While We Sojourn

A Note About Giving Away Used Books, and a Used Book Giveaway

July 30, 2010 · 1 Comment

I’ve given a lot of books away on this blog, but never a used book. I didn’t think that anyone would want a book full of my highlights and markings. And most people wouldn’t. But then, when my shelves started overflowing, I listed books on Amazon. Lots of dog-eared, highlighted, and marked up books. And I gave them the lowest possible condition description: acceptable. You know what? They sold. People were willing to pay for the book and for the shipping to get the book. So maybe giving away used books wouldn’t be so bad after all.

You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m giving away a used copy of Grant Horner’s Meaning at the Movies. Why not? If you want it, leave a comment. I’ll send it to someone in a week or so. You won’t have to pay anything, not even shipping. If you prefer a new copy, then buy one.

You can read my review of Meaning at the Movies here. If you find my review helpful, please leave a helpful vote.

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Review: Christ Formed in You by Brian Hedges

July 28, 2010 · 1 Comment

Christ Formed in You: The Power of the Gospel for Personal Change

Brian G. Hedges

Shepherd Press (2010)

While his teenage peers worried about little more than Friday’s exam over Romeo and Juliet, Brian Hedges was contemplating a call to preach. He answered that call at the age of eighteen. Since then, between serving in a para-church ministry and preaching in his local church, Hedges has gained eighteen years of ministry experience. That’s not bad for a 36-year-old.

Hedges’ preaching is characterized by clear, well-organized, well-illustrated, expository sermons that are full of practical application. And in his first book, Christ Formed in You, he proves that he can deliver as powerful and practical a message in writing as he can in preaching.

In the foreword, Donald Whitney captures the essence of Christ Formed in You:

Brian Hedges understands that the pursuit of “the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14) requires a clear understanding of the Gospel. For it is in the Gospel that we see Christ in His glory most clearly. And the better we understand and feast our souls on the Gospel of Christ, the more intimate with and like Jesus we become.

The twelve chapters in Christ Formed in You are divided under three headings:

Part 1: The Foundations of Personal Change

Part 2: The Path of Personal Change

Part 3: The Means of Personal Change

In Part 1, Hedges gives an in-depth explanation of the gospel and its various aspects.  These chapters are foundational to the book, just as a correct understanding of the gospel is foundational to any progress in holiness. Change “happens only as we understand and apply the gospel to our lives.” And central to the gospel is Jesus Christ, our example of perfect holiness. Hedges writes:

Jesus is the true Imago Dei, the true image of God. But he also remakes human beings in his image through his work. His life on this earth was the perfect embodiment of all that is righteous, good, beautiful, and true….In him we see what God intended all human beings to be in their relationships to God, to one another, and to creation….The question this book aims to answer is how do we become like Jesus?

Part 2 explores the beauty of holiness, the killing of sin, growing in grace, and the motivation for true holiness (joy).  In Part 3, Hedges discusses the means through which God works to make believers more like Christ (primarily meditation on Scripture, prayer, suffering, and community).

Though written clearly and at an understandable level, Christ Formed in You isn’t light reading. Hedges believes that good theology is essential (“we need to frame our concerns about personal change in the larger story of God’s saving work, the story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration…”), and readers can be assured that they will get a dose of good theology. But the book is also  personal. Through the author’s use of illustrations from his life, including taking readers through his own spiritual journey, we see qualities so important in a pastor: humility, patience, love, and a genuine concern for others. These characteristics reinforce another common theme that runs throughout his book–the importance of relationships and community:

 The goal of redemption is to make you a “little Christ.” God wants to renew his image within you. But spiritual renewal doesn’t happen and cannot happen in isolation from others. It happens in relationships.

Hedges rarely makes a claim that isn’t backed up by carefully applied Scripture. And he seems to have an inexhaustible supply of the classic hymns, from Wesley, Newton, and the other great writers, stored in his memory, always ready to illustrate a truth. He mentions the influence that the Puritan writings have had on him, and their influence is evident. Not only does he quote them often, but his use of outlines and lists reminds one of their works. I found these lists, lists such as, “Ten Ways to Kill Sin,” “Five Essential Elements Which Make up Spiritual Transformation,” “Six Ways God Utilizes Suffering in Our Lives,” very helpful, as I did the entire book.

Readers from all backgrounds and at all stages of life—believer or skeptic, young or old—will benefit from reading Christ Formed in You. I hope, and expect, to see many more books written by the same author.

 [Note: This book will not be available until October 1, 2010; however, you can request an advance pdf copy here. Or, you can pre-order a copy from Shepherd Press here.]

