“The Karma of Jesus”

My review of The Karma of Jesus by Mark Herringshaw; published by Bethany House.

From the title The Karma of Jesus is not what I expected, but that is not a bad thing.  I was expecting Mr. Herringshaw to take some of the Karmic teachings/sayings  of Jesus and address those.  If anything that is the only thing bad about this book, a slightly misleading title.

I have read in  some places people bashing this book, but I have to wonder if they actually read the book or just saw the title with the words Karma and Jesus together and freaked out.   This book does a wonderful job of addressing Karma and how Jesus pays for our Karma.

The tag-line of the book asks “Do we really reap what we sow?” and Mr. Herringshaw takes on a journey through a conversation he had with a young man about Karma.  This conversation unfolds over 10 chapters of highs and lows.   Some people may not like the idea of a book being based on a conversation,  I did.  It allows the reader to follow the thought process Mr. Herringshaw went through in writing this book.  This book is written in a deeply  personal manner.   Mr. Herringshaw allows us into his life and karmic journey.  The conversation starts with a bang with this question “Do things happen for a reason?” and in the end we find out that they do.

I learned several new things in this book, especially in regards to the Magi.  I was also reminded of grace, wonderfully amazing grace in this book.  Of all the books I have read this year this one ranks at the top.  I give it 4.75 out of 5.  I will recommend this book to my friends.    If you are looking for a book deals with karma in a personal way pick this one up.

Voices of the Faithful Book 2

Voices of the Faithful Book 2 by Kim P. Davis and Beth Moore is the follow-up to Voices of the Faithful Book 1.   This book is a devotional is designed to be read everyday.  I do not recommend reading the book straight through it is best to read the book the way it was designed to be used.

The book is a compilation of stories from missionaries around the world.  Each day includes an inspiring story from a missionary, a Bible verse and a prayer.  The book is very encouraging and a great reminder to keep missionaries in our thoughts and prayers.

This book is an easy read and each day is short enough to read to the whole family after a meal.  By doing this you can involve the whole family in remembering missionaries.  Overall I was very pleased with the book and found many of the stories exciting and uplifting.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a devotional either for personal, familial or even Sunday School use.  I give the book 4 stars out of 5.

480 pages

Thomas Nelson Publishing

http://brb.thomasnelson.com/

review of: “The Best Idea In The World”

This is my review of The Best Idea In The World: How Putting Relationships First Transforms Everything by Mark Greene, published October 2009 by Zondervan.

I was very excited to receive a copy of this book.  The title intrigued me very much as my ministry and life is based on/in relationships.    I had high hopes for this book, but it did not reach those hopes.  It is possible that my expectations were too high.  With that said on to the reviewing.

This book is an easy read with only 160 pages with 10 uniquely titled chapters  one can read it easily over a weekend.  There are no major theological ideas in the book that would require deep thinking.  It is a very down to earth, practical book.  Although at times the British examples were not familiar to me.  (The author is British)

The book is based on the question put to Jesus by the Pharisees on which commandment is the greatest.  The book tries to take Jesus answer and use that as our lense to look at life through.  Mark Greene tries to take our everyday life and run it through Jesus answer.  The books aim is to show us a life that is based on loving God and others.  Overall it accomplishes it goal, not as well as I had hoped, but it reaches the goal.

On the positive side the book does encourage people to examine the relationships in their life.  I was encouraged by the book to continue developing  the relationships in my life.  I agree 100% that we need to follow the command to love God and others and Mr. Greene reaffirmed those principles in my life.

On the negative side there were times that felt as though he was trying to hard to make his example fit the premise of the book.  (the microwave)

I give the book 3.5 stars out of 5.  At the end of the day I ask myself would I recommend this book to my friends and family and the answer is yes.

Review of “The Unexpected Adventure”

“The Unexpected Adventure” by Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg is a book I really enjoyed reading.  Having read other books by Lee Strobel I was excited to read this book and I was not disappointed.

This is a devotional style book that is hard to put down but needs to be in order to digested.  It is not a deep theological book but one that challenges our comfort zone of not sharing our faith.  It is a humorous book that will motivate/challenge you (me) to be more willing to step out and share our faith.  The stories in the book will show the reader that sharing one’s faith is not a complicated ordeal nor is it only for those who stand behind a pulpit/podium.

My favorite part of the book was that it reminds us that we may not always be the one to reap the harvest of a soul won for the Kingdom.  Some of us may be the seed planter and that is perfectly fine.

Using my criteria of “was I moved” this book receives a 4.5 out of 5.  I was challenged to look at my life and see if I was being pro-active enough in sharing my faith (thinking).   The book also allowed me to laugh.  I would highly recommend this book for my friends.

Paperback, 304 pages

Zondervan
May 01, 2009

Hello world!

Hello world (or whoever reads this).  This is just my little corner of the world where i will talk about books I have read.  When I read a book I am hoping to be moved.  It doesn’t matter to me if I am moved to be happy, sad, angry, provoked to think, I just want my emotions to be stirred.  That is the criteria I judge a book by, am I moved.  Oh yea, the author needs to know what they are talking about.