The Return

Review: Out of the Depths: An Unforgettable WWII Story of the Survival, Courage, and the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis Edgar Harrell, USMC with David Harrell Bethany House Publishers 2005, 2014 I was a little hesitant about this book at first, but after the first few pages I could not put it down.   It is the story of the USS Indianapolis as told by one of the survivors of its sinking.   Harrell relates his experiences in simple, convincing detail.   His description of training and life on the ship revealed the same experiences found in several other firsthand accounts lending authenticity early on to this story. As he continues certain questions arise as to the conduct of the war and the level of secrecy that was maintained by the leadership at the highest levels.   And finally as the Indianapolis is sent out without escort or knowledge of the danger they could and did encounter the reader begins to understand the repercussions of policies in place at the time.  

Review: Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You John Ortberg Zondervan 2014 I had read some of Ortberg’s works before and decided to take a look at this one.   He has a way of taking some really heavy topics and making them much more accessible to folks.   This one is no different as far as his approach to the idea of soul keeping---that’s keeping as in tending, caring for.   Areas he covered can help identify some of the maladies typically found today like accepting personal responsibility, substituting busyness for substance, how to find genuine rest, and, of particular interest to me, how to deal with those arid times in our lives.   All this is good stuff, definitely worth the read and some thought. The problem I had with this book was his meandering between what was just mentioned and honoring a person who was very important in his life—Dallas Willard.   I am in no way objecting to his honoring this man, but mixing that with what seemed to be his

Review: Extreme Prayer: The Impossible Prayers God Promises to Answer Greg Pruett Tyndale Momentum 2014 From the back cover---“Drawing on Scripture, Greg Pruett show how to intentionally tap into Jesus’ open-ended promises about prayer in a way that achieves maximum Kingdom support.”    That’s what I want.   Tap in and receive.   But wait---that isn’t exactly what it says.   The author’s whole point is that Jesus meant what He said with those open-ended promises if we will do things Jesus’ way.    Pruett learned extreme prayer by practicing it out of necessity.   He and his family lived in West Africa for a number of years as Bible translators for language groups that had no access to the Bible in their native languages.   The extreme part gets real very quickly in that sort of setting.   As he tells of their experiences he also leads the reader through the transformation to the practice of extreme prayer which---spoiler alert! ---is the sort of prayer that most of u