Thunder Dog (book review)

I love the fact that my children enjoy reading almost as much as me! Here is a review from our resident pet lover.

[Guest book review by Samantha Owens]

Thunder Dog is the courageous story of Michael Hingson and his guide dog Roselle during their escape from the twin towers on 9/11. This book written by Michael offers his unique perspective of the events of that frightful day. He also explores the challenges and triumphs of growing up blind.

Nonfiction is usually not my first choice when picking a book. But I would recommend this book to anyone! I always felt a part of the story while I read, and often lost track of time. I also enjoyed learning more about the things that blind people learn to do, and the technology that helps them. I loved the fact that Michael’s parents never treated him like he was blind; he was encouraged to try new things and to learn and grow like any other kid.

I also liked how Michael’s love for God and his faith in Him had a major part in this book. Throughout, he prays to God and trusts Him to lead them in the correct path. Michael has such an assurance in God, and I think that made the story so much more powerful.

I would recommend this book to anyone, but not for younger children, due to its challenging words and graphic topic. I think that Michael does a good job not making this book graphic, but you are still very aware of what’s going on. There is no inappropriate content. The only foul language is a comment of “it’s a living hell.” In all, I would read this book again and again, and I hope that you all read it as well.

I am a Thomas Nelson book reviewer.

Thursdays With Oswald—The Test

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

The Test

     The test of Christianity is that a man lives better than he preaches. …Christianity does not consist in telling the truth, or walking in a conscientious way, or adhering to principles; Christianity is something other than all that, it is adhering in absolute surrender to a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

From Baffled To Fight Better

I say, “I want my walk to match my talk.”

Jesus says, “I want your walk to exceed your talk.”

I say, “I’m not perfect, but I hope I’m good enough.”

Jesus says, “Be perfect, just as My Father in Heaven is perfect.”

I cannot do any of these things on my own. I can only do them by surrendering to my Lord.

Leadership Prayers (book review)

There are few things that will lead someone to prayer more than being placed in a leadership position! To help leaders pray, Richard Kriegbaum offers some powerful prayers in his book (appropriately titled) Leadership Prayers.

One of the best ways to learn how to pray is to stop talking about prayer and simply start praying. This is one of the things I appreciated about this book. You won’t find sections on why leaders should pray, or even how they should prayer. You will simply find prayers.

Each chapter in Leadership Prayers is devoted to a particular leadership challenge. From leading change in the organization, to dealing with a board of directors, to casting vision, to handling disappointment. Each chapter presents a short verse of Scripture, and then dives right into a prayer. Finally, each chapter is concluded with Mr. Kriegbaum’s reflection on how he learned to pray that particular prayer.

Short. Sweet. Practical. Helpful.

I liked this book a lot!

Cedar Creek Cleanup

God told Adam and Eve that they needed to take care of the environment in which He placed them. And that directive is still in place for us today: We are to be caretakers of this amazing planet.

And as Christians, we should be excellent caretakers.

The City of Cedar Springs recently received a grant to help with some waterway cleanup. So I am very excited that a group from Calvary Assembly of God is going to be involved in the Cedar Creek Cleanup project on August 30.

This is another way for us to show our love for our community, and to live out our biblical values. I’m always so appreciative of the way this group wants to jump into any of these community projects. If I haven’t said it lately, let me repeat it loud and clear—

I My Church!

No Toleration

We need to elevate our vocabulary when it comes to God and the things about His nature and His Kingdom.

I was convicted of this a few years ago. I came home from church and was watching an NFL game on a Sunday afternoon, when a receiver made an amazingly acrobatic catch for a touchdown. I jumped off the couch and shouted, “That. Was. Awesome!!

Immediately the Holy Spirit brought something to my mind. “When you were worshiping at church this morning,” He gently reminded me, “didn’t you say how awesome God was? Is He as awesome as that catch?”

Right then and there I decided that I needed to be more careful of my vocabulary. I want to reserve words for God that I used nowhere else. Theologians do it all the time: creating new words to try to capture the majesty, omnipotence, and mind-blowing-vocabulary-defying greatness of Almighty God.

I’m certainly not perfect at this, but I’m working on it.

I was reminded of this again when I read these words from Charles Spurgeon:

“My Master has riches

beyond the count of arithmetic,

the measurement of reason,

the dream of imagination,

or the eloquence of words.

They are unsearchable!

You may look,

and study,

and weigh,

but Jesus is a greater Savior

than you think Him to be

when your thoughts are at the greatest.

My Lord is more ready to pardon

than you to sin,

more able to forgive

than you to transgress.

My Master is more willing to supply your wants

than you are to confess them.

Never tolerate low thoughts of my Lord Jesus.”

Say It With Love (book review)

There is a verse in the Bible that tells us to speak the truth in love. And that’s exactly what Howard Hendricks lives by in Say It With Love: The art and joy of telling the Good News.

