Lost in the Middle

Lost in the Middle: Mid-Life Crisis and the Grace of God by Paul David Tripp

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Paul Tripp is consistently on the mark in diagnosing the sinful condition of the heart, whatever stage of life or topic he addresses. Lost in the Middle does not disappoint. Tripp accurately describes the mid-life problem: a heart fixed on idols that have disappointed you leaves you dissatisfied with and disinterested in life if you don’t re-orient your heart away from the things you crave on earth and back to the Lord. We start excavating our past and are disappointed to find the career or relationship or identity we invested ourselves in for years has not satisfied as we had hoped.

Tripp takes a long time to say it, though. This is the only downside to the book. The stories are often useful for the reader to identify himself as “lost in the middle.” So I don’t begrudge the use or amount of stories. It’s an inherent part of the problem to not realize what is happening to you – that you are lost. So stories of real people suffering a mid-life crisis really help. But the book could have been much shorter and still gotten the point across, it seems. Still, the content of Tripp’s books involved necessary soul searching, which in turn requires slowing down and a meditative, ambling mood. So going over a theme a few times doesn’t hurt. “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you” (Philippians 3:1).

Highly recommended reading for anyone aged about 35-45.
I give this book a rare 5 stars, because it was immensely helpful to me, personally.



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