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Showing posts from April 3, 2016

"Fearless" by Eric Blehm. A Short Review.

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Fearless: The Heroic Story of One Navy SEAL's Sacrifice in the Hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the Unwavering Devotion of the Woman Who Loved Him by Eric Blehm My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm wiping the tears from my eyes right now. I've just finished "Fearless" by Eric Blehm, and cried through the last part. I cried for Adam, for Kelley and the kids, for his parents and family, for his teammates who died a few moths after his own death, and I cried for their families. I sorrow for them, but the book also brings me to give thanks for such who serve, and serve well; and I give thanks that I served my country for 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. "Fearless" is a story of wasted potential, loss, fall, shame, and darkness. But it is also a story of reclamation, redemption, resilience, radiance, rightness and camaraderie. The author follows Adam's life from childhood, through the muck and misery of his meth addiction, to his messy conversion, and on into his Na

"One Nation Under God" by Ashford and Pappalardo. A Review.

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One Nation Under God: A Christian Hope for American Politics Bruce E. Ashford and Chris Pappalardo B&H Publishing Group One LifeWay Plaza Nashville, TN. 37234 www.bhpublishinggroup.com ISBN: 9781433690693; December 2015; $14.99 Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Michael Philliber for Deus Misereatur 5 Stars out of 5 It’s that time! It happens every couple of years when the American blood pressure spikes, the nation grabs it’s communal chest, staggers and stumbles, all red-faced and in cold-sweats. It’s called election season, and by all reports on social media, news accounts, video feeds, journal articles, coffee shop chats and blog posts, it’s the end of America once again! The sun is about to turn black, the moon blood red, stars are on the verge of falling out of the sky to crash into the earth. Into this national apocalyptic and apoplectic ailment steps a new, 176 page hardback, “One Nation Under God: A Christian Hope for American Politics” that seeks to bring sensi

"The Great Exchange: Bound by Blood" by Robert and Kay Camenisch. A Review

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The Great Exchange by Robert and Kay Camenisch My rating: 3 of 5 stars For Christians to practice the art of reading the whole Bible, from Old Testament to New, is a virtue quickly going by the wayside. The issue is not just reading the whole Bible, but the art of seeing the totality of the Sacred Scriptures as one story, with one central hero: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Robert C. and Kay W. Camenisch have provided Bible readers an exercise in just such an endeavor with their recently published, 224 page paperback, "The Great Exchange: Bound by Blood." This is a simply written, non-academic and non-technical volume, crafted for the person-in-the-pew. "The Great Exchange" surveys Scripture from Abraham to the New Testament through the lens of covenant. The Camenisches work out the definition and seven marks of a covenant. Then from that position they walk the reader through the Abrahamic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant, and several others, showing how each one

"We Lift Up, O Lord, Our Voices" - 3 April 2016

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From Psalm 28 We lift up, O Lord, our voices with the Psalmist, and in the name of Jesus your Son: To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary. We pray, Lord God, for those who are bearing heavy strains from work or joblessness…; from disease and disorder….; from cracked up and crumbling marriages….; from rocky and wrecked families….; from darkness and depression….; from agitation and anxiousness….; hear their plea, and hear us as we join with them. Like the blind man who came to Jesus, the woman with an issue of blood, and the Canaanite woman on behalf of her daughter; may they hear you say “Great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire” and be healed and restored! Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors