The NIV Ragamuffin Bible blends the wildly popular New International Version of the Bible with reflections of the late Brennan Manning (1934-2013), author of The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out. This bible contains 104 devotions, 250 reflections, & 150 quotes from the late Brennan Manning. For those who are unfamiliar with Brennan Manning, he is the author of what many would consider the best books on grace ever written, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out. I read this book over 10 years ago and still view it as one of the best Christian books ever written. The tagline on the back of this bible sums it up best: “Do you believe that God not only loves you, but that he also likes you?” This question is pivotal in our walk with Christ and the aim of this bible is to use the scriptures of the NIV and the reflections of a great man to draw you closer to God and help the reader understand how much God not only loves them, but also likes them! My plan, once my current Bible reading plan is finished is to use a year long Bible reading plan and read it in the NIV Ragamuffin Bible, stopping along the way to read the wonderful reflections, devotions, and quotes, I hope you’ll join me.
Tag: book review
Ingredients for Success: 10 Best Practices for Business and Life is a quick little read but packs a pretty good punch. Joseph is the CEO of FONA International an flavor company that creates flavors for the beverage, confection, grain, savory, healthcare, and dairy/dessert industries.
In his book, Joseph outlines his strategy for business and life based on the parables of the Ten Virgins, Talents, and the Sheep and the Goats taken from Matthew 25. I will not steal his thunder and tell you what those 10 best practices are but I will say that if you were to implement those 10 best practices, you would be successful.
Overall, I thought the book was a good quick read that left me with ideas that I could implement in my life after reading it which is the aim of any writer of a book like this. Joseph has done a good job taking his experiences both working for someone else and running his own company and distilling what has made him successful down into a manageable book that just about anyone with any amount of time can read and glean insight from and does so in a way that doesn’t come across as better than thou or preachy.
I really have to stop picking up series in the middle to end of the series. After really liking the Heart of Ice – A Triple Threat Novel by Lis Wiehl I figured I would give her another shot and picked up Fatal Tide. I picked well. Even without the background of the first 2 books, Fatal Tide doesn’t disappoint. Fatal Tide picks up with Reese, a 17 year old student at St. Adrian’s academy being ambushed by demonic beings trying to bring about a dark prophecy and just ramps up from there. The main characters Tommy & Dani have been opposing the demonic forces since the first book and the battle culminates in Fatal Tide.
I was impressed with Heart of Ice and was also impressed with Fatal Tide. Lis Wiehl weaves together a compelling action with great spiritual overtones. I would recommend reading the other two books in The East Salem Trilogy first, but even without them, Fatal Tide does not disappoint.
Afloat follows the inhabitants of Eagle’s Talon, a spectacular floating community, as they deal with a series of events that threaten to tear apart everything that they hold dear. Masks will be torn off, relationships tested, and faith restored.
Initially, I was very excited to review Afloat. I had previous experience with Erin Healy with her collaboration with Ted Dekker on Burn. I quickly found however that what I was drawn to in Burn must have been due to Dekker’s influence more so than Healy’s. Afloat just seemed to be missing something as I read it. I can’t say that it was a terrible book, i just found it lacking. I just felt that things could have been tied together a little easier. My recommendation on Afloat is that if you have the opportunity to read it, go ahead, I just wouldn’t go out of my way to get my hands on it.
There are several leadership books on the market now, this one however takes a different approach. There are two sections to this book and the author gives you the option to read either section first. The two sections are a story about 4 young adults as they are mentored in their leadership abilities by an old war veteran and former missionary. The second is an explanation of a biblical theology of leadership.
I do not want to give too much away, because I want you to read the book, but I will say I thought the book laid out a very good explanation of how true leadership is about following well. Leadership and followership are two sides of the same coin, you can’t be one without the other. Most leadership books out there will focus on the tips and strategies for being a good leader, but I think Dr. Galvin hits the nail right on the head in that even as a leader, you are still a follower, so the key is to learn to follow well and by intentionally following well, you will know what it takes to be a good leader.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to know how to be a better leader, but I would recommend it as a read for everyone because we can all learn to be better followers.
