The Return

A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears William J. Bennett Thomas Nelson I don’t know where to begin with this book review. To be fair I have not read any of Dr. Bennett’s other books, so I don’t know if this one is typical of his work or not. His style here is so low key that I just cruised through the last twenty years or so without having any emotions evoked at all. I lived those years and remember plenty of emotion and angst. That’s not to say the text is dry or boring, but its matter of fact-ness flattened the whole era. Sort of like looking at old newspaper headlines. Not sure what he hoped to accomplish with this endeavor. The book did have an extra I haven’t seen in quite a while though. Color plates. How long has that been? Maybe I’ve been conditioned by all the visual media available now, but they did a better job of recreating the history than the text. Maybe a picture really is worth a thousand words. Overall, I’d recommend this book for the people that were too y...

Anybody notice it snowed a little here and there? Tonight it's the DFW area with the big white cloud over it on the radar. Might get a foot or so. That's really big news in that part of the country. Yankees, on the other hand, shouldn't be amazed that it snows in February. You'd think it was something unusual they way the reports have come in. Almost a hysterical. How'd they get along years ago? That 24-7 news cycle has not been the best idea since they must have something to cover during all those minutes of broadcast time. So magnify whatever is out there. Or talk about what could've been out there as if it really was or might be soon. The end of the world probably won't get as much coverage as whether another snowflake fell on DC. Yeah, I know if the world ended no one would be there to report it, but assuming they were broadcasting from Mars or somewhere. Give me a break. Did you hear the big, giant announcement? Yeah, that one. Iran has nuk...

Free Book* Brian Tome Thomas Nelson 2010 I liked this book and I am free to say so, too. First of all it’s just a good read. Tome’s style is easygoing, conversational, and makes you feel as though you and he are engaged in a conversation. Like some other reviewers, I think the first couple of chapters could use some help, but keep going. It gets better the farther in you get. He finds his stride in the latter half of the book, but the front half is worth you time as well. It is so refreshing to read about our freedom in Christ in a non academic tone and by someone who seems to live it. Make no mistakes, this isn’t about setting aside God’s authority and making up our own. Not by a long shot. What this author has accomplished is explaining a lot of that in ways that remove the harsh legalistic tendencies and replacing them with the joy and abundant life promised by Jesus. Of course, along the way he ruffles feathers and rattles cages. That’s the point. His work on strongholds...

Looks like it's been a while since I've been around these parts. Well, I'm here now. Last time around it was some political stuff and looks like it's that way again. The latent activist awoke long enough to send a note to one of the congressmen that had a bunch of face time during the state of the union. And I even got a response. Automated, impersonal, but a response nonetheless. Not going to get all overheated describing the message or cause for it. That's old news by now anyway. Tried to send a similar message to the senate side but the amount of personal info that had to be filled out before the message could be sent was amazing. Fully expected that if I had given them all that I'd be on a no fly list or some other list. Isn't that a fine bit of cynicism?! Or is it? Getting all excited about whether the groundhog will see his shadow or not. I can at least begin to think that the time of cold and gray and dark might have an end. On the up sid...

Latest in The Return land available here and now. Excited? Oh well. Worth a try I suppose. Looks like Haiti is beginning to shape up a little bit from the news. Long way to go. Looks like some folks plan to rebuild the whole place. This could be a good thing? Depends on what happens next, I suppose. They still don't have a governing body that governs. What little they had believed in a form of trickle down idea. They get theirs and anything left over might go to the next layer of society. Since it appears most folks live at the bottom that works not so well for them. We'll see how this works assuming the press goes back in a year or so. Anyone got a handle on what the Supreme Court actually did in the decision that hit the news yesterday? Lots of frantic hype out there, but a nice balanced report might be nice. Did they just open the door for some take over? (As if it weren't already a done deal, but we'll pretend the people still have some input for the...

As you may have noticed I put up a review yesterday. My first ever. It's a little harder than it looks like it ought to be. For me anyway. Trying to say something negative but nicely isn't my style. Generally just put it out there and let the chips fall. Guess I could continue that way, but as I mentioned elsewhere the authors get feedback and I don't want to need a lawyer or something in case someone gets offended. Besides after doing a couple of the NaNoWriMo sprints I have a little more compassion for an author. A little more. On the other hand, if I can churn out something coherent then authors with all the agents and editors ought to be able to do that much more. Right? I think so. So now what's next? Do it again, I guess. Requested another book and figure it'll get here in a couple of weeks. Book rate to the sticks is so so so slow. That's OK. I'll find something to occupy myself in the meantime. Like trying to learn Greek, biblical Gree...

How to Reach your Full Potential for God Charles F. Stanley 2009 Thomas Nelson Pastor Charles Stanley explores a three fold approach to reaching your, and his, full potential for God. Heart, body, and interestingly, schedule. I expected some other third choice but discovered that it worked well for this book. Within each category different essentials, as the author labeled them, emerged and were examined more closely. Dr. Stanley's discussions and suggestions in this book are based on Scripture and applied appropriately in my opinion. I particularly liked the repeated emphasis on the importance of individual uniqueness. His style is readable and accessible to most Christians, but he covers so much in each chapter that the reader can feel overwhelmed occasionally. So, expect to reread and rethink some portions of this book. I noticed that there is a study guide available for purchase. If you want to get the most from this book that might be the best way to proceed. A major i...