Review of Life’s Not Always Easy by Gordon Kuhrt

By Gary Jenkins

First published on Redhill Thoughts

 In his time Gordon Kuhrt has been a university teacher, a vicar, an archdeacon and the Church of England's Director of Ministry, now retired, he writes as a grandfather speaking to his grandchildren.

In 'Life's not always easy' Gordon tells his grandchildren about his early life: his many years of separation from his parents who were missionaries in India (he didn't see them at all for five years between the age of 5 and 10); and the many operations and treatment that he underwent, with all the attendant suffering, that arose from the fact, as he tells them, 'I was born with clubbed feet.'

He tells them about what it's like to be different, to be pitied, to be bullied, to have a part of your body that appears ugly or unusual, to be misunderstood, to miss school, and to be in pain and suffer from discomfort.

In the second half of the book, still talking to his own grandchildren (and all the other children and adults listening in) he asks some of the hard questions: why do people suffer pain, where is God in all this and does God heal people?

Here we have well-thought out, biblically faithful answers, compassionately and simply expressed in a way a child can understand (and so can the rest of us).

In short, a most unusual and remarkable book. He wrote it, he tells his grandchildren, because he loves them, he prays for them daily, and he knows that their 'lives will not always be easy.' For the Kuhrt grandchildren it's a remarkable gift, but it is one that will help many other children too.

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Gary Jenkins is Vicar of Holy Trinity, Redhill

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The easiest and cheapest way of obtaining copies of 'Life's Not Always Easy' is to purchase them directly from the author. Price: £7 a copy (including postage). Email omkuhrt@tiscali.co.uk