Book Review: Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade

It is hard for many of us to imagine, but there is a slave trade that is alive and thriving all over the world. In almost every major country, human trafficking is occurring. The poor and vulnerable, widows and orphans, and at times entire families are being lured and trapped into a life of servitude and slavery. 

David Batstone, in his book Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade, chronicles the rise and return of the global slave trade as well as the hot beds for slavery around the world. The book is full of statistics, thoroughly researched, and includes real life accounts by former victims of their time in slavery as well as how they escaped in places such as Thailand, Uganda, Europe, and the USA.   

The victims stories are chilling and tragic, but Batstone also profiles the every day people and heros who have dedicated their lives to rescuing slaves. Not For Sale is an excellent resource for readers to learn about modern human trafficking and how they can help stop it. 

Dare To Discipline

Dare to Discipline, the famous parenting book by James Dobson, is a book I have avoided reading for the past few years. Many other parent friends even highly recommended it and yet I still did not want to read it. Because it was written by a such a well-known conservative christian leader, I imagined it would be extremely conservative in message with a strong emphasis on strict disciple and corporal punishment and I simply did not want to read another christian parenting book like that.

But then Dare to Discipline was recommended to me again recently by a dear friend who I trust about parenting issues. Since I owned a copy of the book already, I figured I should at least skim it. After reading the first two chapters, I was hooked. Turns out, Dare to Discipline is one of the best parenting books I have read so far.

Dare to Discipline is full of common sense advice and emphasizes discipline with grace instead of punishment. Filled with real life stories, Dr. Dobson explains his parenting philosophy formulated from years of working in the medical field with families and children. Each chapter addresses a specific parenting issue and contains a question and answer section to help readers better understand what they are learning. As a result, parents can easily adopt Dr. Dobson's methods and create a plan for their own home. 

With over 3.5 million copies sold, Dare to Discipline is an excellent resource that teaches practical parenting tips and helps families to create solid foundations in their relationships, so they can face the future with joy and anticipation instead of fear or dread. 

 

Book Review: The Gentle Spirit Devotional

I was browsing in a christian bookstore one day and found a book entitled A Gentle Spirit. A 365 day devotional book, I was surprised to see it only cost $4.99. I scanned the description on the back and recognized some of the names of the contributing writers. Why not buy it, I thought? It only cost five dollars. If I didn't like it, I would not be out much money.

Turns out that was one of the best five dollars I have ever spent. A Gentle Spirit is a lovely book that seeks to help christian women grow deeper in their faith in Christ. It also shows them, in an encouraging and simple way, how to imitate Christ and understand how living connected to him can impact all the areas of their lives for good.

A Gentle Spirit is an excellent devotional book, with contributions from Ruth Bell, Patsy Clairmont, Sheila Walsh, Joni Erickson Tada, Elisabeth Elliot, Corrie Ten Boom, and many other well known christian women. I have read it for several years, and even now it still continues to challenge and change me. If you are looking for a great devotional book, A Gentle Spirit will not disappoint. 

Book Review: Gabriel Allon spy series by Daniel Silva

For those of you out there who are big readers, and even if you are not, I have discovered an awesome series of books that I absolutely cannot put down. They are the Gabriel Allon spy novels by Daniel Silva. 

I happened to pick one up that was lying around a beach house I was staying at recently. Since then, I have been reading them non-stop. Last week, I loaned the first two to my father-in-law. He read and returned them to me within four days. He now has my copies of the next five books in the series. 

To say the least, Daniel Silva is an excellent writer. His stories are compelling, but not overly complicated or too simplistic. And his plot lines are unique, because they are based on actual past historical events and how those events now affect the decisions of his characters. The characters in the novels are very provocative as well, with Israeli spy Gabriel Allon being the star. 

If you are looking for a new novel that has a great story, with the added benefit that you will actually learn some history as you read, then Daniel Silva's books are for you. I recommend starting with The Kill Artist. Once you being reading it, you won't stop until you have read all nine books in the series. They are just that good.   

Book Review: Safe People

Have you ever been wounded by someone that you trusted or thought was your friend? Have you ever been in a relationship or friendship where you gave your best and only received the worst in return? If so, the book Safe People is for you. Written by Henry Could and John Townsend, the authors of the book Boundaries, Safe People is an excellent resource for people seeking advice about developing and maintaining healthy relationships. 

Safe People begins by explaining the 20 traits of unsafe people. It also helps its readers...

Read More Here.

Book Review: In God's Presence by J.I. Packer

I have been reading In God's Presence by J.I. Packer this year. Packer is most well known for his timeless work Knowing God. He has authored countless books, and was named by Time magazine one of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America. Packer is an excellent writer, but I think he is so influential because he has the unique ability to simplify complex theological issues so they are understandable to the average lay person. 

 

His devotional book, In God's Presence, accomplishes exactly this. Packer tackles what it means, over 365 days, to be a member of the family of God. The daily readings are full of Packer's brilliant insights and formatted so that readers are able to better comprehend a piece of biblical or theological truth, before moving onto the next day's reading. Each daily devotional includes a prayer as well as meditation questions to spur the reader on to deeper thinking about the topic of the day.

 

As Packer himself has said, "As a writer, part of my job is to case the world of scholarship, like a woman bargain-hunting, to find what would be worthwhile for the thoughtful layman to know." In God's Presence is well written and full of logical and practical biblical truths to help followers of Christ grow in their walk with God. 

Scared: A Novel At The Edge Of The World

Scared, the new novel by Tom Davis, follows the merging life paths of two people separated by age, skin color, and continents who are unexpectedly brought together by God's hand.

