We are in some weird times right now and life doesn’t feel easy, so when I spotted this book title on NetGalley, I immediately requested it – the little cereal smile on the cover definitely drew me in too!

As the author says:

“…how can we laugh when times are hard and people disappoint? How can we lighten up when storms threaten and anxiety reigns? May these stories remind us that we are loved unreasonably, that we are in good hands, that God has always done amazing things in the dark.”

And you know what, the stories in this book did just that. Each chapter not too long, and like the previous book I read, would probably have been better spaced out over a longer period of time, but I read the book over just a few days. But each chapter made me smile and reminded me of the God who loves me and is the source of my joy.

“Lasting joy is elusive until we understand who we are and whose we are.”

Each chapter started with a ‘dad joke’ and then a quote from someone famous, then continued with a personal story from the author. When I imported the preview copy of this book to my kindle, Amazon messed up the formatting which led to a bit of confusion to start with when I thought the joke was attributed to the author of the quote too – it seemed a bit too unlikely!

I do love a good joke though, the ones that are so bad they’re good are my favourites.

“I was sitting on a plane when the guy beside me said, ‘Look at those people down there. They look like ants’. I said ‘They are ants. We haven’t taken off yet’.”

One of my favourite chapters was misheard lyrics for worship songs, like “Behold he comes, riding on a cow” (riding on a cloud) and “Open the Eyes of My Hot Dog” (My Heart Lord). I couldn’t stop laughing!

I did find that at certain points during the book I wasn’t as engaged, and I think that was more a reflection on me and where my head is right now than a judgment on the book, which I thought was genuinely fab and definitely achieved it’s mission of making me laugh again.

But it definitely wasn’t all laughs either and I highlighted a huge amount of quotes that really made me think. This, though, is the one that stuck with me the most – such a lovely way of interpreting our reminder to be salt (and light) in the world.

“Words are like salt. When blurted unwisely they bring sickness, burden the heart and increase blood pressure. When sprinkled rightly they add flavour, preserve life, and melt ice. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of using our words to build up.”