Micah 6:8 Exploded

If someone asks me my favorite Bible verse, Micah 6:8 is a very close contender for favorite. This verse, while very simple and to the point, is also very complex. You can spend a great deal of time exploring what it means to "act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." Rusty George does that just that in his newest book Justice. Mercy. Humility. A Simple Path to Following Jesus.

Rusty George uses Micah 6:8 as a springboard for several important theological concepts in this book. He explains the Trinity and who the God with whom we are to walk humbly is while also providing a great birds-eye view of the Bible. After laying this foundation, George goes on to thoroughly explain what justice, mercy, and humility are and how these qualities should be lived out in the life of a Christian. He does a superb job of connecting the exposition of this text, theology, and practical application. Numerous illustrations demonstrate the concepts. A variety of scripture passages from the Old and New Testament as well as the original Greek and Hebrew words are used to really dive into the text. While writing for a general audience, George definitely did the academic groundwork for the book. While the content and examples given are appropriate for believers who have been following Christ for a long-time, the book would be a great resource of new believers.

Each chapter has a section of suggested things to do which help readers apply the concepts as well as a list of discussion questions. Having both items allows this book to be used in numerous settings. Justice. Mercy. Humility. would be an excellent resource for a small group study or Sunday School class. Groups could choose to read each chapter individually , practice the concepts, and then come back to discuss or could read and discuss the chapter together and put the concepts in practice together as a group. This book could also form the basis of an all church study with sermons related to the topics. Beyond these group settings, this resources is great for personal reading and study as well.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book Love. Justice. Humility from Bethany House via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Note: I selected this book due to the title, as justice is a passion of mine, and because Micah 6:8 is such an important verse. I was not familiar with Rusty George as an author beyond the information that he pastors a large church in California. I hadn't read very far into the book before the author mentioned the name of another minister with whom I was familiar and had heard speak before. This sent me on a mission to learn about Rusty George. I was delighted to find that he is a graduate of both a Bible College and a Seminary that are "sister schools" to the institution where I work as a librarian. While I would have enjoyed the book regardless, the connection of knowing some of the same people increased my enjoyment of the book.

A WWI Story Within a Story

When I first read the description of Julie Berry's new novel Lovely War, I immediately picked it up to read.

Berry weaves a wonderful World War I story which is told inside of a story set in World War II. The World War I story of an English soldier and his girl and a Belgian girl and an African American soldier keeps the reader interested. Berry pulls in the story of young first love and the horror of war both from the viewpoint of soldiers and their loved ones. Berry also explores the racism experienced by African American soldiers-particularly at the hands of southern soldiers and the work women were forced to take on during the war. Her research is impeccable as demonstrated by a thorough afterword in which Berry tells what parts of her story are based on truth and provides a length bibliography for further reading. Readers will be tempted to pull up early ragtime and jazz tunes as they are mentioned frequently.

The World War II portion occurs in December of 1942. The characters are Greek gods such as Aphrodite, Ares, Apollo, and others who are engaged in a trial. The World War I story is narrated primarily by Aphrodite during the course of the trial. This story within a story provides the opportunity for the various Greek gods to provide insight into the story of how they caused this event to happen and welcome characters to Hades.

While the story within a story construct provides the opportunity to bring in some interesting information about the Greek gods and goddesses, I felt this extra information weighed the story down. The explanation at the beginning of the story about the gods made the beginning chapters difficult to get through. When I came to the sections where the gods interacted during the trial scenes or added commentary to the story, I just wanted to get back to what was happening with our main characters.

Lovely War is a young adult novel geared towards readers 12 and up. While this book has no inappropriate physical interaction, it is a war story and war is horrific. As such I would recommend this book to older YA readers, 14 and up. Many adults who enjoy a good war romance will also enjoy this story so do not let the YA label keep you from enjoying it as well.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book Lovely War from Penguin Group via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

The Common Rule

Many readers who have encountered Earley's website https://www.thecommonrule.org/ may wonder why they need to read the book The Common Rule when the information is available online for free. There are several reasons this book by Justin Whitmel Earley is an important investment. I personally found that the website provides just the basic what of Earley's habits. However, his book does a marvelous job of fleshing out the why behind the daily and weekly habits as well as how to incorporate the habits into your life. The chapter on each habit provides some background information on why the habit is important both from a research standpoint and via stories from Earley's own experiences.. Earley does not sugar coat his experiences but honestly shares how these habits became a core part of his life and what his life was like before he developed this rule of life. Earley then provides suggestions on making the habit a part of your life including examples on various ways the habit could be implemented. Several books are also listed for further reading. Earley also provides several suggestions to help various individuals such as parents, full time workers, and creative implement the rule and suggestions for how small groups may utilize the rule together.

