But Lord, I Was Happy Shallow
How many times have you yearned for a deeper, more intimate walk with Christ? The stories in this book are compiled from writers seeking that deeper experience, and how God often used obstacles and the lessons learned from overcoming unfairness or injustice to grow into a deeper and more satisfying relationship with Him. (M. Littauer, 2004, Kregel Press)
Your Exceptional Life Begins Now
Working with writers around the country, author Timothy Burns is included in each of these books. His contributions range from heartfelt personal stories to wisdom grown from his own experiences. Readers of these books will find encouragement, inspiration and advice in these popular titles.
Compiled from writers across the country, Your Exceptional Life encourages readers to take hold of the life they have been given and live. Every person encounters unscheduled bumps in the road. These stories tell how to use bumps in your path as a launch ramp to an exceptional life. (M. Young & K. Fletcher, 2005, Aloha Press)
God Encounters
Author James Stuart Bell worked with Howard Books to collect stories of God’s real involvement in the lives of his children. The first in a 10 book series, God Encounters tells how a loving God answered desperate prayers and interacted with his people (J. Bell, 2009, Howard Books)
Tim’s contribution to this compilation book tells the story of how God answered a 4 year old prayer to begin reconciling his relationship to his son Josh.
The Art of Helping
Ever wondered just how to step into the gap created when a friend experiences a traumatic loss, or possibly the death of a close friend or family member? Lauren Littauer Briggs collected advice and practical do’s and don’ts from writers across the nation as she put together this compassionate guide. A reader will find creative ideas to help others and even favorite recipes to offer others as a way to say they care, and they are available to help. (L Littauer-Briggs, 2003, David C Cook)
Forged in the Fire – Shaped by the Master
God wants to do great things through you, but whether or not his will ever comes to completion in your life depends to a great extent on whom you allow to shape your life. Do you insist on following your own patterns, habits, and ideas for change? Are you willing to allow God’s pattern to shape your life into a masterpiece bearing His signature?
David met God personally and intimately through His provision in the wilderness, and it forever changed him into “a man after God’s own heart.” Joseph met God in the dreams of his youth, and when those dreams were finally fulfilled, a self-important young man was transformed into the humble leader of the most powerful kingdom on earth. You could say they were forged in the fire as they were shaped by the Master.
On the other hand, King’s Saul and Hezekiah both started their walk with God with purpose and the Spirit’s power only to fall, miserably. Saul was sent an “evil spirit from God” because he insisted on doing his own will instead of God’s. Hezekiah started his reign surrounded by supernatural miracles, but his selfishness cost him the kingdom.
After unpacking the lessons from these two successful leaders, Forged in the Fire turns to Kings Saul and Hezekiah. Both of these leaders started well, but they finished in defeat. Forged asks “Why?” and then discovers 12 lessons from these 4 kings’ lives to learn and apply as you pursue the purposes of God in your generation.
Self Help Advice for the Rest of Us
Are You Living or Existing? by Kimanzi Constable
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I don’t know about you, but I don’t connect with some of the self-help Experts and Gurus out there. I know they do good work, and if their income is any reflection to the quality of their advice (which is what I’m supposed to think, I think) then their advice is worth its weight in gold. Yet I have a hard time peeling away the pounds of plastic and veneer of their presentations to find something that really feels genuine.
I met Kimanzi Constable at a local conference last year, and he was just finishing this book, Are you Living or Just Existing. Kimanzi, or Z as he liked to be called, had finally reached the end of accepting life as a delivery driver, and was determined to find the life of his dreams. He was focused on a better income, a better career and a better outlook on life in general. His book, Are You Living or Just Existing, is filled with this blue-collar honesty as he talks about his journey, and the principles he’s using today to change his life.
Z is a normal guy, but he’s not average. He’s applying the advice in his book, not just talking about it. I’ve watched him travel from Hawaii to Israel talking to growing audiences, and I’m seeing the words on his pages come to life. I highly recommend Z’s book. It’s filled with self-help advice for the rest of us.
An International Adoption Goes Terribly Wrong
We’re spoiled here in America. Laws are written to protect us from corrupt officials who use their offices for their own benefit at the expense of the helpless. We rely on just officials to hold our rights as sacred, as gifts from our Creator, as they hear disputes and work toward equitable solutions when inevitable conflict happens. Here between the oceans shores, a place where corrupt governments haven’t yet been allowed to flourish for centuries, we are spoiled.
What happens when fair laws disappear under the whims of men seeking their own power, rather than their citizen’s wellbeing? What does the world look like when the thing you expected, planned and paid for are blocked by a careless, almost flippant disregard for the laws you’ve bent over backward to uphold, when you’re in a foreign country, and the officials are fairly certain you have no resources or recourse.
