Life Support by Robert Whitlow

You’ll meet several characters in this story:

1.      Baxter Richardson.  He has everything he wants, but “plunges” off a cliff, which should be certain death, but he somehow survives – paralyzed and on life support.

2.      Alexia Lindale.  Hot-shot divorce lawyer who always seems to find a way to win.  But her life changes when she gets assigned to …

3.      Rena Richardson.  Baxter’s wife.  The reader quickly learns of her childhood issues, issues which led to her husband’s demise.  She wants to “pull the plug” on her husband.  But she runs into the resistance of…

4.      Baxter’s father, who wants to keep Baxter on life support, but for what reasons?

From there, the story takes many twists and turns.  But it didn’t do it for me.  For one, Alexia, the intelligent lawyer, can’t seem to wrap her head around the fact that she’s obviously being deceived.  And then there’s the “oh yeah, this is a Christian fiction book so we need the character to meet Christ” conversion towards the end that seems rushed and disingenuous.  Lastly, the end isn’t really an end - the story continues in Life Everlasting.  And from what I’ve read, this story could be told in one book, but Whitlow stretches it out to two books, causing both to suffer.

It wasn’t terrible, but not great either.  3 out of 5.  If you want to get involved in a good Whitlow story, check out The List.  (And if you'd like to read some quality Christian fiction, check out Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker.)

I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers and their Booksneeze Blog Book Review program.  In turn, I agreed to write this review.

The Fight of Our Lives by Bennett and Leibsohn

From the inside cover:

“America’s devotion to political correctness has crippled its ability to accurately interpret and respond to the motives of its fiercest enemies.  Unless we change course and re-engage the fight, the costs of our tolerance will prove tragic and immeasurable.”

In “The Fight of Our Lives: Knowing the Enemy, Speaking the Truth & Choosing to Win the War Against Radical Islam,” New York Times Best-Selling Author William J. Bennett and Seth Leibsohn directly take on our nation’s  inability to recognize radical Islam for what it really is.  It begins with the Fort Hood shooting, where a US military member who subscribed to the radical Islam ideology took many innocent lives in the name of his religion.  Sadly, the report thereafter failed to mention anything near the word “Islam” or “terror” and stumbled all over itself to make sure that the military’s diversity didn’t become a causality as a result of the shooting.

From there, it takes you on an eye-opening journey at our country’s marriage with political correctness and how it has weakened us to the point where we can’t recognize evil for what it is, much less tell anybody that we think they are wrong about ANYTHING.  The authors’ straight-shooting, no holds barred approach makes this an enjoyable read.

I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers and their Booksneeze Blog Book Review program.  In turn, I agreed to write this review. 

MOS Study Guide by Joan Lambert and Joyce Cox

Book description:

Demonstrate your expertise with Microsoft Office 2010! This all-in-one guide is designed to help you practice and prepare for the four core Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) exams.
With the MOS 2010 Study Guide, you get full, objective-by-objective coverage for:

• Exam 77-881: Microsoft Word 2010
• Exam 77-882: Microsoft Excel 2010
• Exam 77-883: Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
• Exam 77-884: Microsoft Outlook 2010

Use the book’s easy-to-follow procedures and illustrations to review the essential skills measured by the MOS exams. And you can apply what you’ve learned hands-on—using the downloadable files for all the book’s practice tasks.

This book provides valuable information for someone who aiming to obtain a Microsoft Office Specialist certification.  I downloaded this in order to study for the Excel exam.  While a textbook is almost impossible to "enjoy" while reading, I would have to say that this book proved to be very taxing to read.

All in all, it did give the promised information.

I would rate this book 3 stars.

Disclosure:  I received this book for free from O'Reilly Books through their blog book review program.  These opinions are my own.

The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead

Book preview:

"ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY Kit Livingstone has led a terribly humdrum life. Even his girlfriend is dull. But soon all that changes when, with the help of his deceased great-grandfather, Kit is catapulted into worlds unknown in The Skin Map, the first book of the Bright Empires series by prolific writer Stephen R. Lawhead. Dynamic settings are mixed with unpredictable adventures as we follow Kit through his new life, which includes parallel worlds and time travel. Most interesting is the lost map many are battling to find, the map that is crucial to traveling the cosmos and, more importantly, getting back to Earth. And yes, it's tattooed on the mapmaker. But soon the reader discovers that, as intriguing as the map is, that's not the real prize. It's only square one."

