The Call To Wonder by R.C. Sproul Jr.

The Call to Wonder by RC Sproul is the latest book that I’ve received from Tyndale House for reviewing the book.

The book mostly focuses on the various aspects of being “like little children“, and how these relate to our relationship with God.

Some of these are fairly straightforward… such as the call to trust our Father, and the nature of children to be happy to be able to please just for the sake of being able to please. (He does actually have 8 kids… though sometimes looking at the kids that I know I might the question the latter trait.)

The call to wonder itself, from the title, is one of these but not the entire book focus as I had expected.

Some points of the book were made really well, such as the difference between just being in awe and feeling small in comparison to being in wonder and thrilled with the mystery of the vastness.

His approach on some of the topics was different that what I’m used to, and really made me think of things differently at times.

One that particularly struck me was a minor point made that what God says can be trusted, because what he says becomes reality. He says there is light, and there is light. The example was used that if God said that the author is a car, God would not being lying, the author would find himself suddenly having wheels.

However… at other times, this also made me feel like I’m really just not quite getting it. I found myself wishing this were a class instead of a book so I could ask him to explain it a bit differently or give another illustration.

The example of this that stands out to me is in a discussion of his special needs daughter.

He explained that when we enter the presence of God, we are transported in location into another realm.
(Got it this far..)
But because God is eternal, his presence is in eternity… so when we enter, we are as well… thus we are also transported into another realm of time, not just a different realm of location.
(New, but ok, I follow here..)
So he believes that in these times, since we are in eternity, we are also past the victory… and so in these moments his daughter is healed, and can understand him perfectly, and can speak, though she doesn’t as it then allows him to believe by faith instead of sight.
(Ok, I’m not quite sure that I’m getting this one. If I have a broken arm in the physical realm and current time, being in the presence of God may transport my spirit.. but my arm would still be stuck here and now. Though, yes, I do believe that the presence of God showing into this realm can change things here, I guess I’m just not quite getting the connection on how he’s getting where he’s getting here.)

I think I might have preferred reading this book as part of a group study, mainly to be able to discuss and try to get some of the points where I feel like I’m just not quite getting it… but it is a good book and an interesting read, and does have some perspectives that were new to me and made me think about things in a different way.

1st Chapter .PDF

Tyndale book page

Amazon book page

Healing is a Choice by Stephen Arterburn

Healing is a Choice by Stephen Arterburn is the latest book I’ve received from Thomas Nelson for reviewing.

This particular version is an updated and revised version that also includes the workbook that goes along with the book.

Each chapter of the book focuses on a particular choice each person has to make to choose healing, and the common lie that counters it. For example, the choice to forgive, and the lie that forgiveness must be earned. There is a list of ten total.

The writing style is easy to read, and gives lots of real life examples to show how each point plays out. The choices/lies themselves are pretty standard, nothing too groundbreaking or controversial.

To someone who is new to reading “recovery” sorts of books, this is probably very useful and maybe even rough to work through in some areas… going more into depth in sometimes painful spots.

Personally, in some ways it does seem like it made the concept more complicated than needed by breaking it down so much. Some of the different chapters seem like they have quite a bit of overlap with others, and it seems at times that focusing on each of the particular areas of the choice to move on with your life sort of loses the focus on the big picture.

The overall message is good that each person has to make their own choice to choose (repeatedly) to move on with their life instead of allowing it to trap them into wallowing. But I’m not sure this would be my top choice of books on that point to recommend to someone.

However, if I did, I think that I might actually tell them to get the older version instead. There was good content in the workbook sections that I wish would have been put into the book chapters themselves, but the way this version was done really didn’t make the combination go smoothly. The workbook sections appear to have been taken directly from the original workbook, and follow each of the regular chapters.

It was sort of annoying to read the chapter, do some exercises as the chapter went along, then have the same stories that you’d just read a few pages before be retold in a summary version, and then have many of the same exercises repeated… mixed in with some new ones and a meditation and prayer section.

It also makes the book feel really long. The chapter length itself isn’t bad, but when the extra repetition is added, they feel long to go through. (Total of about 450 pages)

I really wish that if they were taking the time and expense to make the new version, that they would have gone further and really merged the content together and removed the duplicated areas and made things a lot smoother.

It is a good book…. and can probably really change lives for some. But just not the best formatting, and maybe too divided and detailed.