For Professor Hendricks, the good news about Jesus Christ is not something that is just shared by a pastor on Sundays, but it’s something all Christians should be sharing all the time. And not just with words either, but with our very lives.

Dr. Hendricks challenges us to know why we are sharing the message of God’s love; to put ourselves in a position to share that message effectively; and then to live that message out in all of the roles of our life. This third section was the most impactful for me. Dr. Hendricks talks persuasively about living the message…

  • …with God
  • …with your mate
  • …with your children
  • …in your church
  • …in your neighborhood
  • …in your daily contacts

This is both a hopeful book and a convicting book. It’s an easy read with lots of Dr. Hendricks’ personal stories sprinkled in as examples. If you want to do a better job communicating the message of the gospel, you should check out this book.

Plant The God Seed

Have you ever been disappointed because you had a dream that died? How do we justify this with the biblical definition of faith which says, “faith is being sure of what we hope for”?

It’s just this:

  • If God takes away a dream, it’s because the dream was too small.
  • God wants us to be more focused on the Dream Giver than we are on the dream.

So sometimes God asks us to let a dream die.

Think of a watermelon seed. It’s not very big, sort of dull in color, and it’s only a single seed. To plant the seed, means you have to take your hands off it: the seed is now out of your sight and out of your control. But it is there—dead in the ground—that a miracle happens!

A single watermelon seed grows 200,000 times its own weight! A colorless seed produces the vibrant greens and pinks of a mature watermelon. And that single seed produces 100+ seeds.

Has God given you a dream? Has He asked you to give up that dream? Then plant that seed! When you do, the results will be more than you can imagine.

“Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of faith is to see what we believe.” —Augustine

These are some of my notes from part 3 of my See The Invisible series at Calvary Assembly of God. I would love to have you join me when we continue this series on September 4.

Un-Dragoned

I love the scene in C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader where Eustace is changed back from a dragon into a boy. Not changed back into the same person, because he was surely different from that point on.

Eustace was desperate to be un-dragoned, but despite his best efforts, he couldn’t do it himself. He had to let Aslan do it for him. Eustace said,

Then the lion said, “You will have to let me undress you.” I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back and let him do it.

Have you ever been where Eustace was? So desperate to lose something dragon-like in your life, but unable to do it yourself?

The problem for many of us comes after we pray to God for help. We pray, and God shows up. But after He shows up, we want to tell Him how He should take care of us, instead of just letting Him do His work. Listen: if I could have done it on my own, I wouldn’t have called on God. Once I’m desperate enough to cry out for His help, why do I then still want to be in control?!

God is so gracious to us! After we’ve been undressed from our dragon-like state, He covers us in clothes He Himself has fashioned for us. Eustace explained,

“After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me–“

“Dressed you. With his paws?”

“Well, I don’t exactly remember that bit. But he did somehow or other: in new clothes.”

Don’t let any dragon-ness in your life keep you from everything God has for you. And don’t try to un-dragon yourself (because, honestly, you can’t do it!). Let our gentle God un-dragon you, and then dress you in new clothes He’s made just for you.

God Is The Gospel (book review)

John Piper is always a challenging read for me. He stretches my horizons, challenges my paradigms, and forces me to dig deeper into Scripture. In God Is The Gospel, I felt like he was writing to me specifically in my role as a pastor of a growing church.

The gospel is good news, right? But good news about what? Or more importantly: Who? Here’s how Pastor John himself describes why he wrote this book:

“The point of this book is that the Christian gospel is not merely that Jesus died and rose again; and not merely that these events appease God’s wrath, forgive sin, and justify sinners; and not merely that this redemption gets us out o Hell and into Heaven; but that they bring us to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as our supreme, all-satisfying, and everlasting treasure. ‘Christ… suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God’ (1 Peter 3:18).”

Too many times as a pastor I’m guilty of pointing people to the gifts of salvation, and not to the Giver of salvation. The gifts are wonderful, but the Giver of the gifts is supremely important!

This is a book about glorifying God. This is a book about worshiping God for Who He is, and not for what He gives.

Everyone will benefit from reading this book. But I would most recommend it to those who are called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thursdays With Oswald—Why Did God Choose Me?

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Why Did God Choose Me?

Oh, the bravery of God in trusting us! Do you say, “But He has been unwise to choose me, because there is nothing good in me and I have no value”? That is exactly why He chose you. As long as you think that you are of value to Him He cannot choose you, because you have purposes of your own to serve. But if you will allow Him to take you to the end of your own self-sufficiency, then He can choose you to go with Him.

From My Utmost For His Highest

If God chose me because I was so special, and if I did something valuable for Him, who would get the glory for that? I would.

But I want to exalt God only

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

I want to go with You, Lord. Please keep me humble!