Monday, September 28, 2009

Pandorum

Have you seen Pandorum? Starring Dennis Quaid (G.I. Joe) and Ben Foster (X-Men 3), this movie is sci-fi entertainment.

Before I get into it, let me caution that this film is gory, violent and jump-out-of-your-seat scary.

Earth is running out of resources and decided to send a massive space ship to an earth-like planet called Tanis.

After taking off, the crew members receive word that earth was destroyed; we're not told how.

Corporal Bower (Foster) awakens from deep hibernation, finds himself in a small room with no exit, then wakes his commanding officer, Payton (Quaid). Together they decide to find answers.

They can't remember much of their past, except what their tasks are on-board the ship.

Bower crawls through some air vents to get further into the ship, Payton directs him from a command chair.

This movie works on one level: you don't know more than the characters. As they learn things, about the ship and their pasts, you learn as well. It keeps you guessing until the end.

As Bower makes his way through the innards of the ship, he comes across other people who have been awake longer but are quite "wild". They are being hunted by these demon-looking creatures that carry sticks with glowing blue lights. (So you know when they're coming) And their screaming is ear-piercing. These blue-light bad guys like to eat you.

Where did they come from and how will Bower, Payton and the other humans escape?

The scares are intense but the editing is horrific. To make it "scarier" they blast you with loud high pitched noises with quick cut shots of the creatures running and screaming.

And the gory scenes are really over the top.

A Slow Burn by Mary E. DeMuth

The second book in The Defiance Texas Trilogy, A Slow Burn will take you further down a dark and depressing road.

Mary DeMuth does not waver from showing sin for how truly ugly it is.

In this novel, we follow the life of Daisy's mother, Emory Chance, a drug addict. Still reeling from the news of her daughter's kidnapping and death, Emory is dealing with the looks she's always received from her town of Defiance.

Hixon, a man of God who befriended Daisy and her friend Jed, has been told by God to pursue and marry Emory.

The majority of this book tells how he goes about attempting this act. Emory does not want anything to do with Hixon.

There are moments of complete frustration towards Emory. You get so angry at her decisions and how she treats those who try to get close to her. And about her past; vindictive anger has no limits.

What she does to Hixon and, before, to Jed's mother via his dad is enough to make you throw the book across the room.

After talking with Mary, she promised me that the third book would finally answer the questions and that things will get better.

But after the shocking ending of A Slow Burn, I don't know how it will work.

Excellent read!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Guest Blog by Keith Williams General Editor of The Mosaic Bible

Keith's post is in response to Zach's question. He writes,

Throughout the process of creating Holy Bible: Mosaic, one issue that I was constantly aware of was the fact that many people who would pick up this Bible and think about using it were people who have not had a lot of exposure to much of the content. I grew up in an independent Bible church where things like the church year, historical theology, and other Christian traditions were not an integral part of my everyday church experience. Every few years the church would have some Advent candles in December, and occasionally a sermon would mention someone like Martin Luther or Augustine, but that was the extent of it. So I am keenly aware of the fact that many things in this Bible are relatively foreign to a lot of evangelical Christians.

When I went to Bible college and graduate school, I began to read widely from a lot of Christians that were very different from me. Many of them lived centuries ago, but some of them were contemporary Christians in Africa or Asia, and I learned a great deal about God and the Bible from seeing things through these diverse perspectives. It broadened my view of things, and showed me that I had a lot more to learn about God than I realized. We all have a lot to learn from one another.

Another important thing that happened in my spiritual life was when I first attended a church that followed the church calendar in worship. The first year that I was involved in this sort of worship was eye-opening for me. You will be amazed how different the rhythms of life feel when they are centered around Christ and his work in the world rather than the metronome of nature. Advent became more than just that hectic month before Christmas; it became a time of eager anticipation and longing for the coming of Christ. Lent suddenly had meaning, and the week leading up to Easter that first year was an intense time of communion with God. Easter was more full of joy. My entire spiritual life was renovated and deepened by reorganizing my calendar.

So, while I think Christians that are already following a church calendar will enjoy this Bible, one of my greatest hopes is that many Christians who have never really been connected to the church year will have a similar experience to my own by discovering the church year through this Bible. We did our best to give a very high-level introduction to the church year in the User’s Guide (p. m9-m12), and the website will provide more extensive material on the church year in the future. Also, because many of the voices included in the Mosaic will not be familiar to all of our readers, we identified each person with both a note about where they were (or are) from and when they lived. The Tesserae (p. m333-m340) give even more information so readers can find and read the quote in its larger context if they want to learn even more.

Also, everyone is welcome to come to the forum at http://www.holybiblemosaic.com/ to ask questions and learn from others who are sharing the experience of connecting with Christ through his people from around the world and throughout the centuries in Holy Bible: Mosaic.

