Life Is Hard. God Is Good. Let’s Dance.: Experiencing Real Joy in a World Gone Mad

Radio host Hansen (Unoffendable) serves up quirky and inviting essays on what it means to live joyfully in a world full of “anger and anxiety.” A self-described “awkward” misfit (he is on the autism spectrum) who suffered through part of his childhood in the “dysfunctional home of a pastor,” Hansen writes that his decision to live “life to the fullest” is rooted in a deep faith in God’s peace that supersedes “fleeting” earthly challenges and tragedy. In chatty, anecdotal essays, Hansen recalls a trip to a Christian mission hospital in Afghanistan, where he saw a 17-year-old girl whose cleft palate had been fixed marveling at her own reflection in a smartphone camera; discusses the value of worship songs in taking “our attention off lesser things”; and speaks to the power of faith “founded on humility and trust and childlikeness” as well as a willingness to look “uncool” (“So what if they don’t like me? I’m going to try to love my neighbors anyway”). The author’s breezy tone (“I never went to parties in high school. No, I was (for real) the president of the Illinois Student Librarians Association”) will easily endear him to readers, and his plainspoken insights (“Being at peace doesn’t mean knowing and understanding everything.... It means simply trusting the character of God”) evince a spiritual wisdom that believers can carry with them into their daily lives. This optimism booster has a light touch and a lasting impact. (Jan.)