Reading, Writing & Pondering

Billy Graham on Nearing Home: “In this book I invite you to explore with me not only the realities of life as we grow older but the hope and fulfillment and even joy that can be ours once we learn to look at these years from God’s point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day. I pray that you and I may learn what it means not only to grow older, but, with God’s help, to grow older with grace ” Billy Graham, who is 92 at the time he wrote Nearing Home, says he never expected to live to be so old. Nearing Home: Life, Faith and Finishing Well by Billy Graham, is an encouraging read for not only elderly people but for anyone on the path of growing older. This book offers some advice on the practical matters of growing older such as retirement, end of life planning, dealing with the effects of aging. Graham shares scriptural examples and examples from his own life on aging that offer encouragement as well as things to consider as you fa...

When Heaven Is For Real for Kids came out, I couldn't wait to see it. . .and I was not disappointed. What a beautiful, well-done book! My son liked it so well that he said that he wished he could give it extra stars. That is pretty high praise from my 9-year-old. Heaven Is For Real for Kids tells Colton Burpo's story, as told to his parents, of his trip to Heaven during an emergency operation when he was 3 years old. While in heaven, Colton saw Jesus, angels and family members he had not met before. It is truly a fascinating story and one that has helped take some of the fear out of dying for my son. One aspect of this book that I especially like is that each reflection of Colton's is paired with a corresponding Scripture. Also, at the end of the book, there are snap shots of Colton and his family as well as a couple of others that were mentioned in the book. This is a book we will treasure for a long time. The pictures done by Wilson Ong are beautiful--vibrant, color...

If you're trying to figure out how to teach your children about finances, Thomas Nelson has a new children’s book out to do just that. Three Cups offers parents a basic plan to help their children start handling their money at an early age. This beautifully illustrated book uses three cups to help children learn to save, spend and be charitable. The family in the Three Cups story gives their son a birthday present with the promise that it will take him on "an adventure." The 5 year old boy receives three cups: one for saving, one for spending and one for charitable giving. As the book enfolds, we see how the boy used his cups in the beginning of his adventure. . .and in the end of the book, the boy is an adult that passes on "the adventure" to his child. After the main story in this Three Cups, there is a guide to help parents to set up their own 3-cup system in their family. My son enjoyed both the story and the illustrations when we read it together. He i...

Every day our kids are faced with choices and living with the results of those choices. Heroes and Villains of the Bible published by Thomas Nelson features Bible stories of both villains and heroes from the Old and New Testaments. This book helps kids decide which choices make a hero and which ones make someone a villain. By the end of the book, readers see that "real heroes choose God" My 9-year-old son enjoyed the way the stories were presented. They were all comprised of actual Bible text in modern language. Following each story, was a summary of things to learn and questions to consider. Most stories include a brightly colored illustration of the Bible characters featured in that story which look like vivid photographs. Both the Bible stories and the pictures bring these Bible characters to life in a way that I think kids today can relate to. That may sound trite but if you get this book, I believe you will see it is true. These familiar stories about characters such...

 Going Deep re-visits Pastor Gordon MacDonald's fictional congregation in his book, Who Stole My Church. While I have not read that book, I felt this provocative statement from the book's description was intriguing: "The future of the Christian faith will not be determined by the number of people who fill the pews but by the spiritual depth of those people." I have also read a couple of other books by Gordon MacDonald that were helpful to me. MacDonald says early in the book, "We seem to know how to get unchurched people to visit our buildings. We even seem to know how to draw them across the line into a declaration of personal faith in Jesus. But what we do not seem to know is how to cultivate spiritually deep people. Tomorrow's church could be headed for trouble." Going Deep offers a detailed plan of helping churches cultivate people of depth--spiritually mature Christians that truly desire to make a difference for Christ with their lives, that wi...