-Keith Williams
Editor, Bible and Bible Reference
Tyndale House Publishers

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Activate: An Entirely New Approach To Small Groups by Nelson Searcy

This was the book for me! Out of the three books I've read from Nelson Searcy, Activate gave me the most to chew on and imagine.

Who knew creating a new way to do Small Groups could be so exciting? Searcy takes the status-quo and completely flips it on its head.

Small groups? Think about 20 people in one group - none of this, 6-8 people per group.

Neverending groups? Think semesters just like school so leaders won't get burned out and people have the opportunity to grow in a different group.

Deep and personal where at least one person has to cry every week? Think basic socializing - making new friends.

While the ideas seem to be geared toward larger-sized churches, the principles in Activate can be applied for any church.

I can't wait to implement these principles and watch relationships bloom.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Mosaic Bible Available

Check out the brand new Mosaic Bible from Tyndale! You can learn more at amazon.com and by going to the Mosaic Bible's website.

There will be a special guest, Keith Williams, on this review blog this week. Keith is the General Editor of Mosaic.

In addition, I will be giving away a certificate for a free copy of Mosaic which can be redeemed in bookstores.

Please post a comment with any questions you have about Mosaic and we'll answer them when Keith Williams is here. One lucky questioner will win the Free Mosaic certificate!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Green by Ted Dekker

The beginning and the end happen in one novel called Green. Fans of author Ted Dekker have been waiting for this book since White came out.

Continuing his world found in The Circle Trilogy, Dekker shows what the final battle between good and evil looks like in his fantasy world where spiritual things are made real.

Green is the culmination of a huge story arc. Included are the books: Black, Red, White, Showdown, Saint, Sinner, and the Young Adult novels: Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Lunatic, and Elyon.

In a world thousands of years into our future, Thomas Hunter is the leader of The Circle. His enemies, The Horde are looking for the ultimate battle to finish them once and for all.

If you haven't read anything of Ted Dekker that I just mentioned above, this review won't really mean anything to you. (Other than you need to pick up Green!)

I was excited to sink back into the fantasy world that Dekker created in The Forest Guard and The Black Forest - with the Roush, Teeleh and many other familiar characters. But I was hoping to find more characters from the other novels involved as well.

Basically, outside of Thomas and his band of Elyon followers, the only characters to pop up are his sister Kara, Monique de Raison and Billy.

I wanted to see Johnny and Darcy again.

This is a sweeping novel and it is very violent. When you have a multi-thousand man battle taking place, you're going to have severed heads and body parts. The story is epic in every sense of the word! Dekker and created the true, mind-bending and sometimes confusing circle.

One big thing that I was not at all happy to discover is that Dekker created some character and plot points to move ahead with his vampire-heavy stories in the future. And until someone can prove to me otherwise, I see this move as an author wanting to jump on the Vampire-pop-culture-fad bandwagon and milk the money.

Someone please prove me wrong!

If God is Good by Randy Alcorn

With the size and content of a college theology text book, If Good is Good Randy Alcorn's response to the many questions that plague Christians.

The set-up is very similar to a Systematic theology book by Wayne Grudem, you will have 1 chapter, and within each chapter are shorter sections that go into great detail in discussing suffering and pain, and many others.

There are 11 sections total which include:
Understanding the Problem of Evil and Suffering
Understanding Evil: Its Origins, Nature and Consequences
Problems for Non-Theists: Moral Standards, Goodness, and Extreme Evil
Proposed Solutions to the Problem of Evil and Suffering: Limiting God's Attributes
Evil and Suffering in the Great Drama of Christ's Redemptive Work
Divine Sovereignty and Meaningful Human Choice: Accounting for Evil and Suffering
The Two Eternal Solutions to the Problem of Evil: Heaven and Hell
God's Allowance and Restraint of Evil and Suffering
Evil and Suffering Used for God's Glory
Why Does God Allow Suffering?
Living Meaningfully in Suffering

Alcorn's talent is to take deep issues and bring them to our level of understanding. He uses words that make the hardest idea become simple yet profound.

This is not a book that you will finish in a day, let alone a week. You will want to pour over this text and open your Bibles to grow your understanding of having faith in the midst of suffering and evil.
If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil

This book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Law of Nines by Terry Goodkind

Terry Goodkind is either a genius or a hack and I'm leaning toward the latter.

When I saw that he was coming out with The Law of Nines, I thought Goodkind was leaving the fantasy genre and had written a mind-bending thriller.

The story starts with a young man, Alex, standing at a bus stop behind a lady. A truck comes cruising right at them and Alex saves the day.

This lady isn't all that she appears to be. And Alex is destined to save the world...a world.

