The Faithful is what I would call a "must read" if you have any affection what-so-ever for the supernatural, being all chill-bumpy and jumpy even in the daylight, and murder mysteries. This book will give you all that and more. Weyer gives his characters depth, makes them very believable and makes you want to know them better. From cover to cover I was intrigued and had a lot of trouble putting the book down to attend to my duties as wife, mother and home-school teacher.
By halfway through the book I was useless until it was done. I could not read it in a room alone...and I couldn't put it down! I've heard it belongs in the category of Christian Horror and I think that covers it well. The Faithful will not only have you jumping at every sound but it will challenge you to consider that things are not always as they seem. I enjoyed this book more than most fiction I've read in the past year or two and would liken Weyer's style to "a funnier Stephen King".
Definitely hunt it down and buy it...you will not regret it!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Organic Church
Cool title for a book, isn't it? I'm reading it now, and no, it's not about the "green" movement in churches. It's about churches growing. It's about church being about what it's SUPPOSED to be about...people...loving people, being Christ in the world. A church multiplication movement, not a "how big can we make this group of people" movement. It's about small clusters of people telling people about Jesus, loving and serving each other and those people in society that get ignored...and telling THEM about Jesus....and then people in those little groups answering the call that God puts in their heart to start another small group of people that love each other and tell others about Jesus who tell others about Jesus who serve each other and love people they don't know who don't look like them or smell like them....and tell them about Jesus. It's an exponential church growth movement. Not just starting one church and focusing on "launch" and programs and music and speaker systems and what kind of chairs....blahblahblah. It's about growing a group of loving Christians who create other growing groups of Christians. Sound familiar? Maybe you heard it here:
"Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Jesus...in the book written by Mattew 28. 19-20.
"Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Jesus...in the book written by Mattew 28. 19-20.
Monday, August 23, 2010
"Surprised by Grace" a book by Tullian Tchividjian
BOOK REVIEW
The book "Surprised by Grace" was a surprise to me. It has the subtitle of "God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels"...I had no idea what it was about beyond that. As it turns out, it is one of the easiest to read, most profound, and most captivating commentaries (of sorts, anyway) that I have ever read and it deals with the book of Jonah. Being a seminary student, I do deal with academic-type commentaries on a regular basis. This is not one of those, not because it's not worthy, but because it is filled with life application that most do not include.
Be sure and begin with the preface titled "A Cure for Gospel Confusion", it's an awesome beginning that will change your perspective of how the gospel works. Tullian approaches and applies the fact that "the gospel" is not a one time event, but is necessary for all daily. Just read it, he says it better than I do.
The author then proceeds to interact with scripture. We learn all about the man Jonah. Where he started. Tullian immediately begins to apply this scripture to the reader's life and heart. He says, "His (Jonah's) runaway posture is our posture, every time we sin, whether in thought, word, or deed, whether it's something we consider big or something small, whether it's doing something we shouldn't or failing to do something we should" (page 33). Ouch! Right? Read it!
The author moves smoothly from section to section of scripture with logical chapter breaking points and it helps the reader swallow the book bit by bit. Tullian also does something entirely new and captivating to me. He talks about artwork (old and new) that deal with this particular biblical character. There are photos of these works contained in the book so the reader can see exactly what is meant and it really was enjoyable for me and helped bring home many of the emotions in the story. While dealing with the section about the storm at sea caused by Jonah's fleeing, Tullian deals well with God's response to Jonah's sin--as well as sin in all of our lives. He says, "...his response is more likely to be stormy and upsetting than quiet and subtle" (pg. 41). No kidding!
I felt that the insights offered by Tullian in this book were amazing. He points to the downward spiral that Jonah's life took from the moment he chose to flee God's will. You may think this spiral ended when the fish barfed him up on shore...not so. Read the book. I spent about a day and a half reading it because I could NOT put it down! The author applies every single mistake that Jonah makes, every single bad attitude to the reader's life--not in a condemning way, he just points out that we all have those little (and sometimes big) attitudes and problems as well. We get angry at God when He doesn't do what we want, when we want. We remember Him when we're in trouble (in the fish's belly, so to speak), we forget to repent even when we know we're wrong. Just like Jonah, some days we'd rather die than listen to God and do it His way.
This book is well worth the price and time spent. You will be surprised at all the small volume contains.
The book "Surprised by Grace" was a surprise to me. It has the subtitle of "God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels"...I had no idea what it was about beyond that. As it turns out, it is one of the easiest to read, most profound, and most captivating commentaries (of sorts, anyway) that I have ever read and it deals with the book of Jonah. Being a seminary student, I do deal with academic-type commentaries on a regular basis. This is not one of those, not because it's not worthy, but because it is filled with life application that most do not include.
Be sure and begin with the preface titled "A Cure for Gospel Confusion", it's an awesome beginning that will change your perspective of how the gospel works. Tullian approaches and applies the fact that "the gospel" is not a one time event, but is necessary for all daily. Just read it, he says it better than I do.
