The Big Year....

I am an avid Movie Watcher.  In fact I would say I am a Movie Connoisseur...

Very RARELY do I ever promote the movies, secular or Christian.  Typically there is too much 'junk' filling up an otherwise good film.

Well, the above film surprised me.  The Big Year.  3 people working to identify the MOST birds in one year.
So it was funny, clean etc...  but what really spoke to me was the final message.

Jack Black and Steve Martin's characters really wanted to be first, but they were unwilling to do 'whatever it took'.  Owen Wilson's character we watch is losing his 3rd marriage due to his obsession.

the message was clear, family MUST come first before all other hobbies, pursuits etc...

While this isn't a CHRISTIAN film and misses the point of calling on Jesus First!  But still shows that we must set priorities in life!

I am Second!!

I recently received an Ebook entitled I AM SECOND by Dave Sterrett and Doug Bender and published by Thomas Nelson.

I had seen many of these videos, a very catchy websight had been set up a few years ago at www.iamsecond.com.  In fact I have one of the bracelets, plain black with the words I AM SECOND written on it; and boy can I tell you stories about the conversation that the bracelet and Shirt that I wear have started!  Chances to share why I am second since no one wants to be second, it sticks out and draws attention!

So what is the concept?  Stories of those who tried doing life on their own, or life in their own STRENGTH and failed.  The stories of their struggles with fame, fortune, drugs, sex, alcohol, marriage, divorce, porn etc…  You name it an they discuss it.

Their stories are all different, yet in the end they all come together under this one note: GOD IS #1! 

They all came to a realization that they couldn’t do it on their own.  That without God they were in a losing battle.  These are the stories of how people you know like Bethany Hamilton, Michael W. Smith, Brian “Head” Welch, and many more came to a point of utter brokenness in their lives and found God still there waiting to bring them back.

These are their stories.  The stories of Victory, Pain and continued struggles but now they are no longer on their own.  They are now SECOND following the only one who can truly lead them!

This book connects with all who read.  You can see yourself in their struggles, and pains.  Maybe you see your self in their stories and identify with one or more of them.  Then in the end you hear how these people have overcome!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a gift for a seeker, a college student, and adult, a counselor… you name it!  EVERYONE will identify!

I AM SECOND!!!  Are you?

The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson

Circles surround us in life where ever we go.  While the people you know, or see daily don’t look “circular” they can be.

I just read the book “The Circle Maker” by Mark Batterson.  Then I re-read it!  It was that powerful.  It starts and ends with a circle.  The first is a circle from a Jewish prophet names Honi.  The last is a Chalk circle from a revival preacher named Gypsy.

Mark Batterson gives a compelling challenge to all of us: Create Circles in your life.  When I read this I am reminded of the wagon trains of old.  When challenged they created a Circle as it was the easiest to defend, in other words it made them stronger.

The Circles in the Circle Maker are prayers.  Creating a circle, a pray around things, people, problems, even to things as simple as the news.  What would our lives look like if we continually were in prayer for those around us?  For prayer for the person who just cut us off in traffic?  For prayer for that person at work who is always rude?  For prayer for our family?  For prayer that we do not fall into temptations?

I received the Ebook version of this title for free from Zondervan to read and review.  I had actually heard about it from our Pastor prior to that so I was intrigued.  Now I am challenged.  There are many stories of prayer and circles that created change but the one that stood out to me the most is the story of People’s Church in DC.  They had prayed Circles around their building that it would always serve God.  Little did they know that one day that prayer and promise would be passed on to another church.

I want to challenge those of you in Leadership.  It doesn’t matter if you are in Church leadership, Business Leadership, or even Family Leadership.  Do you pray circles around those you lead?  Do you pray for their future?  If we spent more time in prayer would God show up more in our Lives?  Not in a prosperity gospel sort of way but in a MT. Carmel GOD SHOWED UP sort of way?

I want to challenge you all to read this book, share it with everyone you are close to and start circling the things you care about.  For me I am circling:

My Family, My Wife, my children, My Church, Our upcoming Adoption, My children’s friends and their families, my children’s future spouses.

And today I tried to pray circles around those I saw in traffic and let me tell you it made a HUGE difference in the way you look at people.  You begin to possibly see their hurts, their needs, worries and anxieties and possibly start to glimpse what Jesus saw in them!

