Is Next To Godliness

Some people say cleanliness is next to godliness. I don't exactly think that's accurate, but I also don't exactly know what it means. There is some kind of list that has cleanliness and godliness next to each other? Or once you get the godliness thing down, cleanliness is next in line? I also think, if cleanliness is next to godliness, they must be separate things. There are many things that are part of godliness, but cleanliness is something separate. Okay, so, I really just use those lines of logic as excuses not to clean or to be grumpy while I am complaining (grumpiness is not part of godliness either, by the way).

So, what is godliness? Some people seem to think happiness is part of godliness. I tend to think they are wrong. However, I recently read a book called The Happy Christian, which I think demonstrates that true happiness is found through godliness. In other words, God's way is the best way. He knows how we work and how things should go, so only by following His ways will we be happy.

The author, David Murray, uses many statistics and study results to demonstrate his points. He also points out that some non-Christians do a better job at some aspects of godliness than many Christians do. He shows how findings in the real world, in secular society, demonstrate some of the principles he is teaching.

He touches on quite a variety of topics. One that I appreciated at the end was the importance of diversity within the church. Since reading it, I have thought back to that section several times as my family has been looking for a church not only for me to lead worship with but also for us to plug into.

I appreciate this book overall and recommend it to you. I am thankful to BookLook Bloggers for providing this book free for review.

Learning From Musicians

Lately, I have been thinking about God and how He is portrayed in the Old Testament versus the New Testament. I have been talking to people who have different views of the Bible than what I grew up with, and it is challenging the way I think. So, when I saw a book on the subject available for review, I decided to request it. 

Soon enough, I had the book and was quickly disappointed that the book was not really anything about reconciling the God of the Old Testament with the New. Instead, it was a book written by two Christian musicians connecting their stories and those of their family and friends with the Old Testament, and finding a God in the Old Testament who is a little more loving and gracious than what they expected.

Initially, I was miffed. It seems the book was misrepresented by it's advertisements. Not only that, but this is the second book in a row I felt that way about. However, I continued reading the book and did find some encouragement and challenge from it. I also thought it offered interesting insight into the lives of the two authors. Did you know Ginny Owens is blind? I didn't. Actually, I didn't know much at all about Ginny Owens, but her name is familiar to me, unlike Andrew Greer, whose name I constantly had to keep distinct from Andrew Peterson in my mind as I was reading it.  

In conclusion, if you're looking for a book to provide reconciliation or even some sort of comparison between God as portrayed in the Old Testament of the Bible and God as portrayed in the New Testament, this is not the book. If you are interested in learning about a couple of Christian musicians and are open to being challenged and encouraged by their stories and how the Old Testament has impacted them, this might be the book for you. 

Oh, it also has questions to think about and or discuss at the end of each chapter. Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to them, so I can't say whether or not they're helpful, but they're there.

I'd like to thank BookLook Bloggers for giving me this book to review. And thank you for reading this.

Understanding The Bible

People can spend a lifetime studying the Bible and not fully understand it. However, it is important that we study it, and there are various resources for helping us do so. God's Story in 66 Verses is Stan Guthrie's resource for making a basic understanding of the Bible more easily attainable. Guthrie goes through the Bible book by book and succinctly describes what each book is about in one short chapter of his book.
I think this book is a great resource for anybody trying to gain a quick understanding of the Bible, book by book. I think Guthrie does a good job of presenting a relatively unbiased explanation of each book. This book surely allows for further investigation of the Bible, but does provide a solid basic understanding.
I was a little thrown off at first when reading the book. Based on the title and description I had read, I was expecting more of an emphasis on the theme verse from each book of the Bible. The chapters, instead, focused on an overview of each book with some allusion to the theme verse.
That being said, I am glad to have read this book and to have it for future reference. I would also recommend this book to others.
I appreciate BookLook Bloggers for giving me this book for review.

