Sproul's The Work of Christ - Great Overview

R.C. Sproul’s latest contribution to Biblical studies, The Work of Christ, is a solid, no nonsense overview of the life of Christ from birth to His second coming.   Sproul’s goal was to examine the pinnacles of Jesus’s sojourn on earth in relationship to his redemptive work that He completed through the cross. But most importantly Sproul wants us to be able to understand exactly what it is that Christ did for us through his life.  Sproul, through this book, reminds us that Christ’s entire life was all part of the redemptive work and needs to be looked at and understood at a more profound level.

The Work of Christ would be an excellent study for a new believer or a great refresher for a seasoned saint.  Each chapter examines a pivotal moment in Christ’s life and the works He accomplished during that time.  From Bethlehem to His return, Sproul breaks it down so we can see the importance of every aspect of Christ’s works.

To be honest, The Work of Christ provided no new insights for me – it was an excellent overview – but nothing that made me stop and go “Wow”.  But that’s okay because what I loved about this book is that, after each chapter, there is a thorough outline of the important points that you needed to understand about that section. Even better there is a series of study questions that point you to more scriptures, allowing you to expand your study, if that’s what you desire.  If the reader takes advantage of these end-of-chapter studies, he will get even more from this book.

The Work of Christ will benefit anyone wanting a deeper understanding of what Christ did for us.  A great addition to the bookshelf of any believer.

The Next Target Hits the Mark

The Next Target will be released on June 1, 2012

Nikki Arana’s, The Next Target, is a gripping suspense novel filled with complex characters, faith - defined and tested, and a thrill ride of a plot you’ll definitely want to tuck into your beach bag this summer.

Ever since 9/11 Islam is a touchy subject.   Bring up Muslims, even in a Christian environment, and hackles are raised.  All Muslims blow things up, right?  I mean, whenever you see a burqa-clad woman on the street doesn’t your heart rate goes up just a bit?

Kudos to Nikki Arana and her latest book, The Next Target, for challenging my thinking on all things Muslim with a high action, thought-provoking novel that challenged that broad brush I’ve been painting with.

Meet American Austia Donatelli a widow whose husband was killed witnessing to Muslims in Kuwait. Struggling to find God’s way in her grief, she finds herself heading up a career center in the midst of an Arab neighbor on the south side of Los Angeles.  But her heart felt mission is more than finding jobs for recent immigrants; it’s sharing the love of Christ to the Muslim women in her English As A Second Language class.  But it’s dangerous work.  Accepting Jesus as Savior is an affront to Allah and is worthy of a death sentence to both the convert and to the person sharing Christ.  Extremist Muslim families don’t take this lightly, and Austia finds herself in the middle of an Islamic plot, which could lead to the biggest terrorist act on US soil since the towers came down.

Yes, sir, it’s a page turner that makes you stop and think.  Arana approaches her characters, both Muslim and Christian, with great compassion and understanding.   As Austia grapples with forgiveness for those who killed her husband, she finds that Christ’s love for her and for the Muslim people is sufficient not only to give her the courage to face opposition and danger at the hands of extremists, but to be truly family to Muslims she has come to respect and care for without looking down on them for not accepting the Savior she has devoted her life to.

Through her characters she shows that our perspective of Muslims and Christians may not be as clear as it could be.  There are Muslims filled with hate toward America, and Muslims who love this country – and are willing to die for it.  There are Christians who are heavy handed and clumsy in their approach, and there are Christians who love as Jesus would love.

If I were teaching a class on witnessing to Muslims, I would make The Next Target required reading.  Arana’s knowledge of Muslim culture permeates the pages of Next Target giving it an authenticity that makes the novel impactful.  More than just a thriller, it is a testimony.

Kindle copy of The Next Target courtesy of David C. Cook publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Son Of A Preacherman May Not Sweet Talk You

Romance is a predictable genre. It promises a happily ever after.  And why not?  Life is not full of happy endings –so why shouldn’t we enjoy the occasional feel-good moment after closing a book?

Marlene Banks’ novel Son of a Preacherman follows the faith-based romance template but with an encouraging difference.  Banks’ main characters are African Americans dealing with prejudice in the city of Tulsa, circa 1920s, a few months prior to a devastating race riot.

Romance novels don’t cause my heart to flutter, but I have, on occasion, been drawn into a good history-driven affair of the heart story, where history isn’t the background, it’s the main character.

