Consider God for a moment. What is He like? Does He have a massive bushy beard hanging low from His chin towards the Earth as He teeters over a cloud to see and judge the world? Is He a skinny pacifist wandering around proclaiming His own deity, but unwilling or unable to defend Himself from the people He was preaching to? Is He even mindful of this small planet or does He have much more pressing cosmic matters to attend to?

Now think about this, what does He think of you? Has He taken enough time away from your galactic sin notebook to really know you? Would He even like you if He truly knew you? Or is He honestly just a little busy with all the kingdoms of heaven and hasn't taken the time to bother with your sector of the planet in a few millennia?

These are the questions that author Larry Shoop tackles in his first book "Does God Smile?" He makes the bold statement within this book that we have all been asking the wrong sorts of questions about God. He says that we have all spent way too much time wondering how we can earn God's acceptance and love when we should be living in it instead because there isn't anything we can do to earn it, and I am inclined to believe him after reading this book.

Larry Shoop merges solid Biblical evidence with very down to Earth examples from his life to craft an argument for a God content with our company rather than our penance. He then takes the next step and gives advice on how to live in light of this benevolent rather than malevolent God.

Shoop asks a very simple question in the beginning of his work, "Suppose God was your neighbor. Would He be friendly?" He spends the rest of his short book describing the God next door as a smiling, accepting, and loving stand up sort of guy that you would want to live next to. Regardless of your spiritual affinity this book is for you simply because of the breath of fresh air that it exhibits when considering who God is.

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