The Barber Who Wanted To Pray

This is the perfect time of the year to introduce our little ones to great reformers in history. Recently, I discovered a sweet story based on the life of Martin Luther. The Barber Who Wanted To Pray by R.C. Sproul is a delightful fictional story that is based on the true story about an ordinary barber and one extraordinary man in history.

One night a young girl asks her father how to pray, and he tells her a story of a time when the great reformer, Martin Luther, gets his hair cut and strikes up an interesting conversation with his barber. The barber also asks advice how to pray, and Martin Luther shares a simple model for prayer that changes the barber's life.

I love how people of all ages--especially children--can relate to Martin Luther doing something as ordinary as getting his hair cut. Sproul's book is also a helpful tool to teach our children the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. More importantly, it's a wonderful lesson on heartfelt prayer. When we don't know what or how to pray, Luther's lesson of using a model to personalize our prayers can help us grow in our relationship with God.

The illustrations are delightful; people of all ages will be captured by this sweet story and the simple lesson of this great man in history.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this awesome book from Crossway for my honest review, and I honestly love it! Add it to your book list--it's a keeper!

Welcome to the Story

Welcome to the Story by Stephen J. Nichols is the perfect title for this introduction to reading the Bible. Nichols offers an invitation to all to learn how to read, love, and live God's Word in a deeper, more meaningful way. Yet he makes it so simple and refreshingly understandable for someone who is reading the Bible for the first time or for someone like me who has read bits and pieces here and there over many years but is finally beginning to understand how it all fits together.

Nichols puts the pieces of the puzzle together by explaining the biblical framework of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. He weaves personal narratives and makes interesting references to history and contemporary culture so that each chapter even reads like a story. He helps the reader to understand how the individual stories in the Bible with unique characters and plots work together to tell one Grand Story of what God has been doing from the beginning of time until the end of time. Better yet, he points to how God is not only the author but the main character throughout the Bible and how to understand where we fit into this true Story.

My favorite parts were near the end of the book. He suggests how we can see ourselves in the diverse characters throughout scripture. He highlights how God is the main character and His glory is paramount. Throughout the book he also promotes the value of reading the Bible in community. He offers helpful questions to ask yourself while you are reading any passage of scripture. Finally, he focuses on loving and living the truth of God in such a winsome way that you leave really wanting to start digging into scripture out of a genuine love for God and not out of guilt or duty.

This book is perfect for new believers. It is perfect for teenagers and young adults. And it is a perfect refresher course for any Christian who wants to learn how to simply articulate a Christian worldview and gain a better understanding of the big picture of scripture.

Disclaimer: Crossway provided me a free copy of this delightful book in return for my honest opinion. I love this book because it helps me love God's word more. Plus, it fits with my blog theme!

Give Them Grace

Wow.

I'm discovering what I think could be my new all-time favorite parenting book.

(I'm seriously thinking about throwing all the others away.)

And I'm so wishing that I would have read this 11 years ago.

You'll hear more about it as I digest it all.

For now, here's something to chew on...

"Everything that isn't gospel is law. Let us say it again: everything that isn't gospel is law. Every way we try to make our kids good that isn't rooted in the good news of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ is damnable, crushing, despair-breeding, Pharisee-producing law. We won't get the results we want from the law. We'll get either shallow self-righteousness or blazing rebellion or both (frequently from the same kid in the same day!). We'll get moralistic kids who are cold and hypocritical and who look down on others (and could easily become Mormons), or you'll get teens who are rebellious and self-indulgent and who can't wait to get out of the house. We have to remember that in the life of our unregenerate children, the law is given for one reason only: to crush their self confidence and drive them to Christ." (pg. 36, Give them Grace, by Fitzpatrick and Thompson)

The title especially drew me in. Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus.

Love that word--dAZzLiNg!

More to come...

Book Review: The Missional Mom

I'm a mom. So now what is my main purpose in life? Is it just to serve my family, or does God call us as a family to serve our world? Or more importantly, how do I do that while juggling the responsibilities of being a mom and wife? Helen Lee unpacks the answers to these and other foundational questions in her book titled The Missional Mom. If you're a mom, you need to read this book.

Lee's book is theologically sound and refreshingly practical. She exposes the dangers of child-centered parenting and the pitfalls of raising a family in American culture while highlighting the impact that one mom who raises her family for kingdom purposes can make. She explores what it means to be evangelistic and a third culture parent. Most significantly, she guides women in an important conversation about what it means to live out our callings as mothers with purpose, fulfillment, and joy. Sprinkled throughout her book are inspiring stories of how God has led countless other women to change our world as culture shapers and kingdom people.

