The Minimalist Home: A Room-By-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life by Joshua Becker

If you are new to the idea of decluttering your home, this would be a great book for you.  If you have already read other books or blogs about decluttering, then I'm not sure you'll find a lot new here.  I am in the latter category, so while this book was good and could be a definite help to anyone looking to pare down their belongings, I can't say really say that I would recommend The Minimalist Home over others like it.

Joshua Becker goes room-by-room instructing the reader how to minimize and declutter each space, including the closets and storage areas, even the furniture.  He includes a checklist in each chapter with questions to ask yourself about your belongings, so he is indeed thorough in his approach. There are also testimonies from people who have followed his methods and found freedom in minimalism.

There were two things I didn't like about the book: The first is that I thought he talked down to the reader a bit from his high horse.  He considers minimalism to be the best way to live and thinks everyone else should too.  The second is that I really didn't find it speak from a Christian perspective.  Mr. Becker does occasionally mention Christianity, but puts it on an equal plain with every other religion.  Actually, I wouldn't have known the book was written by a Christian unless I had read the last chapter in which he proclaims himself to be a Jesus follower.

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

Of Fire and Lions: A Novel by Mesu Andrews

I am a big fan of Mesu Andrew's Biblical fiction and very much enjoyed her newest, Of Fire and Lions. Mesu has a gift to make Bible characters come to life and leap off the page, and she certainly hit it out of the park with Daniel!  I loved learning more about Daniel and the time period in which he lived.  The background and history of what was going on in the Middle East politically, socially, economically, historically, was fascinating and really contributed to the story. 

The reader needs to understand that this is fiction.  Yes, it is based on what the Bible tells us about Daniel, but Mesu has also taken liberties to tell a full, rich story of his life.  As anyone who has ever read the Bible knows, we often only get a few details about a characters life (and often yearn for more).  Ms. Andrews gives us just what we are looking for. 

If you are interested in Old Testament history, Daniel in the lion's den, or just enjoy good historical fiction, you'll surely like this book!

I received an Advanced Reading Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is the Day: Reclaim Your Dream. Ignite Your Passion. Live Your Purpose by Tim Tebow

To be totally honest, I have never read anything by Tim Tebow.  I really didn't even know much about him other than that he was a Christian professional football player, so this was my first introduction to Tim and his own life and passion.

After reading This is the Day, I must say I am very impressed by Tim.  He is a young man of great integrity and heart.  He truly walks his talk in his every day life and I think that's high praise for any believer.  Tim loves the Lord and seeks to serve him in everything he does, work and play, professional and personal life.

This is the Day is a challenge to the reader to seek God TODAY.  Not someday, not tomorrow, but this day.  Each chapter of the book is inspiration to take action.  What if you began working on changing some area of your life this day?  What if you begin taking on injustice today?  What if you stop putting off that hard thing right now?  What if you forgive?  What if you make that phone call, send that email, write that letter?  What would happen if decided to start over?  What would happen if you chanced your lifelong dream?  These are the kinds of questions Tim asks. He backs each challenge up with examples from his own life and with Scripture, which I appreciate.  This book would be great for group discussion or personal reading.  It is suited to either adults or teens.


I received this book from Waterbrook & Multnomah through their book launch program.

Walk On by Ben Malcolmson

Walk On: My Unlikely Story of Football, Purpose and Following an Amazing God by Ben Malcolmson was a great read.  It is an inspiring true story of how Ben pursued his dreams and passions, and how God honored that pursuit with even better things than Ben could have imagined.

Ben, a journalism major at the University of Southern California, decided to write a newspaper story about open tryouts for the USC Trojans.  His angle is that he himself would try out to be a walk on player, even though he was thin, scrawny and hadn't played football since fifth grade.  By some miracle, he made the team and actually ended up playing in a game.  He went on to become a personal assistant for the Trojan's head coach, Pete Carroll and eventually followed Coach Carroll to the Seattle Seahawks.

Walk On is a memoir but it could also be used as a devotional.  Each chapter ends with a Scripture verse and a short thought by Ben along with several questions to ask yourself about your own experiences/life/faith walk.  I think it would be especially good for teens or young adults.  You definitely don't need to be a football fan to enjoy this book.

