DOG DAYS a new film releases AUG 8

     They say that a dog is man’s best friend… and for the most part I agree.  The exception is the one that bit me. But growing up I had dogs, and it was always fun to take them with me on long walks in the woods behind our house. Especially when I was feeling lonely or down. Dogs seem to have a 6^th sense about them, they know when you’re sad and just need someone to be there with you. You can talk to them, and it’s almost like they understand. So whether you’re talking about a life event, a problem, a decision that needs to be made, or just brainstorming some new ideas they listen, and with a soulful look, or a wag of the tail, they let you know what they think.  Some of the best advice I ever got was from my dogs.

      In this picture, I’m with Tootsie and Lorenzo- a couple of mutts. According to the people (different people, a couple of days apart) who let me adopt them, they are, coincidentally, both identified as Lab/Bouvier mix.  They were my companions when I was stationed at a now defunct Air Force Base in Michigan back in the mid 80’s.

      Lorenzo was a fairly good dog—if Tootsie wasn’t around—but when she was there, the two got into some mischief. She was the explorer, and he would follow: maybe to keep her from getting into too much trouble? That didn’t always work. She would jump or tunnel under the fence, he would go after her and a day or two later they would return, covered with ice, smelling like a skunk, or with a snout full of porcupine quills.

     

        Ice and quills I could handle, but the skunk smell meant that they were banished to the garage for a couple of days.  The quills meant hours with tweezers, and perhaps a trip to the vet, the ice meant hours ‘resting’ in front of the wood-burning stove, and the skunk…well there’s always tomato juice.

I had a house on a lake, and the dogs enjoyed boating and swimming. I’m a water type, so we got along fine. Although wet dog is not always the most pleasant smell in the world. ☺

       All of that to highlight the fact that a new film about dogs and their humans is scheduled for release  on Aug 8^th.  You can watch the trailer here

SYNOPSIS:  DOG DAYS is a hilarious and heartfelt ensemble comedy that follows the lives of multiple dog owners and their beloved fluffy pals.  When these human and canine’s paths start to intertwine, their lives begin changing in ways they never expected.  This is a sweet film about the joy our furry friends bring into our lives and what they can teach us about treating people with kindness and compassion.  DOG DAYS releases in theaters in August 8.

TELL ME YOUR DOG STORY FOR A CHANCE  TO WIN A TARGET GIFT CARD, SO YOU CAN PAMPER YOUR DOG

Welcoming the Stranger

Several years ago I had the pleasure of attending a conference where Matthew Soerens was one of the speakers. ‘Welcoming the Stranger” a book Matt co-authored with Jenny Yang, was one of the items that I later bought and enjoyed. It should seem pretty obvious that since I was attending a conference where he was one of the speakers, that we have several common interests. Since then we’ve been in contact a couple of times, usually in the context of how I as a Christian, a pastor, and a concerned citizen could be more involved, or more of an advocate for welcoming the stranger. All of that to say that when I saw that Matt and Jenny were working on Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate (Revised and Expanded) (IVP Books, 2018) I reached out to ask if there was much difference. A lot has happened in the years since the book was first published in 2009, so yes, there is a lot of new information.

                This book will not appeal to everyone. Some people don’t want anything to do with immigrants and refugees, and don’t want them in this country.  Others just won’t like the writing style. Too many statistics and not enough funny pictures. But for those who care about the people whom Jesus loves, this is a book well worth reading.              

                Unless your ancestors were in this country 600 years ago, you come from an immigrant family. And yes your ancestors may have immigrated legally—back in the day when arrival at Ellis Island was about as legal as it got. But things change and for a few decades now there have been laws, more laws,  and stricter immigration laws passed. Some were passed out of fear, some probably out of prejudice (which might just be another word for fear) and some out of greed, or under the pretense of national security. And even though we might break some laws ourselves, there are people who insist that certain laws be enforced.  And by the way for those of you who think that anyone wanting to come here legally should just stand in line and wait their turn, there aren’t a whole lot of lines to stand in.

                Soerens and Yang do an excellent job of pointing out some of the immigration myths making the rounds, and a better job of debunking those myths. They address the policies and politics of both sides of the debate; something I am very happy with, because so much of what we hear from the media is emotional rhetoric, with participants on both sides shouting so loudly that they can’t hear what the other side is saying—even if they were disposed to listen.

                Immigration impacts so many facets of our society that it’s easy to see why people get so emotional. This book can certainly help anyone interested in toning down the rhetoric and making informed decisions. Did you know that a large number of people who are undocumented today are 1) not Hispanic or Mexican, and 2) actually came here legally but stayed after their student, tourist, or work visa expired.  Does that possibly make a difference in how you see the situation?

                Speaking as an evangelical, and as a pastor, I was extremely pleased to see a couple of chapters where the main points concerned immigration and the church, and also information geared towards helping people make not only an informed response, but also the scriptural background so that we can offer a Christian Response to the issue that seems to be one of the most highly debated of the decade.

                I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to skip the rhetoric and make informed decisions based on facts rather than scare tactics.  And besides, as Leith Anderson, President of the National Association of Evangelicals, writes in the Foreword:

“A New York Rabbi taught me a lesson I had never before heard. He said that there is no Old Testament commandment to love your parents, husband, wife, or children. There are only three commands: to love the Lord your God, love your neighbor, and love the alien in the land. Deuteronomy 10:19 gives this third commandment to love and explains why: you were once aliens yourselves.”

                If I thought some of the people in Washington DC would take the time to read the book, I’d buy a case and send them to our national leaders.

                Kudos to the authors for the effort they’ve put into consolidating information that every American should have access to before formulating their opinion on the subject of immigration.

               

                Definitely a 5/5

The ComeBack Effect

I pastored a small church for several years. Visitor after visitor would show up at the church, and at the end of the service would tell someone how much they had enjoyed the service, and that they would definitely be back the following week. People would come to me and excitedly share that news. But week after week we didn’t see those visitors again. We struggled with finding the secret to making first time guests returning guests.

            Jason Young and Jonathan Malm lay out a pretty good plan for getting people to return that’s based on hospitality. They suggest there are about ten things that the church needs to have in place for this to work.   A lot of it is common sense, most churches have probably done some or all of these things at one time in their life cycle. But then people get complacent.  “We’re a friendly church.” And the people in the church are friendly—with their friends. That just isn’t enough to make people want to return.

            So the need exists for a book like The Come Back Effect: How Hospitality Can Compel Your Churches Guests to Return (Baker Books, 2018). Church people need to be reminded that a first time guest doesn’t already know everyone there, doesn’t understand the unwritten rules, and certainly doesn’t know where to find the things that he or she needs to make walking into a strange place a pleasant experience. Since the guest doesn’t know, the regulars are tasked with help a new comer see the church as a familiar and welcoming place, rather than a strange place, and a frightening experience.                       

            There are ten relatively short chapters in this book, each focusing on a different thing that makes the guest truly feel welcome, a person, not just a potential member. Each chapter ends with a section called “Key Points and Takeaways” for example, in Chapter One ‘Focus on Feeling as Much as Function’, one of the giveaways is this simple: “Serving is task oriented; hospitality is feeling oriented. Simply performing tasks is not enough to compel a guest to come back”. Or this: ‘Decide proactively what you want your guests to feel, then look for ways to create environments that will help them experience that’.

            One of the things that I liked about this book is that as I was reading, I kept thinking “I knew that!”  So many of the things the authors point out are pretty elementary things: things that most churches are doing or have done in some degree. Granted the examples given involve large churches with staff, a campus, and plenty of volunteers, some of the things are definitely doable even in a very small church, if the regulars can be convinced to step out of their comfort zones.

            I was reminded of the letter to Ephesus in the Revelation (Rev 2:1-7) where Jesus’ main complaint was that the church had forgotten her first love, and Jesus suggested that maybe they should go back to doing some of the things that they were doing when they first started and were excited about the gospel.

            Although this book is written for churches, it certainly seems like businesses could apply the same principles in their quest for repeat customers.

           

This book is scheduled to be released on July 31, 2018 I received a copy of this book from the publisher for being part of a launch team program. I was not required to write a positive review, and the opinions expressed are my own.

            5/5

towards a healthy tomorrow: LIVING FIT

Paul wrote to the Corinthians that the members of the church are like parts of the body—read chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians—it’s easy for me to think about my body that way, feet, hands, stomach, head. But when it gets to the intangibles it’s a little more difficult. With that in mind, I saw the title and read the back cover for Living Fit: Making Your Life Count by Pursuing a Healthy You by Ronnie W. Floyd (B&H, 2018) I knew I wanted to read this book.

Floyd reminds us that just as the parts of the body are meant to work together, so are those things that many of us tend to compartmentalize. You know those people who think being a Christian is something they do on Sunday morning. But their finances, health, relationships, jobs and all the other things on that list are things that they’re in charge of.

But in this fun book Dr Floyd shows us how being healthy is more than just having your blood pressure and cholesterol under control. He walks us through a series of things that lead us out of compartmentalization and into a life of unified congruency. As we read on the back cover, “Ronnie Floyd will help you pursue a healthy tomorrow…spiritually, physically, relationally, financially, and emotionally.”

We all want to be healthy, and I find this book to be a great place to start the journey to a new and healthy you. Of course, you have to do more than just read it—you also have to apply the principles.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.

5/5

New show this fall: God Friended Me

GOD FRIENDED ME is created by Bryant Wynbrandt and Steven Lilien, the producing team behind some of tv’s biggest hits including, GOTHAM, HAWAII FIVE-O, and ALCATRAZ.  It stars Joe Morton (Justice League, The Good Wife), Violet Beane (The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow), Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi, Homeland) and newcomer Brandon Micheal Hall.  The series premieres on Sunday, September 30 on CBS Television
And watch the 'First Look HERE

hope vs cynicism thoughts on "Mere Hope"

Hope is often what keeps us going. Hope in a brighter future, hope in the hereafter, hope in something. And for Christians hope is a powerful reminder that what we go through in this life, will someday be forgotten as we pass onto eternity with God. Unfortunately our hope is often tempered by our cynical attitudes, and the cynicism of the world around us.

            In his book Mere Hope: Life in an Age of Cynicism (B&H Books, 2018), Jason G. Duesing addresses these 2 issues. He draws from the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, and even mention Harry Potter to make his points, or from my perspective, try to make his points. 

            This is a short book, and I wish I could say that after reading it I felt inspired, or that I was better off for having read it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I finished the book without having a good a good idea of what the author was trying to say. For me something was missing, I never saw the spark.

            Although the basic concept—Christians have hope in a world full of darkness and despair—is worth pursuing, it seems that the author’s aim was off and he missed his target.

            I received a copy of this book from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.

            3/5

thoughts on "When God's Ways Make No Sense"

Funny thing here, is that I don’t remember requesting a review copy of this book. I remember seeing it on the list, and thinking that I wasn’t interested. After all anybody who has been around for a while already knows that God's ways rarely make sense, at least to we mere mortals. So I was surprised when it showed up on my doorstep.

                Just another example of “When God's Ways Make No Sense” This book by Dr Larry Crabb (Baker Books, 2018) though, does make sense. Crabb uses three Biblical figures: Jonah, Sual of Tarsus (better known today as the Apostle Paul) and Habakkuk to show how there are three basic default positions when God and we don’t agree on what makes sense in our crazy mixed up world.

                We can ‘resist and run’, like Jonah did. We can ‘distort and deny’ as Saul the Pharisee did, or we can tremble before God and learn to trust Him as did the prophet Habakkuk. Three distinct choices, three distinct outcomes.  Of course there’s more involved, but that is the starting place. Jonah thought he knew better than God: the people of Nineveh were horrible people, they deserved to be destroyed but God was offering them a chance for salvation.  Saul was going to make things better, but in the end it’s Habakkuk who teaches that there is nothing better than that which God has in mind for us.

                It’s just that God's will doesn’t always make sense. And our reactions are to get angry, to blame, to ignore, or with fear, awe and trembling, learn to trust.

                When God's ways make no sense, strange things happen. And we’re the better for it.

                I received a copy of this book as a member of the Baker Books bloggers program.  I was not required to write a positive review.

                 4/5

thoughts on "Preaching by the Book"

Regardless of what you might have heard, there’s a lot more to preaching than waking up on Sunday morning, flipping open your Bible, and then talking non-stop about whatever passage you might have landed on for the next 15-75 minutes. Although I’ve been preaching for the last 10+ years, I know that there’s always room for improvement, so I was excited when I first heard about Preaching by the Book: Developing and Delivering Text-Driven Sermons by R. Scott Pace (B&H Academic, 2018)

            The Table of Contents, including sections on the foundation, framework and finishing touches sounded like just what I was looking for, so I was anxious to dive into the text. Although there are a lot of good points, I found this book to more theoretical than practical. I would have preferred a few more examples, and even though it’s published by an  Academic publishing house, I think the style is too academic for what should be a primary audience: those pastors, deacons, and members of a pulpit committee who may not have had the seminary experience, and are struggling to find a resource that will help them prepare and preach a sermon based on scripture, rather than their own opinions and a world which is increasingly antagonistic to the Gospel.

            As a member of the B&H/Lifeway blogging program, I received a copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review.

3/5

12 faithful men: some pretty incredible stories about the joy of suffering for Jesus Sake

It’s easy to think that persecution of Christians and suffering by Christians don’t happen much anymore, at least in the West, and that’s certainly true compared to some parts of the world. In fact a real ‘first world problem’ is that many of us think that persecution stopped centuries ago when they stopped throwing Christians to the lions. The only problem is that persecution still exists, and Christians suffer as much as non-believers. And frequently pastors suffer as much, or more, than anyone else. But as James reminds us, we should “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds”. (James 1:2, NIV)

And that’s what we see in the profiles of men who suffered for their faith, or despite their faith and service to the Lord. 12 Faithful Men” Portraits of Courageous Endurance in Pastoral Ministry (Collin Hansen and Jeff Robinson, EDS,. Baker Books, 2018) profiles a dozen well known Christian Pastors, mostly from the recent past centuries, (the Apostle Paul and John Calvin go back a little farther) who learned the joy of sharing in the suffering of Christ. Each profile is a few pages which can be read in just a few minutes. Read about John Bunyon and Johnathan Edwards; John Chavis and C.H. Spurgeon, and finish up with Ugandan Janani Luwum and Chinese Wang Ming-Dao.

Fascinating stories of fascinating men who helped shape the Church as it should be known today.

I received a copy of this book as a participant in Baker Books’ blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review, rather offer my honest opinion.

4/5

thoughts on Dr Timothy R. Jennings' "The Aging Brain"

I’ve seen firsthand the effects of dementia—on the one who has it, and those who love that person. And, as is often the case, a person seems to be at increased risk if a parent is affected by the disease. That would be my case, so when I saw an opportunity to learn more about the disease, and more importantly to learn about some ways to slow down the onset, or even prevent it, I jumped at the chance.

                Dr. Timothy R. Jennings has obviously done his research, and that research has resulted in his latest book, The Aging Brain: Proven Steps to Prevent Dementia and Sharpen Your Mind (Baker Books, 2018). There is an encyclopedia worth of knowledge packed into less than 250 pages.

                Jennings sorts the information into 4 distinct sections—different aspects of aging.  These four sections include some background information about aging, stress and aging, life style and aging, and then information about the pathology of aging. This final section provides information about Alzheimer’s disease, vitamins and supplements that are (or aren’t) helpful in preventing dementia, how to identify risk factors and reduce the risk, and even a section that caregivers will find helpful.

                A lot of the material presented is overly scientific for my taste, but at least most of it was presented in a way that was at least semi-understandable for my non-scientific brain. Much of it is common sense: smoking, alcohol, and drugs are bad for you, or an appropriate amount of exercise is good for you. But where this book is different from others, is that we also learn how each of those items factors in to how well or poorly we age. Smoking does more than cause pulmonary disease or cancer. Smoking impacts the brain in ways that can lead to an increased risk for dementia. Jennings also addresses the need for sleep, the benefits of water, how too much exercises negates the effects of an appropriate level of exercise, and my favorite: caffeinated coffee is actually good for you- it slows down some of the factors which in turn lead to deterioration of brain function.

                There were a couple of questions that I had after reading the book. Dr. Jennings points out the rate of incidence for dementia worldwide, and then suggests that in the US, the rate is much higher. I wish there had been more information about why that difference was so great. In several parts of the book he talks about the benefits of regular exercise, but in another spot he suggests that too much exercise can be a factor in causing dementia. Again I would have liked a little more explanation, or at least been offered a way to determine what is “too much”.

                Although there is a lot of good information in this book, it’s not always presented in a way that my non-scientific and non-medical brain can easily process, so I’m rating the book 4.5/5

                In the interest of full disclosure, I received a copy of the book from the publisher for being part of the launch team.