Thomas Nelson book page

Amazon

Raised Right by Alisa Harris

Raised Right by Alisa Harris is the latest book that I’ve received from Waterbrook Multnomah for reviewing.

The book is essentially the memoirs of a girl who was raised in one of the segments of Christian culture that is activist oriented.

She tells a lot of stories about her life, as she was involved even as a young child with abortion protests and all sorts of political activities for the Republican party… because that’s what God would have them do.

She then details her transition to adult life in college, and the issues that came up when she became disillusioned with the choices of politicians, and had to discover for herself where politics ended and where Christianity really stood.

Was it even possible to be both a Christian and a democrat? Or even to go as far as to be both a Christian and pro-life, to believe both that abortion is a sin and to still believe that women should be allowed to choose that sin?

She also discusses some of the darker encounters with the church… including her home church staging an intervention because they believed she should drop out of college and focus on forming a family rather than feminist things like career… and an encounter with a pastor who disagree with something that she’d written on her personal page online, who decided to then recruit people to put pressure on her employer about it.

The book is a really interesting read… and I regret to say, I totally know some Christians like those she deals with at various stages.

I guess in a way, I’m a little surprised that she wrote the book. Partially because I expect she’ll be seeing more encounters with jerks in the name of Christ over it’s contents. Because I imagine they’d be offended, as that sort tends to be fairly easily.

But also a bit because I wonder how much it will be more of a tool of those who oppose Christianity than a tool to help those who’ve grown to confuse God with politics and issues. There are some examples of sane and reasonable Christians in the book… but to a non-believer reading it, the impression would probably be more along the lines of “See, Christians are jerks and really it’s just politics using the guise of religion.”

While that’s probably fair for some… I guess I just wish that she’d made the distinction more that the vast majority of Christians are not these jerks.

Waterbrook Multnomah page for the book

Amazon

Married Mom, Solo Parent by Carla Anne Coroy

I recently received Married Mom, Solo Parent from the Litfuse group for reviewing the book, and it’s a book of solid advice for moms who may feel like they are raising their kids alone, even if they are married and their husband isn’t staying involved for whatever reason.

It’s a good book that seems solid in it’s biblical backing… and while the overall theme is that you’ve got to run your own race as best that you can regardless of who may or may not be running theirs well, it by no means sugarcoats how hard this can be sometimes.

The advice given is very real and paractical, towards topics from dealing with your own emotions to discipline, and gets openly personal on struggles she has faced along the way with her family showing that she’s been there before herself and knows what it’s like to be facing the things she’s giving advice about

—

About the book:

For married women who feel like single parents.

Bookstore shelves are full of parenting resources for moms who are newly divorced or widowed. But where do moms turn if they feel like a single parent–but they’re not? Whether he is away on business, deployed in the military, or obsessing over a computer game, dad may not be available for a variety of reasons. Moms who parent in this situation still need help and don’t necessarily relate to the advice given in divorce recovery or single parenting resources.

Married Mom, Solo Parent is a common-sense, down-to-earth look at the struggles wives and mothers face when their husband is not actively involved in family life. Writing from her own experience as a married single mom, Carla Anne Coroy will help wives and mothers sort through their questions, such as: Can I do this alone? How do I raise kids to honor their father? How do I give my children a healthy perspective of marriage if they never see one in action? With practical suggestions, anecdotes, and biblical teaching, this book will encourage moms to see their position as a high calling, to find healing for their worries and frustrations, and to tap into God’s strength for help in facing the daily challenge of being a married mom, solo parent.

 About Carla:

 

Carla Anne Coroy runs the Married Single Mom blog at www.carlaannecoroy.blogspot.com. She speaks regularly and serves as a staff writer for an online Christian women’s magazine Mentoring Moments for Christian Women. Carla Anne lives in Canada with her husband and four homeschooled children. For more information, visit www.carlaanne.com. 

Link to buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/082542626X/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=sprightly-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=082542626X&adid=18T679F6F2H2SG6Z9WDX

About the party:  

Come to an encouraging MomChat party on Facebook…you could win a KindleTouch! 

To celebrate the release of her new book Carla has partnered with her publisher, Kregel, to host a live MomChat party on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=177346262342482

The party will wrap up the blog tour (http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/text/13420715) and Carla will be hosting an encouraging MomChat about all things mom and wife related. There will also be a fun contest and she’s giving away a KindleTouch and a ton of other fun stuff (books, gift certificates and more!).

So RSVP today and then come back on 10/25 at 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern for the party.