The author then proceeds to interact with scripture. We learn all about the man Jonah. Where he started. Tullian immediately begins to apply this scripture to the reader's life and heart. He says, "His (Jonah's) runaway posture is our posture, every time we sin, whether in thought, word, or deed, whether it's something we consider big or something small, whether it's doing something we shouldn't or failing to do something we should" (page 33). Ouch! Right? Read it!
The author moves smoothly from section to section of scripture with logical chapter breaking points and it helps the reader swallow the book bit by bit. Tullian also does something entirely new and captivating to me. He talks about artwork (old and new) that deal with this particular biblical character. There are photos of these works contained in the book so the reader can see exactly what is meant and it really was enjoyable for me and helped bring home many of the emotions in the story. While dealing with the section about the storm at sea caused by Jonah's fleeing, Tullian deals well with God's response to Jonah's sin--as well as sin in all of our lives. He says, "...his response is more likely to be stormy and upsetting than quiet and subtle" (pg. 41). No kidding!
I felt that the insights offered by Tullian in this book were amazing. He points to the downward spiral that Jonah's life took from the moment he chose to flee God's will. You may think this spiral ended when the fish barfed him up on shore...not so. Read the book. I spent about a day and a half reading it because I could NOT put it down! The author applies every single mistake that Jonah makes, every single bad attitude to the reader's life--not in a condemning way, he just points out that we all have those little (and sometimes big) attitudes and problems as well. We get angry at God when He doesn't do what we want, when we want. We remember Him when we're in trouble (in the fish's belly, so to speak), we forget to repent even when we know we're wrong. Just like Jonah, some days we'd rather die than listen to God and do it His way.
This book is well worth the price and time spent. You will be surprised at all the small volume contains.
A Shameless Plug and other things
First the shameless plug. My husband wants some blog followers. Not that I have many, but if anyone reads this.... :) His blog is www.robertcblake.blogspot.com
He's going to be reviewing books for Crossways I think thats the name.
Second:
We started school today...our FIFTH first day of homeschooling. Hard to believe. Anyway, it was AWESOME! I'm not sure I've EVER used that word to describe a first day of school. But it WAS! Branche was compliant (never happens...he's 13), Roger was a busy body, but stayed in the general vicinity of his seat (which rarely happens...he's ADHD)and knew all the answers (that's not new), and Carter....my sweet sweet boy who is 9 years old and has what they refer to as "Austistic Spectrum Disorder" (they say, no, he's not autistic but insurance still won't cover him because the A word is in his diagnosis)...but Carter today did incredible. His handwriting has improved for lack of use???? How does that work??? I DON'T KNOW! But it did! He only ever writes under duress. Today, when it came to handwriting all of a sudden....he did great. Unbelievable! Then, we did science and the worksheets are always a struggle because there's writing! So, I usually just write. Today, I asked the question, they said the answer, I SPElled the answer and they BOTH WROTE IT! Beautifully!! woot! I was amazed. AND on top of that, Carter wrote "food" faster than I spelled it which means the phonics are kicking in! YAY! Just some praising going on here, that's all! It was amazing! Ok. 'nuff a that! Hope your school dayz went as well! :) Keep on prayin' for tomorrow!
He's going to be reviewing books for Crossways I think thats the name.
Second:
We started school today...our FIFTH first day of homeschooling. Hard to believe. Anyway, it was AWESOME! I'm not sure I've EVER used that word to describe a first day of school. But it WAS! Branche was compliant (never happens...he's 13), Roger was a busy body, but stayed in the general vicinity of his seat (which rarely happens...he's ADHD)and knew all the answers (that's not new), and Carter....my sweet sweet boy who is 9 years old and has what they refer to as "Austistic Spectrum Disorder" (they say, no, he's not autistic but insurance still won't cover him because the A word is in his diagnosis)...but Carter today did incredible. His handwriting has improved for lack of use???? How does that work??? I DON'T KNOW! But it did! He only ever writes under duress. Today, when it came to handwriting all of a sudden....he did great. Unbelievable! Then, we did science and the worksheets are always a struggle because there's writing! So, I usually just write. Today, I asked the question, they said the answer, I SPElled the answer and they BOTH WROTE IT! Beautifully!! woot! I was amazed. AND on top of that, Carter wrote "food" faster than I spelled it which means the phonics are kicking in! YAY! Just some praising going on here, that's all! It was amazing! Ok. 'nuff a that! Hope your school dayz went as well! :) Keep on prayin' for tomorrow!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
I am just stealing a little time right now to say we made it home safe from our Colorado trip. Rob and I had a blast, met some really cool people and had a personal reminder from God that He both loves us and desires to protect us. I really don't have time to write today, but wanted to say "hey" to anyone who may read my blog and promise more later. I also plan on figuring out how to get pictures from my camera to my husband's computer so I can post pics from our trip. I am also excited, because I have a new book to read and to review on my blog and am supposed to have a second one on the way.....cannot wait for the second one....it's spoooooooooooky! :)
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