Farm Fresh Southern Cooking

Now for my first (and probably last) cookbook review!!!  I say last because I'm not much of a cookbook collector.  I figure that I can find any recipe I need just looking on the internet.  BUT, when I saw this title, I just couldn't resist!  I love, love, love going to the farmer's market!  So much yummy fresh food all in one place, and feeling good about the food you're bringing home by supporting local farmers--nothing like it!  But I find myself getting in a rut, buying the same things everytime I go, and preparing the same things...corn on the cob, green beans and ham, squash casserole, fresh peaches, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers...oh, man, I'm starting to drool in anticipation.  But there are so many other things to try...rutabagas and turnips and parsnips and SO much more.  And even better, there are many more ways to prepare my favorites.  But there is nothing I hate more than a great looking recipe with 15 ingredients so I have to go shopping in order to prepare it.  But there's very little of that here.  Each dish seems quite simple, making the fresh ingredients the star of the recipe.  Although the emphasis on Southern cooking gives us several "down-home" foods such as crawfish, grits, or cornbread, there are plenty of appetizers, main dishes, desserts, breakfasts, soups, salads, and breads to please any palate.  There's even a chapter that gives tips for canning so you can enjoy real food all year long.  I'm not sure I will be that ambitious, but I know there is plenty here to keep me busy in a few weeks when the local market opens.  I can't wait!!!

Three Hearts DVD

Graduating college senior, Cissie Graham Lynch, granddaughter of evangelist Billy Graham, takes on an internship at Samaritan's Purse working with the Children's Heart Project.  Through this organization, Mongolian children with congenital heart defects are brought to the US for lifesaving treatment they cannot receive in their own country. There are obstacles they must overcome in the process, and because it is real life, everything does not go as planned. But it is a beautiful story of an organization making a difference in the world, of people giving and serving and sacrificing so others may find wholeness.  And not only physical wholeness, but the good news of Jesus Christ is also shared with these families, changing there lives for eternity.  It was great to learn more about one of the many other things that Samaritans Purse does (other than shoeboxes) to share the love of Christ with the world.

Real Marriage: The truth about sex, friendship, & life together

When I first requested Real Marriage, I really had no idea that it had stirred up so much controversy among Christian circles and beyond, I just thought it might be something good to consider for marriage enrichment with couples in our church. While this review is primarily for the DVD-based study, I also read the book to help me get a better grasp of all of the material there.  So first, the content...the first "big idea" in the book is, in my opinion, the best one:  Marriage as Friendship.  This section includes five chapters, with one chapter addressed specifically to the men and one to the women readers.  There are many who will take issue with the complementarian views for which Driscoll is well-known. While I don't agree entirely with every opinion or emphasis that is presented, there is still much that can be learned from each of these chapters in loving and respecting one another.  The second part of the book moves to more a more provocative topic: Sex.  There are five chapters here as well, including one where the Song of Solomon is used as a reference for determining what activities are "allowed" or "beneficial".  If you are having questions in your marriage of how to set healthy boundaries in this area, then you would probably benefit from the material here.  However, if you tend to be uncomfortable with frank discussion of ALL types of sexual expression, you may want to skip it.  The part of the book that rocked my world the most was a short little section tucked in chapter 10, addressing birth control.  While I won't unpack it here, it challenged me to really apply some convictions on the value of human life in ways that I had never considered.  Finally, the last part of the book gets very practical in helping couples to "reverse engineer" their marriage so that the focus is on how you want your marriage to end...setting goals and formulating a plan together.  This was only one chapter of the book, and I would like to have read more.  I think the DVD study would be a good tool to expand on this and other material in the book.  The study includes a 143-page participant's guide, which has lots of material for couples to invest in their relationship, through questions and activity suggestions.  The videos are okay... Mark and Grace sitting in the church where they were married and discussing (mostly to one another) the material in the book.  Each session covers a chapter, with eleven 10- to 15-minute sessions.  If you are a fan of Mark Driscoll's, you will love it.  If you are a hater, you will hate it.  For those of us in between, just looking for a good tool to enrich our marriage...there's a lot of good material here.  It is not the best book on marriage that is out there, but there is much in the book and DVD study that is unique and useful to improve marriages.