Don’t miss the fun … and tell your friends.

Blog tour schedule: http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/text/13420715

Night of the Living Dead Christian by Matt Mikalatos

Night of the Living Dead Christian by Matt Mikalatos is the latest book I’ve received from Tyndale for reviewing it. Which sort of surprised me because it totally doesn’t seem that long ago that I was trying to figure out how to explain his last book in a review without giving away too much, and now I’m back. LOL

Like Imaginary Jesus, Night of the Living Dead Christian is again a book that is written mostly from the author’s perspective seemingly in reality and yet actually operating in an analogy. Sort of.

It’s part funny book about vampires and werewolves, and part thought provoking book about Christians still struggling with their issues, and actually does this both at the same time.

What the book was getting at was actually clearer in this book a lot quicker than the earlier book, where I spent a good bit trying to figure out what was going on, and seemed to get moving a lot smoother.

The book is really well written and funny, one of those books you end up finding yourself still reading an hour after you thought you were just going to pick it up for a few minutes. The story moves well, even in the times when it’s essentially giving you background information.

For being something with a monster theme, the fights and injuries are done well… giving you enough detail to know what happened instead of just a vague “there was a fight”, but, not going so far into detail and gore to make the reader feel like they need to hide their eyes until its over. (Ok, so the eyes hiding thing doesn’t work as well with a book as a monster movie…)

The monsters also aren’t exactly scary villains, most of the time anyway, so people who aren’t really into horror sorts of things will probably still be ok with this book… though I think I may have a few of these guys hiding in my closets. Those expecting the vampires to be sparkling and romantic may be a bit disappointed though.

And the one thing that I have to warn you about… is to pay attention to chapter headings. I’ve discovered exactly how much I don’t… because at times some of the chapters will be notes from the werewolf, which baffled me for about half a page every time. It’s very clearly stated in the chapter heading…. the tone is completely different… about the only way they could have marked it as different any more would have been to change fonts or something for the clueless… and yet, I still kept missing it and wondering at the odd change of tone and perspective. So watch the headings.

It’s a funny book, while still prompting deep thinking, and a cute book for the near halloween timing. (Yes, I just called a monster theme book cute. Oddly enough)

1st Chapter as a .PDF file

Tyndale’s page for the book

Amazon

God’s Love Letters to You by Dr Larry Crabb

God’s Love Letters to You is a 40 day devotional by Larry Crabb, and the latest book that I’ve received from Thomas Nelson for reviewing it. It says that it’s actually based on another of his books called 66 Love Letters, however, I haven’t read that book, so it was new to me, and I can’t really say anything on comparison.

Each devotional takes lists a particular book of the bible, and has a verse from it, and then has a short passage written from the perspective of God as to ways that his love is shown through that book, in the form of a note from him.

It then has a few questions to think about, and a prompt to start you off in prayer.

These are a quick read, shorter than I had expected… probably about 5 minutes for most people depending how much time you spend on the questions.

A lot of them were really interesting though… ways that I really hadn’t looked at different happenings as ways he was showing his love.

Thomas Nelson page for the book

Amazon.com

In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson

In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson is the latest book I’ve received from Waterbrook Multnoma for reviewing it, and really ought to get some sort of prize for most interesting title.

The title and basis for the book’s analogy comes from 2 Samuel 23:20 -23…

“20 There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warriortfrom Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two championst of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it.21 Once, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.22 Deeds like these made Benaiah as famous as the Three mightiest warriors. 23 He was more honored than the other members of the Thirty, though he was not one of the Three. And David made him captain of his bodyguard.”

The book does sort of assume more into this passage at times… but makes some good points that sometimes things that are opportunities to build us for the future seem like scary lions at the time, but that often the life of truly following God is going to involve some things that seem scary and crazy if you were to look at them purely from a logical perspective.

It’s a good reminder that things aren’t always supposed to be safe and comfortable, and that sometimes the reason for dealing with a lion now is to prepare us for being the king’s bodyguard a bit down the road.

(Off topic rabbit trail… snow? For some reason, my mental images of biblical areas and the middle east do not include snowy pits. Desert… heat… some mountains… few caves.. bit of wilderness.. but snow? How have I never realized the area of David’s kingdom got cold enough to have snow in it? I feel like I missed something somewhere. Did the rest of Isreal have snow? Did Jesus have to deal with snow at some point as a human? This is just weird to me.)

