with a very general “we are here on business.” (He did not want to reveal his purpose: to find a distributor for his company’s whiskey brand!) But the contrast of his agenda versus Mother Teresa’s calling was stark.
(This is one of my 32 favorite chapters!)Fast forward. Rich Stearns, president of WVUS at the time, invited Probus to become their CFO. Still wrestling one morning—even though his wife was onboard with the opportunity—he finally said yes. Why? When commuting to work that day, “a new
billboard appeared on my daily route with a picture of Mother Teresa—and the words, ‘Reaching Beyond Yourself. Compassion. Pass it On.”
He called his wife and said, “I give up. I think God is telling us we should do this.” (And LOL: Some years back, Larry Probus told me he suspected that Rich Stearns had put up that billboard!)GLAD I DIDN’T KNOW features 16 riveting stories from women and men who have faced incredible challenges—yet unexpected blessings. Plus, author
Vonna Laue, a CPA and consultant who specializes in the nonprofit space, weaves her own 16 stunning stories (stunning!) into this soul-grabbing book.
Rich Stearns, also the author of
The Hole in Our Gospel, endorses this book: “
Glad I Didn’t Know will life your spirits, make you laugh, and encourage to let go of your fears and entrust them to Jesus. You’ll want to read it at least twice—and maybe twice a year.”
I agree! This is also the perfect book to read unhurriedly on weekends (two or three chapters every weekend).What? LAUGH about life challenges? Yes! Vonna Laue, somehow, sees the humor in her challenging personal stories and God’s touch (Chapter 1: “Quit a Job, Flood a House, Lose a Parent,” and Chapter 21, “You’re Fired!”).
Her transparency is as memorable as her humor. • While caring for her mother in the hospital for a month, she also cared for her mom’s five chickens, four horses, three cats, and two dogs. “Though, by the time I was done, there were only four chickens. Don’t ask.”
• When Vonna and her husband informed their two daughters (eight and four at the time), they were moving from Colorado to California, the oldest was upset and “left a note on our pillow that we were not allowed to move her to California and signed it, ‘The FBI.’” The four-year-old’s response? She started packing!
“LOST, LONELY, BROKE!” Edgar Sandoval Sr.’s story is featured in Chapter 3. You’ll see how his background prepared him uniquely for his current day job: president and CEO of World Vision US. “His own experience with hardship came at age 18, when he returned alone to the U.S. with only $50 in his pocket.” The verse for this story:
Proverbs 3:5-6.
FRANCIS CHAN’S ROPE. In Chapter 15, “Gone Too Soon,” Laue shares the very sad story about her brother-in-law’s passing at age 42. She writes, “I’m glad I didn’t know that planning a funeral is like planning a wedding in four days…” One of her “lessons learned” features the poignant Francis Chan video with a long rope (aka “eternity”).
View the video here:
Vonna Laue suggests you view this picture of today versus eternity in this sermon clip from Francis Chan (3.5 minutes).CHIP WATKINS. In Chapter 19, Chip Watkins shares that he’s glad he didn’t know that his son, Mark, would die unexpectedly in 2015. If he had known, he reflects,
“How you might dread the passing of each day, knowing you are one day closer to the death of your beloved!?” He adds, “With that in mind, I believe God is gracious and merciful in withholding this kind of exact knowledge from us. He gives us grace to walk with Him each day, day after day.”
One lesson learned: “Grieve well.” Watkins writes about
remembering. “We have a leather jacket he once wore and that I occasionally wear. His brother now owns the car that once belonged to Mark.” This prompted me to remember the clip at the end of the documentary, “
It All Begins With a Song” (start at 1 hour, 6 minutes in) on the writing of “
I Drive Your Truck.”
MORE FAVORITE STORIES. Did I mention…my 32 favorite stories?
Oh, my.•
LAURA WHITLEY’s story in Chapter 28, “Caring for Family,” prompted an out-loud
“WOW!” when I read her soul-touching narrative about her father, a Marine, who shared the Marine motto: “The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.” You will not forget this story or the verse:
Deuteronomy 31:8. (Note: Several very meaningful song lyrics are featured in these stories. Chapter 28 sent me back to a favorite of mine: “
When I Go Home.”)
