I skimmed Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality a few years ago and wasn’t that impressed. It seemed like the kind of book that was down on conservative Christians and that just doesn’t interest me much. But I saw it in the store a while back and decided to give it a real read. I wanted to give it the same kind of attention I give to the other books I review. So, I settled in and started reading and taking notes. This book took me on a ride that was somewhat unexpected. I went through many different cycles, I loved it, I hated it, I questioned it, and at the end I’m still not quite sure what I think about it. I usually try to give you an overview of a book, with this one I had to go a different direction.  I ended up with so many pages of notes, it was hard to condense them into something readable. I’m separating this review into 3 sections, what I didn’t like, what I loved, and what I still don’t get.

What I Don’t Like

One thing I didn’t  appreciate was that Don includes two stories of other people who hear God speak to them while drunk or on drugs. The reason I have a big problem with this is that the Bible is clear that we are not to be drunk with wine but filled with the Spirit. If being drunk impedes the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts then it’s hard for me to believe that God chose that time to audibly speak to them. It just doesn’t make sense with what Scripture says.

What’s with all the cussing? I don’t’ get why cussing is so glorified in this book. Don describes Reed College as cool because of cussing and smoking, he loves the cussing pastor, he just seems to love cussing. I don’t’ get the fascination with using dirty words as cool. It’s not cool, it’s just unnecessary. It seems immature to love cussing that much.

What I Loved

I do not have the space here to tell you everything I loved about the chapter on Grace, but I loved it.  I identified with it. When he started describing his summer at camp and all the ways he tried so hard to be good. He makes a pact with his friends of all the evil they are going to avoid in order to be good. What I found particularly striking was that there is no mention of the good things he is going to do, just the bad things they are going to avoid. Anyway, Don explains how miserable he is the first time he breaks the rules on their year long pact. This is not the grace of God, it is simply man trying to earn God’s favor. I understood it. Grace is not a list of do’s and don’ts.

Authenticity. Wow. I know who Don is. I love that. He admits to unbelief, how sinful he is and his need of Jesus. I loved reading how he shared his beliefs and feelings with so many people. Not just the good stuff to make them admire him. He shared the bad stuff too and that is a behavior Christians can learn from.

He doesn’t shy away from sin. He calls it sin. He makes it clear that as humans we are depraved.

What I Still Don’t Get

What is with all the gay stuff? He seems to come back to this several times and I just don’t get it. Does he think homosexuality is a sin or not? Does he think it’s “cool” to be gay? I’m just confused.

Does he actually like any conservatives or republicans on a personal level? I know he says he loves fundamentalists, but is he friends with any of them currently? It seems he gravitates toward the liberal, as though they are better. They aren’t. Every group (in my opinion) has flaws. What is not flawed is Christ and we need him.

Conclusion

Don Miller is a popular guy among people in my generation and now I understand why. Young people crave honesty and transparency and Don Miller fits that description to a Tee. However it often feels as though he is just immature. Some ideas are good, but some are not accurate when it comes to theology, and that matters to me. A valid point mixed with bad theology doesn’t make a good book. I think that is what scares me about someone like Don Miller and Blue like Jazz. It becomes something more than just a book of a guys journey through Christianity. He has created a following of people who might not discern what is right and wrong. Blindly following this book or frankly any book that is not God’s Word is going to lead to a flawed world view. Should a Christian decide to attend and expound upon how much he loves a Unitarian church? NO.

There are things to ponder from this book. Is Satan using religion to keep us from God’s grace and to make us waste time? Yes, honestly agree with the author on this point.

If you are looking for a book to challenge the way you think pick up Blue Like Jazz. You will be forced to think about how you live and I would encourage you to compare that to Scripture. Read this book with a discriminating eye.

If you have read this book, I’d love to hear what you think about it. Tell me if you love it or hate it.

Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy is a great read. If you are a fan of her writing, you will not be disappointed in this book. I thought I was a generally grateful person, once I read this book I realized how much work I need to do in my own life.

I’m not going to sugar coat this; if you read this book, be prepared for conviction almost instantly. She starts by pointing out that “gratitude feels optional…an acceptable sin,” and then clearly shows that an ungrateful heart is a sinful heart. On page 24, the author describes how our whining and complaining attitudes are from our lack of the Holy Spirit. I was particularly struck by her use of Romans 1:21, where Paul lists ingratitude along with the “terrible sins”. I don’t often think of ungratefulness as a “terrible sin” but it is.

At the end of chapter 3, I was feeling like a complete ingrate! I can see so many things in my own life that need to change. I was relieved to discover some reasons for gratitude and why it is so important in our daily lives. I had never really thought about the fact that Jesus was giving thanks at the Last Supper. He knew what would happen to Him that night, yet He was grateful. Would we be grateful if we were facing the same circumstances?

