Running on Empty: Contemplative Spirituality for Overachievers Book

Learn to live with God instead of for God.

Sometimes the only way to get a new life is by running your old one completely into the ground.

Fil Anderson had accomplished more for God than most of his contemporaries, but his worn-out body housed an empty soul. His frenetic pace of ministry had earned him just one thing: greater pressure to do even more. He had fallen for the soul-killing lie that doing more for God would give his life meaning. Then the godly admonition of a spiritual director set this burned-out believer on a life-saving spiritual path.

This powerful story of a reawakened soul can be the story of every person who has pursued spiritual productivity over intimacy with God and come up empty. It’s the story of reclaiming your soul and finding a home in the center of God’s relentless love. It’s the journey from self-importance to God-importance.

The solution is not greater achievements for the kingdom of God. It’s time to stop living for God and start living with God.

In this candid and achingly authentic book, Fil Anderson shares the healing insights that restored his spiritual compass and guided him back to God … the God who specializes in filling empty souls.

“To the harried and the unharried, I pray that this book will minister to your heart in the profound way that it has blessed mine.” —Brennan Manning

Publishers Weekly

Until 15 years ago, Anderson was spinning his wheels in a frenetic attempt to bring others into a deep relationship with God through his work with the evangelical group Young Life, all the while allowing his busyness to sabotage any hope of enjoying his own relationship with God. An encounter with Brennan Manning (who contributes the foreword for this book) reignited Anderson's passion for God and rerouted his spiritual journey, a journey that provides the backdrop for this uneven book. Primarily a memoir, the book weaves in encouragement for others who are plagued by both a hectic life and a shallow view of God. It's highly readable, though repetitive in describing the obstacles to a genuinely satisfying and authentic spiritual life. But what the book suffers from most is a misleading subtitle: Contemplative Spirituality for Overachievers implies practical guidance, but there's little here that might help overachievers incorporate contemplative practices into their lifestyle. Anderson describes a few of those practices, but others, like the foundational practice of living in the moment, are mentioned only briefly, and anecdotally at that. Now executive director of Journey Resources and a spiritual director who trains others to provide spiritual direction, Anderson is in a prime position to write a more focused book that would live up to the promise of this book's subtitle. Let's hope he does. (Feb. 17) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.