That is what I was hoping for in Son of a Preacherman.  However, although Banks’ touched on the simmering powder keg that was Tulsa post WWI, the race riot and the events that let up to it, was merely the impetus that thrust the main love interests, Bennie and Billy Ray, into each other’s arms.

When Banks’ gives us glimpses into the affluent African American culture that was the Greenwood district of Tulsa, it is fascinating.  Also known as Negro Wall Street, Greenwood was the most affluent African American neighbor in the United States.

Its wealth and prosperity rubbed some members of the white community the wrong way, and when news of a perceived assault of a teenage white girl by a young African American made it’s way into that community, that was all it took to light the fuse that blew the top off the anger seething in the hearts of white Tulsa.

Now the history of that time and place was where I wanted to linger.  I wanted to know more about that young black shoeshine boy who was accused of assault, even if it would have been fictionalized backstory.  I wanted to know more about the whites and blacks who fought in the riot.  But instead they were minimized as side issues.

The subplot of Billy Ray’s former girlfriend, and the troubled marriage of Bennie’s brother Cordell and his floozy wife Savannah were the most intriguing aspects of the book, adding some tension to the predictability of the storyline.

Son of a Preacherman is a romance, pure and simple.  Not meant to be meaty or thought provoking – just boy meets girl, in another time and place.   If that’s what you enjoy, you will embrace this novel. 

In her latest novel, Banks delivered what romances are supposed to – a swept-off her-feet damsel in distress.  Although I am delighted African Americans are the central characters, not some best friends or background characters, I was hoping for a bit more.

Aretha Franklin sang, “The only man who could ever reach me was the son of a preacherman.”  Banks’ Son of a Preacherman will more than likely reach lovers of this genre, but for those who like a little more depth in their love stories this Son of a Preacherman may not sweet talk you.

Darkroom - Rapidly Paced Political Thriller

Her mother’s recent death, her father’s continuing estrangement, frightening visions associated with any photos she takes with her dad’s camera - photographer Xandra Carrick has a lot to deal with.   On top of that, she’s wanted by the FBI for a murder she did not commit, while nefarious forces want her dead.

Having recently arrived back from a trip to her mother’s birthplace, Vietnam,  Xandra is troubled by her father’s reticence.  And to make her life even more complicated, after taking several photos during her trip, she discovers images in her pictures that she did not see with her natural eyes.  She’s having visions of a supernatural nature – visions that will blow the lid off a major conspiracy – if she lives long enough to have anyone believe her.

Arrested for the murder of a local Julliard student, Xandra flees New York and heads to see her father in California, seeking answers to her visions concerning Vietnam.  FBI agent Kyle Matthews teams up with her to find some answers of his own. 

Darkroom, by Joshua Graham, is a political thriller with a spiritual undercurrent, driven mostly by Xandra’s mother, Grace, a Vietnamese immigrant who married Xandra’s father, Peter Carrick, after a harrowing escape from Saigon when the US troops pulled out.  We hear her voice through several journal entries - beginning when she first met Peter, a photojournalist embedded with a platoon in Vietnam; through the birth of Xandra, until her death.  Her voice brought a depth to the story that certainly tied the themes of purpose, God-given gifts, and the freeing power of truth, together.

Darkroom rips along rapidly, jumping from multiple points of view, from Xandra, her father, her mother, a presidential candidate, an FBI agent, and a hit man.

And because of this, Darkroom’s pace is set at a very high shutter speed, swiftly shifting character Point of Views from chapter to chapter.  Initially, I found this style somewhat ADHD – jumping from POV to POV in only a couple pages.  Soon, however, I settled into Graham’s rapid rhythm, which kept me interested in what was going to develop next.

Graham’s intricate weaving of truth and deceit keeps the pages turning, and with a wide-open ending hinting at the return of feisty and insightful heroine, Xandra Carrick,  Darkroom is a novel you won’t regret being exposed to.

I have given an honest review of this courtesy copy of Darkroom received from Howard Books.

Midnight In Peking - Gritty True Story of Murder and Mayhem in Pre-WWII China

Pamela Werner was a high-spirited, independent young woman living with her father in Peking, China during the late 1930s.

On a cold January night in 1937, Pamela was found brutally murdered at the foot of one of Peking’s well-known landmarks – the Fox Tower.

Pre-world war II Peking was a stressful place to live.  China was in the midst of a civil war and the Japanese had invaded and were waiting for the opportunity to capture the city. 

