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.

Jackson the Iron-Willed Commander by Paul Vickery

This is the third book from “The Generals” collection I have read.  Like the previous two, I was not disappointed.  One of the things I look for in a good biography is the childhood of the person grewing up, what events shaped their life and whom they used as role models.  It was fascinating to follow along the path that Andrew Jackson choose, was forced into and the path most of us would not take because of the negative reaction from others.  Andrew Jackson was a strong willed and extremely determined individual.  His upbringing shaped many of the qualities he is famous for later in his life.  He never quit, never let failure detour him from what he knew was the right thing to and he listened to others but always when made up his own mind.  Jackson’s emotional and physical presented motivated and inspired soldiers who were half-starved, freezing to death and exhausted from marching.  The men that followed him accomplished many things others would not have attempted or deem it impossible.  In Andrew Jackson mind, nothing was impossible.  One of the many traits of Jackson was he did not sound like the other military leaders or presidents; he spoke in a simple language everyone could understand and related to.  If you like reading about military material this would be a book and the others from “The General” collection I would highly recommend.

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

Greater by Steven Furtick

If you have never taken the time to read the Bible or have the desire to do so but still want to learn a one of the basis lessons then this book if for you.The book is written in such a manner that you do not have to worry about being a professor in theology to understand the topics. The book brings together the stories in the bible with modern day examples.The book is well written and should appeal to people at several different levels.The only disclaimer is if you read the Bible on a regular or semi-regular basis, you will already know many of the stories and messages that the author is telling. For the ones who are familiar with the Bible this will cover no real new ground. The author does take a common sense approach to looking into oneself and exploring the idea of why I am here and what did God intend for me to do.While some people the message is loud and clear, for most of us the message is difficult to find and rarely understood.His book concept and subject manner applies itself more as a tool for a religious discussion or a Bible study class.

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

The Searchers by Joseph Loconte

The entire book is based on small portion of the Bible, specifically Luke 24:13-35.  Twenty-two lines of scripture that tell the story of two men walking back home after the tragic of Jesus being crucified.   How a stranger appeared while they were walking interested in what they had to say.  Later after they invited this stranger into their home they find out it is Jesus.  The author breaks down the story into logical sections and explains what is going and how it relates to situation we have seen, read and lived through.  While the subject matter does have high interest for me the bombardment of quotes from books from Tolkien, Lewis, Rowling and many other gifted writers caused the subject matter to be lost.  Frequently the message that the author saw as being relevant to the scripture took a around about way to deliver his point.  The author attempts several times, in each chapter, to relate the scripture to how we see this same situation from the human condition today.  The subject matter truly is interesting but it gets lost in the delivery.

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