Humble Orthodoxy? Yup!

Humble Orthodoxy by Joshua Harris was an easy and difficult read.  It was easy to read, but difficult to digest.  Difficult because Harris spoke about topics which many Christians struggle with.  This is a very good book to read.  The premise of Humble Orthodoxy is the call for each Christ follower to practice humility and grace, while at the same time never abandoning the call to be orthodox in the doctrines of our faith.

He stated, “Christians need to have a commitment to sound doctrine.  We need to be courageous in our stand for biblical truth.  But we also need to be gracious in our words and interactions with other people.”  The goal is always to be humble, yet never lose the doctrine of God’s Word.

He spells this out in a four chapter book which has chapter titles,

1. Your Attitude matters
2. With a Tear in Our Eye
3. Repentance Starts With Me
4. Living for God’s Approval

All too often Christ followers find it easy to be critical and complain, rather than find ways to encourage and build one another up, to the glory of God.  This is an easy read, but has deep and profound truth throughout the book.  It’s a great reminder that when disagreeing with someone, we don’t need to give in from our position, but how can we speak with love and grace, yet keep our convictions.  Thereby, showing respect and love, while disagreeing.

There is also a very good study guide in the back of the book.  This would be a good small group study book.  I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Reclaiming Love ~ An Excellent Read!

So many of the weddings I perform use the scripture from 1 Corinthians 13.  People love to hear the section that “love is patient, love is kind . . .,” but I will not read that scripture without starting at the beginning of the chapter.  It brings the passage to life.

Ajith Fernando, the author of Reclaiming Love: Radical Relationships in a Complex World has masterfully written about the great “love chapter” of the Bible.  His writing is easy to read and understand.  It can be used as a devotional, or as a sermon.  At times he goes in depth to help us better understand what this chapter is about, as particular word meanings are studied.

He used stories and examples from his time in Sri Lanka, which helped bring some of the passages come to life a little more.  Fernando helps us to better understand what it means to love, since love is the cornerstone of faith in Christ.  As we accept His love and then pass His love on to others.  How we love is a sign of our spiritual health.

This was an excellent book and I highly recommend it.  This book was provided by Zondervan through the program called BookSneeze in exchange for an objective review of this book by Ajith Fernando, Reclaiming Love: Radical Relationships in a Complex World.

Dreams turned into Reality

I can imagine the joy and excitement of welcoming your child into the world.  But I can't imagine the pain of hearing that your unborn child cannot survive in this world.

This is what was facing Steve and Nancy Peifer.  As they painted the nursery for their son, they also planned his funeral.  Stephen Wrigley, was born with Trisomy 13, a genetic defect described in the medical literature as "incompatible with life."  This normal family of four welcomed Stephen into the world on March 4, 1998, and said good-bye to him eight days later on March 12.

As the family grieved the loss of Stephen, new life was taking place.  A new way of living would be there forever, yet it was going to bring this family to a place they never thought about.  As  Steve, Nancy, along with sons, JT and Matthew experienced God's healing, they gave themselves to the people of Kenya.  This is the story about a remarkably normal, yet remarkable family going into the world and making an amazing difference.

This is a story about how God led this grieving family to Kenya, and today they feed 20,000 Kenyan schoolchildren -- enabling these children to stay healthy, and get an education.  The Peifers made a one-year commitment to work as dorm parents at Rift Valley Academy, a school for missionary children tucked in the high elevations north and west of Nairobi.

Just prior to returning to the United States, Steve visited a Kenyan school.  He saw schoolchildren, in the classroom, lying on the dirt floor, and didn't understand.  The teacher told Steve, "This is Thursday.  Most of these children haven't eaten since Monday. If they try to stand, or even sit up, they will faint."  WOW!

That broke Steve's heart and after returning to the United States, they realized their hearts were still in Kenya.  So, they returned and have made a tremendous impact on the lives of the Kenyan people. 

I highly recommend reading this book.  I received a free copy of this book and have given an unbiased opinion of this book.

Sent: Trading in the American Dream

What happens when an ordinary family living out the so-called American Dream comes to realize what they thought was their destiny, no longer is reality?  This is what happened to the Alan family.  It's an interesting story about a family's journey and calling to become missionaries.

Sent is told through the eyes of Hilary Alan, the wife and mother; who felt called to give up the ordinary American life, to become missionaries in Southeast Asia.  Hilary writes about the journey as the family had to make many decisions, including the decision to uproot the family, sell their possessions, try to explain 'who, what, why, where, how and when' to their family and friends.  The decision to take on this calling impacted Hilary, her husband, Curt, and their two children.