The author also connects our gratitude with our prayer life. This was an aspect of gratitude I had never considered before. “If you’ve always wanted prayer to be as natural as breathing, then pave the way with gratitude.” It’s true. If we have a thankful hearts we want to commune with the One who gives all good things. The author also challenges us to give thanks not only to God but to also to other people. On p. 119 she points out that Paul thanks people in all but 4 epistles. The thankful example of Paul was preserved in Scripture for a reason.

An especially great part of this book is that it includes a 30 day devotional in the back of the book. Each day includes a scripture reading and a small devotional. At the end is a challenging statement to help you reflect on the gratitude in your life each day.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to increase the gratitude in their own life. Truly, this is an area everyone can improve on in their own life. Get this book and begin your journey to joy!

Ok, this book can be described as simply riveting. I picked up Kabul 24 unsure of even what it was about and could not put it down. I finished it in 2 days. As I read this book I became incredibly burdened for Christians around the world; those who are ministering in hostile nations like these in Afghanistan. They were doing good things for the people of this nation and were punished for their good deeds. Yet this threat did not stop their goodness. I’m convicted. How much good am I doing in a country with no persecution? I will not be sent to jail for helping the poor and homeless yet I often do nothing. These people did something in a nation where they would ultimately suffer. It was a huge wake up call.

Synopsis
This story begins in August of 2001 when the employees of Shelter Now International are taken hostage. The names Heather and Dayna are somewhat more familiar because of the media attention their parents brought to this story. It details the Shelter Now International employee’s betrayal, capture, and captivity. The focus of this book however is our good God. The faith of these workers is painted beautifully. Also included are songs written while they were imprisoned and black and white photography to give you a visual idea of their experience.

Strengths
The strength of this book is that it focuses on the faith of these 24 imprisoned people. They have the usual ups and downs you would expect of those in this circumstance but their testimony stands. They are respectful of the culture. The women wore headscarves out of respect. That was love. You will see several examples in this book of how their faith in the Lord had a direct impact on those around them.

The choice of these individuals to leave the comforts of their home countries to live in Afghanistan is shocking. They certainly did not do it for the glory. They did it at their own peril to meet a real need. It’s amazing.

Conclusion
Read this book. We are so sheltered in this wonderful nation. We are not confronted with this type of evil on a daily basis. We need to embrace the freedom we have to minister to people on a daily basis.

 
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

So I just picked up this book simply because of the title Ten Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe. I went into the library to pay a massive fine, or “stupid tax”. Anyway I saw this book and decided to see what this author had to say. I had never heard of the author, Larry Osborne before so I had no preconceived ideas about his beliefs. 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe was a book that intrigued me.

Synopsis
This book covers “Sunday School” myths that many Christians hold as truth from God’s Word. I know that I have been guilty of this in the past. Mr. Osborne writes to debunk these commonly held myths with the truth from God’s Word. He gets right to the point with the first chapter “Faith can fix anything.”

He covers a wide range of topics which many Smart Christians had dumb ideas about. At the end of the book he provides a discussion guide so you can discuss the myth along with the truth from God’s Word with a small group. It would also work as a personal study guide if you want to read this book on your own.

Strengths
This book does not sugar coat the truth. It just presents the truth from God’s Word. This to me makes a Christian growth book good. I like that he points out the difference between a proverb and a promise. He comes back to this point a few times. In his chapter “A Godly Home Guarantees Godly Kids” this point is incredibly relevant. He gives two examples of parents with rebellious children. One set of parents suffers from extreme guilt over what they think must be poor parenting. The other set of parents is filled with unfounded hope that their child will absolutely return to the Lord because of the verse Proverbs 22:6. He uses practical examples like this throughout the book to illustrate the myths we believe from the truth of what God’s Word actually says.

Each chapter provides the reader with several reasons why the widely held belief is false and what the truth actually is in the correlating situation. At the end of each chapter it asks the myth in the form of a question like “Can Christians Ever Judge?” and then answers with a Scripture passage. I love that feature of this book. After you read all his thoughts on the topic you are given a concrete answer from God’s Word to answer the question.

Weaknesses
The author uses lots of Scripture throughout the book, but they are not clearly listed. Often he makes a point or paraphrase and then there is a footnote number. However they are not actually footnotes. They are notes at the end of the book. So if you want to read through this book and read the corresponding passages it takes quite a bit of time. I would have preferred actual footnotes so I wouldn’t have to constantly flip back and forth.

Phrases like “Jesus made a mean Merlot” are unnecessary to me. I understand that Jesus turned water into wine, this type of phrasing doesn’t add anything to the message.

Conclusion
This is a well written book. When I read about the author at the end of the book I was not at all surprised that he has a congregation of 7000 people. He is an excellent communicator and he speaks the truth in love. These chapters speak clearly against widely held beliefs. I am sure he knew that some of his truth would be offensive to some but he confidently presents the facts and I admire that in a person.