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Pray Like a Child

July 27, 2010 · 8 Comments

Unfortunately, many of us have been taught to pray in very un-childlike ways. We change our tone. We use spiritual sounding words. We attempt to do “adoration” prior to “supplication.” Consequently, we veil our hearts and pretend to be something we’re not. We try to act all grown up and in the process lose our sense of helplessness. But as [Paul] Miller says, “don’t try to get the prayer right; just tell God where you are and what’s on your mind. That’s what little children do. They come as they are, runny noses and all.” 

Brian Hedges, Christ Formed in You 

   

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Summer Reading (and maybe Fall, too)

July 24, 2010 · 8 Comments

Currently reading:

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Trying to catch up on the classics; this one is hard to put down.

Christ Formed in You by Brian Hedges

This book is set to be released on October 1. You can request an advance pdf here.

Ordered, requested,  or in hand:

Our Great God and Savior by Eric J. Alexander

A new title from Banner of Truth.

Introverts in the Church by Adam McHugh

I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while.

The Soul of C.S. Lewis by Jerry Root

and

Collected Writings on Scripture by D.A. Carson

I can’t wait to dig in to this one.

What are you reading?

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God’s Healing for Life’s Losses by Robert Kelleman

July 23, 2010 · Leave a Comment

God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting

Robert Kelleman

BMH Books (2010)

Reviewer: Mark Tubbs

“Let’s cut to the chase: why another book on suffering? What more can possibly be said on the subject when so many writers throughout Christian history, not to mention Scripture itself, seem to have exhausted the topic? Well, author Robert Kellemen doesn’t think everything has been said – at least not in a relevant and biblical twenty-first century way. Having read God’s Healing for Life’s Losses, I can attest that Kellemen’s contribution to Christian literature on suffering is both fresh and needed.”
Continue Reading

 

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A Blog Award Resulting in my Blabbing About Myself

July 21, 2010 · 7 Comments

I’m a pathetic blogger. Want to read a book review? Didn’t think so. I don’t read them either. But I rarely have the time to write, and writing about what I’m reading comes easiest. Still, I am the recipient of a blog award: the Versatile Blogger Award, given by  Gregg at Gospel Driven Disciples.  I’m grateful for the compliment and recognition. Thanks, Gregg. Now, in an effort to be “versatile,” I give you a post that isn’t about books. This post, which, by the way, I should have written a month ago when first selected.

Part of the deal is that I tell you seven things about myself. So:

1. I have a 40-hour a week job. One which I haven’t ever mentioned here before. Why not? Because it is beside the point. And if you were to know what I did for a living, it would generate more discussion that is beside the point. Curious? I have a master’s degree in agriculture, and my job is related to my degree. But no, I’m not a farmer.

2. I have a tendency to be rebellious. In sixth grade, a new teacher was hired during the middle of the year. Every sixth grade teacher picked two students from their class to be in the new class. They were supposed to pick good students, but none complied. The result? The class from you-know-where, and I was in it. The teacher left unannounced before the year was over. And during my senior year of high school I was paddled five separate times for various offences.

3. I played the trumpet for five years. But, in a failed effort to fit in my last two years of high school, and to the relief of the band instructor, I quit band and ran track.  

4. I made A’s in trigonometry my junior year, A’s in calculus my senior year, and then failed my math placement test my first year at university.

5. I was home schooled for one year (8th grade). My parents were horrified that I had received an A+ on a terribly written essay, so they kept me home to try to teach me how to read and write. Daddy had me read the Pilgrim’s Progress, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and other classics. He also forced me to enter an essay contest through the Freeman Magazine. Sounds tea-partyish, doesn’t it? I spent the entire year writing and re-writing that blasted essay.

6. I have a Texas accent, and I’ve worked on horseback. I once used water from a cattle trough to brush my teeth and make coffee.

7. I’m not a very “good Christian.” I like secular music more than contemporary Christian music. I refuse to go to tea-party rallies, read Christian fiction, or sing “Have a Little Talk With Jesus.” I like red wine. I don’t like Guinness beer (but I do like Full-Sail Pale Ale). My favorite movie is not Fire-proof (nor Lord of the Rings).  I’m on the wrong side of the immigration debate, and I’m somewhat of an environmentalist (dangerously liberal, right?) But I do love Jesus, and I love and am thankful for my wife and three beautiful children.

The other part of the deal is that I pass the award on to 15 other blogs. Fifteen other blogs? Here-in lies a problem: I don’t read 15 blogs. The blogs I do read somewhat regularly are listed on my blog roll. So, I choose them. All except Gregg. Though Gregg is a great blogger, he picked me, and picking him is surely against the rules.

