"Soul Cravings," Erwin Raphael McManus (Nelson Books, November, 2006)

Reading "Soul Cravings" is like cracking open Erwin McManus' journal. McManus explores the human drive toward the ethereal, claiming that this natural tendency is evidence of God the Creator.

He breaks the introductory look at these "Soul Cravings" into three categories: intimacy, destiny and meaning. He writes on various levels about each of these cravings, describing them and defining them in terms of human nature and existence.

McManus urges readers to look inward to see what he is describing and to understand themselves so that they may more efficiently interpret the world at large.

"The real struggle is not with knowing the world beyond us, but with knowing the world within us," McManus writes.

"So much of your life journey can be explained by your soul cravings. Your soul knows its uniqueness. And a voice somewhere deep inside you longs to discover it. It calls you out and beckons you to pursue it."

Examples throughout the book draw heavily from pop culture. McManus uses icons such as Starbucks coffee and the language of e-mail, as well as movies and songs. That bridge to the world, along with the general tone of the book, seems to place it squarely in the hands of a seeker audience.

It isn't heavy on spiritual concepts, except to assert that there is indeed a spiritual realm and readers ought to consider it. It isn't heavy on discipleship and the difficulties of Christianity. Instead, it offers a rudimentary look at the possibility of God's existence. For a spiritual seeker it may bridge the gap between the world and the Church. That has been McManus' expertise as the lead pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles. He understands how figuring out who you are is key to figuring out who God is—and how that ties into the Christian message.

"We're all struggling to figure ourselves out," McManus writes. "We're all afraid to expose our souls to those who might judge us, and at the same time we desperately need help to guide us on this journey." Then he goes on to essentially paraphrase Mark 8:36, saying, "If we're not careful, we might find ourselves with everything this world has to offer and later find we have lost ourselves in the clutter."

This is a book for young Christians, not-yet-Christians, and possibly church leaders interested in some ideas for translating the Bible to the youth culture.