I especially appreciated the truth of chapter 10, “Dead People Go to a Better Place”. This is not true unless the deceased person has believed on Christ. He uses the illustration of the rich young ruler who wanted his stuff instead of the Savior. This chapter encouraged me in evangelism. I do not evangelize like I should.

This book is a good read. I think this would be a good book not only for the believer to have good answers to these common questions. I also think it would be a good read for a new believer so they start out with the right answers to what they’ve always heard about Christianity.

When I got the news that I could get an advanced copy of Max Lucado’s newest book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear I was thrilled! Max Lucado was probably my first real exposure to Christian Living literature. I first read his work in college and I just couldn’t believe how his words were so grounded in God’s Word and yet so relatable.

It had probably been 7 years since I had read one of his books, probably just the insanity of newlywed to new mother. So when I picked up this book it was like hearing from an old friend. You and the friend have grown over the years but you still can relate. That’s how it was for me when I picked up “Fearless”.

Synopsis
Fearless takes us from the primary reason for our fear, which is sin. the fears we face, and the fear we need to have. He takes the reader on a journey through fear.

The first chapter is an explanation of why we are afraid. I love that he takes the time to explain this concept. What impressed me most about these chapters were the Scripture passages he uses. Toward the end of the chapter he lists 13 verses where Jesus told His followers to be fearless. He then uses the words of Christ to open the following chapters.

The book continues with chapters that detail common fears and ways to change our thinking towards courage in the Lord. I appreciated his candor when dealing with the subject of fear of death. He details a dream he had where he dies but he has courage in death because of Christ. I loved the story and then he details his own brush with death during a heart surgery. I think that is one of the things I like about Mr. Lucado. He is honest about his own struggles and it makes me take his counsel seriously.

Other fears he touches on include the fear of not mattering, of not protecting my kids, of violence and other relevant topics (obviously you can read the table of contents)

He ends with what he calls “The One Healthy Terror” which details our fear of God. We must always fear Him for He is Holy.

Strengths
One of the best parts of this book is that it uses Scripture as the premise of the author’s assertions. That is important to me. It is not a book that makes points and then finds Scripture to back up his points. It is the other way around, Scripture is the base and everything else falls around that. The first chapter lists 13 verses where Christ instructs His followers not to fear. The following chapters are based largely on this list of passages making the book a cohesive unit.

I alluded earlier to Max Lucado’s candor throughout this book but I can’t reiterate enough how much I appreciate a transparent author. This is not the kind of book where the author spends 200 pages telling you all the great things he has done. Instead he points out his own fears and how these Scriptures help him in his daily walk.

The book includes a discussion guide which is excellent. It includes several thought provoking questions for each chapter as well as lots of Scripture to back it up! Each chapter’s discussion guide has 3 areas of focus: “Examining Fear, Exposing Fear, and Battling Fear.” This would be a great book discussion for small groups at church. When it focuses on Examining Fear it is filled with thought provoking questions like “What are you prone to – dread of failure, rejection, or calamity? What does that indicate about you?”
Exposing Fear is filled with God’s answers to our fears. It lists several bible verses to combat the fears you discover about yourself through the first section. Battling Fear includes a section of reflection and a meditation for the week.

WeaknessesI wish this book went deeper. I think it does a great job of skimming the surface of these issues of fear but the middle chapters where specific fears are listed seem to short. The discussion guide does make up some for this lack of depth in my opinion.

Conclusion
I do recommend Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear. It gave me a lot to think about in my own life. Fear is something that can plague a person. It is something I have struggled with and for those of you who usually read my blog you know that about me. Max Lucado delivers his message in an easy to read manner that is appealing to large audiences. If you are reading this book on your own I encourage you to do the discussion questions as study guide questions after each chapter. Do a chapter each week and meditate on Scripture from the chapter and the probing questions of the study guide. I think it will help the reader get a lot more from this book than simply reading the chapters. This book would also make a great book for small group discussion at church or local Bible studies.

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear is a great resource for any Christian, whether they are oppressed with fear or not. We all need to remember that because of Christ we have every reason to be “Fearless.”

100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs
Written by Stephen Elkins Illustrated by Tim O’Connor

The cover of this book just draws kids into its pages. The art on the cover is a fantastic example of the art throughout this book. It is happy and colorful. The songs are also just as bright and happy.

This children’s Bible goes from Genesis through Revelation. Like most children’s Bibles these stories are paraphrased and give just a brief overview of the story. A unique feature of this book is that it comes with 2 CD’s with a simple children’s song to go along with each story. The back cover says that your child will Read it! Sing It! And Learn It! This book gives parents the extra tool of music to reinforce a Biblical truth which is a neat feature.