Love Your Enemies

It is one thing to think back to the time when Jews and Samaritans were enemies and to try and understand what the act of kindness in Jesus' "Good Samaritan" parable meant. It is another to read the story of a doctor who was kidnapped by the taliban and came to realize that they were in many ways products of circumstance. They didn't know anything other than the life they were living. He even grew to love his captors, in some real sense of the term.
Not only did this book capture my attention, but it kept me wanting to read more and inspired me to want to be a better person.
The story is of a doctor with roots in India but current residence in the United States who makes trips to Afghanistan as a health director with a Morning Star Development. On one of those trips, the vehicle he is in gets stopped and he and his 2 native co-workers get captured by a group of mujahideen. In his book, Dr. Dilip Joseph recounts his thoughts and feelings throughout his captivity with the taliban and rescue by Seal Team 6.
I would recommend this book to just about everybody and am thankful to BookLook Bloggers for providing this book to me free for review.

Can We Have True Joy Without Pain?

I have pondered this question several times throughout my life. God created everything and thus has something to do with pain and the capacity for evil within creation. This topic came up again as I read Into the Canyon by Michael Neale.
The the main character is an old man (about as old as my parents) who tells his story to a younger man. Most of the book is made up of the old man's story of himself and a small group of people who were river guides in Colorado. Through his story, he relates to the younger man what is important in life.
The old man, Gabriel Clarke, was scarred for life when as a child of 5, his dad died saving two men from the river. His mom took him to Kansas, away from the river, where he grew up with his mom and the older couple whose farm they lived on. As the story begins, Gabriel was recently invited back to the river and is becoming a guide.
He has to work through his pain as he also directly works with one of the men his father saved. The people in his life are full of wisdom and patience as he follows the path to forgiveness and freedom.
I am not sure I completely understand the metaphor of The River, which is capitalized throughout the book. It seems almost like a god to the guides. I suppose it is supposed to be the Holy Spirit. Maybe it would have helped to read The River by the same author.
Either way, this was a pretty good book. I did not get bored by it and was in some way inspired by the story.
I have BookLook Bloggers to thank for providing this book to me for review.

So Much Book

I've gotta admit. This book was a little long for me. But it was so good. I would call myself a casual reader. I like to read, but I don't spend a lot of time on it. I also like to finish things that I start, so I don't like a book takes more of my life than I want to give. This book was worth it, though. In fact, I will definitely have to refer back to it and reread sections. I didn't put much of anything into practice while reading this book, but there are many things I would like to try/commit myself to.

You may have heard of Michael Yankoski or adventure as a homeless person. He wrote a book several years ago about that experience called Under the Overpass. I don't want to spend time on that book, though. The book I just finished reading is The Sacred Year. The basis of the book is the author found himself caught up in Christian celebrity and found himself lacking depth in life, relationships, etc. He began his "sacred year" by spending a week at a monastery.
From that point he records various experiences, in a somewhat random, yet cohesive manner. He draws from the wisdom of others and has the self-discipline to do things that, while simple, are very difficult, such as contemplating an apple for an hour or living in a cave for a week.

The insight he draws from his various experiences offer profound lessons. Michael Yankoski is able to present the lessons in a way that is not preachy or coercive. He tells of his experiences not in a way that says, "You must do these things to," but in a way that allows us to learn from his trial and sometimes error.

If you haven't already noticed, I really appreciate this book. It is in many ways the antithesis to our face-paced money-loving culture, a siren enticing the reader to slow down and contemplate the important things in life and appreciate the complexity of the simple. I would recommend it to just about everybody.

I also appreciate BookLook Bloggers for giving me this book free for review.

Good Message

It has taken me a while to get through this latest book from BookLook Bloggers, but it is one of the first husband advice books I have gotten through at all.
This book by Doug Fields comes from a series of messages he gave, advice for men on how to be a hero to their wife. The advice is good, though difficult to follow. He did provide some simple steps to help and practical stories and lessons.
The main idea is for men to stop being so selfish and to realize that they must work together with their wives, with one heart. This is obviously more complicated than it seems, so Fields spends the majority of the book offering ways to live that out and explaining what it really means.
The book is full of great ideas and good lessons or reminders about what a husband should strive to be. However, I had a hard time with the delivery of the message. It seems the author tries too hard to be funny or to appeal to a specific type of man.
When I could force myself to read beyond the delivery, I was able to let some real truth sink in. I might recommend this book to others.
Thank you BookLook Bloggers for providing a free copy for review.