The Law of Nines takes place thousands of years after the Sword of Truth series that Goodkind has completed.

I wasn't sure if I would be happy that he can't get away from that world, but he may surprise us yet and turn out to be the genius I hope him to be.

Having said that, this book is basically a re-telling of Goodkind's first book, Wizard's First Rule. In both books, the main character is a guy who rescues the girl within the first couple chapters. Both men have a grandfather character who is wise. Both characters have their homes burned to the ground by the villain's henchmen.

The other negative aspect of this story is how gratuitous the violence is. Whenever someone fights, and there is a lot of fighting, a throat gets slashed and we get to read all the bloody details.
Oh, plus, Alex must be superhuman. He can take quite the beating and get right back up and slam his elbow into a man's back hard enough to shatter his spine.

I was disappointed with The Law of Nines.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Fresh Start by Doug Fields

Once a youth pastor and now a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church, Doug Fields has written a how-to book that won't feel like your typical "ways to a better life" mumbo jumbo.

Fresh Start deals with not trying harder but plugging into God's power. It's a guide to starting over: a Fresh Start.

Within the 12 chapters, you'll find topics on Pride versus God-sized dreams, an ingredient of success, looking beyond your past, gaining freedom from hurt, dealing with conflict, working with others and others on rejection, anger and what you value.

Fields has proven himself to be an excellent writer. He comes across as an apprentice to Max Lucado. Their books are almost identical in style. (Including the cover image with the water...)

If you like reading stories about others and how they apply to the lesson you're learning, you won't put this book down.

If nothing else, Fresh Start should get you thinking beyond the cultural norm of making your life better: It's not what you have to do that makes life better, it's who you trust.

Now I just need to hear him speak.





I review for Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers

Saturday, September 12, 2009

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

It's hard to believe so many people would be interested in what another total stranger's life is like. Yet Donald Miller has become a New York Times Bestseller based on telling us his stories.

A Million Miles in A Thousand Years is like a sequel to Blue Like Jazz; we're back to hearing quirky stories about Miller and his adventures while he adds nuggets of philosophy and religion. In this book, he's writing the screenplay to the movie edition of Blue Like Jazz, going on a cross country bike ride, hiking in Peru and boating to a private island.

Miller's outlook has changed from his Blue Like Jazz days. He's more positive because of this "editing of my life".

The first part of the book deals with how he was contacted by two movie makers and how they began to write the movie based on his bestseller. This section can plod along like a mule walking the path.

The second part gets us back into familiar territory as Miller shares brilliant stories of the people he's met and gotten a chance to enjoy.

It won't be as compelling as Blue Like Jazz nor as teachable as Searching for God Knows What, but A Million Miles in a Thousand Years opens up your thinking to living the most out of life and not just coating your brain with sugar from the television; it will get you thinking about your life as if it's a story being told and how you can make the greatest scenes occur.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Kronos by Jeremy Robinson

Kronos is about one man's revenge and another man's desire for trophies.

Atticus Young just can't catch a break. His wife is dead and, while diving with whales, his daughter is eaten by the monster you see on the cover.

Steve Alten calls it Moby Dick meets James Bond, and I suppose that could be accurate. Young has this unquenchable thirst to kill the best - plus he's ex-Navy SEAL so there are a few scenes of him tossing knives into people's hands.

Atticus is offered to kill Kronos for Trevor Manfred (what a last name). Manfred collects trophies and this thing would be the best.

They hunt in a huge yacht called The Titan which is state-of-the-art everything: missles, torpedoes, helocopters, subs, harpoons, etc...

Then there is Andrea, National Guard, who was in love with Atticus. She is in pursuit of him.

Alten boasts about "an amazing twist" in this story and I didn't really read it as a twist. I guess I'm used to Dekker's ability to bend your mind with story twists.

Think biblical and you'll figure it out...Old Testament.

Kronos isn't as good as Steve Alten's MEG series but is still a decent underwater monster story.


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Fearless by Max Lucado

Expect your typical Max Lucado when you read Fearless.

This is, by no means, a bad thing. Lucado's gift is in his storytelling and using everyday situations to explain truths.

In Fearless, Lucado asks us to imagine our life without fear. What if we were to respond to all these bad issues: the economy, job loss, death, terrorism, etc... not with fear but with faith.

How should followers of Christ react to such life-altering scenarios?

You read through 14 fears:

Fear of Not Mattering
Fear of Disappointing God
Fear of Running Out
Fear of Not Protecting My Kids
Fear of Overwhelming Challenges
Fear of Worst-Case Scenarios
Fear of Violence
Fear of the Coming Winter
Fear of Life's Final Moments
Fear of What's Next
Fear that God is not Real
Fear of Global Calamity
Fear of God Getting Out of My Box

You won't find any major "ah - ha" moments where Lucado will blow your mind with some new and fresh teaching. But you will find the comfort, as you do in most of his books, that living a life in Christ is just the best possible choice.

