The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom with John & Elizabeth Sherrill (audio)

I’ve heard Corrie Ten Boom’s name, and the name of The Hiding Place before, but had never been disciplined enough to read it until now – I’m glad I have now read it! Corrie Ten Boom recounts her incredible life experiences from childhood through to her adult ministry and everything inbetween.

It’s not what I expected. It takes a long time before you’re introduced to the main action, but that’s important to understand the context. Her story covers every genre from espionage to action through to tragedy, but I really got into it the more it went on – there’s something in here for everyone.

It’s incredibly emotional. Corrie went through more than almost anyone, and I found myself shedding tears several times throughout it. She covers important issues like forgiveness, joy, thankfulness, peace, patience, answered prayer, and Bible reading – all within the context of enormous injustice, to the point of being starved, beaten, stripped naked, sleeping among lice, and that’s only the beginning.

I want you to read this to come to grips with how shocking humanity is. We live in a false pretence of civilisation, yet the holocaust actually happened – this book helped to realise that for me.

The narration is excellent – full of joy and emotion yet without being distracting. Please do read this book, for your own sake even if not for that of unbelievers and Jesus.

I got this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com as part of their book reviewers programme. I’m not required to give a positive review.

The resurrection is true!

Several years ago I discovered that the answer to almost every spiritual question would be found to some extent on Adrian Warnock’s blog. It was only later that I discovered he is a part of the same tight-knit family of churches I am, Newfrontiers (obviously we’re not quite that tight-knit!) – I even sat behind him at last summer’s conference. I don’t think he noticed.

Anyway, he recently wrote a book about the resurrection, called Raised With Christ. To promote it, he did an interview with Christianity Today, and summed up the truth of the resurrection far better than I ever could:

There is no historical doubt whatsoever that a man called Jesus lived and was crucified 2,000 years ago. It is also without dispute that a group arose quickly after his death claiming he was risen. Despite the apparent absurdity of such a claim and vigorous attempts to persecute them off the face of the earth, this group grew quicker than any other before or since. Soon the whole Roman Empire became a Christian state without a sword being raised by the all-conquering new faith. This remarkable growth is impossible to explain without the Resurrection.

This Easter, get to church. Worship Jesus. Celebrate the truth of the resurrection!

In the Presence of my Enemies by Gracia Burnham (audio)

I’m not generally a fan of reading a book in which someone just talks about themselves for a long time – in my experience it has just been a lesson in pride and boredom! Not so with this one. The true story of Martin and Gracia Burnham’s kidnap and year in captivity is phenomenally compelling. Gracia has a real gift of words, expresses her feelings and circumstances very well, and really draws you into the action.

The book follows everything from Martin and Gracia’s courtship, through the incredible trial of their captivity, and the years since the release. Gracia captures her emotions and battles in full, she’s not apologetic about her questions along the way, and she communicates every part of the ordeal in the perfect amount of detail.

Reading this book will make you laugh at times, and cry at others. Sometimes it inspires joy, sometimes mourning, but constantly some action. It’s difficult to take this book on board without wanting to do something!

Look out for lessons in grace, forgiveness, joy, prayer, community, mission, persecution, marriage, and parenting among many others.

This audio version is narrated well. There are not many audio books read by ladies, and I have to say that the voice suited this perfectly.

I got this audiobook for free as part of the christianaudio.com book reviewer programme. I’m not required to give a positive review.

The question which proves I’m a hypocrite

Someone asked me this question today:

Which would you rather live in: a world that’s only ever merciful, or a world that’s only ever fair?

My heart leapt to saying ‘merciful’! I instantly thought of something I’d done wrong, and was so grateful for the mercy I received.
But then I thought, ‘what if someone did something shocking, like raped a friend of mine?’ Surely, in the grand scheme of things, I’d want a fair world where justice would be done.
But the moment I thought back to myself, my mind returned to wanting mercy.
The whole of creation cries out for justice, yet we all have a personal desire for mercy. But you can’t have both – as much as the rapist wants mercy, that would be unfair.
Isn’t it wonderful that justice and mercy met at the cross? Gerald Sittster said:

It is the tension between God’s justice and mercy that makes God so capable of dealing with wrongdoers. God is able to punish people without destroying them, and to forgive people without indulging them…Mercy does not abrogate justice; it transcends it.

Memorising the Bible

I’m currently doing my best to memorise a book of the Bible. Galatians, to be exact. It’s taken me about six weeks and I’ve got 1:1-4:7 nailed, but it’s not easy and the process isn’t particularly exciting either!

