I can’t remember how I discovered this book. I’m not sure if I had heard about it on one of the podcasts I listen to (which has been my tendency lately) or if it popped up on Amazon when I was looking at other books to order and its cover and title intrigued me. Either way, the book was on prayer, and prayer has been one of two areas that I always want to grow in (the other is writing).

I didn’t start the book right away; it sat on my desk for a few months, along with a couple of other prayer books in my “to read” stack. When packing for our summer trip, I picked it up and tossed it in with a few other books for our time in the camper.

I didn’t have any expectations, but when I finally opened Jethani’s book, I realized it was different than, well, than what I expected. The book is divided into six parts and each part has approximately eight segments. The segments are short devotionals with a couple accompanying scriptures for further reflection. They’re easy to read in the morning when getting ready for the day, but have deep, insightful truths.

The segments total fifty-three conclusions Jethani makes about if Jesus was serious about prayer. He includes a comical, yet deep truth, “doodle” with each segment. He also provides plenty of places for the reader to jot notes, thoughts, reflections, or even their own doodles on each of the prayer conclusions and the scriptures.

Don’t let the simplicity and the doodles fool you though. Jethani challenges the reader to take another, harder look at what Jesus thought about prayer and therefore what we should think, do, and be about prayer.