66 Love Letters by Dr. Larry Crabb

What does God's plan look like? Is it a good plan? Does the plan even involve you? What role should the Bible play in my learning about the plan? In his book 66 Lover Letters by Dr. Larry Crabb, the author attempts to give us a few answers to these questions. By taking each book of the Bible and looking at it as a "love letter" and through a series of conversations with God about those letters, Dr. Crabb attempts to help us to understand where it is that we fit into God's plan and just what that plan entails. As a member of the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze (http://booksneeze.com) Book Review Blogging program, I was given a complimentary copy of this book.

This was a very interesting book in that it made the attempt to break each book of the Bible down into bite sized pieces for the reader.  The writing style is conversational, a dialogue between that author and God, that takes the reader into what it is Dr. Crabb feels God is telling him about each of the 66 books by giving us the main thrust of each book. He then expounds on what that means for us as we go about our regular, daily lives. In the end, he ties it all together with an epilogue consisting of 66 paragraphs showing the connection between all the letters. Reading this book, it has began to alter the way I think and maneuver in my relationships with people as well as with God.

I had really only one complaint about this book,and that had to do with the length of it. It is nearly 400 pages (394) of just the letters, sections notes and epilogue. Beyond that there are 17 more pages of prologue and "How this book can speak to you." These are good sections, but they could have been much shorter overall bringing the total page count down to a smaller number. In the end however, I felt that this was a very well written, well thought out and well put together book that I would gladly recommend to people wanting to find a somewhat different take on studying the Bible.

The Gospel According to LOST by Chris Seay

Jack and Kate; Sun and Jin; Sawyer, Locke, Ben- these are a few of the characters that make up the show LOST.  It is their actions and their lives and their stories that have kept me coming back to this show for six seasons now.  In all those years, I have tried to look at the deeper meanings and find connections in the story to the Gospel.  Now Chris Seay, a pastor from Houston, TX has seen those connections and has written a book to share with us what it is he has seen. That book is The Gospel According to LOST.

In this interesting read, Seay draws connections between the gospel and the lives and stories of a selection of main characters from the show.  It is in these connections he tells how he sees the Gospel message conveyed.  The thought of finding the connections to the Gospel in one of my favorite shows definitely piqued my interest in this book.  What I found was a fan of the show who was trying to look deeper beyond what we simply see and hear on the screen each week. This, for me, made the book enjoyable and something that I would recommend to other fans of the show.  Chris Seay does a good job of looking at the show through Jesus' own "lost' stories from the book of Luke, and making connections in that way.  It was a refreshing way to look at a show that has such deep connections to faith, and is worth a read if you have the time, opportunity and a desire to think about those connections.

The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield

Have you ever wondered where Guinness got its start? That is the question that author Stephen Mansfield seeks to answer in his "biography of the beer that changed the world." This is not simply the story of a great beer , but of the family behind it that believed it to be their duty and calling to use their wealth to make a radical difference in the world in which they live.

I will admit that for me, the majority of my knowledge of the Guinness brand of beer came from the animated figures the Guinness brew masters dancing and eating hot wings and exclaiming things to be "brilliant!" This year however is the 250th anniversary of what Arthur Guinness began in Dublin, Ireland at the St. James's Gate Brewery. This piqued my interest in where and how this all got started.

For a non-beer person, I found it hard to put this book down as I delved into the story of Arthur and those who followed him. Not only did the family brew a beer that changed their world, they were committed to doing what they could to follow the will of God and to serve him. Mansfield takes his readers through the 250 years of history of a beer company and makes it interesting and intriguing even to those who know very little about the subject. It is inspiring to learn of a family and a business that is committed to more than simply making a profit. Many businesses today could learn from the Guinness business model and do well with it.

This was a book that I found hard to put down as I read and would gladly recommend it to others. For those who know and enjoy Guinness already this is a worthwhile read to expand your knowledge, and for those who, like me, know very little of the beer, it is a great book for learning not just about the beer, but about what a family dedicated to using wealth righteously can do to change the world.

Rick & Bubba's Guided to the Almost Nearly Perfect Marriage by Rick Burgess & Bill "Bubba" Bussey

What do you get when you take "the two sexiest fat men in America" and let them write a book about marriage? You get Rick and Bubba's Guide to the Almost Nearly Perfect Marriage, that's what. The title seems to really say it all here. These two radio hosts from Alabama have offered up a guide for having "the almost nearly perfect marriage" whether you are thinking about marriage, engaged, or have been married for years. They offer advice on such topics as communication, apologizing (for men) and even the art of finding lost car keys.

Drawing from a total of 30+ years of marriage combined, these two men have written a book chock full of their personal experiences when it comes to being married. The book is full of funny stories about each mans marriage and how they handle things within it. One of the things that I would like to have seen would have been for the book to have been broken down into topics with stories that related to such things. As it is, there are great stories, but the moral behind those stories is sometimes lost (at least for me). Although I did not find any necessarily new advice in the book, (save for a Top Ten list here and there) I still felt it was a worthwhile read. The humor, honesty and sarcasm laced throughout the book make it well worth the time to sit down and read what Rick and Bubba have to say on the topic of holy matrimony. I would recommend this book to couples I know who are thinking of becoming engaged, almost engaged, or even newly married. So if you have a chance, check out Rick and Bubba's Guide to the Almost Nearly Perfect Marriage.

Peace and Love y'all.

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson

Do you ever wonder why in the world you are even here? Why is it that you are here at this time in this place? How does God (if He is even there) view all of this craziness? Is He paying attention? These are questions that we all struggle with at times and wonder about as we slog through this crazy world. In this book, N. D. Wilson lays out what he sees as God's design for us on the crazy, spinning sphere that we call Earth.

The questions that each of us has probably asked at one point or another are laid out here for us to consider. Wilson looks at each of these from the point of view that God is the Creator, the Artist, the Author, the Painter and the Poet. So many times it is easy for us to get lost in the questions that threaten to consume us, and yet this is a fresh point of view of who God is and how He feels toward us, His creation. Wilson doesn't quote a great deal of Scripture, and yet he is Biblically sound in his presentation. The style of writing, although seemingly random at first, holds you fast once you catch the rhythm of it. Reading this, I begin to realize that there are unfathomable depths to the Infinite Creators love and desire for His creation. This is a book that I would recommend to those who feel they have heard it all, and are looking for a new way of relating to God.

Peace and Love y'all.