In summary, The Common Rule is an interesting mix of part Christian spiritual disciplines/self-help and part spiritual memoir. Individuals or small groups who desire to add structure to their lives will find this a helpful book to do so.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book The Common Rule from IVP via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Adolesence Shouldn't be a Pressure Cooker

Having previously read Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood by Dr. Lisa D'Amour, when I had the opportunity to read her newest book Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls I knew I needed to do so.

Anyone who has teen girls or is around teen girls on a regular basis will immediately connect with this title. Keep in mind we are not saying that teen boys aren't under pressure but that it is intensified with teen girls. Parents and mentors want to find the right thing to say that will encourage girls and help them as well as teach them how to handle things on their own but too often feel that you are stepping on a land mine. Dr. D'Amour takes parents and other adults under her wing and gently shares what we can say and do that will help teen girls learn to handle situations in a mature, adult way. I really enjoy how D'Amour emphasizes teaching and coaching girls through the thought process and having them take the lead on what to do.

D'Amour brings to the book years of experience in clinical psychology and her role at Laurel School for girls and private psychotherapy. Her experience shines through as she brings numerous examples of specific situations that have come up in her practice. D'Amour does write from a secular perspective and not all readers will agree with everything she writes. However, even when I did not agree with her perspective (ie premarital sex), her discussion of the topic raised issues I had not considered when broaching this topic.

Under Pressure is highly recommended for numerous audiences. Parents need to have a copy handy to reference often. Teachers, youth ministers, and anyone else who works with pre-teens on up will also find this resource very useful. Counselors and therapists who work with teens and parents will also desire to have a copy to loan out to parents. This book and D'Amour's previous title Untangled, also belong in every public library.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book Under Pressure from Ballantine via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

January Re-Cap

Like many people, I started 2019 with grandiose ideas about things I planned to do and accomplish. So, now that January is a memory and February is upon us, it is time to see how those plans went.

Planner/Organization: This year I've selected two print your own planners to use. I'm using the Print and Go planner for personal/home use and the Momentum Planner for work. The Print and Go Planner has am emphasis on meal planning so I've been doing a really good job on planning dinners. I've also been doing a better job of planning my lunches which I usually take to work. My kids eat at school and my husband plans his own lunches so they are on their own. I hope to work into planning breakfast as well. The planning pages also have a spot for "To Do This Week" which I've re-imagined as "What am I going to wear." I have found it very helpful to plan my outfits according to my calendar and the weather. I've found myself wearing a wider variety of outfits instead of grabbing the same things all of the time.

Physical Health: Like many people, I want to improve my health. So far in January, I've been eating better because I'm planning my meals. The biggest change I've made has been in my what I'm drinking. I worked really hard in January to drink water instead of my typical diet coke or coke zero. While I didn't go completely soda free, I can count on one hand the number of times I had any soda during the month of January which I a huge victory for me. I'm hoping to keep it up and truly drink soda only for special occasions. My downfall during this month has been my exercise. I started out well but then dropped off after having a sick day. I'm hoping February will get me back on track.

Spiritual Life: I've been tackling several different options for my spiritual life this year. When the year began I decided I wanted to be more intentional about my Bible reading. So I planned to read through the Bible using The Books of the Bible which is the Bible without chapter and verse numbers. It's designed to simply read like a book. However, my church then announced a plan to read through the New Testament using a chapter a day format with weekends off. I decided to use the New Testament plan for daily reading as I am reading with a larger group of people. I'm also reading with my family and we have a text group where we give a brief "what did we learn" or "what stuck out" synopsis of each day's reading. I'm still using The Books of the Bible to sit down and read larger chunks of scripture and plan to read it entirely during this year but at a slower pace.

