Rudy by Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger

If you saw the movie Rudy, you will love the book.  The story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger is an inspirational story, one that most people can relate to at some point of their life.  He may not be the biggest, strongest or the smartest but with sheer determination and the mental attitude not to quit will take him further than he even imaged.  Being a trouble child in a family of fourteen created many unique issues.  What he found was his faith, his family and the positive support of friends could get him through any challenge that he ran into.  The most interesting thing about this biography is he is not special in anyway, life for him was tough and few people early on supported any of his dreams or aspirations.  Self-doubt was one of his biggest hurls but he used his faith to align his life.  The author conveys in his story no matter who you are or what you are you have the final say in making something of yourself.  It all teeters on how bad you want it and how many times you willing to fail before you get to what you want.

I received a free copy of this book from BookSneeze in exchange for my honest review of the book.        

The Blessed Church by Robert Morris

I admit I was skeptical about the topic of this book.  A mega church is trying to provide instructions to other churches that are struggling or sitting stagnate.  In the beginning of the book, Robert Morris talks about how he talks to God.  I rolled my eyes but kept reading, I wanted to hear how he built his church.  Once I got past that, the rest of the book was good.  I belong to a small struggling church so everything he said I applied to my personal situation within my church.  He talks about churches wanting to grow but explains in order to grow your church has to be healthy.  I researched this again within my own church and found out our health rating would have been considered more like being on life support.  How they built, Gateway Church may not work for you but the common sense approach to the health of the church, the leadership, communication and accountability can work for any size church.  The only stipulation you need to be aware of is the pastor and leaders of the church need to be open to change or approaching things differently.  That is the key to avoiding failure in any church is going beyond their comfort zone.

I received a free copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review of the book.  



Grieving God’s Way by Margaret Brownley

Everyone handles a loss of a loved one differently.  Through the experience of the author, you can see the mental, physical, social and spiritual roller coaster of emotions that one could encounter.  The author has created a 90 day devotional.  Each day contains a short story, a haiku and a section called healing ways.  The stories help to present the topic of that day of how to explain, explore or just survive the grieving process.   The haiku is a short poem related to that day’s devotion, truthfully after about the fifth day I skipped the haiku, it provided no value for me.  Reviewing the three key areas the healing ways section seemed to contain the most pertinent information.  This section provided helpful tools, reference points and quotes that provided down to earth basic Christian advice on how to deal with and move on from the loss of a loved one.  My suggestion is to focus on the healing ways section.  While it is a 90 devotional, it may be too short for some.  Many of the daily devotional topics in my option could take a much longer period than just a day.  Instead of a 90-day devotional, I see it more as a 90 progressive steps to countering grief.

I received a free copy of this book from BookSneeze in exchange for my honest review of the book.

Fully Alive by Ken Davis

If you listen to your local Christian radio station, you might be familiar with the name Ken Davis.  In his book, he provides inspirational and up lifting stories in his segment called Lighten Up and Live.  His book Fully Alive is an extension of his radio show and his traveling speeches.  The book is a combination self-help, diet book, physical motivator and social interaction.  He covers the four critical areas in life: mentally, physically, socially and spiritually.  He does not claim to have all the answer but he provides stories, humor and the ability to rethink how to put your life on the right path.  His focus is around people who are older, who need a change, who struggle know what to do and try to success in a vacuum.  One of my favor quotes was “Instead of retiring, I’m going to Retread.  That way I can get another hundred thousand miles out of this body.”  He covers the common sense ways of how to research find out what drives us.  Plus, what pit falls we need to address so not to fall into the same old rut.  A book for the person needing to make a change in their life but does not know where to start.

I received a free copy of this book from BookSneeze in exchange for my honest review of the book.