It includes an extensive table of contents in the front of the book which includes the Story, Bible Verse, Bible Song and Page. It also separates the stories by Old Testament and New Testament. Each story is just two adjacent pages. The page on the right has the story and song title and the body of the story. The left hand page has the illustration, Bible verse paraphrase, and a truth your child can learn from the story.

What your child will like

Your child will enjoy the bright illustrations and catchy songs that go along with each story. The stories are easy to understand and the truths are simple for very small children to grasp and put into practice. My boys loved singing the songs some of their favorites were “Only a Boy named David”, “His Banner Over Me is Love”, and “My God is So Big”. My older son (age 4) liked that the stories are short so that we could read several in one sitting.

What the parent will like

These stories and songs give the parent a short version of a story that they can explain to their child. It is often difficult to read a long story to a small child and then have them accurately understand a truth. I think as a parent you will find this book enables you to bring back these truth’s to your child and they will remember the story and song. The songs are a big part of this book and I think it works well with a child’s natural ability to remember and sing songs. Often it seems children will more easily remember a song than a story. As a parent you might enjoy the fact that most of the songs are very familiar classics. It is a joy to introduce these wonderful songs to our children.

My conclusion

This book is beautifully illustrated and presents the Bible accurately. However the stories are very short so the focus of the story is very simplistic. This is good for the very young child, probably under the age of 4. Children older than 4 might find this book too simple for their growing minds. The truth that the book presents is a paraphrase as well. For me, I would like the truth to be an actual Scripture verse with the reference. The book does tell you what book of the Bible the story is from, but the truth presented is not always an actual Bible verse. As a parent you might want to incorporate an actual Bible verse with these stories if you are using them for a devotional time with your child.

I think the CD’s can stand alone apart from the book. We have listened to the CD’s more than once and the kids have enjoyed singing their favorite Sunday School songs at home. If you buy this book I think you will find the CD’s worth the price. I know that some of my readers have fairly conservative views on music. If that is the case you might find some of the songs on the CD’s a little too peppy.

If you are looking for a first Bible for your very young child I think this book is a good starting point.

Surrender All was a book I had the opportunity to read and review recently. I knew virtually nothing about the author, other than the fact that she was a TV talk show host for a Christian broadcast network. I let the book sit on the shelf for a while because I’ve been pressed for time. However on a recent trip I was able to read the book in just two sittings. I was interested in her as a person as soon as I started reading because she is from my hometown of Greenville, SC. Maybe if she is ever in her home state we can have lunch.

The book details many aspects of life. Surrender must take place in our homes, when we succeed and fail and ultimately all the glory goes to God. The message of this book is spot on in these areas.

Before I give a wholehearted stamp of approval to this book, I get the feeling that the Lambs are full gospel. There are frequent stories where she tells us that Jesus came to her in a vision or that the Lord literally spoke to her or someone else. My usual readers probably know that this is not something I would personally agree with.

One of the things I truly appreciated about this book is that the focus is always on what God did, not what Joni and her husband have accomplished in their own strength. It seems as though their heart for ministry is genuine, and I find the spirit of the book refreshing.

My favorite story in the book is when Joni tells us how the Lord orchestrated events in her life so that she and her husband Marcus would be husband and wife. She had to deal with heartbreak and then was able to find the love of her life. In keeping with the theme of the book Joni had to surrender her life to the Lord in order for Him to direct her steps.

Overall I found this book well written and the stories accurately illustrated the points she is trying to make. I found that the book encouraged me to give everything to the Lord.

This week I read “The Noticer” by Andy Andrews. The story begins with a struggling young man named Andy, and his seemingly happenstance meeting with an older man named Jones. Jones helps him gain “perspective” and this changes his life. The book is a collection of stories about people with difficult life circumstances like death, marriage difficulties, and depression. Jones is able to come to the aid of these people when the least expect it and help them see things with a new point of view.

What I like about this book is that the character of Jones encourages the reader to stop focusing on what is wrong in their life and to focus on the positive. He also encourages them to look for the good in things and look forward to better things to come. When one dwells in the depths of despair they often stay in that predicament. The book urges the troubled souls of this book to gain a positive perspective on life. This doesn’t change the past, but it can make your future brighter.

The only issue I have with this book is that it was sold as “Spiritual Growth”. While there can be some personal growth from this book, I would not classify it as Christian Spiritual Growth. If you pick up this book at the Bible bookstore and are expecting to see Scripture, you will not find it in this book. There are a couple references to Biblical characters listed as biographies along with many other people. There are also a few references to prayer. The message of this book is not anti-Christian, but is not Christian focused.

Overall, I found this to be an uplifting story; one that teaches the reader to take the focus off of self and put life’s problems into proper perspective. It was a good read.