REVIEW: Girls Slimline Holy Bible NLT

Tyndale Blog Network gave me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The cover is soft and furry and, as you can see, very colorful. My daughters enjoyed the colorful approach to the exterior and interior and I found that it made them excited to have this bible available.

The layout is much what you would expect of any bible. Though the NLT translation is always a nice and easy to understand one.

In short, this is a good choice for a young girl, or boy for that matter (I hear some of them like pink and what-not). It's worth putting on the shelf as a way to get your kids interested in picking up their bibles. I believe that's what would have happened with my girls had the not just received bibles from church that they were very enamored with.

REVIEW: The Blessings of Humility

I was given this book from Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for an honest appraisal of the work.

Somewhere along the way I lost my copy. Therefore I decided to piece together what I could from others reviews. Here's what I found:

From Amazon.com reviews:

This book is helpful for Christians at any point in their life, although it was especially appropriate for me when I read it these past few weeks. Some events have had potential to leave me feel shaken, but my continual prayer, family support, and reading this book helped me see life through hopeful, more Godly eyes!
-FantasyGirl

I cannot imagine a more appropriate author to write a book on humility than Jerry Bridges. He has written some of the most influential and widely-received books in Christian publishing, each with a trademark Bridges style--a deeply practical style, saturated in the Gospel, and consistently humble. The Blessing of Humility (2016, Navpress) does not disappoint.
-Dr Jason Kanz

This is understandable, of course, even if it is not excusable. It is difficult to teach with confidence and authority in an area where the teacher is so aware of his failings and shortcomings. And yet humility is the king of virtues and one every Christian must pursue. At some point every teacher or preacher owes it to himself and his students or congregation to research, teach, and full-out pursue it.
-Tim Challies

In conclusion, it sounds like a great read. I hope I find my copy somewhere.

Hockey and Fútbol turned into major bonding time.

I have twin girls who are now 7-years-old. They like to play dress-up and Barbie, but they're equally into LEGO building and playing school as well. It's usually not too long, or hard, for them to talk Daddy into spinning them around the living room for the big ball or sitting down to build a house or spaceship.

They like to watch their cartoons and movies. I'm a big fan of anything Disney so we can usually find something we'll all agree on when Mom and Dad are finally sick of Dora for the eighteenth time that day. However, sports in my house can produce a struggle, and it rarely comes from my wife. You see, Mommy and Daddy are both big time hockey fans in my house, but the two little ones have just never caught the fever. Well, that changed this week.

As I was getting ready to put my little ones to sleep on Friday night I flipped on the Stanley Cup Finals - Game 5. There were the New York Rangers trying to hang on for dear life as the Los Angeles Kings sought to send them to the golf courses of the world before 60 minutes of regulation finished. This is when it happened folks. I was sitting there watching when my daughter asked me "who are we cheering for Daddy?"

I explained that I was rooting for New York because if they lost then hockey would be over for the season. Now, don't get me wrong, they're probably not the fanatics Mom and Dad are, but they recognized that this would disappointed to their Old Man and jumped in cheering for New York right away.

I didn't find any of this odd until my other daughter got upset with me when I told them it was time to head to bed. "But Daddy, the game isn't over yet." I reluctantly agreed to let them finish the regulation, but under the regulation that they weren't going to be watching any overtime. They relented.

The next thing that happened was almost stranger that though. As they were starting up the stairs they asked me if I would make sure to write down the score for them, so they could find out what happened first thing in the morning.

Now, I forgot to write anything down, but I was up with them pretty early on Saturday. Could you guess the first thing out of both those little mouths when they saw me? "Daddy, who won last night."

And if that didn't get me going, they both seemed genuinely disappointed that the Kings had bested the Rangers on that previous night. I actually had to console them both a bit and even thought one might shed a few tears over the whole ordeal.

So this morning we sat down together and watched the World Cup. We cheered together for Colombia in the first match of the day. Even though they needed to take a break to go play and blow off steam, they sat there with their Daddy and watched as the best players in the world played the most popular game in the world. Together we celebrated each goal and the overall victory of that bout.

Today was great day.

Tenacious by Jeremy and Jennifer Williams with Rob Scuggs

Tenacious is the story of how a football coach turned a team around. It's also about how that team turned a town around and left a lasting impression for generations to come. But more than anything, Tenacious is about having heart. It's about standing up and fighting hard even when the odds say you should be doing otherwise. This is a story of hope.

I enjoyed the book. It was an engaging read and a wonderful story. The story resonated with me because we all struggle, we all want to give up sometimes, and we need people like Jeremy and Jennifer  Williams to be there and say, "If I can bear my cross, you can bear yours."

I don't mean to say that the book is condescending in anyway, quite the opposite. And I found myself identifying with so many of the Willams' traits that, at times, it was a little beyond funny.

I think it's highly inspirational, and immeasurably valuable. Especially in this day and age when so many think they 'deserve' things, Tenacious is a bit of a wake-up call. And I dig it.

I received this book through Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze program in exchange for my honest review of the work.

Tracy Groot Spins a Riveting Yarn About Enemies Becoming Compatriots

In The Sentinels of Andersonville Tracy Groot aims to show that things are not always what they seem, not even the South during the Civil War of the United States of America. Groot masterfully tells a tale of how 3 unlikely heroes hatch a plan to stop the atrocities happening behind the walls of Andersonville's prison.

Once Violet Stiles finds out about how cruelly the Union soldiers are treated in Andersonville she determines to put a stop to it somehow. Sentry Dance Pickett, as well as Corporal Emery Jones are none too pleased with the conditions they also see as coming up far too short of Southern Hospitality.

Together the three hatch a plan the likes of which is not so well received by their fellow Southerners and puts them on the wrong side of an awfully big conflict. Still they persist and, through unconventional methods, are able to open more than a few eyes, but their journey isn't over yet.

Groot's narrative is an easy read. While she admits in her acknowledgements that there may be some creative license taken in the book it doesn't dilute the story any, and in many cases seems to enhance it. However, being that Groot seems to have taken her research seriously, it could just be the by-product of old-fashioned hard work.

I'd recommend this to anyone who is interested in the US Civil War, injustice in general, or just wants to read a real good book.

I received this book through Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for my honest review of the work.