So What will you Circle?  When and how often will you do it?

God will show up!

One additional item Mark discusses is our Life Plan.  I created mine.  It is powerful! And living in DC mine has one for meeting Mark Batterson personally!  Who knows if or when that will ever happen but "you can't never always sometimes tell"

What shapes a legend? "Inventing Stonewall Jackson" by Wallace Hettle

Well, again… another book that I reviewed that is CIVIL War in nature…

This time we are reliving the Confederacy and a man well known in both the North and South.  Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. 

It the novel “Inventing Stonewall Jackson” by Wallace Hettle and published by LSU Press, we see a novel not looking directly at Jackson but at those who wrote his Biographies.

What was their personal bent behind their looking at Jackson?  Some saw him as a stoic General, others as a Pious man.   This book looks at how those biographies shaped this very private and unknown man into the legend we have today. 

Here is what the publisher had to say about the book:

Historians’ attempts to understand legendary Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson have proved uneven at best and often contentious. An occasionally enigmatic and eccentric college professor before the Civil War, Jackson died midway through the conflict, leaving behind no memoirs and relatively few surviving letters or documents. In Inventing Stonewall Jackson, Wallace Hettle offers an innovative and distinctive approach to interpreting Stonewall by examining the lives and agendas of those authors who shape our current understanding of General Jackson.

Newspaper reporters, friends, relatives, and fellow soldiers first wrote about Jackson immediately following the Civil War. Most of them, according to Hettle, used portions of their own life stories to frame that of the mythic general. Hettle argues that the legend of Jackson’s rise from poverty to power was likely inspired by the rags-to-riches history of his first biographer, Robert Lewis Dabney. Dabney’s own successes and Presbyterian beliefs probably shaped his account of Jackson’s life as much as any factual research. Many other authors inserted personal values into their stories of Stonewall, perplexing generations of historians and writers.

Subsequent biographers contributed their own layers to Jackson’s myth and eventually a composite history of the general came to exist in the popular imagination. Later writers, such as the liberal suffragist Mary Johnston, who wrote a novel about Jackson, and the literary critic Allen Tate, who penned a laudatory biography, further shaped Stonewall’s myth. As recently as 2003, the film Gods and Generals, which featured Jackson as the key protagonist, affirmed the longevity and power of his image. Impeccable research and nuanced analysis enable Hettle to use American culture and memory to reframe the Stonewall Jackson narrative and provide new ways to understand the long and contended legacy of one of the Civil War’s most popular Confederate heroes.

Wallace Hettle, professor of history at the University of Northern Iowa, is the author of The Peculiar Democracy: Southern Democrats in Peace and Civil War.

Now, while trying to say they looked at the Bias of other authors we begin to see a bent in the writing of this author as well.  While not out and in your face, the bias is that all others had it wrong.  What is key is that they all saw a piece of the man.  For example you put 5 people in the room to express in words an object and you will have typically at least 3 different view’s.  

Yet this is a very clean, clear and open look at the enigma that is General Thomas J. Jackson.  I would say that it was a great read, very informative and intellectual!  I would recommend it to all who seek to understand better this legend of a man.

Stories of Faith and Courage from the Civil War

As I have stated before I am a fan of History.  Living in the Maryland and Virginia area is like a child’s dream of a treasure trove…  So when I had the opportunity to review for free from AMG publishers “Stories of Faith and Courage from the Civil War”. 

This book takes multiple stories of the Faith and Courage of folks like Gen. Lee and others.  I loved the way this book broke down these stories into daily easy reads for each day of the year. 

Here is what the publisher had to say:

The period from 1861-1865 proved to be one of the greatest periods of trial and suffering in our nations history. A significant lapse of time had passed since America had engaged in the horrors of war. After the war of 1812, little memory remained of the fact that war could be "hell." A veteran of the war with Mexico, General "Stonewall" Jackson wrote to his wife and said, "People who are anxious to bring on war don't know what they are bargaining for; they don't see all the horrors that must accompany such an event."