I love this genre. Some of my favorite movies are Gladiator, Braveheart, & The Patriot. Some of my favorite books are The Mark of the Lion Series, & the Sons of Encouragement Series. The reason that I love this genre so much is that it fills in the gaps for me, it gives me a sense of what the people who lived these lives went through. I know that they are fiction, but when one of these authors approaches historical fiction, they usually do so with reverence for the historical part of the narrative and do their homework in such a way that they are able to fairly accurately fill in the gaps. Some people get really angry when books like Babylon’s Falling are written because they feel like it takes away from the biblical narrative. To each their own I guess, but I love the genre so when I was offered the chance to review Babylon’s Falling I jumped at the opportunity.
Babylon’s Falling starts off with Daniel and his friends on their way to Babylon at the beginning of the captivity. It follows his rise in rank through the empire and ends with his return to Jerusalem. I don’t want to get too much into detail because I want you to read the book. I am not a biblical scholar by any stretch of the imagination so take my analysis with a grain of salt, but I think the author took great care in staying true to what really happened during the biblical narrative and stay true to the source material. Overall, I felt like the author did a great job in writing this book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would definitely recommend it to anyone, especially people who like the historical fiction genre.
In this book the Triple Threat club of Allison, Nic, & Cassidy are on the case of a very cunning killer with absolutely no moral conviction whatsoever.
Crime dramas like Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NCIS, & CSI are some of my favorite types of TV shows so when it came time to pick another book to review Heart of Ice
was very appealing. I liked the idea of three friends who were in 3 different fields related to crime solving all working together to help solve a crime, Allison is a Federal Prosecutor, Nic is an FBI agent, & Cassidy is a crime reporter for a local TV station. I thought the authors did an excellent job laying out who the characters were and what their motivations were. The story wove together really nicely as well. I hope I can go back and read the two previous novels by these two authors because they were a great pair on this novel.
I also took a new approach for this book in that it is the first book I have ever read completely digitally. I read the book entirely on my phone using the Amazon Kindle app. I am happy to say that I really liked it, for my ongoing book reviews for Thomas Nelson, I will continue to download them to my phone (or if I get a tablet in the future, my tablet).
When I decided to read The Christian Zombie Killers Handbook by Jeff Kinley I didn’t know what I was getting into. The author takes an interesting path on how he wrote the book. This book is both fiction and non-fiction.
The author first writes a chapter that tells a story of the life after the zombie apocalypse has begun, then follows it up with a chapter explaining how the chapter before relates to our Christian walk. While reading the book, I felt like it was too disjointed but after reflecting on the experience I realize that the author has a great talent tying together a story that he has made up with the ultimate story into a cohesive unit. I actually finished this book quite a while ago, but have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what review to write. After considering, I have to say that the author has written a pretty good book. Like I said, it seemed disjointed at the time, but after reflecting, I realized how good of a book it really was. If you are into zombie fiction at all or how it can relate to your Christian walk, you should definitely pick up this book.
Being a lover of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, when given the opportunity to read a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, I was excited. The man gave direction to the entire genre of fantasy fiction, I wanted to know what made him tick.
In this book, Mark Horne does a
great job of explaining how the events of his life affected how and what he wrote about. It has always amazed me how men and women could have the creativity to come up with the worlds that they create through fiction. In his thorough and well researched book, Mark Horne does a great job opening up the world of J.R.R. Tolkien to the reader. One of my favorite parts of the Tolkien story was his relationship with fellow author C.S. Lewis who says that J.R.R. Tolkien was instrumental in his coming to faith. If you are a lover of Tolkien’s work or the fantasy genre in general, you should definitely read this book.
David Ponder is at it again…actually, he gets dragged into it again. David Ponder is now 74 years old when Gabriel decides to visit him and pull him and all previous Travellers to save the world…literally…humanity is on a crash course with destruction and the Travellers must figure out how to save it…
We first met David Ponder in The Traveller’s Gift where he first learned the 7 decisions that determine personal success. I loved that book and with The Final Summit Andy Andrews has done it again. What I like the most about Andy’s books is that he teaches major life lessons using stories that intrigue you and pull you in. When you sit down to read an Andy Andrews book you don’t want to get up, you find yourself rifling through the pages as fast as you can.
The Final Summit does not disappoint in this regard. Writing a review for a book like this is hard because it is such a good book that you really just want your reader to go buy the book…and experience it for themselves without being tainted by your own opinion. So, I will say it again…go buy the book…
Other (highly recommended) Books I have read by Andy Andrews: