| ||
|
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Remembering Dresden Is Now In Print!
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Understanding and Enjoying THE SENSE OF HUMOR by Max Elliot Anderson
“If you can find humor in a situation, you can survive it.”
Those are the words of an unnamed comedian in the book, THE SENSE OF HUMOR, and the
emphasis on the word “sense” is intentional.
Think of humor as the “sixth sense” that everyone keeps talking about,
but can never quite define. But
understand, as well, that humor needs to be elevated out of the relative
obscurity it enjoys in stand-up comedy clubs and late-night talk shows.
The therapeutic effects of humor have been analyzed, scrutinized,
contemplated, collated, and annotated ad nauseam, but are usually hidden by a forest
of mathematical, medical, psychological and statistical tables so dense that
the subject dies from lack of oxygen.
Max Elliot Anderson has taken all of the data and put it in the
language of the man on the street.
Finally, whoever has an interest in the art and science of humor has a
resource that will help them put a name on the positive effects of humor.
But we are living in the 21st Century, and the average
consumer demands more! So . . . Anderson
delivers.
The book is divided into two roughly equal parts. The first part is “How Humor Does What It
Does.”
The second part of the book allows one to fully experience
everything talked about in the first half, by providing a collection of
humorous jokes, anecdotes, gaffs and giggles that will keep one in stitches –
and out of the hospital – for the better portion of the remainder of one’s
natural life.
THE SENSE OF HUMOR
Max Elliot Anderson
ISBN: 978-1-942513-97-1
Humor / Entertainment
Elk Lake Publishing
$15.95 paperback
Monday, May 2, 2016
The Real Life Horatio Alger - L.K. Wood - As Everyone Should!
"We're gonna see better days."It's what his father always told him. Even after his mother abandoned the family. Even after his father died a few years later from pluerisy. Even after Lowell Kenneth Wood and his little brother ended up living in an orphanage.
"We're gonna see better days." It's what L.K. Wood told his brother, right before he lit out to live a life that turned out to be larger than life itself. Right before he left the orphanage to begin keeping a promise to his dying father, a promise to his younger brother . . . a promise to himself.
But the saying . . . and the doing . . . are sometimes further apart than one can ever anticipate. And while he was too young to express it, burning at the very core of his being was an unforgiving spirit which tinted every position, every conversation, every relationship that he ever entered into.
It wasn't until he met Patty Ogden, who would soon become Wife Number Six for L.K., that the concepts of healing and forgiveness began to make sense to the man who had taught Clark Gable how to knife fight in boot camp, flew B17 bombers over "The Hump" in World War II, served as a spy for the OSS, and helped bring The Arch to St. Louis, while building a multi-million dollar real estate business. He even went on a blind date with Shirley Temple before entering the military.
How do you like them apples?
You will not WANT to put this book down, once you open the covers. Collaborating with Robert J. Scudieri, close friend, pastor, and a legend in his own right, the prose flows like poetry, the poetry flows like music, and the memories flow like a fine wine. And that's not a bad analogy. This is a book that needs to be savored, not merely read. The adventure is breathtaking . . . and the hard lessons learned throughout this odyssey are timeless.
5 stars for a literary work of art
L.K. WOOD AS EVERYONE SHOULD
L.K. Wood with Robert J. Scudieri
ISBN: 978-0-9970642-0-9
Business / Religion / Biography & History
The Spirit of Naples & Southwest Florida
$29.99 hardcover w/ jacket
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
WHERE THERE'S SMOKE . . . THERE'S FIRE! THE AMISH FIREFIGHTER BY LAURA HILTON
Unfortunately, Sam Miller hasn't quite gotten the message. And when his job as a volunteer firefighter brings him into the investigation of several barn fires that are suspicious in nature, the heat gets kicked up a notch. Because the barns aren't the only thing burning.
Abigail thought it was bad enough being dropped off at the nearest bus station, kicked to the curb by her own family and left to live with relatives she'd never even heard of, much less met. Her defensive posture is on high alert, and she is giving everything, and everyone, a second glance.
The problem is, she can't keep her eyes off of Sam. And while she is at the top of everyone's list of possible suspects for the suspicious fires, Sam is drawn to the warmth that seems to be coming from deep inside of Abigail. The warmth of her heart.
The Amish Firefighter is Book One of the New Beginning In Jamesport series by author Laura Hilton. And while I admit to some bias (as her husband), I also believe that I can be fairly objective in calling The Amish Firefigher a real barn-burner! The suspense grabs you from page one, and doesn't let up until the warm-hearted conclusion.
The Amish Firefighter has been positively reviewed in the latest issue of The Library Journal.
Monday, April 11, 2016
The Africa Study Bible Campaign Is Getting Under Way . . . Will You Help?
Major
Christian Organizations Partner to Launch Africa Study Bible Kickstarter
Campaign Planned to Help Raise 1 Million for 100,000 Study Bibles
“The Africa Study Bible is a project that has almost
unprecedented ability to positively influence the body of Christ in Africa,
perhaps more than other single continental-wide project in the history of
Christianity.”
--Dr. Danny McCain,
University of Jos, Nigeria
Wheaton, IL
– Millions of English-speaking Africans know and love Christ, but for many,
God’s word is hard to grasp. With nearly every full evangelical study Bible
written from the viewpoint of the United States and United Kingdom, Africans
have lacked a resource that connects with their unique experience, hindering
discipleship. But that is about to change as major Christian organizations, led
by Oasis International, are joining together to launch the Africa Study Bible
(ASB), a six-year, cross-continental effort that has produced the first study
Bible developed by Africans for Africans.
“With
the ASB, we’re bringing the power of Scripture to Africa in a new and
culturally relevant way,” says Dr. Matthew Elliott, president of Oasis,
publisher of the ASB. “Under the leadership of an 11-member editorial board of
scholars from across Africa, we’ve brought together 350 writers and editors
from over 40 African countries, representing 50 denominations. This is an
unprecedented project that will impact the global church.”
With
the editorial nearly complete, Oasis, with the support of its partners, is
inviting fellow Christians to join with them in helping get the ASB into the
hands of Africans. With a goal of raising one million dollars to print the
first 100,000 copies, Oasis is seeking private donors as well as launching a
Kickstarter campaign, which begins April 18 and runs through June 16.
Contributors to the Kickstarter campaign have the opportunity to receive
incentives ranging from artwork prints to limited Italian leather editions of
the ASB as well as all-expense paid trips to the launch of the ASB in the
United States and in Africa.
“Our
goal is to have the first run of the ASB available in Africa by the end of
2016,” says Elliott. “We already know of more than 100 million people in
denominations and movements in Africa whose leaders want to use the ASB for
discipleship so there is a lot of anticipation throughout the continent.”
Designed
to grow the faith of African church members, teach them to evangelize their
communities, and apply a biblical worldview to their society, the ASB uses the
New Living Translation and includes 2,400 plus features such as application
notes, stories and proverbs, touchpoints that link Africa and the Bible, learn
notes that explain basic theology, and major theme articles that apply the
Bible to key issues. Oasis plans to initially release the ASB in English with
French and Portuguese translations in development. Oasis is also developing a
full-featured app of the study Bible.
To
support the effort, Oasis is partnering with Tyndale House Publishers to create
the study Bible. Other participants include Campus Crusade for Christ,
International, Willow Creek and Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, IFES
(International Fellowship of Evangelical Students), Scripture Union, Africa
Leadership, TransWorld Radio, Moody Broadcasting, Center for Early African
Christianity, PJA (Publications pour la Jeunesse Africane), MMD Global, The
Livingstone Corporation, InSight Books, Urban Ministries Inc., and the
Association of Evangelicals in Africa, with additional participants being added
on a regular basis.
“We
have seen the hand of God in amazing ways throughout the development of this
project,” says Elliott. “In the words of our supervising editor, Dr. John Jusu,
the content of the ASB is bubbling up from the cultures of Africa. The biblical
truth is percolating through our own cultures and stories to create a rich and
textured tapestry that Africans can claim as their own.”
#
# #
_______________________________________________
spokesperson bio
Meet Matthew Elliott
Dr.
Matthew Elliott serves as president of Oasis International and project director
for the Africa Study Bible. Oasis International serves areas of the
English-speaking world where people lack access to affordable Christian
literature and the Bibles needed to mature in their faith. In these countries,
the measure of annual incomes is often in hundreds, not thousands, of dollars.
The great needs of Africa, in particular, drive Oasis to concentrate on this
continent, where the Church is experiencing significant growth yet printed
resources are scarce. Matthew earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and
master’s degree in New Testament at Wheaton College, as well as a Masters of
Theology and a Doctorate of Philosophy in New Testament Studies from University
of Aberdeen (Scotland). He was ordained at College Church in Wheaton, Illinois
under Dr. Kent Hughes. He is the author of Faithful
Feelings: Rethinking Emotion in the New Testament (InterVarsity
UK/Kregel) and Feel (Tyndale
House). Matthew, his wife, Laura, and three children reside in the Chicago
area. For more information on Oasis and the Africa Study Bible, visit
www.oasisint.net or www.africastudybible.com
Contact: Debbie Lykins, 224-234-6699
deb@sidedoorcom.net
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Do You GET Redemption? Matt Bays Certainly Does!
When
the reality of your pain doesn’t line up with what you’ve been taught in
church, then what?
While
there are some things in this book with which I might take issue, that doesn’t
keep me from experiencing awe and wonder that this book was ever written in the
first place.
You
see, many people – most people, if you really think about it – who have
experienced the depths of depravity, depression, and disillusionment that
author Matt Bays shares between the covers of this book . . . they just don’t
make it back.
Sin,
and man’s inhumanity to man, and just walking about in a broken world has not
merely hollowed them out . . . it has gutted them, and left them writhing in
pain and misery. And that becomes their
life.
By
God’s grace . . . by God’s redemption of every aspect of Matt Bay’s life . . .
Matt has not only “survived.” He has
taken the next step. He has chosen to
live, not to merely exist. He has chosen
to risk opening himself up to more pain, if it should happen along. He has chosen to love someone who might wind
up abandoning or abusing him again. He
has chosen to reach out to others, when most would be found curled in the fetal
position.
The
story is not pretty. It’s not a nice and
neat parable, with a homiletical application to finish it off. But it’s a story that needs to be told, and a
story that needs to be heard.
Because
God is still in the redemption business.
And business is good. Business is
booming.
Imagine
a life where gratitude overpowers anger, hope overcomes despair, and hunger for
God replaces indifference to him.
That’s
what redemption looks like.
5
stars for a life-changing glimpse of The God Who Is There
FINDING GOD IN THE RUINS
Matt Bays
ISBN 978-0-7814-1383-1
Religion / Christian Life / General
David C. Cook
256 pages
$16.99 U.S.
Friday, February 19, 2016
Have You Ever Experienced A Movie . . . In A Book? THE FRAGMENT Will Take You There!
Have
you ever wanted to see Europe, experience not only the sights and the sounds
but somehow embrace the passion of a place and a people who have not only
endured war . . . but have truly survived?
Do
you long to remember the days of your youth?
To drink the intoxicating wine of freedom, and eat the savory bread of
adventure as your eyes see things that no one has ever seen before . . . at
least, not in the same way?
THE
FRAGMENT, the second book centered around The True Cross, will take you there.
Muriel
Ross, an amatueur photographer with an extraordinary gift for capturing lives
on film, has been assigned to the staff of U.S. Senator Tom Bryan. Ostensibly, her duties are to document, on
film, antiquities that are surfacing from war-ravaged Europe. As a young woman determined to forge her own
way in the world, and break the mold of the high society lady into which her
mother wishes her to be cast, Muriel finds both exhilirating joy and rigorous
challenges in her responsibilities. Yet
she senses that she is here for more than photographs.
Senator
Tom Bryan is, on the surface, the quintessential politician. Skilled in the subtle sciences of diplomacy
and politics, he is the epitomy of the old adage, “Still waters run deep.”
In
his heart, Tom Bryan, the man, is a passionate follower of his Lord and
Savior. He is also aware of the divisive
– and deadly – forces which religion holds in her velveted fist. Walking the fine line of faith, with
bottomless chasms on either side, Senator Bryan realizes that the only way
across is by keeping his eyes straight ahead, focused not on a mission . . .
but on a man.
There
are some who would say that THE FRAGMENT encourages idolatry by means of
icons. However, I feel that author Davis
Bunn has succeeded in using the icon as a means of introducing the reader to
the reality it represents. And I don’t
know of any other author who could have accomplished it.
5
stars for a book that has more cinematic appeal than most movies!
THE FRAGMENT
Davis Bunn
ISBN 978-1-61636-934-7
Fiction/Christian/Historical
Franciscan Media
167 pages
$14.99 U.S.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)