Not all were excited about this new journey in their lives.  The Alans' believed they were good, obedient Christians, but when God called them to serve in this manner their lives were turned upside down.

What makes this story better than the average story is that it is true and Hilary Alan does not try to give us the impression that her family was perfect.  She talks about the successes and the struggles.  She talks with stories and paints a picture of opposition which occurred along the way as well.

This is an honest story about one family's journey from normal Christianity to a new normal.  Life was good and convenient for these 'good Christians.'  Their new normal created many changes, but many good things resulted. 

This was a very good book, one I would recommend.

I received a free copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah in return for an objective review.

Being an Intentional Parent!

"Intentional Parenting: Autopilot is for Planes" seeks to help parents learn more about themselves as they seek to become the best parents they can be.  

The authors are from the Daystar Counseling in Nashville, Tennessee.  Their goal is to help parents get off of "autopilot" and begin to hold onto the wheel and fly.  As a parent, it is too easy to put life on autopilot and coast.  However, the goal of the authors is to help each parent learn more about themselves and about their children.  

The book addresses issues such as patience, being consistent and connected to your child, balanced, playful, encouraging, spiritual, intentional and even a 'grown-up' parent.

The hope in the end is that life will be less stressful and more enjoyable for parents and children.  That's a great goal to shoot at.  I would recommend this book for parents to read.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com

Enticing and Convicting!

I wonder why I enjoy reading Andy Stanley books? He pushes me, challenges me, convicts me and leads me to think about leadership and church in ways I had not considered.  Sometimes, I think I just don't like him!  

But I really do like Andy.  His writing is clear, it is not filled with technical terms, it's down to earth writing which helps me process his points.  In this book, which is not new, it was originally published in 2006, Andy discusses the 5 C's of leadership.

Andy spends 3 chapters on each topic and addresses leadership qualities such as ~  
Competency 
Courage
Clarity
Coaching
Character

Andy helps each person ~ 
-Discover and play to their strengths 
-Harness your fears 
-Leverage uncertainty 
-Enlist a leadership coach 
-Maintain moral authority

Overall, this is an excellent book.  Easy to read, but it will be difficult to put into practice.  Lots to chew on!

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

Moving Journey through Cancer

In Stumbling on Open Ground: Love, God, Cancer and Rock 'n Roll, Ken Mansfield and his wife Connie, wrote an open, honest and very moving book about his and their battle with multiple cancers.  Ken was the American producer for the Beatles, under the label of Apple Records.

Ken and Connie detail their journey through two different occurrences of cancer.  They write with honesty about their spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical battle with cancer.  Ken and Connie do not sugar coat the difficulties nor the sickness, the wavering faith, nor do the minimize the joys and faith surprises which occur along the way.

This is a very moving book.  Each chapter begins with a short one page summary about Connie's thoughts, feelings and perceptions.  It was nice to be able to gain insight as to what she was feeling and dealing with.

Even during the time when Ken was battling cancer, he and Connie would speak at various churches and seminars sharing God's work in their lives.  I highly recommend this book.

I received this complimentary book from Booksneeze in exchange for my unbiased review.

God is Good

This book should come with a warning label - which tells the reader this is a small book which packs a large punch.  Now, this book doesn't knock you fully down, it's just that Randy Alcorn tackles the question most people would like to ask God, "Why is there so much pain and suffering in this world?"

We all struggle with pain and suffering and Alcorn's desire is to help us, as best as he can, to better understand God's role in the midst of our suffering and pain.  It's a daunting task, which as a pastor, I cannot explain away, and neither can Alcorn.  He doesn't state he has the answers either. 

What he attempts to do is help the reader grasp the gravity of the question as he seeks to bring comfort as we all move through seasons of pain and suffering. 


The book is challenging.  You cannot just read it quickly, you must take your time and gain understanding as to what Alcorn is getting at.  Now, this is a condensed version of another of his books, "If God is Good."  That is a much longer and theological book.

Alcorn is not afraid to tackle the tough issues regarding ~

Evil and suffering.
Poor choices
God's control vs. Our freedom
We're the problem
The role of Christ in suffering and evil
The redemptive power of God;
Why God allows suffering and how it is used for His purposes:
and more

There were a number of excellent quotes.  You definitely need a pen or marker as you read this short but powerful book.

I highly recommend this book.

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.

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.

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

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!

