The Return

Review: Talking About God: Honest Conversations about Spirituality Steve & Cheri Saccone Navpress 2018 Love the back-cover comment.   “Evangelism is intimidating. But talking is natural…A vital part of every meaningful relationship you’ve ever had.”   That’s what this book is about.   Talking with someone and in the process evangelism sort of just happens.   Well, not quite that simple, but it does open the way.    Each chapter of this book illustrates how that can be so.   It’s the art of conversation, and each conversation recorded in this book shows how that can happen.   This is not a set of case studies with discussion questions to follow.   The authors opted for the conversational approach in their story telling with the reader.   The flow is so natural you’ll think your reading a good fiction work.   You aren’t though and there’s lots to be learned here.   When to pursue a particular direction, whe...

Review: The Blessing of Humility Jerry Bridges Navpress 2016 Humility.   According to this book we know it when we see it, but how do we recognize it?   That’s pretty much what this book covers.   What it looks like and how does it happen?   Bridges uses the verses known as the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 as his starting point.   Well that’s not entirely accurate---his starting point is the gospel and he returns to it regularly throughout this work.    This approach helps the reader understand his own person in relation to God.   Understanding who he is leads to humility, but not without some serious changes.   Bridges guides the reader along this path of discovery gently, but firmly.   Simple explanations and applications make this journey sound easy.   It isn’t and he admits that.    Here's a sample of his simple yet insightful work.   “I still vividly remember a statement I heard at a Bible stu...

Review: Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging, updated Brennan Manning 2015 NavPress Originally published in 1994, this new edition reminded me why I read it years ago.   It’s as relevant today, maybe even more so, as it was then.   This updated version has a new cover, forward, preface and best of all a section for group study that is different from the usual Q&A format I’ve seen elsewhere.   Internalizing the text is the goal.   Here the idea is geared more toward application of the text than a review.   A little tougher for some, but so worth the effort.   I’d recommend the book for this additional chapter by itself. The main text comes from experience and maturity, in my opinion.   I found more depth here than in some other books I’ve read lately and to be honest that is what I’m looking for these days.   Manning encourages his reader all along the way through the book.   A look at the imposter,...