When the prospect of a War Between the States became a reality, the average age of a young soldier was twenty-two. To an aspiring young man who was bored with "life on the farm," the romanticism and exhilaration of battle was an allurement that soon tried the faith and physical stamina of all who crossed war's threshold. The threat of losing life and limb from a hailstorm of bullets and shrapnel was compounded by the ever-present danger of dysentery, and all sorts of diseases with little means for treatment. In spite of these frustrating circumstances, many of the soldiers found great consolation and relief through prayer and reading the Bible.

Stories of Faith & Courage from the Civil War is a devotional book that opens a rare treasure chest of intimate thoughts and feelings illustrated from the private letters and diaries of both men and women of faith during the Civil War period. The courage and faith examples of these "soldiers of Christ" will inspire both the mind and heart of every reader who desires to have a closer walk with God.

So if your looking for a devotional and you love history of this or any time frame; then this is a great book for you!

The Doctrine of Adoption

I am adopted… There I said it.  It’s true, but not as you might think.  This adoption brings me hope, not dismay.  It is an adoption about a FUTURE not a past.  You see my adoption is not one of the physical sense.  While I am the youngest child of my parents and there are 5 ½ years to my next sibling; and though I really thought for years I had to have been adopted, I am not.

The adoption I am speaking of is one of the SPIRITUAL sense.  I am adopted as a Son of God.  Not to be confused with THE Son of God who is ONLY Jesus.  Yet I am adopted.  Being granted the same authority, the same power etc… 

I just finished a short, but powerful thesis on the doctrine of Adoption.  What is the Doctrine of Adoption by Michael Milton is a book I received for free to review from P&R Publishing. 

This book is a very short, yet detailed look at the doctrine of Adoption.  While not specifically on Adoption as an act such as we are doing as a family; but the doctrine of our Adoption to being co-heirs with Jesus.

This book, while relatively short makes for a simple, yet profound read.  It comes at it not from a Calvinist, Armenian, Lutheran etc.. approach but from a GOD approach to Adoption.   It does at times lean towards a Calvinist mindset, yet with solid examples.

My favorite example given is that of our adoption in to God’s family.  The one Body of Christ.  And that it is our duty as adopted children to become part of the family but not neglecting the family. 

I am adopted.  By God, who has called me His son and to whom I can cry out “ABBA, FATHER!”

Confederate Outlaw: Champ Ferguson

I recently received an e-book copy of Confederate Outlaw by Brian D. McKnight.  This was sent to me by LSU press to review.

If you know me you know I am a fan of History.  As well, I am a huge fan of the Civil War time frame.  Well this book feeds my enthusiasm for both of these items.

The book Confederate Outlaw follows the story of Camp Ferguson primarily.  Camp Ferguson was a quite native of the Appalachian area of Kentucky and Tennessee who was a farmer until later in life.  Yet this story chronicles the events that took a simple, although some what rough and brutish farmer, and turned him into a mass murderer for the confederate cause.

This book not only delves into his story but also into the story of the Appalachian areas during this time frame.  This is a history of family against family, in fact Champ’s own brothers fought for the union, as well as one who spent time trying to hunt him.  The history is that of murder just for the ‘cause’ of the confederate or union.  It is the history of distrust, anxiety, and even paranoia.

Here is what the Publisher had to say on the book:

In the fall of 1865, the United States Army executed Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson for his role in murdering fifty-three loyal citizens of Kentucky and Tennessee during the Civil War. Long remembered as the most unforgiving and inglorious warrior of the Confederacy, Ferguson has often been dismissed by historians as a cold-blooded killer. In Confederate Outlaw: Champ Ferguson and the Civil War in Appalachia biographer Brian D. McKnight demonstrates how such a simple judgment ignores the complexity of this legendary character. In his fascinating analysis, McKnight insists that Ferguson fought the war on personal terms and with an Old Testament mentality regarding the righteousness of his cause. He believed that friends were friends and enemies were enemies–no middle ground existed. As a result, he killed prewar comrades as well as longtime adversaries without regret, all the while knowing that he might one day face his own brother, who served as a Union scout.

Ferguson’s continued popularity demonstrates that his bloody legend did not die on the gallows. Widespread rumors endured of his last-minute escape from justice, and over time, the borderland terrorist emerged as a folk hero for many southerners. Numerous authors resurrected and romanticized his story for popular audiences, and even Hollywood used Ferguson’s life to create the composite role played by Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales. McKnight’s study deftly separates the myths from reality and weaves a thoughtful, captivating, and accurate portrait of the Confederacy’s most celebrated guerrilla.