Sound interesting?  Too bad I never made it out of the first chapter.  I tried.  I really did. But try as I might, I could not seem to make it out of the gate with this book.  I'm a bit ADD when it comes to books, so if the book fails to grab me early on, I move on to the next one that does. 

This may be a great book.  Who knows?  Certianly not me...

Disclosure: I received this book free of charge from Book Sneeze. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Radical by David Platt

 

From the back of the book:

"It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like.  They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him.  They would abandon everything for the gospel.  They would take up their crosses daily...

BUT WHO DO YOU KNOW THAT LIVES LIKE THAT?  DO YOU?"

Platt challenges our American way of life as we know it by thematically asking this one question:
Have we created Jesus in our image?

When we account for the lifestyles we lead as Christians, how does it measure up with how Jesus commanded us to live?  We work hard, we lead our families, we go to church, we try to be responsible with our finances, and we even give like we're supposed to.  But we also wake up each morning in our nice houses, drive our nice cars, go to jobs that pay us more than what 90% of the world makes, sit in cushioned seats in our comfortable, air-conditioned sanctuaries, and worship God.  And we can do so freely, without fear of losing our lives. 

But how easy is it to worship God when He's given us so many blessings, and so many comforts?  Let's face it, our lives are comfortable.  Now Platt's not saying that it's wrong for us to have comforts in life, because God has blessed us with them.  He's challenging the fact that we've molded Christianity and the American Dream into one by striving for a life of comforts. 

Comforts that this world offers, but with Jesus thrown into the mix as well. 

• That we can have a house full of expensive things as long as we buy some Christian books and Bibles to cancel it out.
• That we can have our big houses, nice cars, and huge savings accounts as long as we throw our scraps and loose change to the poor.

But Jesus didn't command us to live comfortably.  In fact, He told us that when we follow Him, our lives will become uncomfortable by worldly standards.

So this poses a question:

WHAT IS JESUS WORTH TO YOU?

I would highly recommend this book to everyone. 

***I received a complimentary copy of this book, courtesy of Waterbrook Multnomah, as a member of their Blogging For Books program. All opinions expressed are my own and I have not been compensated in any other manner***

The Convenience of Living for Jesus

You hear it all the time...

Why does it matter if I _________?  Jesus did!

And you can fill that blank in with pretty much anything.  From anything as simple as wearing long hair, to the one we've all heard: drinking.  

Without losing track and heading down the long road of a rant, here's what I think is wrong with this mindset.

We want to do _________ because we like doing it.  It may be looked down on in our society, but John Brown-it, if we can find a way to justify it, why not?  And what better way of justifying it than by proclaiming that Jesus did it!       

There's absolutely nothing wrong with modeling our lives after Jesus, and there's no better way of doing so than to model His actions.  But why don't we spend more time modeling the hard actions of Jesus' life?  Why not preach the Word of God to the world?  Why not love those who we view as unlovable? 

No.  We're more worried about formulating "sound" arguments for why we can do _________.  Instead of us being formed in God's image, we try to reverse it and form Jesus in our image so that we can justify our actions.  

My question is a simple one: why?  Why do we think we can pick and choose which parts of Jesus we like and throw out the parts we don't?  That's called being a lukewarm Christian.  Nothing in scripture lends to this mindset being accurate.  In fact, Jesus Himself stated the obvious.

15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. Rev 3:15-16 (HCSB)

As my pastor said in a sermon weeks ago...

Do we change our desires to fit our theology, or do we change our theology to fit our desires?

"Max on Life" by Max Lucado

"I seem to work more and more these days.  Could this negatively affect my family?"


"How should a Christian react to poverty?"


"How could a loving God send people to Hell?"


"If God knew all along that Jesus would rise from the dead three days later, then how was His death really considered a sacrifice?"

Questions.  We all run into them from time to time.  Some are easy to answer.  Some are much tougher.

As Christians, we are on the receiving end of these types of questions, and Max Lucado's new book, "Max on Life," aims to answer them.

As a pastor whose ministry reaches far beyond the walls of his church, questions such as these have been directed his way for decades, and Lucado hopes to provide us with some answers.  This book follows the typical Q&A format.  Presented at the top of the page is the question, and his answer, usually less than one page in length, follows underneath.  The questions are categorized 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 even graciously includes writing tips, along with references, a topical index, and finally, a scripture index.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that I enjoyed this book.  I did not find it to be very reader-friendly, as it literally changed topics with each flip of the page.  And with this book containing 172 questions, I found that there was too much information and not enough time to process it, especially if you're looking to read for the sake of reading.  I was not expecting the book to be in this format.