WIsdom Meets Passion

I read this book, Wisdom Meets Passion, by Dan Miller and his son, Jared Angaza with a lot of interest and hope for what it would teach me.  I believe we are in a great cultural shift which has been occurring, but one in which we really seek to avoid acknowledging and dealing with, at all cost.  The subtitle is ~ “When Generations Collide and Collaborate.” 

The part that drew me in was the phrase ‘. . . collaborate.’  What does it mean for two generations, who have very different views of the world to work together in order to make a difference in the world?  I was hoping to get a clearer idea from this reading.

I enjoyed and appreciated the stories, the dramatic out of the box faith of Jared, his willingness to risk everything for what he believed God was calling him and his family to do.  His father, Dan’s, willingness to let his son go.  You see, Jared didn’t want the entrapments of our world, ‘houses, cars, material possessions, etc.’ so he and his wife adopted a son and moved to Africa, which is his passion.

I like what the back cover says – Yesterday the world ran on formulas -- on all things black and white with tried-and-true wisdom. Today things run on dreams and are covered in gray and fueled by passion. But as it turns out, formulas don't work well without feeling, and dreams don't come true without dedication. Enter Wisdom Meets Passion, offering proof that when generations – and their beliefs – come together, something incredible can happen.

I believe that to be very true.  Too often we give up on what we are passionate about and grab what pays the bills.  That’s more of what I got from this book.  It’s an interesting read to see the thought process of how father and son reconcile their different approaches to life.

I received this book from Booksneeze.com for the purpose of giving an unbiased review.

Breaking Free from Fear

As a Pastor who leads Bible Studies, I am always on the lookout for new material and thoughts about different ways to engage those who attend.  With that in mind, I thought this would be a great opportunity to read through Kay Arthur’s study, Breaking Free from Fear.  This study comes from her Precept Ministries.  It is designed to be a 40 minute Bible study, accomplished with no homework.  I’m not sure I like that idea, but I understand her purpose is to help the busy person to engage in Bible study as opposed to saying I don’t have the time, so I can’t do it.

Kay’s style is to have the reader mark their book with different symbols, such as putting circles, squiggly lines, triangles, crosses, underlines, etc. around certain words or phrases.  That seems to take away from my flow of reading.  But that can always be adapted to the readers style and preferences. 

Overall, as I read through this book on helping each person break free from fear, I found it helpful as she used a great deal of scripture to help the reader gain a better understanding of Jesus’ place in their life.  This is an open ended book, with thoughtful questions, related to the passages, as she hopes to move the reader beyond being a slave to fear.  Her conclusion is our way to resolve our fears is to have a healthy fear of the Lord.  She begins each chapter with a short thought and ends with a Wrap Up section.

I believe this would be an excellent resource to help people move through life with a healthy fear of the Lord and reduced fear of the world.

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for the purpose of this review.  All opinions are my own.

Unstoppable

There's a new book coming out by Nick Vujicic which should be great.  Watch this 1 minute video to learn more . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii4JNtDPSaA&feature=player_embedded

If you would like to read an excerpt from the first chapter, click on this link . . .

http://www.scribd.com/doc/98561664/Unstoppable-by-Nick-Vujicic-Chapter-1-Excerpt

 I hope this blesses you!

Pastor Michael

Max Lucado on Life

I was looking forward to reading this book by Max Lucado.   Max On Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions was an easy to read book, which frankly was frustrating.  Don’t get me wrong, he has a lot of great things to say, and his viewpoints about life are great, but I wanted something which would take me a little deeper theologically.

Basically, Max is operating like a “Dear Abby” character, answering questions which people have sent in over time.  He breaks the chapters down as follows ~

1) Hope: God, Grace, and "Why am I here?”
2) Hurt: Conflicts, Calamities, and "Why me?"
3) Help: Prayer, Scripture, and "Why church?"
4) Him/Her: Sex, Romance, and "Any chance of a second chance?"
5) Home: Diapers, Disagreements, and "Any hope for prodigals?"
6) Haves/Have-Nots: Work, Money, and "Where's the lifeline?"
7) Hereafter: Cemeteries, Heaven, Hell, and "Who goes where?"

He covers most every basic topic we have in life.  I had no problem agreeing with Max’s basic theology.  Again, my issue was wanting something deeper, which would challenge me a little more.  For the casual reader who is not wanting deep theology, this is a great book to read to help answer life’s questions and gain perspective from a man I believe is one of the greatest Christian writers of our time.

Disclosure:
I received this book free from the publisher through the [BookSneeze®.com] I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the [Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."]

