Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Is your God big enough?

How big is your God when times are tough, the mission impossible and the knees are weak? Big God is a new book by Britt Merrick on one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, Hebrews 11. "We need a bigger picture of the supremacy of Christ, the glory of Christ and the mission of Christ, and our lives should be subsumed by and submitted to Him." pg. 219 When your heart is overwhelmed with the worst possible news about life and death you better know some Bible, you better know Jesus. The central message of this book and why its worth reading in Britt's own words: "What do you do as a Christian when the doctor tells you that your five-year-old has cancer? How do you deal with that? If you're a Christian, your mind goes to Jesus." pg. 18. This book helps you along that path by exploring nine key elements of faith from Hebrews chapter eleven.
Another book about God and faith seemed a bit of a stretch for me with all the thousands of titles written on the subject in the last decade alone, not to mention antiquity. Britt disarms those thoughts as soon as you read the introduction and sense that this man has been battle tested with Jesus, through the Scriptures, anchoring this man's soul in very rough seas. The easy to read and understand exposition of the great faith chapter, Hebrews 11 was very well done and laid out. I wish for scholarship sake that he would have been defined the origin of faith itself as coming from God Himself as a gift and actual result of regeneration. (Rom. 10:17Eph. 2:8-10Titus 3:3-8)
Regardless, I was moved closer to Christ and encouraged to press on with the Gospel message and that is the benchmark for a book worth reading and recommending. You will be impressed, as was I, by his very high view of the Scriptures, Christ and the glory of God. The Solas of the reformation ring true and bright with this one. Britt, thank you for your work on this. You can warm yourself by my theological fire anytime.
http://biggodthebook.com/
Note: I received a free copy of this book from Gospel Light / Regal Books with no expectations or endorsements required. I write these words under my own motivation and desires.

Monday, March 29, 2010

How to connect the family to the Bible and church

How in the world can the church effectively connect the Sunday school efforts, the Word of God, and the family together? Within the context of modern society this seems like an impossible task given all the activities and 'pulls' on the family. Sitting around the crackling fire all snuggled up with each other as dad gently draws on his pipe while turning the pages of Scripture in an engaging Bible devotion seems totally foreign today. Is it possible to capture that lost innocence and direct the same spirit of family time into modern constructs? Heaven help the home and the church if we can't or stop trying.
I want to share with you some ideas and some examples of how one Sunday school publisher is trying to establish the connections.
 As a dad, the biggest hurdle I face is motivation to remember to ask what my kids learned in Sunday school. If I do remember they usually don't remember what they learned. It could be that my question is just too big and too broad to help them focus. I'm looking forward to this solution: automatic, weekly emails that will be delivered to me early in the week so we can review Sunday school easily. I look forward to the simple reminder from myhomelight.com
Another issue we face is kids and their Bibles. Often we have struggled in this area because when they do take their bibles to class they are a different translation and different page numberings  making it tough for the teachers to get the kids to use their own bibles. Now with God's Story for Me Bible Storybook we have a great resource at home that matches story for story what is going on in Sunday School. No more guess work and the children actually use their bibles at home and in class.

"Give me something practical and easy!" is no doubt the battle cry of men. I need something really quick and visual that I can point to or ask about concerning the Sunday school lesson. The kids are doing these fun in class activity pages that end up coming home too. Its amazing to me how much the kids want to show off what they were doing in class. The level of recall as they point out the different parts and pieces of this resource is pretty impressive. Since I wasn't raised in Sunday school I think I'm learning too.
I remember the days of being in children's ministry and the difficulty of seeing take homes not being taken home. I think these Family Fun Time take homes have a great chance of making it home. The parenting articles are great. The retelling of the story in an interactive way is fun and it references what page to turn to in the God's Story for Me Bible which is a huge bonus.

Another area that I often forget about is the music. I know that kid's Sunday School is always filled with music. Everyone remembers the words to their favorite songs even from 30 years ago in high school. This music from Gospel Light makes it very family friendly. Its reproducible and now we can have a free copy of what they are using at the church for home use. Great idea and the songs are fun. Yes, I sing along in the minivan too.
Finally, I think its terrific that the second hour Children's Church is using a curriculum that actually matches story for story with the first hour Sunday School programming. I always found it difficult to try to help the kids keep up with too many stories in the morning. How many times have they been talking about a story only to get confused about the other story in the other class. "No son, Jesus did not walk out on the water to visit Noah in the ark!"
Nothing is perfect when it comes to raising kids and teaching them at church but I think Gospel Light is doing a pretty good job.The Bible. Pure and Simple. Sounds good to me.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Calculus and Christ, The story of Sir Isaac Newton

Modern reader meet Isaac Newton the world's greatest mathematician. This is a delightful page turner that was so fun and so engaging to read. I literally enjoyed every paragraph. So many things you either forget or were never told about Newton. The author lines out the facts, the man, his fellows and enemies into a wonderful story that flows well. I am so thankful for being given the chance to read this book as it may be my favorite read for the whole year. Every 7th to 9th grader should be required to read this book so they can better engage their studies and their world. Its an absolute must for homeschooling families and Christian schools. This time you take to read this very approachable book will only enhance learning in every field.
What is it about a man, his life and his life's work that so engages us after almost 300 years since he died? Impact. Isaac Newton left an impact that affects every last educated person ever since his first works became famous in the late 1600s. Think about that. Every educated person on the planet since around 1680 has been touched by this man, used his equations in math, stayed up late trying to understand calculus, talked about and thought about gravity, planetary motion and optics. Newton's gravity apple never dropped on his head but the impact of the event has been placed inside the heads of millions. Thank you Mitch Stokes for cracking open the vault of history and reintroducing a man that we should have never forgotten in the first place. And, to my utter delight, I learned that Newton above all else loved the Lord Jesus and did everything, even math, for His glory. Can't wait to meet him in heaven. Sadly, the liberal, godless government schools since the 60s have stopped telling us the truth about the men of history that we study. How dare they not tell us that the most important thing to this man was not calculus but Christ.

I read this book as a free gift from www.booksneeze.com but they in no way tell the blogger what to write only that they have to write a review if they want to choose another book. Its a sweet deal and I am thankful.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Oh, now I understand Jane Austen

A book of biographical import concerning Jane Austen

Thanks to modern renditions in film and on stage, Jane Austen has a bigger following than ever before. I would imagine that an easily accessible biography would be helpful to those faithful followers. This book accomplishes that need and more. First, it is an easy read making it profitable in the home school setting to the university English department. Second, it is filled with all the sites and sounds of the Victorian age where 'Jenny' romped in life and story. I found it helpful to get to know the author of some of my favorite movies in the family DVD collection. Pride and Prejudice has been burned into the pixels of our television and so knowing the person behind P&P, as we call it, was enjoyable.
Concerning this book, I found it to be boorish and dry at times but a few extant comments or quotes from Jane herself kept me plowing ahead to the end. The author did a more than fair job in revealing the world behind the woman behind the writings. The author has done a more than adequate job in tying the life with the writings on Jane. The reader will be particularly impressed with the skill of the author painting a picture of Jane from all the available resources. I will remember her overall dealings with friends and family, her short 41 years and the events surrounding her death in 1817. Place this volume next to the novels and the DVDs to reference often. My complimentary copy from Booksneeze will be gifted down the line to the next P&P lover in the family.