•
HEY, DAD! Follow
JOHN REYNOLDS in his fast-rising career in South Africa, “with a macho roar, a sporty new Porsche convertible pulled up next to us.” His six-year-old son then asked, “Is that your next company car, Dad?” Read how that question changed the trajectory of his life.
•
“HERO COMPLEX.” One of two “name withheld” chapters, “Painful Realizations” recounts how a public health researcher living abroad has learned to “lay aside pride and the role I thought I should play in the Kingdom.” She faced down her “hero complex,” but notes,
“It was surely an exhausting way to learn humility, but I am so much better off for it.”•
JERRY WHITE writes in “From Military to Missions,” Chapter 24, “I am glad I did not fully know the tensions in the work that I would face.”
White served as president of The Navigators for 15 years.
“Part of not knowing opened an avenue of trust and faith that no strategic plan could achieve.” Read why, “Suddenly, I was not a PhD, general, and president. I was a broken, hurting parent and follower of Jesus. A friend, not just their leader.” (Read
Mary White’s account of the tragedy they faced.)
•
BOARD SERVICE? I especially appreciate Vonna Laue’s chapter on being invited to serve on the board of World Vision US. She wondered if she would fit in. Around the table “there was a former governor, a CFO of a major US corporation, leaders of national and international ministries, PhDs and MDs, and, and . . . you get the picture.” Today she serves as board chair!
She asks readers this question:
“Is there any place you are holding back because you don’t believe you are _____ enough?” (Fill in the blank:
good enough, smart enough, connected enough…)
WHEW! I don’t have room to share Stan Reiff’s story (“God Will Never…”) or the two questions his girlfriend (now his wife) asked him. This is my favorite chapter (along with the 31 other stories!) Order two books: one for you and one for a special friend or family member.
TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for
Glad I Didn’t Know: Lessons Learned Through Life’s Challenges and Unexpected Blessings, by Vonna Laue. And thanks to the author for sending me a review copy.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:1) Vonna Laue urges you to create your own “Glad I Didn’t Know” list that highlights your challenges and unexpected blessings.
I’d suggest you title this, “Chapter 33” and list a favorite Bible verse that gives you comfort in the hard times. See also my review of
When Kingdom Light Shines with this suggestion: After you’ve read all 60 short stories (or featured four or five stories at future weekly staff meetings), then host a gathering and call it, “Chapter 61.”
2) Review the Scripture verses highlighted in each chapter and keep them handy (see Jim West's story above). You, or a friend or family member, may need them.
Memorize this one: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (
Isaiah 55:8-9)
UP NEXT! Watch for my review of “Christmas Gift Idea #3”—The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, by Ben Macintyre. “The best true spy story I have ever read,” wrote John Le Carré.
Mastering 100 Must-Read Books
Part 18: The Final Four
Book #100 of 100:
Experiencing GodFor your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #100 in
Mastering 100 Must-Read Books. (Yes! This is the final book in the series. Stay tuned for a new series in the next issue of
Your Weekly Staff Meeting.)
Experiencing God (2021 Edition):
Knowing and Doing the Will of God
by Henry Blackaby (1935-2024),
Richard Blackaby, and Claude King
Books #97 through #100 spotlight “the final four” books in this recommended volume of 100 must-read books. The authors write, “If Balaam lived in our formula-driven day, perhaps he would have written a book,
Donkeys for Dummies…”
• Order from
Amazon.
• Listen on
Libro (11 hours, 3 minutes).
Note: This audio version is from the 2009 book revision. •
Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).
“Please Cancel My Request!” In Mark 2, when the four entrepreneurial friends of the paraplegic man brought their friend to Jesus for healing, Jesus—instead—forgave the man’s sins. Meditating on that passage prompted Henry Blackaby to weep and pray, “O God, if I ever give You a request and You have more to give me than I am asking, please cancel my request!”
CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN
MORE RESOURCES:
Issue No. 658 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Oct. 3, 2025) features a new book coming Oct. 7—describing the four seasons of a CEO. The “...
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