Relationships Matter

This book is a reprint of a 2004 book, entitled "Out of the Question . . . Into the Mystery," and is subtitled, "How we got the point but Missed the Person."  This is a very powerful book by Sweet and is very challenging.  The premise for Sweet is that we've lost our first love.  Jesus should be our first love, we should have a dynamic faith, yet we have allowed belief to trump faith

 

Of course we need both, but Sweet believes we've bought into rules over faith.  We talk about belief, but not about the relationship which should come from our belief in Jesus.  We don't exhibit the transformed life Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Sweet believes we are missing the point and relationships should be the cornerstone of our faith.  Without relationship, relationship with Jesus; then relationship with one another, we cannot demonstrate love.  

Some quotes from Sweet include ~ 

• "We are more in love with our principles of peace, than we are with the Prince of Peace."
• "We don't follow Jesus because we understand Him or because we know the truth about Him.  We follow Jesus because He is the Truth, and He leads us into truth through our relationship with Him."
• Faith in God is a relationship involving all of who you are and all that is around you.  Faith is a lived encounter, a relationship of truth with the divine."

There are great study questions at the end of the book.  As this would be great for a book study, albeit a very deep one.  Overall, this is another excellent book from Leonard Sweet.

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

Awakening!

This book is a 21 day plan to help us move into a meaningful and lasting relationship with God.  The plan is to engage in a planned fast, so that we can draw closer to God.  At the end of the first section of the book, Weems outlines the 21 day plan where we are to engage in prayer and seek to listen to God’s voice.

We need this because we live in a world where there is so much going on that we struggle relating to God and even experiencing His presence.  There is so much noise, twitter, facebook, television, video games, music, and we don't take time out until we drop into bed exhausted . . . and then we sleep, if we can.  We really don't really take time to listen, let alone talk to God.

Weems wants us to understand that we have an assignment from God.  That’s our mission, but are we really fulfilling and following what God wants for us?  It becomes a control issue, and Weems wants us to let go of our control and give God control over our lives.  The only way to really accomplish this is to listen to God.

This process is accomplished by doing the least preferred Spiritual Discipline — fasting.  His point is that we should not be legalistic, but look for what is good, seeing God’s goodness and grace as we worship Him.

I found the book inspiring, easy to read and hope I can attempt to put this into motion sometime in the near future.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Is Chick-Fil-A BAD?!

I read an article, click her for the article from the Baptist Press, about how some college campuses are against Chick-Fil-A because of their Christian beliefs and support of certain organizations.

Even some colleges have made a decision not to pursue a relationship with this restaurant because of their concern that a minority, like at Northeastern University, where 1.5% of the students protested the coming of a Chick-Fil-A, so the school stopped negotiations for this restaurant.

If you don't believe the beligerence the world has towards Christians, you are sorely mistaken. This article, even though it's about one simple restaurant is indicative. Yet, if Christians were to do the same to a Planned Parenthood facility or supported restaurant, the Christians would be bashed as intolerant.

So, there you go!! The sad thing, and this is really bad, we will sit around and take it, then wonder what happened to our safe world!

Is Chick-Fil-A bad? No way!! Good food, good causes, but that's not what some are saying!

Here's another link to the article from the Baptist Press.

MEN! For MEN!

We Men

I read this in another blog called Serving Strong. I thought is was excellent, so here it is.

Warning: This post is for the men only. Ladies, feel free to read it, but there’s some potty talk. Fair warning.

Tough As Nails

We men are supposed to be tough. We don’t cry. If we do cry, we get a mark on our man-card. Four marks and we will lose our card until we can prove we’ve watched 40 hours of Chuck Norris films, used one roll of duct tape for stuff around the house, and logged at least 75 times where we either broke wind (SBD’s not included) or burped out loud.

We men are the strong species. We are the go-to guys. We have the answers. We have the solutions. We drive F-650 quad-cabs with hemi’s, ride wild horses and wear light brown, steel-toed cowboy boots. We’ve read all the John Eldredge books out there. We pick our nose when we want. We smack other guys’ butts when they make a good play on the field, and we spit where and when we decide. We wear cowboy hats and star in Viagra commercials pulling our horse trailers.

Achilles Heel

But when we men suffer from depression, we have no time for bravado. We can’t “MacGyver” our way through it. Depression is bigger than we are. We can’t always figure our way out of it. We need help. Depression is our Achilles Heel. Like grabbing both feet of any running back in the NFL, no matter how great they are or how much money they make, they will go down every time.

If you’re a man reading this post and you think you may be suffering from depression, there’s only one option:

GET.HELP.

(you won’t lose your man-card)