Drops Like Stars by Rob Bell

Drops Like Stars is a book written by author, Rob Bell. Rob Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan and author of “Velvet Elvis”(2005) and “Sex God” (2007). “Drops Like Stars” (2009) is his most recent piece, in which he has been on a speaking tour for the book that began in January 2009. Bell describes in his book that, in many ways, like in movies, for instance, life is sugar-coated. Every story has a happy or meaningful ending. Every story gets resolved in one way or another. However, living in reality, everyone knows that many things do not get resolved. Many stories lived cannot be scripted into a happy ending. And when things go wrong, people find themselves traveling down new roads.
In “Drops Like Stars”, we are invited to travel down this road together, with Bell, who writes as our tour guide into the depths of human suffering and the relationships between suffering and creativity. Suffering is inevitable and in his book, Bell tackles the question of “what now?” instead of “why this?”
Published in 2009 by Zondervan, “Drops Like Stars” is an original piece that lets us see pain up close and the creativity that comes from the “empty” places inside of us. Bell drives this point home through photographic messages and scenarios that tells our story for us. The book offers insights into the unspoken world of pain through what Bell ironically calls the “arts” which includes the six sections the book is split up into: the arts of disruption, honesty, the ache, solidarity, elimination, and failure.
The Art of Disruption
Lives are merely groups of stories. Some test endurance and strength while others come in bundles of joy and are pleasurable and pleasing to the eyes and soul. Bell describes how many of these stories are not glossed into a "Hollywood" ending. Through unique scenarios and examples, Bell shows the reader how life's disruptions force them into new places, somewhere they have never been before. This is a place where new experiences and opportunities arise from the heartache and despair—all of which are totally unexpected, yet none the hell, hurt like hell. People who have had all they've every known taken away from them had no other choice but to formulate that experience into a totally new life.
" They Had No Other Option But to Imagine a Totally New Tomorrow. We could call this the Art of Disruption"-Rob Bell"Drops Like Stars"
The Art of Honesty
"Drops Like Stars" Quote from The Art of Honesty"And so we're polite and we play by the rules and when asked how we are, we answer, I'm fine, thank you, just like we are supposed to..."
But then, suddenly, most of the time without warning, something happens. Something gets disrupted, shattered, or removed from the life we've come to get used to living. Again, we find ourselves in a new place. A place where the "empty place" inside of us opens up". This is where, through pain and maybe tears, we are forced to become honest with ourselves and the world around us.
Here in this section of The Art of Honesty, Bell talks through scenarios of where superficial saying and actions (such as "I'm fine, thank you" when asked how we are doing), don't take us to the place where the "empty" place inside of every being can open up. Those superficial words and actions only cause a numbness to the pain aching inside of us.
This section describes how people need to be honest to grow. Even though the truth hurts, it needs to come out. The superficials are just that—superficial, and do not take us to the place where the "empty" place allows the truth to come out.
The Art of The Ache
The ache that tags along with suffering moves us because it is real and it reminds us that life is not about the superficial gestures and words we spit out on a daily basis. The ache creates a bond that connects us to each other.
"I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me"-Richard Ashcroft, lyrics to the song "Bittersweet Symphony"
Bell begins this section with these lyrics.
He also talks about the song by Maya Angelou entitled "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"
He moves on by saying how many songs there are out there that have been written referring to some kind of ache. Those kinds of songs, which sing about pain, move us. Bell's question here is: Why?
Because it's real. Songs like "Bittersweet Symphony" isn't sugar coated. Many songs have been born of suffering and honesty. The ache is real, all have felt it and to have it amplified in a song, singing loud and clear, makes it all the more read to all who have felt pain in some form or another.
As Bell states in this section, "The ache reassures us that we're not the only ones who feel this way".
When we realize we aren't so alone anymore, this realization can enable the "empty place" inside of us to open up.
The Art of Solidarity
Once people realize there is a bond out there that connects us universally, we begin to feel solid. We know we aren't the only ones going through some sort of pain. Bell explains how solidarity comes from understanding pain is universal.
When amplified, pain is something everyone connects with. Everyone has felt it. Once a person realizes that pain is everywhere, the pain lessens. The pain allows strength. Strength allows us to open up the "empty" place, where we find out things about ourselves we couldn't have come across without stripping the superficial or without stripping the honesty.
The Art of Elimination
Pain allows us to eliminate the hype and gloss that surrounds us on a daily basis, where we are able to find values that have been within us the entire time.
Bell reminds us of an important fact that gets "glossed over" by all that's superficial. In order to find ourselves, it is more important to "take away" than to "add on".
He uses a metaphor where he gives artists bars of soaps. Through pictures, Bell shows us how those ordinary bars of soap are transformed to extraordinary masterpieces. A bird was created from one bar and string of chains from the other.
Bell also uses a strikingly memorable metaphor of Johnny Cash.
Cash performed solo, without his band, which was something that made him nervous. He wasn't used to it. It was just him and his guitar. Bell says how many people remembered that performance because it was so different from all the other performances. It stuck out from all other memories of Cash's performances. He says that people said it was "beautiful" because it was so different from what they were used to seeing.
The point of these metaphors is to get the reader to understand that Elimination, though scary or mysterious, has the ability to turn something out into a masterpiece.
The Art of Failure
Bell reminds us that a failure is not a mistake, but an opportunity “to grow, expand, evolve, and learn.” Actions taken cannot be taken back, and many times, this cause feelings of "the world is over" when it really is NOT. Bell reminds the reader that failure doesn't exist..it's just another form of the human being's phase of life.
Failure is a feeling, a state of mind. Failure is merely a perception, before success. Bell reminds us that NOBODY succeeds without "failing" first.
Other Facts about Drops Like Stars
The book has been added to the “To Write Love on Her Arms” booklist that can be found on for purchase. It can also be purchased at , its publishing site or on and ranges from $20-$40 for either soft cover or hardcover.

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