This one fell a little short

There are some books that just grab you.  One paragraph into the volume and you are just hooked.  It had been my hope that Surviving your Serengeti would be like that.  Unfortunatly...it wasn't.  Mr. Swanepoels intent was obvious and his message was strong.  No doubt many of you would have exactly the opposite opinion than I, so I hesitate to totally give the book a thumbs down.  But for me, it just never grabbed me, didn't draw me in, and I struggled to draw from it what it was meant to provide.

Be the People by Carol Swain

I must make a few admissions before embarking on my review.

If you were to ask someone at random to tell you what a Conservative Christian looked like, I would be willing to say that they would paint a picture of an upper middle class middle aged white male. I must also admit that this was pretty close to my own assumption.

I requested the book Be the People by Carol Swain based entirely on a brief synopsis provided by Thomas Nelson. I knew absolutely nothing of her other than her name on the front cover.

Upon receiving the book, I opened the back cover to find that the photograph of this lovely Black lady totally set any assumptions I formerly held, out the proverbial window.

Her personal story of triumph in itself would be well worth the purchase of this volume, but within its pages are much more than her story. Within this book is our story, and she pulls no punches in her depiction of where we began, what put our Country in the state it is in, and what very well could be our future.

Her thorough assessment of our founding Fathers and how they assembled this Nation is as honest and fresh a telling as I have seen. She takes an intelligent and probing look at every side of the story of the Christian influence and spiritual background of the formers of our way of life. It is expansive, but I found myself reading through it without being able to put it down.

There are issues in this book that gave me trouble. Being a Father of four, her section on abortion was without question one of the hardest things I have ever read in my entire life. As difficult as it was, I read it. Ms. Swain pulls no punches on the tough issues because, quite honestly, if we are to turn this country around, we must look into the issues that have brought us here. She sees the big picture and challenges her readers to do the same.

The book concludes with the Ten Commandments, The Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, and The Constitution of The United States of America. As I said, she covers it all, and leaves us with the documents that form who we are.

I would like to thank Thomas Nelson for providing this book for my review. And I would like to thank Carol Swain for blowing up my stereotypes, and offering me a sometimes difficult, but ultimately necessary look at the state of our great nation.

God is going to get your attention

Okay. Most reviews are going to be about the book...of course. This review is going to be about how God used this book, and by nature of what happened to me, hopefully speack volumes as to the quality of Enemies of the Heart.
Here is the situation.
I am 46. I am overweight. I need to get in shape, and try to loose some pounds. I have known this for a long time. Thats the setup.
Now...here is what happened.
My copy of the book was sent to me for review. I opened the box then went downstairs to switch over some laundry. Huffed and puffed my way back upstairs to the kitchen, and, as I always do. I just open the book to a random page. I do this because it gets me past the "hook" that usually occurs at the begining of a book and gets me to the true writing style and content.
What did I turn to? A passage about a guy named Brian, who suffers from reflux (as do I), is overweight (as am I), and is having some breathing and heart issues (as am I). The Doctor puts him on a regimen of walking thirty minutes a day three days a week (which is what my wife has said I need to do). He wants a quick fix for his heart...loose the weight...fix the heart. The passage ends with Brian really not getting it and the Doctor calling him an "idiot".
After reading this, I felt this big unseen finger tap me on the shoulder as if to say, "Can I make it any clearer".
I read the passage to my wife.
When I read the word idiot, she smiled.
This book if for nothing other than confirming what God wanted me to see (which is really the intent anyway) is 5 stars as determined by this self professed "idiot".

Nothing Empty Here

Church in a movie theatre?  You gotta be kidding me...
That was my point of view until I actually sat down and read one of Mark Battersons works.
A lot of books written on Christianity are just empty.  They have plenty of well written passages and some slick packaging...but the words don't always jump off the page at you.
Primal is not a book like that.  This book preaches with the fire or true faith, and will move you, just as all of his other works have.  In the heart of Mark is a burning desire to escape the mundane christian life and the passified state of lackluster church; to rise above the norm and dare to be a radiant follower of Jesus Christ.  Get this book!!!!!!!!

the zen of the common man

I hate being common. Day to day grind is almost mind numbing to me. I have walked for years under the assumption that God did not put us here to be ordinary, but extaordinary. But now...my tune has changed. Now, I see that even in the day to day grind is an enlightenment that shouts of the true nature and plan of God.
I received this book as part of the Multnomah blogging for books program. I picked this book because none of the others looked like my cup of tea. Actually this one didn't either, but I submitted my request and in a few days I had my copy courtesy of this fine publisher.
In a nutshell...this book messed me up. Every thought I held about the normal or average life was presented to me in a way that caused me to totaly rethink me and my position in this world. Great concept, challenging text, and wonderful insite!
If you don't like the ordinary. Pick up this book, but be ready to see the average as anything but.