Nerves were frayed.  A cloud of doom hung over the streets.  Even the well-protected foreign nationals were feeling the shifting of events. But the brutal murder of Pamela Werner kicked the anxieties of the city up several notches.  Both the Chinese and foreign nationals fearfully wondered who could have butchered this innocent young girl.

Paul French’s Midnight In Peking is a masterfully woven non-fiction murder mystery peopled with smug British diplomats, harried Scotland Yard detectives, Chinese police officers with mysterious agendas, an American dentist with degraded, lustful designs, and a beautiful young woman who isn’t all that she seems.

French has done his research, and his findings from the papers of Pamela’s father are most intriguing.  Even after the British dropped the case, Werner doggedly pursued his daughter’s murderer asking help from the Chinese and even the occupying Japanese.  His determination to find his daughter’s killer is inspiring.

Midnight In Peking reads like a true-to-life Agatha Christie with a lot more carnality.  Peking, like most places, had a dark side that could lure a naïve young woman to her death, and French takes us there.

This is no stuffy history text.  It’s a blood and guts whodunit that twists and turns through the not so savory back alleys of the present capital of China and digs up dirt on some of her upstanding citizens and those not so upstanding.

French delivers history you can smell, taste, and feel.  Midnight in Peking transports you to an extremely turbulent time in China’s history and puts you in the middle of the events that transpired that frigid night. 

History and mystery.  As a fan of both genres, Midnight in Peking is a win-win.

(Courtesy copy compliments of Penguin Books via Net Galley) 

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The World In Your Lunch Box - A Tasty Trip Through History

Getting complaints from your eight year old about his lunch?   Is he tired of the same old ham and cheese sandwich with an apple on the side?  Maybe the answer to his lunchtime tedium isn’t a new menu.  Maybe it’s a new perspective.

Colorfully and amusingly illustrated, The World In Your Lunch Box, written by Claire Eamer and illustrated by Sa Boothroyd, is packed with fun food facts that will not only entertain but educate.  What’s the origin of the sandwich?  Mustard? Apples? Ice cream?  This book answers all those questions and many more. 

Sectioned into a week’s worth of lunches, Eamer analyzes every item on the menu. She takes us through history to explore the origins of food in a kid-friendly way, each chapter stuffed with trivia, puns, and silly jokes.  She also serves up healthy doses of food science along the way.  (Ever wonder about how yeast works or the magic behind mayonnaise?)

The World In Your Lunch Box makes history and science intriguing and relevant to the elementary age cafeteria crew.  In fact, it is a fascinating and enjoyable read no matter what age lunch table you may find yourself at.

The World In Your Lunch Box is both a feast for the eyes and the intellect. It’s a tasty trip through history your kids will eat up.

Courtesy copy from Annick Press through Net Galley.

Worthy Writings in the Blogosphere

It seems everyone has a blog today.  Frankly, I find it difficult to discover a blog that draws me in.  Most posts I see are like public diaries.  I won’t post blogs like that because basically I’m pretty boring.  That’s why I’ve never journaled - I’d put myself to sleep.

So it is seldom that I actually subscribe to someone’s blog.  If I read about your life, I want to be inspired.  If you’re writing about your trip to Walmart to buy butter beans, it’s just not happening for me.

But I’d like to share a blogger with you whom I love.  This guy is inspiring, and not only that, the dude can write.

Adam Young is a twenty-something from backwoods Minnesota.  A devote Christ-follower he spent many years recording original music in his parents’ basement and playing at small local venues.  After posting some of his music on social media, he caught the attention of the music industry.   Yep, now Adam is living the dream, recording and touring around the world – as Owl City.

I stumbled across his posts on the internet one day, expecting a lot of shallow self-promotion.  Hardly, Young comes across as charming, vulnerable, and engaging.  His blogs cover a cornucopia of topics from music, his relationship with Christ, and even the creepy sound his refrigerator makes (recorded of course, to maximize the effectiveness of the post).

Yesterday, preparing for our Good Friday service, I came across this post from 2010.  It’s his cover of In Christ Alone.  It’s a beautiful arrangement sung with obvious emotion, but it’s the blog post itself that’s inspiring. But I won’t tell you about it -  here’s the link. Take some time and view it. Definitely worth a listen and a read – especially on this Easter weekend.  Enjoy.

http://owlcityblog.com/2010/10/25/my-hope-is-found/