7 of 7 reviews are 5-star, Lending Enabled
Aaron and Markus are twins who live a simple life, working hard on their father’s farm and trying to make ends meet. When the opportunity for a trip to market arises, the twins set out on what should be a simple, safe trip. Unknown to them, their path is destined to be rockier than originally thought and dark trouble lies on the horizon. Welcome to Haven, Aaron and Markus; a place whose inhabitants want you to stay forever.
387 pages, 60 of 70 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
A storm the size of Texas brews when Gloria Powell and Kai Chang meet in a Dallas hotel. They have come to discuss the future of Lily, the daughter Gloria adopted from China and the sister Kai hopes to reclaim. Kai is a doctor who had to give up her little sister during the Cultural Revolution and has since discovered that an inherited genetic defect may be waiting to fatally strike Lily.
Gloria’s relationship with her daughter is tattered and strained, and the arrival of Kai, despite the woman’s apparent good intentions, makes Gloria fearful. Gloria longs to restore her relationship with Lily, but in the wake of this potentially devastating diagnosis, is Kai an answer to prayer…or will her arrival force Gloria to sacrifice more than she ever imagined?
Takeaway: The Holy Spirit is with us today just as he was with the apostles in Acts.
Who is the Holy Spirit uses the parallel books of Luke and Acts to illustrate how the Holy Spirit empowers Christians to do God’s work in the world.
For the last six months of last year I was focused on reading and reading about the gospel of Luke. Spending that much time in Luke really helped to focus me on how intentional the parallels from the gospel of Luke and the books of Acts are. This book takes the parallels and focuses on how the Holy Spirit not only is God, in the same way that Jesus was God in person on the earth, but shows how the Apostles, through the power of the Holy Spirit, worked to fulfill the mission of God just as Christ did.
Takeaway: The concept of original sin has greatly shaped western culture.
Original Sin is a doctrine I have always had trouble understanding. It is not that I disagree that we are all sinful. I affirm that.
My issues have been in the way that Christians understand the origin of sin, the way some understand the need for a physical Adam and Eve to affirm the doctrine of original sin (which then some need in order to justify the need for Christ’s death and resurrection), and the extent of the corruption of the world caused by the fall.
Jacobs is an author I appreciate. He is a professor at Wheaton College and while we overlapped (he is still there) I did not have him for any classes. But he is one of those authors that as I read I am always aware that he is much smarter than I. Not in a snooty or negative way. He is very readable. It is that he always brings in ideas and sources that I would not have considered (and often do not even know exist).
This is not a theological history, but a cultural one. So Jacobs is dealing primarily with the way that Christianity and the west have culturally understood original sin. Occasionally the cultural and the theological understanding separate. I think at least partially, this is my issue with original sin. I hear people speaking of the transmission of sin as if it were literally part of our DNA. I believe it was Augustine that proposed that one reason that Jesus could be born of a woman and not be corrupted by original sin is that sin was transferred through semen.
Safe at Home: A Novel by Richard Doster
351 pages, 12 of 14 reviews are 5-star, Lending Enabled
The spring of ’53 started out like any other for sports columnist Jack Hall, as he and the rest of his small southern town, Whitney, eagerly awaited the magical first pitch that would open the Bobcat’s season. But when ticket sales wane with the new distractions of air conditioning and I Love Lucy, the Bobcats face an early end not only to the season but to their careers as well. The team needs a white knight to save them and ironically, that white knight seems to be a 17 year old “colored kid”, Percy Jackson, who’s got a .364 batting average and has never seen a grounder he couldn’t chase down.
Takeaway: Variety of essays on business and leadership matters, especially focused on issues that are not intuitive, but still true.
I used to read a lot more business and leadership books. I have now come to the realization that I am neither all that interested in business nor all that good at leadership.
What has always interested me about business and leadership books are the insights into human behavior. And that is why I still pick up the occasional business book.
The Myth of the Garage is collection of essays from Dan and Chip Heath’s column in Fast Company. It is a free kindle or audiobook (which is the real reason I picked this one up.)
Match Made in Heaven by Bob Mitchell
256 pages, 11 of 13 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
Lying on An operating table, about to undergo emergency heart surgery, Elliott Goodman hears the voice of God–as in The Almighty–speaking to him. God, it seems, has a last-second wager for Elliott, challenging him to an eighteen-hole golf match. If Elliott wins, he’ll be saved. If he loses. . .
God sends down eighteen legendary opponents to play against Elliott and to hopefully teach him a few tricks along the way. From Leonardo da Vinci (nice clubs) to Marilyn Monroe (nice. . .everything), Babe Ruth (pass the hot dogs), Abraham Lincoln (cheater!), and fourteen other luminaries, including Moses, John Lennon, Joan of Arc, Picasso, W.C. Fields, Gandhi, and Shakespeare, Elliott squares off against some of the most extraordinary people who’ve ever lived. As shots are analyzed, balls enter bunkers, and Freud drives the cart (control freak), Elliott has a chance to examine his life and his form, to see what he can correct or improve before facing his ultimate adversary.
Big-hearted and delightfully original, Match Made in Heaven is a timeless tale about finding joy and inspiration on the greatest of all courses–life.
no reviews, Lending Enabled
By gathering stories about effective churches from small-church pastors, Brandon O’Brien demonstrates that a church’s success is not contingent on its size. This is a selection from Brandon O’Brien’s book, The Strategically Small Church.
Unlocking the Mysteries of Satan by Dennis McCallum
2 of 2reviews are 5-star, Lending Enabled
Pastor and teacher Dennis McCallum clarifies what the Bible teaches about Satan, evil spirits, demonic control, and spiritual warfare–including the devil’s capabilities and limitations, and practical steps to counter evil forces. This is a selection from Satan and His Kingdom.
Takeaway: This series is very good at keeping it fresh and mixing science fiction and fantasy elements.
I swear this is not going to become a young adult review blog. But I seem unable to finish anything else lately. I believe I am in the midst of being brain fried.
In spite of being unable to concentrate on anything remotely theological, I have enjoyed Artemis Fowl. In the Lost Colony, we discover that there are another family of fairies, the demons (we already know about elves, dwarves, pixies, etc).
When the rest of the fairy families went underground to escape the humans, the demons moved their island across time and space. But occasionally the magic that moved them brings one demon back for a short visit. And Artemis has figured out how to predict those visits and that the increasing regularity of them means that the demon magic is breaking down and their island may be lost forever.
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70 pages, 185 of 200 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
Thousands of them have lived underground. They’ve lived there so long, there are only legends about people living anywhere else. Such a life requires rules. Strict rules. There are things that must not be discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you might like going outside.
Or you’ll get what you wish for.
Ketchup is a Vegetable: And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves by Robin O’Bryant
266 pages, 96 of 101 reviews are 5-star, Lending Enabled
If you don’t have anything nice to say about motherhood, then… read this book. Robin O’Bryant offers a no holds barred look at the day to day life of being a mother to three, running a household and the everyday monotony of parenting.
It’s not always pretty but it’s real. Whether she’s stuffing cabbage in her bra… dealing with defiant yet determined daughters… yelling at the F.B.I… or explaining the birds and the bees to her preschooler… you’re sure to find dozens of humorous and relatable situations.
The Tylenol Mafia: Marketing Murder and Johnson & Johnson by Scott Bartz
632 pages, 11 of 11 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
On September 29, 1982, seven people in Chicago died after taking Extra Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. Officials have long cited the scarcity of physical evidence and apparent lack of motive to explain why they never solved the Tylenol murders. However, new revelations and information not previously disclosed tell a very different story of a crime that should have been solved.
