My Review of "Talking with God"

Adam Weber's Talking with God:  What to Say When You Don't Know How to Pray is an amazing book -- really more a conversation partner -- in exploring the depths of Christian praying for those who aren't sure how to pray.

Weber writes with a pastoral heart, offering wisdom about the nature and practice of prayer that will bring even mature Christians to think about and practice prayer in meaningful ways.  Talking with God is a clear, accessible book about the very nature of prayer that is as refreshing (in the way that the Spirit refreshes us!) as it is insightful (in the way that the Spirit opens our hearts and minds).  This book is more than a book about prayer, though.  Because ultimately prayer -- like this book -- means little if it's not practiced.  This is a book that will help even the unsure and clearly-doubting to get started.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "In a Different Key"

John Donvan and Caren Zucker's In a Different Key:  The Story of Autism tells the story of a psychological disorder that was ignored for decades, and only recently.  It moves from those early decades in which children were institutionalized, often in appalling conditions to that period in the 1960s and 1970s when "refrigerator mothers" were blamed for the condition.  In a Different Key also chronicles those individual -- families and researchers -- who provided care and developed our contemporary understanding of autism.

In a Different Key certainly focuses on the largely-American narrative of that history, so there are definitely other pieces of the history of autism that are left to be told.  So there are no shortage of rival egos and camps as well as overrated developments that go into the telling of the story of autism.  In the end, then, In a Different Key cannot be the only resource for the telling of autism's story.  But it's certainly a good place to begin.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Unlock Your Dreams"

Philip Wagner's Unlock Your Dreams: Discover the Adventure You Were Created For isn't a bad book -- it's just simply unremarkable for all of the hopes I had in picking it up.

As a whole, Unlock Your Dreams is strong on inspiration, but lacking in the practical aspects that I expect from a Christian book about vocation.  There's nothing here about actually discerning what God expects of our lives, and what God's dreams might be.  In that way, it's really more self-help than it is a Christian exploration of how we "discover the adventure" we're created for. 

Which adds up to my inability to finish the book.  While I made it through chapter 3 -- which really is a good chapter -- I simply couldn't find the energy or inspiration to make it much further. 

So I'll be happy to pass this book along to the local library, but it isn't a book I'll keep on my shelves.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Tough as They Come"

Travis Mills' Tough as They Come:  Thousands Have Been Wounded in the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, five has Survived Quadruple Amputee Injuries.  This is One's Soldier's Story tells the amazing tale about a US Army soldier who served in Afghanistan with the 82 Airborne Division.  While on patrol, he was seriously wounded by an IED; he became one of the few quadruple amputees who survived a war zone.  This is his account of his life, service, injury and recovery.

I won't give away any details of the story -- it's gripping enough to make readers into page-turners -- but I'm not kidding when I say it's an amazing story.  Since the cover is a spoiler, I knew what the book was generally about, but the details are truly incredible.

This is not a book to be missed.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

"The Women of Easter"

Liz Curtis Higgs' The Women of Easter:  Encounter the Savior with Mary of Bethany, Mary of Nazareth, and Mary Magdalene is an amazing writer who has given us a number of books on spirituality particularly geared toward Christian women.  This is another of her gifts.

In a fully narrative way, Higgs recounts the lives of three particular women in Jesus' life -- lives really lived by real women who became the first witnesses (and therefore the first preachers!) of the Good News:  That death has been defeated and Jesus is alive!

Like a said, an amazing gift.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower"

Tom Krattenmaker's Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower: Finding Answers in Jesus for Those Who Don't Believe helps secularists -- not necessarily atheists, but those for whom religion is a social curiosity -- find in Jesus a role model of the highest order.  Jesus is worth listening to, according to Krattenmaker, even worth following, so long as you don't call it "religion".

Jesus' words in the New Testament are not sacred to Krattenmaker but are indeed worth utilizing for daily ethical dilemmas.  "When it comes to a secular engagement with Jesus," he notes, "we can pick and choose, accept and reject, mix and match, however we wish."  The author stands in a difficult position.  To nonbelievers, he will come off as a Christian.  No matter how much he protests, the reality is that many self-professed Christians are just as unconvinced as he is of the supernatural aspects of Jesus' story.  Yet to many committed Christians, he will seem to be appropriating what they hold dear for his own purposes.

Krattenmaker is surely right to find moral authority in Jesus' teaching, but the rest of his argument falls flat.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Jesus Over Everything"

In his new book, Jesus Over Everything, Clayton Jennings looks at the heart of Christian faith:  Jesus Christ.  He fashions everything in life -- who we are and what we do -- around that center.  Jennings insists that since Jesus is everything we believe, he must be over everything we are and do.  Jesus Over Everything is an important book, and one that I will reread again, because it's packed with so much deep spiritual wisdom.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.