An impeccably researched biography, Confederate Outlaw offers an abundance of insight into Ferguson’s wartime motivations, actions, and tactics, and also describes borderland loyalties, guerrilla operations, and military retribution. McKnight concludes that Ferguson, and other irregular warriors operating during the Civil War, saw the conflict as far more of a personal battle than a political one.

Brian D. McKnight is associate professor of history at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. His book Contested Borderland: The Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia won the James I. Robertson Literary Prize in 2007.

So for all of you who are interested in history, or the Civil War, Appalachians or even just the sociology involved with those living in the secluded regions during this time frame… This book is for you.
So what moves a simple farmer into a brutish murderer?  Read and find out!  It will definitely capture your attention and paint, in specific details, the story for you.

Mark Twain's Tales of Mystery

I received another Ebook to review.  This time it is Mark Twain’s Tales of Mystery.

As a huge fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works of Mystery and Edger Allen Poe’s works as well, I was very excited to read this work.

Yet as I got into the first chapter I found myself bogged down by the ‘old’ style writing and language that was incorporated.  I understand the philosophy was that Huck Finn was writing the book, and they the phonetic spellings and other nuances; yet I had a tough time getting beyond that and into the meat of the story…  I finally felt that I was making it through this and the vendor had only supplied 20 pages of the book and thus cut the reviewer off.  Talk about a cliff hanger.

So the ultimate question I ask myself is: Was this cliff hanger enough to make me run out and buy this book so as to finish?  Or was it enough to turn me off on the title?

Unfortunately I have to honestly say it was the later.  It took too long to get into the story and I really find myself not wanting to start again to get into the title…

If you are a fan of Mark Twain and a fan of mystery do not let my review deter you.  I hope you will go out and purchase this, I simply am not a fan of the style of writing that this work portrayed.  To each their own.

Here is what the Vendor had to say about the work:

Sherlock Holmes in America? Mark Twain a character in his own stories? Can it be true?
True indeed, dear reader, as Mark Twain makes his mark on the mystery genre with this collection of short stories by the grand master himself! Including "A Double Barreled Detective Story," "Tom Sawyer, Detective," "A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage," and "The Stolen White Elephant," delight as Twain breaks convention and bends cherished characters to tell stories that are wholly his own.

7 Days in Utopia DVD

Utopia means NO Place. 

What happens when a disgruntled son and golfer is stranded in what he considers a NO where place in Utopia?  What happens when he meets an old retired golfer (Duvall) who takes him through truths that he needs to know to become a better person, not a better golfer.

Truths such as conviction, control, and finding ones masterpiece…

This film, 7 Days in Utopia, is very touching, powerful and convicting film.

How do you go from Utopia (no place) to Eutopia (A Good Place)?

See it, Feel it, Trust it.

This is a film that I would highly recommend to everyone.  It is clean, it is wholesome, and it has a powerful message that will change lives.

Freedom is a powerful force as the main character finds out in this film.  Freedom from his past, his regrets and his father.  Freedom to live and play as he was meant to play.

Golfer's and non-golfers alike will enjoy this film.

For all the Trekies out there!

There is a bit of Comic Book kid in all of us.  I am no exception.  I use to love reading the stories of Hal Jordan or Peter Parker.  And if you know me you’ll know that I never miss the annual FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

Recently I received an e-book version of Issue One of the Star Trek series.  This volume of Comics take place between the latest blockbuster Star Trek Movie and the upcoming sequel film coming soon to theaters.

As far as comics go, this one is very well done.  Writing, graphics and story line are done very well.  So far all Star Trek fans who want to know the full story this is for you!

Here is the Vendor’s recap:

The adventures of the Starship Enterprise continue in this new story that picks up where the blockbuster 2009 film left off!
Featuring the new cast of the film, these missions re-imagine the stories from the original series in the alternate timeline created by the film, along with new threats and characters never seen before!
With creative collaboration from Star Trek writer/producer Roberto Orci, this new series begins the countdown to the much-anticipated movie sequel premiering in 2012!