Lee writes with conviction, humility, and authenticity. In The Missional Mom, you will be encouraged to see your life holistically with your home as a "missional outpost" to engage in the world and serve where God has planted you. This book is practical and provides not only a great starting place but also a great resource to return to again and again as God shapes our lives and brings new opportunities to live out the Great Commission. Lee writes, "Despite our flaws, despite our weaknesses--or perhaps more accurately, because of our flaws and because of our weaknesses--we are called to bear witness to what Christ has done for us...Every one of us is, in fact, a missionary sent by God, loved and empowered by Him to do His will." (page 23)

The Missional Mom greatly encouraged me. While I want my life to be about more than the five people in our home, with so many responsibilities to juggle I struggle with even having the energy to engage in the needs of the greater world around me. Yet I don't want to go the other extreme and serve the world instead of my family but serve rather alongside my family. Lee's practical suggestions of praying for the Holy Spirit to lead, partnering with other like-minded moms, and even just becoming more aware of the issues and events in the world are simple ways for our family to start to grow in this area. I can tell others that their one life makes a difference, but most importantly I must believe it in my own heart for the five people in our home and start living it out right here and now.

Disclosure: I was given a free review copy of The Missional Mom from Moody Publishers for my honest review. It's now on my list of "Must-Read Books for Moms." I'd love to continue the conversation and see where God leads...care to join me?

Book Review: God's Love Letters to You by Dr. Larry Crabb

Do you ever see the Bible as one 66-piece jumbled puzzle and wish you knew how each book fit together to tell one story? Psychologist, teacher, and best-selling author Larry Crabb did, and his 40-day devotional titled God’s Love Letters to You helps you to put the pieces of God’s Great Story together on your own. Each day introduces a new book of the Bible, its theme, a key verse, Crabb’s thoughts about what God is saying as he is communicating to us in the book, a few reflection questions, and a short prayer. I was intrigued to discover God’s Love Letters to You because I also want to better understand the big ideas of each book of the Bible, how they fit together, and be able to communicate the bigger story God has been weaving together since the beginning of time. While this simple devotional book has a few strengths, I believe it has more weaknesses, however.

Strengths of God’s Love Letters to You:

1- It’s a greatly condensed version of his previous book, 66 Love Letters, and it helps you to do an even speedier “fly over” the Bible to get the big picture. If you want something fast and simple, this may appeal to you.

2- Reflection questions help you to personalize scripture and see where your little story fits into God’s bigger story. Crabb is big on personalizing scripture and hearing how God is speaking to you through His word. I don’t disagree with that.

3- This devotional motivates you to spend 40 days thinking about the bigger story God is telling and applying it to your life.

Weaknesses of God’s Love Letters to You:

1- It does not cover all 66 books of the Bible, which was the goal of 66 Love Letters.

2- This truly is a companion to 66 Love Letters (or at least it should be) and should not stand on its own. If it were supposed to be used independently, it would have been helpful to include more from the prologue from 66 Love Letters to understand the context and the goal of the study. It is far too simplified and exploratory in nature. While Crabb writes from the perspective of being more of a seeker than a scholar, this devotional guide would be much more helpful and meaningful if it included several corresponding scriptures to read and reflect, as well as historical information for each letter.

3- God’s Love Letters to You takes a different approach of surveying the scriptures quickly in 40 days. While this may appeal to some, God’s Love Letters to You, if not used with 66 Love Letters (and a Bible), is a weak substitute.

4- Crabb’s approach in both God’s Love Letters to You and 66 Love Letters is not my favorite. While it is meaningful to hear how Crabb summarizes each book of the Bible, he does this by writing as if God is talking directly to you in the first person. This is helpful in one sense to hear how he personally applies the message to his life, but I found this continual conversational style annoying. It was also weakened by the lack of scholarly scriptural, historical, and cultural references that would further point readers to the ultimate goal of seeing how God’s story transcends time, is tied together, and while applies personally, also applies corporately to all of God’s people as a whole.

5-The big ideas in God’s Love Letters to You do not correspond to those presented in 66 Love Letters. This is confusing.

6-I wish Crabb would have offered a “So What?” section at the end of his devotional to help guide seekers who are desiring to understand more of how the Bible fits together and how to apply it to life. This would be helpful for people who want to know reliable resources for Bible study and where to go next in their application of God’s Word.

Here’s my recommendation: Read God’s Love Letters to You for a brief overview of the Bible and then let it springboard you into spending more time in God’s book. Dwell there. Dig in deeper and spend more time in the actual Word of God rather than just merely stopping short with Crabb’s insights. God’s own words are the real and best thing that will ultimately bring us all life and hope.

Disclaimer: These are my honest opinions and I don’t get paid to give them, but I did get a free copy of God’s Love Letters to You to review as a part of the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze program. Thanks, Thomas Nelson, and I do look forward to reading and reviewing more of your publications in the future.