Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Dirty God - Book Review

When I first received this book in the mail, my husband looked at me and thought it was a book of blasphemy. Who could blame him with the title and the cover. Then the subtitle: Jesus in the Trenches - it was now, "OH! Well that makes sense." The book was engaging and I appreciated the way that Johnnie vividly paints pictures of his travels and encounters with people that God has placed in his path. Dirty God is not for the faint of heart or anyone that desires to follow a blond hair blue-eyed Jesus that sits on a palatial throne separated from the messiness of life. This book is for someone that wants to dive in and truly wrestle with the idea of grace and what it looks like on a daily basis. I received this book from BookSneeze for my honest review and opinion.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Heaven Changes Everything

Following their previous book, Heaven is For Realy, the Burpo family try to go more indepth and behind the scenes of what happened on that frightful day. They offer to give a glimpse of hope and the trauma that they found themselves entrenched in. Heaven Changes Everything by Todd and Sonja Burpo is a devotional reader that shares the lessons they have been learning since their son's amazing experience. It is written in the same friendly style as Heaven is for Real. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, I found parts of this one to be quite repetitive. Although the lessons are more in depth than the story was in the first book, most of them come from a section of the first book. In some ways, it almost seems like a segmented commentary on the first book. Because of this, it would certainly not be necessary to read the first book in order to appreciate the second. **** I received a copy of Heaven Changes Everything in exchange for an honest review from BookSneeze, a blogger book review community. I received no other compensation. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bible Stories That End in a Hug - Book Review

Bible Stories that end with a Hug has 75 bible stories for preschoolers. The bible stories presented follow the same order as the bible and are very short and easy to understand for little ones. Accompanying every bible story are two questions that correlate with the story to help children discuss and understand the bible story. Discussion points are provided with each question to help parents guide meaningful discussion with their child as they learn God's word. There is also a related scripture that helps expand the meaning of every story in the book. Every bible story ends with a hug time for parent and child! This book is very short and to the point, and it is especially helpful with two active boys! We read it each morning as a family during breakfast, and both boys look forward to Daddy reading the Bible Story. My 7-year-old has even stepped up a time or two to read it as well. I highly recommend this book! Provided by Tyndale Publishers for review