Stuart Daniels, an award winning New York Times photographer, is haunted by his most famous photo taken during a rebel attack on a village in the Congo. The violent image disturbes him so deeply.... Continue reading here.

The Five Silent Years of Corrie Ten Boom

The quotes from Friday and Monday made me think of a good book I read a long time ago, The Five Silent Years Of Corrie Ten Boom. I am a little surprised that it is still in print, because it is a fairly old book. 

It chronicles the end of Corrie's life when she had been disabled by a stroke and yet how she still had a powerful ministry even though she was limited physically and was unable to communicate verbally. If you are ever feeling discouraged or down about your circumstances and not sure where God is leading you, just know that God knows you inside and out and knows what is best for you. It may not make sense, but He is still there, leading you and loving you, working behind the scenes in ways you cannot even imagine. He has a plan for each of our lives, and "though He slay me, I will trust in Him."

*If you have never read The Hiding Place which is Corrie Ten Boom's autobiography about her family hiding Jews in their home from the Nazis and then her imprisonment in several concentration camps, you are missing out. It is an awesome book.

In God's Underground

I just finished reading In God's Underground, by Richard Wurmbrand. My friend Mary Wills recommended it to me, and it was a good read. The book is about a pastor in Romania around the 1940's-1960's who is imprisoned under the new Communist regime for not pledging allegiance to the state and for preaching about Christ. He was imprisoned for 15 of the 20 years the book covers. 

Mr. Wurmbrand suffered a great deal of torture, and describes what a mess the Communist system is. But he persevered and used his time in prison to witness to other inmates, particularly the communists who were atheists. There is a good bit of practical advice, common sense, and helpful apologetics in the book, and it is a great story. I recommend reading it.

Respectable Sins

I know I have had a lot of book recommendations lately, but I have one more. It is Respectable Sins: Confronting The Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges.

I was not sure what to expect when I opened this book because it could have been rather accusatory and condemning, but turns out that it was not. The author was very vulnerable about his own struggles with "respectable sins." I enjoyed reading it, and the book gave me a lot to think and pray about it.

My life in Christ seems so often to be about my "blind spots." Blind spots to me are different than just plain sin. There are those things in our lives that we are know are sinful, and then there are our blind spots, which still involves our sin but those that we are oblivious to. Maybe an attitude or a quirk or an old/bad habit or something we declare to be part of our "personality" and therefore unchangeable in a take me or leave kind of way. The stuff we justify and the stuff we don't even see about ourselves. Our blind spots. 

The funny thing is the people around us know what our blind spots are because they are the ones that have to deal with our not so great behavior that results from them. And yet, we still don't see them most of the time.

Whatever our blind spots are, and believe me I know I have plenty, they seem to be a part of that interior battle between the self in us versus Christ in us. In our self, we become so used to acting or thinking or feeling a certain way that we grow blind to the negative impact those actions, thoughts, and emotions have on our lives and our relationships. 

We wonder why things aren't working or going right in some aspect of our lives, a friendship, a relationship, our job, our home, and yet the last thing we ask is how we may have contributed to the problem or if we are the problem. Because really, who wants to ask "Am I the problem?" and actually be told that they are. That is a hard pill to swallow.

Whether or not we have the courage to ask others what they view as our blind spots, our best bet is to pray. I have to frequently and consistently ask God to show me my blind spots: the things I do not see about myself and how I may come across to other people. 

Thankfully when we ask, the Lord is often gentle as He reveals to us the things we cannot see. He changes us and mold us so that in our lives there is more of Christ and less of our self. It is the kind of change we can believe in.

Guard Us/ Guide Us: Divine Leading Through Life's Decisions

I have to say that I loved this book, so much so that I have given it to several people. But be warned, it requires all your brain power to read it. There is not one wasted word in the entire text. There is so much packed into each sentence that is theological in nature but from a pracitcal point of you. I learned so much from this book.

I gave it to my old boss at Young Life (aka Randy "Randolpho") and a couple of days later I saw him and he said "Taytay, I have to read each paragraph about three times to understand what it is saying. You must be a genius!" And to that I said, "I have to read each paragraph about three times to get it too!" Me, a genius. As if!

But don't let the meatiness of the book deter you from reading it. Guard Us/Guide Us is an amazing work and will change your life!

From Ashes To Africa

In the last couple of weeks I read a book that was just released, From Ashes To Africa. It is the story by a couple about their journey from infertility to international adoption. It is very sweet and I leaned a lot about the adoption process. If you are interested in adoption, it is a great resource and a great story. Definitely worth reading...

Bono

I have just finished reading two very interesting books about Bono. The first is Walk On: The Spiritual Journey Of U2, which is written by and Irish pastor from their hometown of Dublin. The books is full of a good deal of interesting insights about their spiritual lives and how their faith has influenced their music. The other book is On The Move, which is the text of a speech Bono made at the National Prayer Breakfast recently. It is an excellent speech, so I would highly recommend reading that book. It is a fast read, but very moving. 

Tom Davis

I posted this on my other blog, but I wanted to post it here too. I just finished reading two books by the author Tom Davis. The first is Fields Of The Fatherless: Discover The Joy Of Compassionate Living and the other is Red Letters: Living A Faith That Bleeds. Both were really good but Red Letters is better. The theme is about living a "red letter life," as in we are in dire need of rediscovering and following Jesus words that are printed in red in some versions of the New Testament. It is very thought provoking and gave me a lot to think and mull over this week. If you are looking for some fresh reading material, I highly recommend those two books. Tom also has a cool blog Notes From The Field. Click here for links to purchase the books. They are definitely worth reading.