But enough time spent on the technical merit of the book.  Let's get into the meat of it.

Naturally, I did not agree with everything he said on a doctrinal level.  For example, one questions deals with life's exhaustion leaving us no strength to pray, and whether or not God is disappointed in us for not praying.  He mentions that Jesus is our advocate and He steps up on our behalf, even when we don't.  I don't disagree with this.  But he goes on to say that, "God is not disappointed that we are so burdened we can't pray."  Key word: can't.  


So exhaustion and life's burdens render us unable to pray?  No.  "God, I'd like to talk with you today, but I'm too tired.  Maybe tomorrow, after I get some rest."  While we go through trying times, times where we can easily think that God isn't present, I don't believe it's okay to use trials (that God's in charge of, and that He's allowing us to go through) as an excuse to skip praying.  Especially when those are the times we need to lean on God the most.  Choosing not to pray when we're exhausted is, in my opinion, selfish.  And scripture is clear that life's not about us.  (I'm not sure if he intended it this way, but that's the way I took it.)

Also, while he uses scripture as a basis for nearly answer (which is great), he tends to use stories and analogies to answer the questions instead of directly answering them.  And I feel that he left some tough questions unanswered by doing this.  I know he doesn't claim to know the answer to everything - none of us do - but why include it in your book if you aren't going to attempt to answer it?  This, in my opinion, tends to water things down in an attempt to make scripture warm and fuzzy.

So, to wrap up, I really didn't enjoy the book.  The format isn't what I was expecting, but I can't fault a book for not doing something it wasn't intended to do, just like I can't fault a cat for not being a dog (gotta love analogies).  And I feel that he could have gone more in depth, but instead chose to water it down so more people would read it.

I didn't hate this book, but I didn't love it either.  3 out of 5 stars.  

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. 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 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Who Should We Really Be Fearful Of Offending?

I'm sure you've seen this.  Kobe was given a technical foul.  He wasn't happy about it.  As he went to sit down after receiving it, he commenced to throwing a hissy-fit by punching his chair and throwing his towel down.  But that wasn't all.  The two choice words that flowed from his mouth, directed at the official, have brought massive controversy Kobe's way.  The NBA fined him $100,000 for it.  Some are even calling for his suspension.

So what did he say?  I won't repeat it here, but he used the f-word in conjunction with another word that describes a bundle of sticks.  But here's the kicker: the official he directed these words at is homosexual, or, to be politically correct, a member of an "alternative" lifestyle.  And his two choice words are now being referred to as a horribly offensive "homophobic slur" by the media.

First, let me say this.  I don't use this type of language, so the use of any of it is found offensive by me.  And I don't care who uses it, from a elementary school kid who thinks they're cool, to a teenager who knows they're cool, to an adult who should know better, to celebrities, athletes, and so on.  I don't like it, but I won't harp on this point because people have the choice to say whatever they want to, within reason of course.

So, based on my above paragraph, I think what he said was wrong.  But why did this even become a story?  How many players, coaches, celebrities, and so on, have used language publicly?  Would we have even heard about it if he called the official any other cuss word?  Or what if he had used God's name in vein?  It would have been written off as something we all say in the "heat of the moment." 

So to answer my question, it became a story because it offended a minority group of people.  It was wrong of him to do it, I agree, but look at this scenario.  What if a religious group went public and demanded his apology and that he be suspended for offending the religious community by his use of language?  He probably would have apologized, but it would have been a I'm-sorry-for-getting-caught apology (like his apology he submitted) instead of a I'm-sorry-for-what-I-did apology.  And the people demanding this would have been laughed at and called "religious fanatics" and would have been dismissed. 

So this begs a question:

Are we more worried about offending people then we are about offending God?     

God and Football

If you would, participate in this little exercise: raise your hand (or pretend to raise your hand).

I'm going to ask you some questions.  If your answer is "Yes" then keep your hand up, and if your answer is "No" then put it down.

1. Are you a college football fan?  (You clicked to read this, so I'm guessing your answer is Yes.)
2. Do you own any team paraphernalia?  (shirts, hats...)
3. Do you "follow" your team? (read about them, listen to/watch/attend games.)
4. Has the outcome of a game ever affected your worship the next day at church? (My hand's still up too.)

This intersection of faith and football is what led Chad Gibbs to write his book God and Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC.     

While writing this book, Chad traveled to each SEC campus to attend a game, meet with other Christians there, and see how, and if, they balanced their fandom with their faith in Christ.  What followed was an amazing story, one that taught him, and his readers, a lot about how people went about obtaining this lofty goal.