Waterbrook page for the book

Amazon

Uplifting vs downtrodding

I’ve come to find that certain types of books meant to be helpful and useful to improving your life somehow rarely are.

At least to me.

The biggest two of these for me always seem to be the ones on the topic of “lost child” / “ghost child” / “invisible child” family roles in a dysfunctional families, and those for dealing with parenting difficult children.

These books always seem to make me feel worse after reading it than I did before.

I’d be the first to admit I’ve got my issues… but the books about lost child role always leave me feeling like i’m one step from the psych ward…. and like there’s soo soo much different from being anything passable for a productive member of society.

I may not be someone who will ever pass for being normal, but under general conditions I like to feel like at least some progress has been made.. some things have been worked out… there’s some hope for at least being somewhere in the middle of the spectrum rather than a hopeless case forever doomed by defense mechanisms learned in a different environment that are overreactive and no longer appropriate for the situation.

Whether or not it’s true, even if maybe I’m just under delusion most of the time when not reading this stuff.. I fail to see how making me feel that way is productive. Even if they are right, and the work to aim towards dealing more and more with the past issues as time goes on isn’t going to fix things ever… at the very least it’s not making strides in the other direction. Feeling like a hopeless cause on the other hand could head that direction pretty fast.

And the books on parenting difficult children either make me feel like I want to lock them in a room with my kid for a few hours and let them learn what a difficult child really is… or make me feel like I’m raising the next ax murder. I get enough of both feelings from dealing with people in everyday life, I don’t need any more of either, thanks.

What exactly is the point of a self-help or life improvement book if it’s not going to be aimed at the purpose of being uplifting and hopeful? I mean, you’ve got to believe there is hope at the very least to have anything else the book might say matter at all.

Jolt by Phil Cooke

 

Jolt by Phil Cooke is the latest book I’ve received from Thomas Nelson for reviewing it. But I think it may not have been the best choice.

The information on the book sounded good, with all of the changes happening learning to harness it to my benefit could only be helpful.

But this just wasn’t really up my alley in styles. To me it came off with the entire first chapter seeming as hyped as an infomercial… complete with crazy distractions including text being set at odd angles, random tire mark looking decorations behind headlines, and random quotes being set in at random places without ever being connected with the other content around them.

From there it mellowed out on the hype and gimmicky style and basically flipped into motivational speaker fodder. If you are one of those people who likes motivational speakers and those inspirational trait posters, this might be just what you are looking for.

Especially if you are into business. The information about the book barely mentioned anything about business, instead saying it applied to “your life”, but there’s a lot of sections that go off into business applications but then only briefly mention “oh and this could apply to your life too” without ever going into exactly how, or why they didn’t just focus on that part in the first place. Well, unless you are hosting regular, hour long, off-site, brainstorming sessions with a team of people small enough to be fed with 2 pizzas for managing your daily life?

For the rest of us, well, honestly I think I learned and remembered more just re-reading the table of contents titles and subtitles and flipping through glancing at the bold and headlines to refresh my memory before writing this than I did actually reading through it.

It sounded good from the initial descriptions… but just really was not what I was looking for.

Thomas Nelson page

Amazon

Max on Life by Max Lucado

Max on Life by Max Lucado is the latest book I’ve received from Thomas Nelson for reviewing, and it’s not your typical book by Max.

This book has a completely different format… it’s entirely question and answer. He does group these into chapter-like sections of similar topics, but it’s not any sort of storyline or plot here.

Each page starts with a particular question, and the rest of the page is spent on the answer. A handful in each section will overlap onto the next page by maybe a paragraph, but these are the exception.

Sometimes some of the answers seem a little bit of a pat answer, but I think that’s mostly due to this format… I mean, these are topics that people regularly spend books explaining, and he’s trying to answer it in a single page.

But he does really well overall. Most of the answers are a mix of his thoughts and scripture, though some lean a bit heavier one direction or the other… but they all give a good overview on what direction to explore further, sort of a direction to approach the question from.

I think this is actually one of my favorite books from Max. The answers are solid even as short as they are, and the questions aren’t all just fluffy easy-answer ones that have no challenge to them.

I think this would be a really good gift book to a new believer, or to someone starting a new ministry position involving a lot of personal contact and finding themselves fielding questions that they may not have had much experience answering before. It’s a good read in general, but I think it’s use as a reference book for those sorts of situations could be really well matched.

Thomas Nelson page

Amazon page