Thursday, June 13, 2013

Book Review: Reclaiming Love


Reclaiming Love: Radical relationships in a complex world by Ajith Fernando is a book about making Love your first priority.

 This book is an amazing collection of thoughts about how love can revolutionize everything.  Forgiveness, bitterness, envy, contempt, etc can all be fixed if we learn to love as God commanded us to.  This is more than the “I love you, you love me.”  This is “ Love because you have first been loved,” “The greatest commandment is this, to love your neighbor as yourself.”  This is everything Jesus has ever showed us about love, everything Paul and the apostles showed and wrote about as Jesus and love took over their life.

I really enjoyed this book.  He did an amazing job at explaining individual concepts (i.e. the best remedy for contempt or envy is love) and then getting very specific with examples of people in history and in his life.  I loved his use of Corrie Ten Boom’s story over and over again about how love is drastic and life changing.  I have always loved her story.

 

Note: I did receive a free copy of this book from www.booksneeze.com.  The opinions above are my own and I was not compensated for a positive review.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Book Review: The point


The Point: The redemption of Oban Ironbout by William E Jefferson is a book about a couple who go on a journey to Estillyen.  Estillyen is known for its monks and nuns who read stories to anyone who will hear.  Specifically they read a 10 part series about parts of the bible and Christ’s journey

Holly and Goodwin MacBreeze are traveling to Estillyen for two reasons.   One, to find peace after Holly was diagnosed with cancer and two, for Goodwin to find the cabin is grandfather spoke about when he was a child.  These needs for peace and answers send them to Estillyen which answers these questions and so much more.

I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn’t.  Something about the way it was written made it so hard for me to focus and keep reading.  The characters were interesting, the monks stories thoughtful and insightful but it could not hold my interest like I wanted. 

In the synopsis of this book it was compared to Pilgrims Progress and the Shack.  Although it is kind of like them in the method is it written I would not put it on the same level.  I am huge fans of those books and once I start reading I cannot put them down. This was just not the same. 

I wish this author the very best with the book.    Unfortunately this is not a book I will keep in my collection and continue to pull out and read over and over again.

 Note: I did receive a free copy of this book to read and review.   The opinions above are my own and I was not compensated for a positive review.

Book Review: Intentional Walk


Intentional Walk; An Inside Look at the Faith That Drives the St. Louis Cardinals by Rob Rains is a collection of short stories and biographies of St Louis Cardinals players, coaches, and staff and how their life has been effected by their faith.  It is amazing how many Godly men have walked onto the field and supported the St Louis Cardinals.

Originally I chose this book for two reasons.  One, I grew up near St Louis and went to many Cardinal games so I was intrigued. Second, father’s day is coming up and I hoped this would be a great book to pass on to my dad.  This book came through for both.

I really enjoyed reading this book.  It has players who made many mistakes and found their faith late in their life/career and it has people who grew up with a very strong faith that influenced many on and off the field.  This book is very refreshing to know that there are still some amazing Godly men out there is positions of fame that use their gifts to glorify God. 

 

Note: I did receive a copy of this book from free from www.booksneeze.com to read and review.  The opinions above are my own and I was not compensated for a positive review.