I met Kim deBlecourt shortly after she returned from the Ukraine, or should I say escaped? The ordeal still embedded in her eyes, she told me the story of being on the run and underground in the former Soviet bloc country, trying to get home with the little boy she’d legally adopted. Kim’s story is one of courage, true love, and a mom’s passion to protect a Ukrainian orphan she and her family grew to know and love during the long process of an international adoption. Somewhere along the way, the conflict between Kim and a corrupt government official became personal – to the official, and Kim’s flight became a race against politics and power in a foreign country.
Until We all Come Home is the story of Kim and her family’s love and passion. In a country for almost a year in which she didn’t speak or understand the language, those who helped her understood the love she had for her son, and a mother’s devotion to her children. Until We all Come Home reads more like a Tom Clancy novel if Mr. Clancy had been a mom. Only then could he have told this true story.
In book stores now, Until We All Come Home tells Kim’s harrowing true story. Kim speaks at conferences, and has recently been on the cover of Today’s Christian Woman. Yet Kim is just a mom from Holland, Michigan, and an adoption advocate for international adoptions. When you purchase a copy of her book, all the profits go to support hundreds of abandoned children, waiting in orphanages like her son was, just two short year ago.
Greg Laurie – We Preach Jesus
I walked into the auditorium to Laurie’s words “God’s story of 2000 years ago is relevant today. The story of Jesus is relevant today, and God’s Word is relevant today.” Speaking to a room full of pastors and church leaders, Laurie continued. “If you build your church on the razzle dazzle, your people will come expecting it. If you build your church teaching the Word of God, your people will come with their bibles open, ready to learn.”
Laurie spoke for nearly an hour, basing his comments from Paul’s open air sermon on Mar’s Hill in Acts 17. Like Paul, he spoke about our nation as a place that is unfamiliar with Jesus, his claims or his saving power. Laurie didn’t spend time with tradition, doctrine, or talking about his how church does church, because the Resurgence conference isn’t about policy, programs or doctrine. Preaching the gospel of Jesus is about reaching the culture with an eternal message, not a 2000 yr old message, or a few hundred year-old traditions. Laurie concluded his conversation with the attentive audience with these six points.
Resurgence R12 conference – from Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church
What does passion look like? I know when I see it. I can see the difference between a sports team playing with passion and one that is going through the motions . . . when I see it. But at its core, what does passion look like? In scripture, I read the gospel writer making specific reference to Jesus face. Maybe passion is something you see when you look into a person’s eyes. What did Jesus communicate with his eyes that made the gospel writer pen, “He looked and had compassion on them?” He wept over his friend’s death, and made such an impact on his friends that they made sure to record it for us. Jesus turned over the tables with a handmade whip as he declared, “My fathers’ house will be a house of prayer.” Maybe that’s what passion looks like.
Seriously, God? Really – Seriously?
Jenny Smith wrote Seriously God as a way to tell her family’s story. After building the stereotypical American home and career, Jenny and her family experienced a home foreclosure and job loss combined with high gas and grocery prices that twisted the family budget hopelessly out of shape. The title and the message of this book arose from Jenny’s heart-felt prayer.
“Seriously? Really? We’ve been doing everything right, and this is how life is ending up? Seriously God?”
The turmoil in the author’s life is the genesis of this book, and she relates the path she walked to lessons she learned from a small garden in the backyard, and from lessons from Jesus’ life, both of came into clearer focus only as a result of her journey.
Jenny focuses on the “I Am” statements which Jesus made during the final year of his ministry. She paints the picture of his life, the setting in which he spoke, and makes the context come alive for the reader. Even though I’ve read the gospels for decades, Jenny’s scholarship brought to life details with which I was unfamiliar. For example, Jesus stood and declared “I am the Bread of Life” shortly after his first feeding of the multitude, and in the midst of a crowd that had been following him because of the free meal. Were they just looking for bread and fish? Jesus wanted to give them more. Were they enthralled with the itinerant preacher because of the things they received from him? Jesus expected more.
From her personal story throughout the book, Jenny seems to say that she learned through the trials that Jesus wanted to give her family . . . and expected from her personally . . . more. He had more for her than a comfortable, financially stable and prosperous life, and like Job, not until the stability and comfort were taken away could Jenny gain a clear vision of what “more” looked like.
I recommend Jenny’s book highly. Her storytelling and biblical research are both excellent. At the end of each chapter, she includes discussion questions so this book could also be used as the basis for a small group study and discussion.
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