The Return

Review: Today’s Moment of Truth: Devotions to Deepen Your Faith in Christ Lee Strobel and Mike Mittelberg Zondervan 2016 Strobel and Mittleberg have written a devotional different from most I’ve seen.   That in itself is welcome news to some of us.   They don’t tell you what to think, but help you to think.    Each day starts with a short Scripture verse or passage followed by some discussion related to that verse that illustrates an application in a person’s life.   That’s pretty standard form for devotional writing, but let me show you how this is different.   The devotional reading, I have before me at the moment carries the title Is it wrong to be right? (168).   The verse comes from John 8, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”   Have you discovered where he’s going with it yet?   The first paragraph opens with this.   “You Christians act like you’re right and everyone else is wrong.” (168)....

Review: Oil Painting Essentials: Mastering portraits, figures, still lifes, and interiors Gregg Kreutz Watson-Guptill Publications   2016 Yes, I go for any bit of help I can find to improve my skills.   Well, improve my attempts at oil painting anyway.   This is not a beginner book, but one for someone who has worked with the medium a bit and has wondered what is it that just makes someone else’s work work and their own not work.   His first eye opener for me was this.   “…the skill of oil painting is not time dependent. It’s insight dependent.” (2)   He had just debunked the paint one a day for a long time and you will arrive theory.   He is not saying that isn’t important just that it takes more.   That is the launch point for this book.      Kreutz walks the reader through some basic concept and process essentials with examples (Loved the how not to paint a shadow!)   After that he offers lots of good remi...

Review: The Power of Together: Discover the Christian Life You’ve Been Missing Jim Putnam 2016 Baker Books I wish I had gotten an e-version of this book instead of the print version.   Why?   To see how many hits I would get on the word relationship.   This book delves into that topic from several angles attempting to encourage the reader to become more involved in forming genuine relationships.   Those of us that are older may remember the word friendship .   The real sort, not the sort established on social media with the touch of an icon.    That’s what Putnam feels is missing in the Christian life.   That’s what he spends 245 pages trying to explain, illustrate, model, or extol.   He has diagnosed a major deficiency in current life for many inside and outside the church.      So what is the solution to the problem?   Happily, he offers some suggestions that should be obvious by the time he gets to th...