Book Review - Adored: 365 Devotions for Young Women

I haven’t done a book review in a while, but when the opportunity to review Adored: 365 Devotions for Young Women presented itself, I decided to take a look. 

I don’t really qualify in the “young” department anymore, but I have a daughter who does, so this book caught my interest immediately.

My first impression of this hardcover book, before I even opened it is that it looks good and feels good. The cover is a nice muted blue with sweet, understated decoration. It’s a heavy book despite its smaller size.

Opening the book reveals why it feels so heavy in the hand. The paper pages are thicker than I would expect them to be – definitely a high quality that would make this a nice, giftable book.

The pages themselves are beautiful. Each contains a verse, a two- to three-paragraph discussion of the verse, then room at the bottom for the owner to jot down her thoughts and responses to what she read. The sidebar of each page is illustrated with the same blue decoration from the cover.

I didn’t go through each of the days and read every one of them. But the ones I did read were very well done. The author does not come off as preachy or holier-than-thou, which is nice. Her tone is conversational and pleasing to read. 

She takes verses from Scripture, some familiar, some less so, and explains them in plain language that young women can easily put into practice in their own lives. Aside from the Great Yoga Pants War of 2014, my favorite section of this book were the ten days devoted to the Ten Commandments and what those look like to followers of Christ. 

I also appreciate the emphasis on loving others that I’ve seen throughout this book. In a world that is so quick to hate, I like that this book is doing its part to overcome that. 

I liked this book very much, and recommend it highly, but think it may have a wider audience than the young women at whom it’s aimed.

Book Review - Star Struck: Seeing the Creator in the Wonders of Our Cosmos

One of my favorite activities of childhood was laying outside on my front lawn after dark and just looking up at the night sky. The street light in front of my house was only a minor distraction. Even better, though, was spending a week in Vermont with my grandparents and being able to see the stars from their front yard, in a town without a single street light. I have always enjoyed trying to find constellations and wondering how anyone could make pictures by connecting star dots. Except the dippers; I’m pretty good at finding those.

That’s as far as my love of astronomy goes. And aside from admiring pictures taken in space, my curiosity for things astronomical just doesn’t exist. I think the idea of space and an ever-expanding universe is slightly terrifying. The idea of space travel and colonization of other planets practically gives me hives. I don’t know if it’s my fear of heights or the idea of the vast and overwhelming aloneness or a combination of the two, but whatever it is, it’s a visceral fear. I don’t even like sci-fi movies that deal with space travel. For some reason, I love Doctor Who. Not sure what the difference is, but it is what it is!

So, I’m not sure what it was that drew me to Star Struck:Seeing the Creator in the Wonders of Our Cosmos by Dr. David Bradstreet &Steve Rabey. You’d think that would be the last book I’d want to read, but something about it was just intriguing to me.

I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed this book in a way I never could have predicted. I liked the author’s style as much as I enjoyed the book’s information. Dr. Bradstreet has a very personal writing style. It’s almost as if you are sitting down to talk with a friend who just happens to know a lot about space. His enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. He really does see God in the universe and he gives the reader a better understanding of how to see Him in ways we might not otherwise. 

This book is an informative look at the history of the earth, along with its place in the galaxy and the universe. Dr. Bradstreet takes us back in human history and discusses our fascination with space through the eyes of early astronomers right up through the current status of the Voyager spacecraft. These stories are told with warmth, humor and insight. Even as someone who does not have a particular love of space, I truly did like this book. The authors did a great job in conveying what they find so wondrous about our cosmos.

Book Review: Sister Eve and the Blue Nun by Lynne Hinton

So this was not my usual kind of read. I'm not a huge consumer of Christian fiction. In general, I'm not a huge consumer of fiction as a genre. But a good mystery is always welcome. So when I saw that Sister Eve and the Blue Nun by Lynne Hinton was available I figured I'd give it a shot.

I really wanted to like this book. This premise looked interesting enough; A murder takes place and the victim's brother is the prime suspect. Sister Eve, the motorcycle-riding nun, decides to figure out who the actual murderer is in order to prove her friend's innocence.

It sets up to be a fun book, but I just couldn't relate to pretty much any of the characters. Maybe it's because I'm picking up the series at book 3, but I had a hard time finding myself caring about any of them; the victim, the suspect, and the would-be heroine, included.

The most frustrating thing about this book was the main character.  I understand it's a fictional character in a fictional world, but some of the choices she made just left me scratching my head, wondering how someone could choose so poorly.

The mystery gets solved in the end, but almost in spite of Sister Eve, not necessarily because of her.

I really did want to like this book, but I guess my past reading of authors like Agatha Christie have set the bar a little higher than this book could reach.

Book Review: Jesus Called - He Wants His Church Back by Ray Johnston

People make fun of so-called “cafeteria Christians,” but stereotypes come from somewhere. The 21^st century American Church comes in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. However, that sheer variety necessarily breeds a deviation from true Biblical faith. 

If you’re interested in exploring what Christianity really could – and should – be about, then take a look at Jesus Called – He Wants HisChurch Back: What Christians and the American Church Are Missing by Ray Johnston. Johnston is a pastor of a large church in California, and has a front row seat to everything he writes about in the book. 

The book is broken into three parts. In part one, "A World Without Jesus," Johnston outlines cultural shifts that have been eroding what could be considered a traditional faith. He points out the importance of a person’s worldview and how Christianity is up against some deceptively appealing worldviews. 

Part two, "A Christianity Without Jesus" goes on to explain what’s missing from a lot of Christians – namely Christ! – and how that manifests itself in the life of the church.

And finally, part three (which is 2/3 of the book), "Meet the Jesus Most People Miss," is where, Johnston goes into significant detail about what we are not doing, what we should be doing & why, and more importantly how we can fix it!

I’ve read my share of books on the modern church movement. This book does a great job of stripping off the fluff and getting back to Jesus’ message. I highly recommend it