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Review: Meaning at the Movies by Grant Horner

July 19, 2010 · 2 Comments

Meaning at the Movies: Becoming a Discerning Viewer

Grant Horner

Crossway: 2010

A Philosophical and Biblical Look at Film (and Culture)

Grant Horner’s Meaning at the Movies is not what you might expect. As he says, “If you’re looking for a list of movies you should or should not watch to be a ‘good Christian,’ you’ll have to look elsewhere.” Instead, Horner says that his book “is an extended meditation on why we have movies at all, why they are so powerful, and why Christians need to think deeply and theologically about film art—indeed, about all cultural production.”

Those not willing to go along with Horner in thinking “deeply and theologically” won’t make it through the thirty page introduction, “Movies, Truth, and the Origins of Culture.” In this highly philosophical chapter, Horner uses Romans 1:16-23 to explain how sinful man suppresses the truths about himself and God, and then “suppresses the suppression,” (the latter, I admit, I can’t quite grasp). The basis of most of his film interpretation is this suppression of truth, which he says will inevitably surface in culture, and particularly in works of art: “As I see it, all human cultural production, from worshipping a golden calf to watching German opera, is a return of suppressed truth.”

The rest of the book consists of two parts, the first of which prepares the reader for movie analysis. Horner explains that Christians need (and lack) discernment when watching movies. Discernment “is not the default position—it is always rooted in a mind saturated with Scripture.” This saturating our minds in Scripture, Horner says, is the key to recognizing faulty worldviews and their resulting errors. Horner then goes on to examine the most common and basic worldviews so that readers will be equipped to recognize them and, as a result, be more prepared to deal with the flawed thinking that accompanies them.

In the second part, Horner takes in-depth looks at the most common movie genres: comedy, horror, romance, and film noir. Not only does he discuss the histories, philosophies, and characteristics of each, but he analyzes several representative films within each. And he knows his movies—he’s taught college level film courses for fourteen years. He also knows his Bible. His critiques are based upon sound, biblical theology—“a mind saturated with Scripture.”

While I find Horner’s philosophical discussions about movies interesting and his use of Scripture edifying, I’m not sure that I’ve benefited from reading Meaning at the Movies. Perhaps I’m not within the intended audience. Those who are more intellectual and take their movies more seriously may love this book. But it seems that those who enjoy deep philosophical and theological discussions will find the ultimate conclusions self-evident—they know that Hollywood suppresses the fact that humans have a fallen nature, and that romance, as it is portrayed in movies, is superficial and unbiblical. On the other hand, un-informed viewers who don’t see these things, or at least suppress them, are unlikely to stick around long enough for Horner to convince them.

I received a review copy of this book from Crossway.

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Review: The Church History ABC’s

July 15, 2010 · 1 Comment

The Church History ABC’s: Augustine and twenty-five other heroes of the Faith

 Stephen J. Nichols and Ned Bustard

 Crossway: 2010

“E is for eggs, elephants, and Jonathan Edwards.” How did I miss that when I learned the alphabet? Alas, public education. But now, thanks to The Church History ABCs, a new book by Stephen J. Nichols and Ned Bustard, the breakdown in my education has been corrected.

From Augustine to Zwingli, Nichols and Bustard give children a new way to learn the alphabet, while teaching church history along the way. Each page features a different historical character. The sketches are written in first person, giving the book a more personal tone, and include the most important (or most interesting) details of the subject’s life in a fun way: “Hi. Let’s get one thing straight, my name is Hippolytus, not hippopotamus.”

Though the book is intended to be a church history primer, it also teaches a few life lessons for the more pragmatic reader. For instance, after Martin Luther mentions his hammering “a piece of paper to the church door at Wittenburg,” he gives the following advice: “Now don’t try that at your church. People don’t like that.”

Ned Bustard’s artwork, a collage of illustrations and photos, will hold the children’s’ interest while making mom and dad laugh. John Wesley, for instance, wears a button that says, “Almost Perfect,” and Charles Spurgeon stands on a cigar box to deliver his sermon. Lest we miss the significance of the details, there is additional information about each character for parents in the back of the book. We are told there that the Wesley brothers “both believed in perfectionism, or as they put it, ‘love perfected,’ ” and so the button makes sense.

The book is intended for children ages 3 to 6. I happen to have a three-year-old and a six-year-old. Other than being interested in the pictures, the younger lost interest, as the information is still too advanced for her. The older, however, seemed very interested and asked a lot of questions, which, of course, is the goal. I suspect that children much older than six would enjoy and benefit from this book; I know that I did. We will use this book often, as it is full of important information that is presented in an enjoyable way, and I am happy to recommend it. Thanks to the authors for applying their knowledge and talent to the important task of teaching children.

I received a review copy of this book from Crossway.

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