I'm also using two devotional books. One is a weekly devotional geared around the lectionary/church year titled Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Reading Lectionary Cycle C from InterVarsity Press. My church doesn't follow the lectionary but I am finding this resource very useful as it lists the readings for each week and has excerpts from various church fathers. Sometimes I read this on Sunday afternoon or another day early in the week. For daily devotions, I'm reading A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Upper Room Books. This resource is also centered around the lectionary but has daily scripture readings listed for all three lectionary years as well as excerpts from a variety of books. I will admit while I try for daily Monday through Saturday, sometimes I double-up when I have missed a day. Fortunately, with several different plans, I am in God's word at some point each day. These resources and several others also provide a variety of prayer prompts each day.

Beyond these three items, there are a variety of items on my "hope to do" list such as various things to read and subjects to learn about, potential writing projects, and a variety of other things. I also continually try to get our home in order but that's a post for another day. For now, my February plans are to reboot my exercise plan, continue to plan my meals and clothes, and to be in the Word consistently.

How was your January and what are you goals for February? I'd love to hear how your 2019 is going!

Mason Jars: More than just salads!

Quite some time ago I was introduced to salads in a jar or mason jar salads. I thought the idea was interested, saved some recipes, and didn't do much with it. Then a little over a year ago, I participated in a meal planning challenge and actually made some salads in a jar as well as overnight oats in a jar and some others items. While I enjoyed these items and had a few cookbooks on my kindle about mason jar salads, I was having difficulty being consistent about making them AND only had about two recipes I was using. Both recipes were very good but there were only two. So, instead of salads, my packed lunch usually involved leftovers from the night before, a frozen meal, or noodles in a cup.

One day I spotted some interesting looking recipes that I saved to Pinterest. I noted the recipes were excerpted from the book 150 Beset Meals in a Jar: Salads, Soups, Rice Bowls, and More. My interest was piqued and like any self-respecting librarian, I headed to the library catalog to find a copy to borrow so I could "look before buying." I found my local public library had a copy so I quickly checked it out. I was delighted to find the book chock full of a variety of recipes that sounded intriguing and tasty. I immediately noted several that I wanted to try.

As I studied the book to determine if I needed my own copy, on first impression I found that there was a wide variety of recipes that featured many different ingredients. I also enjoyed that while there were definitely salads, there were numerous other items included such as a lentil soup. At first, I was slightly disappointed that most of the recipes are for a single serving. My immediate reaction "Why would I want to make multiple different recipes where you need different ingredients?" and "I'll need to double the recipes to make this worth my while." Doubling or tripling recipes would be very easy in most instances and definitely would be one method of helping with the shopping list. However, as I studied the recipes more thoroughly, I found that the single serving sizes were useful as they would provide a variety to my lunches rather than the same salad multiple days in a row. I also found that I could locate 2-3 recipes that used similar ingredients and then use the one type of green for the bulk of my shopping list. For example, this week I picked three different salads that used arugula. One of the salads also called for pasta and I happened to have leftover pasta on hand. Having similar ingredients made shopping a breeze yet provided variety in my lunch and even my breakfast options.

If you find you need to pack a lunch or that you want to begin packing a lunch for financial or health reasons, I highly recommend 150 Best Meals in a Jar. The variety of options which include both cold and hot meals allows you to take control over the ingredients in your lunch but reduced dependence on the cafeteria or vending machine and doesn't require eating last night's leftovers.

Irish split-time story

Castle on the Rise by Kristy Cambron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having previous read Lost Castle, I knew that Castle on the Rise was going to be an enjoyable book. Once again Cambron combines stories from three different time periods, but this time the stories are set in Ireland. Two of the three are historical stories which focus on the conflict between the Irish and English and to some extent Protestants and Catholics. Cambron does an excellent job of presenting the historical details, dialect, and other details to ensure each setting is portrayed accurately. The three stories are also connected beyond the castle locale, but the exact connections do not become apparent until near the end of the book. Even then, the connections are not explicitly explained and I found myself wishing I had a family tree to consult or a afterword which explained the connections more specifically.

As this story is a sequel, reading Lost Castle is recommended in order to fully take in the nuances of the story. However, individuals who have not read the initial book will be able to understand the plot easily as only the portion of the story told in the present day connects to the first book in the series. This series is published by a Christian publishing house. The book was very clean and appropriate in terms of language and relationships, but did not emphasize salvation. There was one or two memorable scenes which emphasize faith.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book Castle on the Rise from Thomas Nelson via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.