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, when to sit quietly and listen, when to offer help.   Oddly, t

Review: The Trust Protocol: The Key to Building Stronger Families, Teams, and Businesses Mac Richard Baker Books 2017 Mac Richard is a new author for me and looking at one of the online sites this may be his first book.   So, I had no preconceived ideas of how or what he might have to say.   Or how he would say it.    Richards says it straight and without too much of his own story intruding on what he has to say.   Yes, he uses examples from his own life.   It’s way easier than getting all the legal stuff you need these days to tell it any other way.   That said he also includes quotes from others as needed. And that includes the Bible.   He’s tracking pretty well as far as I can see.   His pace matches his audience.   He’s in Austin, remember.   Lots to do and not so much time to do it.   So the presentation is short and to the point. What about the material?   As I read it I found myself wondering why what seems so obvious needs said, and it hit m

Review: You Are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living Henri J.M. Nouwen Convergent 2017 If you aren’t familiar with the work of Henri Nouwen this compilation from his writings, talks, and letters, as the introduction tells us, will introduce you to him.   If you have read Nouwen before this will remind you over and again how sensitive and loving he was.   And how he demonstrated his ability to speak the truth in love.  I have browsed randomly through many of the entries and each one touched me in some way.   The readings are brief, but not without deep content.   A simple line or two from one of the readings says, “The resurrection does not solve our problems about dying and death…. But it does reveal to us that, in deed, love is stronger than death.”   (104).    I am glad to have discovered this book and intend to use regularly.   I recommend it to you as well.   It does contain a list of works cited at the end with the information l