Book Review:: At the Feet of Jesus

"Jesus simply didn't want Martha to be so caught up in the Kitchen Service for Him that she missed out on the joy of Living Room Intimacy with Him" 

How often do we find ourselves working on "something" for God? Get so wrapped up in the calling that you miss the Caller? In At the Feet of Jesus Joanna Weaver takes a whole year to get your heart back to being with Jesus. In this devotional, Weaver takes excerpts from a few of her best selling books (Having A Mary's Heart in a Martha World for example)  and turns them into a devotional to challenge the heart and mind, bring us back into a relationship with God that we all deep down desire. 

We don't have to do anything to get there: "The only requirement for a deeper relationship with God is showing up with an open heart and ready to receive." Weaver also includes a few Going Deeper areas as well as questions at the end of each day to really hone in on getting our hearts back into the God we are serving. 

"The cross did more than pay for my sins; it set me free from the bondage of the 'shoulds' and 'if onlys' and 'what might have beens.' And Jesus's words to Martha are the words He wants to speak to your heart and mine: 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed (Luke 10:41-42)

The 'one thing' is not found in doing more.

It's found by sitting at His feet." (pg 4)

I didn't get to take the time to do this as intended and maybe if I did it would have been more for me. This wasn't at all what I was expecting. It's just a reworking of her other books into a devotional. She pulled apart some good books to make a years worth of separate daily readings. I feel, in doing that, she took away from the the power of her other books, especially Having a Mary's Heart in a Martha World. It seemed choppy and the flow was lacking. Don't get me wrong, her message is an important lesson we all need to learn. But you can get it with more passion and power in her other books.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah for this review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

Book Review:: Dirty God

"The Bible teaches us that God 'demonstrates his own love for us' (Romans 5:8) in how he came to us in Jesus. He didn't expect us to climb up to him. He climbed down to us. He got his hands dirty so we could have our hearts cleaned."

In Dirty God, Johnnie Moore gives us a human, humble Jesus who came to give us grace that really can be experienced, felt, and freely given. Jesus wasn't and isn't a well showered, clean shaven, spotless man with nothing to offer but  God who took on man to reach us, to live and eat with the dirtiest of dirty, to love and care for the sickest of the sick, to touch a hardest of hearts, to save the worst of us: "Jesus inaugurated a kind of faith the spirit of which is encapsulated in the words of the great missionary C.T. Studd: 'Some wish to live within the sound/ Of church or chapel bell,/ I want to run a rescue shop/ Within a yard of hell.'"

In part one, Moore gives us a Jesus who we can actually see and touch. A Jesus who we can relate to, accept and know that he was really on earth instead of a god who was aloof, absent and uncaring. He was real. Like you and me. He dressed like us, ate like us, lived like us. He became us for us: "We think of God as far away- like a famous person we admire but don't really know. We kind of keep track of what's happening in his story, but surely he doesn't know much about ours, and if he does, he doesn't care enough to know." He came to bring us grace.

And it can be received, it can be 'gotten'. Moore closes part one with grace. The given grace of God. Grace for us to really grasp and understand. A grace in which God "knows us fully , and he loves us just the same." If we can really, fully comprehend this kind of grace, then we need to share it, spread it, and get our hands dirty.

In part two, Moore extends the grace past you and me. He challenges us to give it.

"God expects us to get our own hands dirty, just as he dirtied his own. He wants to meet us- not in the sanctuary but in the slums. Where hopelessness resides is where the rivers of grace are meant to flow more freely...God's not waiting for us at the alter. He is waiting for us to take the alter to the streets."

If our Dirty God roams the trenches, we need to be willing to live out the love God has shown us. 

"He didn't want his followers to stand out as walking billboards, their t-shirts painted with cliches and bible verses...He imagined our difference as having more substance, a more subversive quality, and greater effectiveness...we should seem different because we are living out what we believe in a way that causes others to wonder what curious belief undergirds our lifestyles."

Are your hands dirty?

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This book is a life changer, or a life challenger I should say. It'll challenge your ideas of Jesus, grace and paying grace forward. It'll challenge your actions and thoughts. Moore writes in a way that really brings Jesus and grace from the pedestal to your level, no matter how far down the ladder you think you are. His humor and style are perfect for the committed Christian and one who is seeking this grace and love. 

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from booksneeze.com for this review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

Book Review:: Everything Christmas

Last year I received  Everything Romance just in time for Valentines Day. This year Everything Christmas by David Borden and Tom Winters arrived a few days after Christmas. I enjoyed the fun little facts in the first book and with a growing family eager to celebrate Christmas I was excited to begin this book. Once again the authors provided such fun details about the history of Christmas traditions from around the world.

Do you know the real history of Christmas?

It can be traced back centuries before Christ was born.

WHAT!?

"The twelve days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule logs, gift giving, carnivals, carolers going from house to house, holiday feasts, even church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians. These traditions were passed down throughout the known world and were popular in Rome long before the birth of Christ." (pg. 7)

Didn't see that one coming, did you?

I sure didn't!

Throughout the book, Borden and Winter offer recipes for traditional Christmas meals from countries such as England, Portugal, Denmark and Poland as well as some of their activities and plans. You can learn about the history of the Christmas stocking, your favorite Christmas carol, and decorations including the story of the candy cane. Ideas for thoughtful presents for each person in your family, fun activities to do with your children, and suggestions of planning your day so it centers around the true meaning of Christmas (did you know in Poland there is no cooking done on Christmas Day?). 

This is all done in a format of an Advent calendar. Each day you learn a history of Christmas and ideas on how to celebrate that day as the big day draws near.

This year my daughter wasn't old enough to really get into the Advent calendar. It didn't mean that we couldn't as a family but I really want her to know what Christmas is all about. We talk about it like it's nothing, "the true meaning of Christmas" is even recited many times over in the Charlie Brown Christmas special. But do we really know what it means? This little book gave me some ideas on how to make Christmas special and memorable without going overboard. It gave ideas for traditions we can start doing while giving a basis for ones we already do. It also ended on Christmas Eve with the story of the birth of Christ. 

Next year, I plan to prepare our hearts and lives for Christmas so when the day comes, we can celebrate the birthday of our Savor.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah for this review. All opinion expressed are my own. 

The Original Curious George

The library finally got this book for us. We have been waiting patiently for it to come through the library hold system. 

This is the very first Curious George book. Not edition but the first one written.

It was not what I expected. It actually left more questions than it gave answers.

I was hoping it would tell us how George got to be with the Man with the Yellow Hat. Yes, it did chronicle his journey from Africa to Man's house. But (spoiler alert) he ends up in the zoo.

And the Man stole him from Africa!!!!!

I couldn't believe it. What in the world!?

There were a lot of things in this book that were completely unexpected. But it was written many many years ago. I would imagine everything that was said and done was acceptable during that time period. It's just kind of weird now to see what happens.

Some how George ends up living with the Man with the Yellow Hat....