Heaven is for Real for kids

This is a guest review by Makenzie, Vicki's awesome 10 year old daughter, and I'm here to do a report on Heaven Is For Real For Kids.  In this book a boy named Colten Burpo gets very sick and has to go to the hospital.  He closes his eyes and suddenly he's in Heaven! While Colton is in Heaven the book describes all the things Colton got to see, including Heaven's Gate, lots of Bible heroes, and even Jesus and his horse!  Throughout the whole story their are bible verses that match the text on the page.  The words are very understandable and there are beautiful illustrations.  If your kid wanted to read the original but hasn't quite mastered reading just yet, then this is the book for them!
                          Makenzie:)

Smack Dab in the Middle of God's Love

                                                 
So this time I thought I would get a children's book, thinking maybe I would post the review quicker. However, one has to have the time to sit down at the computer long enough to write the review in order to get it done!  So here goes...Abby Grace is sleeping...She is beautiful, by the way. 
This is the first children's book authored by Brennan Manning, the author of many other great books, including Abba's Child, The Wisdom of Tenderness, and my favorite, The Ragamuffin Gospel.  And in this book, as in his other books, his emphasis and strength is in sharing how big, how great, and how deep the Father's love is for His children.  There are many illustrations he uses to help a child understand how the Father shows His love through His creation, good friends, and "the gift of someone who really loves you", because "every good thing comes from smack-dab in the middle of Abba's heart".  Even though we may struggle with understanding that He could love "even me", as one of the little girls in the story, the main character, Willie Juan, shares, "we are all smack-dab in the middle of Abba's love...a love big enough to hold us all."
And now, Makenzie and Caleb are home from school and STARVING for a snack, so I'm off again!

Max on Life

Like so many others, I have always enjoyed the writings of Max Lucado.  He has a way of making deep spiritual truths relevant and easy to understand.  He speaks and he writes with the heart of a pastor, even with the heart of Jesus, with an obvious desire to see people know and understand all the wonders of God's glory and love.  He uses storytelling and short chapters to make his points, which makes his books easy, even fun, to read.  True to form, Max on Life is a collection of stories, in the form of readers' questions, covering 172 topics from "Who is God?" to "Why me?" to "Is this wrong?"  Many are age-old questions, but many are questions that the church often avoids talking about because the questions are awkward or uncomfortable. This book is written for those who are hungering for answers to life's difficult questions and those who are trying to figure out how to apply God's Word in their everyday lives.  My only criticism is the title and cover...I love Max Lucado and would pick this book because of him, but there are many who would really benefit from reading it, but will never pick it up because they don't know who Max is.  I would hope that they may release a new edition someday with a different title and cover to broaden the appeal to those unfamiliar with his work. 

Radical Together

This is a sequel of sorts to David Platt's first book "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream".  Whereas "Radical" was addressed to individuals in their personal walks of faith, "Radical Together" is addressed to the local church.  I wish that I could say that the book's contents were not all that radical...I saw nothing in it that was outside of Biblical teaching.  However, the subtitle, "Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God" is exactly what the church needs most, but to find it is all too rare.  There are six chapters, each based on a guiding principle for the church to live radically. "1) One of the worst enemies of Christians can be good things in the church. 2) The gospel that saves us from work saves us to work. 3) The Word does the work. 4) Building the right church depends on using all the wrong people. 5) We are living--and longing--for the end of the world.  6) We are selfless followers of a self-centered God." 

If these principles sound like something that you would like to read more about, then you would really enjoy this book.  Even greater, the book would be great for small group study, with a discussion guide at the end with questions and brainstorming ideas to unleash your own local body for the purpose of God!