Stray Affections by Charlene Ann Baumbich

The last thing that Cassandra Higgins expects out of her Sunday is to be mesmerized at a collectors’ convention by a snowglobe.

She’s enjoying some shopping time, with husband Ken at home tending their brood of four young boys, when she’s utterly charmed by the one-of-a kind globe containing figures of three dogs and a little girl with hair the color of her own. She can’t resist taking the unique globe home– even if means wrestling another shopper for it!

The beautiful snowglobe sparks long-dormant memories for Cassie, of her beloved Grandpa Wonky, the stray she rescued as a child, and the painful roots of her combative relationship with her mother, “Bad Betty” Kamrowski. Life in Wanonishaw, Minnesota is never dull, though, and Cassie keeps the recollections at bay, busy balancing her boys, her home daycare operation, and being a good friend to best pal Margret. But after a strange–flurrious, as Cassie deems it–moment happens with the remarkable snowglobe, Cassie and the people she loves are swirled into a tumultuous, yet grace-filled, and life-changing journey.

With the quirky, close-knit Midwestern small-town feel that made Charlene Ann Baumbich’s acclaimed Dearest Dorothy novels so popular,
Stray Affections invites you to experience the laughter and the healing of second chances.

Friday, September 4, 2009

War of the Worlds

For some reason my parents gave this VHS to me. I guess they thought I should add it to my collection of absolutely horrible movies.

This version of War of the Worlds is a direct adaptation of the novel by H.G. Wells. And I mean, as if he took the pages out of the book and inserted them into this movie.

As you watch this film, you'd swear it was made by the British. No offense to the British or anything but their films are not of the same caliber as Hollywood.

However, upon looking at the back of the box, I discovered that this was made in The United States. Not only that but it was made in 2005!

You wouldn't believe it to see it. The video quality is horrible and the special effects are worse than what you'd expect from the latest video game system.

Then there's the actual storyline...this movie proves that it's best to make a movie BASED on a book rather than a direct copy from the book.

Sorry mom and dad, but this movie wound up in the trash.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Timescape by Robert Loparulo

Robert Liparulo continues his excellence with Timescape; book 4 of The Dreamhouse Kings series.

This book picks up immediately after book 3 ends and the adrenalin rush doesn't let up. Even when the family tries to sleep something startles them awake.

The King family has moved into a house that contains mysterious rooms. These rooms have doorways to different places and different times and they are always in motion.

Each book in the series takes the family to exciting and dangerous locations as they look for their lost mother. She was kidnapped and dragged into one of the doorways.

In Timescape, the boys find themselves on The Titanic, attacked by Vikings and in the woods where they meet a familiar face.

Liparulo is driving me crazy with each nail-biting cliffhanger in these books.

This series is storytelling at its finest!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Jesus, The Middle Eastern Storyteller by Gary M. Burge

Author Gary Burge takes until on a brief journey into Jesus' ancient context in Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller.

He answers questions like, "How should a father react when his son asks for his inheritance?", "What happens when a friend arrives at midnight seeking food?", and "Was Jesus a skilled storyteller among the rabbis?"

You'll learn how shame and honor were the top items of concern during Jesus's time.

You'll discover some of the background to enhance your understanding of the parables that Jesus used.

And you'll get to enjoy full colored pictures on every page of this tall and narrow book.

For a short work, this book has some great information to further your biblical studies.

Cash in a Flash by Mark Victor Hansen & Robert G. Allen

When you mix Chicken Soup for the Soul and Multiple Streams of Income, you get Cash in a Flash.

Hansen and Allen have written 2 books for you to enjoy. If you're the linear-learning type of person, you'll read the left-hand pages; if you're the picture person, you'll read the right-hand pages.

Here is how you can get cash in a flash - according to these authors:

#1 Wow Now - Invision yourself getting a lot of money.
#2 Inner Winner - Convince yourself you can get a lot of money.
#3 Dream Team - Gather with people who can talk you into convincing yourself to get a lot of money.

That is the first part (and majority) of the book; a lot of mental and psychological practices to rid your imagination of all the negative "voices" in your head. They tell you to make your negative voice sound like Mickey Mouse and turn down his volume whenever he speaks to you.

The last 3 chapters deal with the ideas which include: real estate, writing a book, and sales.

After reading this book I had some ideas of what I could do. However I don't think I could ask people to pay me $2,000 to write a chapter in a book I was writing. (But that's my negative Mickey Mouse voice talking)

When all is said and done, this is not the kind of how-to book people are looking for.