So how did they do it?  As is the nature of people, he found differing opinions on this.

The Time-Loggers

These are the people that attempted to "cancel out" their football obsession time with "God" time.  If they spend 8 hours a week crazily following their team, they would counteract that by spending 8 hours a week with God.  

While spending time with God is always a great thing, there is a problem with this mindset.  God's not looking for us to apply some formula when it comes to following Him. 

The Football-Prayers

These are the ones that instead of separating time between football and God, they combine it by praying for their teams.  What a great idea!  They either pray for their team to be injury-free, to play to the best of their abilities (underhanded way of praying for a win), or they actually pray for their team to win.  

I don't disagree with all of this.  I do believe that God wants us to talk with Him about what's on our minds, but I have to question the motivation for the prayer.  Is it to really talk with God, or is to justify our obsession with football?

Bottom line, God doesn't want us to conjure up some crazy scheme to balance our non-God stuff with our God stuff (even though I don't really believe in the word "secular" because God's involved in everything... another post for a later day, maybe?).  He doesn't want us to follow a formula, or pray just to feel better about how much time we spend not praying.  And lastly, he doesn't want us to feel guilty about liking things such as football.

I truly believe that we serve a loving God, one that loves us enough to give us things here on Earth that we can enjoy, such as sports.  And I believe that He wants us to have a relationship with Him.  He just doesn't want the creation to become more important than the Creator.

Even though I read this book months ago, the message it brought is still fresh on my mind.  I would highly recommend that everyone read this.  But by all means, please do not do a Google image search for "God and football."  

Top 10 Most Exciting SEC Football Players to Watch - That I've Seen In My Short Time

I'm ready for football.  So ready that I'll probably trek 60 miles this Saturday to watch my team play... a practice game... against themselves.  The A-Day Game.  And I'll even pay money to see it.  It's a sad state of affairs how much time we spend wrapped up in our teams, but that's another post for a later date.

So in the spirit of football, I began to think of the most exciting players I've seen in my lifetime, the ones I had the most fun watching.  And I've decided to include my expert commentary (insert joke here) along with each player listed.

Here goes...


10) Dexter McCluster - He may not have been the best player on the field, but he brought something to the table that everyone coveted: pure speed.  Seeing him in the open field was a joy.

 9) Knowshon Moreno - Point blank - he hurdled people.

 8) Shaun Alexander - Great football player.  Great guy off the field.  One of those running backs that could not be tackled.

 7) Matthew Stafford - One of the strongest-armed QB's I've seen in some time.  

 6) Rolando McClain - One of the smartest football players I've ever seen.  And he had a little bit of talent also.

 5) Cadillac Williams - I remember a game where he literally ran on top of a pile of people to score.  But the play that always comes to mind... Go crazy, Cadillac!

 4) Darren McFadden - My first AU game was against Arkansas.  I watched in awe as McFadden ran for 6,257 yards.  Not the best AU memory I have, but he was fun to watch.

 3) Peyton Manning - Probably one of the best QB's to ever play the game.  Funny commercials too.

 2) Tim Tebow - Took charge on the huddle like no other.  I have never liked Florida, but I watched too many of their games to count just to watch him play.  And most importantly, he uses his talents for the Kingdom of Christ.

  1) Cam Newton - Who else could end up at number 1?  He was probably the most loved player by AU fans, and the most hated players by everyone else.  But regardless, the most exciting player I've ever had the joy of watching.

BookSneeze

I've toyed with the thought of starting a blog for some time now, but I figured that people wouldn't care to read what goes through my head and I've never had a reason to actually do it.  Until now.  

I stumbled upon BookSneeze, a program started by Thomas Nelson Publishers, that allows bloggers to receive a complementary copy of a book of their choosing in exchange for a 200-word review posted on their blog and retail website.  The blogger isn't required to post a positive comment, just an honest response to the book.  When they finish the book, and provide evidence that the required blog was posted, they select another book and keep on keeping on.  

The best part is that the blogger isn't required to return the book after reading it.  Free books!  I know, I know, you can get free books at the library.  But these are new books, and they don't contain smashed boogers between the pages; that is if your library book actually contains all of its pages.  (Ok, I've never checked out a book with with boogers in it, but it could happen.)

So I'm starting this program and will post reviews from time to time, along with anything else that crosses my mind.  I can't promise that it will be interesting, but I can promise that what you read here contains no boogers.