I am amazed...

Have you ever felt like life wasn't fair?  Perhaps you feel that life isn't going your way or that no one seems to be going along with your plans.  Have you ever felt like you were an outsider or that you were being singled out as an oddball?  Are there issues within your family that are in need of some God sized healing?  Are there things in your life that you say to yourself you just can't do?  is can't a part of your daily vocabulary?  Read this book, Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life by Nick Vujicic.  As the title suggests...it will take all the afore mentioned personal issues and put them into a very clear perspective...I promise you won't leave this book the same person you were when you found it.
Thanks to Multnomah press for giving me this book free in exchange for this review as a part of their bloggers for books program.

The Ale boys feast

Just finished reading The Ale Boys Feast by Jeffery Overstreet.  An engaging adventure to be sure, but if one has read The Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Xanth series, I am afraid you will...as I did, find this imaginative tale...quite redundant.  Great writer...not so great story.

Sacred Cow Tipping

To say that Mere Churchianity is poking at the establishment is somewhat of an understatement, yet I finished this book by the late Michael Spencer feeling as if there was a profound truth that I needed to glean.

For years, the established church has been a representative of the Devine, but I have often wondered if Christ came and stripped away what He did not want in church, just how much would be left.

The suggestion that we as “believers” are actually “occasional fans” of the Savior was difficult to read, but perhaps that was the intent.  Perhaps our sacred cows that we hide behind or within are keeping us from the REAL Jesus.

I would highly recommend this book to any one who is teaching the teens and college age believers who are at the point of believing in the Lord, but perhaps not the establishment.  Anyone who has struggled with the dichotomy of The Lord of Love and the Head of the Church, should give this book some attention.

If you long to leave the “Church Shaped” life and exchange it for a true life in Christ.  By all means, read this book!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”.

love at last sight

Some books we read for the pure enjoyment of reading while others help us face issues and offer help to overcome struggles that we face.  Kerry and Chris Shook should be thanked and commended for their book "Love at Last Sight".  This is not an easy book to read in the respect that it forces you to take a look at where you are weak or lacking within the confines of your closest relationships.
Though I try to be a good and Godly husband, there are a miriad of areas in my life with my Bride that need attention and assistance.  This book will be a powerful tool in correcting the issues that are rough spots in our road together.
The book is broken up into four weeks worth of reading and each day is written in a consise manner that you can read in one sitting which is very helpful.
I have read the book, and now having read it, my wife and I are going to use it as our evening devotional.  If you want to improve your relationship by better understanding both yourself and your spouse, buy this book!
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Audacious

Audacious.  Not a word that you hear very often, and certainly not one that you use very often, but after reading Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick I think it will find its way to the forefront of my spiritual vocabulary.

Though this book isn’t necessarily written as such, I felt as if I were hearing a sermon.  A sermon from a very motivated and inspiring preacher.  But these aren’t only words, they are built around one of the most amazing accounts of God moving on behalf of his people that you will find in scripture.  The faith, or should I say audacious faith, of Joshua is used as the sounding board that encourages us to get outside the box and start standing firmer on the gift we have been given in our relationship with an all powerful God.  To believe in the impossible, to seek what can’t be seen, to become what we have the potential to be.

After reading this book, I can see how this Pastor Furticks desire to trust God far beyond what he was able to accomplish on his own, moved him into an audacious faith to built a church that not only thrived, but exploded.  It is obvious to me that this man not only preaches it, Steven Furtick puts it into active practice and challenges us to do the same

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

A modern look at sanctification

Take a rubber band and pull it tight.  As long as it is tight you have potential energy, let it go, and all the energy that it stored is released.  This mental picture kept popping up in my mind as I read Mark Battersons newest release, Soulprint.

In Battersons latest, he relies heavily on the life of David and how every area of his life was leading to a much bigger picture; a picture that though often troubled, was rife with God and how this King was guided by Him.

The biggest thing I gleaned from this book is that there really is no need for a self help book that tries to build in you everything you need to succeed.  Batterson maintains, and I agree, that all you need to succeed was within you before you were born.  You were created unique in all the history of the universe and everything you need to fulfill the plan built around that uniqueness is already within you waiting to be recognized.

Sanctification (the process of making holy) is a spiritual concept that in recent times has fallen under the name it and claim it philosophy, and often it is not even a part of the spiritual life.  Mark Batterson has done a great job in both bringing it back to its Biblical foundations and back to the forefront where it belongs.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.