Ben's story is indeed unlikely and amazing.  He has led such an interesting life and had some almost unbelievable experiences.  Walk On is a quick and easy read, enjoyable all around.  The only thing that I didn't like about it is the way he disparages his parents, especially his mother.  I understand that it is difficult to grow up with a mom who is an alcoholic and a dad who travels extensively, but I'm sure his parents did the best they could and he was not abused or mistreated.  I hope that he finds a more gracious perspective someday, perhaps if he becomes a father himself.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

How to be a Perfect Christian: Your Comprehensive Guide to Flawless Spiritual Living by the Babylon Bee

Merriam Webster defines satire as:

1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn

2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly 

How to be a Perfect Christian is satire.   It is intended, to quote the back cover of the book, to "shine a spotlight on modern Christian cultural quirks.  As it pokes fun at all-too-familiar trends and traditions, it calls each of us to a truer understanding of real biblical faith."  

If you have no sense of humor, don't bother to read it.  Please.  You'll only be offended and upset.  You might even post a rant against it on Facebook.  You may be tempted to start a petition against The Babylon Bee and a boycott of Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers. 

However, if you do have a sense of humor and you like to laugh and you're not easily offended, get a copy of this book.  Please.  You'll laugh out loud and surely recognize your own church, or the church you grew up in, or the church down the street.  You might even see yourself in the pages. But, here's the good news:  it's all in good fun.  Here's even better news: the Holy Spirit could perhaps, possibly, maybe even use this book to call out some hypocrisy or legalism in you that you'd be better off without. 

Let me just tempt you with my favorite paragraph from the chapter of How to be a Perfect Christian entitled Serving in Church Without Ever Lifting a Finger: 

Christ left three ordinances for the local church: baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the potluck.  The latter is a sacred tradition, thousands of years old. In fact, Biblical scholars now believe Christ's final Passover supper with His disciples was a potluck, with each of his disciples offering to bring a different hot dish for everyone to enjoy.*

And the best line of all is a footnote to the above:

*According to the latest research, Judas Iscariot brought Jell-O filled with questionable fruit pieces.

If that doesn't make you laugh, I don't think we can be friends!  (kidding!)  (kind of)

I received this book from the publisher through their book launch program.

Daring to Hope: Finding God's Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful by Katie Davis Majors

I read Katie Davis' book Kisses from Katie previously and while I enjoyed it, I felt that it was a bit pretentious.  Katie was very young, and although she had a huge heart and was doing wonderful things in Africa, it seemed to me that she was very anti-American wealth (even though it was largely American wealth that supported her) and that she was rather judgemental of those who live a comfortable life in the United States.  I was slightly hesitant to read this second book for that reason.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that Katie has grown up, physically yes, but mostly in faith and humility. 

Daring to Hope is both heartbreaking and encouraging.  Katie tells of extreme brokenness and tragic circumstances.  Yet through it all, God is faithful to her and her family as they serve the least in Uganda: the sick, the dying, the homeless, the orphan.  Katie finds herself desperate for God, desperate for hope and as she cries out to him, he draws near to her, upholding her through every trial, every heartache, every goodbye.  Gone is any bit of pretense or judgement.  Instead I found Katie to be the very opposite of both.  She is humble and loving, generous and caring.  God has been molding and shaping her to be a true servant to the people of Uganda.  Her story will uplift and strengthen you, it certainly did me.

Isaiah's Daughter: A Novel of Prophets and Kings by Mesu Andrews

I really looked forward to reading Mesu Andrew's new book Isaiah's Daughter when it came out so I was delighted to have the opportunity to review an early release copy.  I love Andrew's novels because they are what I like to call Biblical fiction.  She chooses a character from the Bible and brings him or her to life in a way that I have always yearned to know them.  So often when I read the Bible I think, I sure would love to know the rest of the story.  Ms. Andrews doesn't claim to have any more details than God gives us in Scripture (she is a FICTION writer, remember), but she adds many historical details and brings in other characters as needed to make a well rounded tale.  Her books are always fascinating to read and Isaiah's Daughter was no exception.
The prophet Isaiah is one of the major prophets in the Old Testament. He was the voice of God to God's people, the Israelites, when they were divided into two nations: Israel and Judah. This book takes place during the reign of Judean Kings Ahaz and Hezekiah around 700BC. I Kings 16:30 says that Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. Ahab's son, King Hezekiah, on the other hand, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. (I Kings 2:18:3).  There is much excitement and intrigue in this battle of good and evil and caught up in the midst of it is the Prophet Isaiah. 

The Bible tells us that Isaiah was married to a prophetess and names two sons.  It is not known to us if he had more children or if any of them were daughters. Isaiah's daughter is therefore fiction, a character drawn from Andrew's imagination. But she is a character who leaps to life from the pages of the book and one whom you will be interested in from the first chapter.  Her story is a fascinating and Mesu Andrews weaves it beautifully with the Biblical narrative. It is a wonderful read!

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.