Monday, December 31, 2012

Live Second!!

Live Second:365 Ways to Make Jesus First is an excellent devotional if you are wanting to be challenged in your relationship with Jesus; or if you are wanting to ask questions as you seek to understand who God is calling you to be.

The book is broken down into 12 sections, (one per month) containing either 4 or 5 weeks, totaling 52 weeks in the year.  Within each section are 7 days worth of one page devotions.  Each section begins with someone's story, found on video.  All of the videos are easily accessible through a QR Reader which makes it simple for smartphone users.  If you don't have a QR Reader, the website link to the video is provided.

Each day then has a scripture reading pertaining to certain aspects of the Christian life.  The book will challenge Christian and non-Christian.  Anyone can start reading this book and find it helpful and useful.  You can start anytime since there are no dates in the book.

Everyday the reader is asked questions, such as,
How will you live more second today?
How will you share what you have learned?


This is not a study which simply gives you all of the answers, this is more about self discovery and group discovery.

We are working through I am Second at our church on Sunday evenings and have found the videos and website to be fantastic.  I highly recommend this book as you start the new year to help you draw closer to Christ.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed above are completely my own.

I review for BookSneeze®

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

GRACE - Defintely More than we Deserve

What a wonderful book by Lucado.  Grace: More than we deserve / Greater than we Imagine is an easy to read book which packs a powerful punch.

We use the word grace to describe so much of life, we throw the word around like we really know what it means, but Lucado poignantly helps us gain a greater understanding of God's gift of grace.

He explains ~ "Grace is everything Jesus. Grace lives because he does, works because he works, and matters because he matters. He placed a term limit on sin and danced a victory jig in a graveyard. To be saved by grace is to be saved by him - not by an idea, doctrine, creed, or church membership, but by Jesus himself, who will sweep into heaven anyone who so much as gives him the nod.

Not in response to a finger snap, religious chant, or a secret handshake. Grace won't be stage-managed. I have no tips on how to get grace. Truth is, we don't get grace. But it sure can get us. Grace hugged the stink out of the prodigal and scared the hate out of Paul and pledges to do the same in us
."

Lucado weaves stories about real people, from real life, along with stories from the Bible to help us realize our need for grace.  I used this book as a cornerstone for an 8 week series of sermons about grace.  This is an excellent book, which I highly recommend.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

I review for BookSneeze®

The Gospel of Yes

The basic premise of "The Gospel of Yes" is that we were meant to live a fruitful and abundant life.  Too many non-Christians know Christians according to what they don't believe in.  In other words, they hear about what we are against, not what we are for.

Author, Mike Glenn, seeks to help Christians look at the YES of God, as opposed to His divine NO.

Glenn states, "We are called to live for Christ, not against the world.  Yes, following Christ often will place us in conflict with the world. But such conflict is not something we originate; it is a natural consequence of following Jesus. The biblical directive for all Christians is to follow Christ, not just to oppose the world."  As we seek to demonstrate our faith to the world, at the same time, we should be seeking to hear the cosmic YES of God, not waiting for the cosmic NO and anger / wrath of God.

At times the book seemed to be more of a self help book of "how to" which can lead us to seek more self-fulfillment than to serve God.  At times I felt Glenn stretched some of the points he tried to make with scripture. 

Overall, I believe this is a good book to read, a great reminder for those who might be stuck on the thou shalt nots, as opposed to the thou shalts!

I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher but the opinions are mine, nor was a positive review required.


You can watch a video of author, Mike Glenn here

A promotional video of Mike Glenn talking about the book can be found here


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Gold Toe Socks

Aren't these great!!  Gold Toe socks!  If you need to make a fashion statement, these are the socks!  They are really comfortable, fit great and look even better!

They are available at most department stores.  There is an especially large section, with good sales at Kohl's.

These would make a great Christmas present!!

Try them, I know you'll love them!



I'm a Bzzagent!

Fun Kids Devotional

God Gave Us the Bible: 45 Favorite Stories for Little Ones is a very well done, hardcover introductory Bible for parents to read with thei...