But this morning I discovered a new website which I think I’m going to find very useful, and if you’re interested in memorising the Bible I thought you might too! If you get a minute check out Memorise Now – it’s easy to use, it’s interactive, and you can import a whole bunch of Bible verses (or anything else you want to memorise) all at once so you can memorise nice, quickly, and easily.

Living the Resurrection by Eugene H. Peterson

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Resurrection-Risen-Christ-Everyday/dp/157683929X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269249471&sr=8-1

The concept behind this book is that Jesus’ resurrection should affect our daily lives in a practical and noticeable way. Eugene Peterson, the translator for The Message, presents how this ought to affect our lives in three areas: work through the sabbath, mealtimes through the Lord’s Supper, and church service and personal growth through water baptism.

I think this is a good book. It’s unapologetic about Jesus’ desire for our lives to be impacted in a big way, and it’s practical about application too, so don’t buy this book if you’re just looking for a interesting read. The truth of the resurrection is well explained, and a wide variety of Bible passages are used to back up his arguments, which is good.

The writing style is easy to read, and easy to understand. The construct is logical and it’s broken down into bitesize chunks, which is a good job because the chapters, while few, are long!

Peterson’s a bit of a wordsmith so on occasion he presents his ideas in a poetic, rather than strictly accurate, form, but that’s what you’re going to get with him so if that’s your kind of thing you’ll love it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of theirBlogger Review program. 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.”

Follow Me To Freedom by Shane Claiborne & John Perkins (audio)

Follow Me To Freedom is a series of conversations on leadership between Shane and John. To be honest, that’s pretty much it – there’s clearly not really much planning in terms of the book travelling from one spot to the other, it’s just a bunch of conversations, but the authors know that.

This audio version includes an introduction by the authors (one of whom speaks very slowly, the other mumbles quickly), then two narrators take their parts for the remainder of the book, which is filled with plenty of laughter, shouting, and interrupting each other.

The content is varied, to say the least. Everything from the environment through to leadership structures, social action, politics, justice, and dealing with conflict are covered. On occasion I don’t agree with what they say, but that’s one of the main points of the book so I can’t really fault it for that – my only other issue with it would be that it does feel disjointed as the topic of conversation moves around, just as a natural conversation would, but that again is the design of the book!

On the whole, I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who just wants to open their mind to some new ways of thinking. Shane and John think differently from one another in places, and certainly think differently to me, but have good hearts and good convictions behind it all. Shane says at one point that he was cancelled as a speaker at two separate events, once for being too liberal, and once for being too conservative – I expect you will disagree with something said in this book, but I also think you’ll benefit from it. Two thumbs up from me.

I got this audiobook for free as part of the christianaudio.com Book Reviewers Programme. I’m not required to give a positive review.

A Praying Life by Paul Miller (audio)

In this book Paul Miller presents not just a manual on tips for praying, he compiles a whole bunch of experiences and biblical convictions to conclude on an entirely new lifestyle, one which depends on praying, and permeates every area of life.

The basic concept of the book is that it’s a good idea to be childlike – unashamed about approaching and talking to God, natural in our conversation with him, and humble and honest with others. The principles behind this book are spot on, inspiring humility and conviction of unbelief, let alone prayer itself.

Paul draws a lot (perhaps too much?) from his experiences of his autistic daughter Kim, who has clearly impacted his life enormously. These illustrations genuinely do help the reader to understand the concepts presented but on some occasions I think actually undermine his message. Above all, I think they are useful as ‘real life’ examples of how ‘a praying life’ works, but after a while you feel like you’ve heard enough about Kim and would rather think about Jesus.

The content is good theologically, but there are some instances where he’s just a bit clumsy in his words – I think the meaning is clear but it could be read another way, so I don’t think I’d recommend this for a baby Christian!

That said, being immersed in this book has actually impacted my own prayer life positively, so I can’t help but say that it is very good! Billy Graham said that if he could live his life again he’d spend more time in study, and prayer. This book will help you do both.

The narration is clear, level, and calming – it’s not a short book (33 10-15 minute chapters) so that really helped. There are faults, but this is a pretty good example of how a good audiobook should sound.

I got this book for free as part of the christianaudio.com Book Reviewer’s Programme. I’m not required to give a positive review.

Signage

Driving along the motorway this morning I saw a sign which said:

CLEARING UP YOUR LITTER ENDANGERS ROAD WORKERS LIVES

Now, I understand what they’re saying (that road workers lives are endangered if they have to clean up our litter), but it’s hardly that clear, is it?

Given the amount of British residents whose first language is not English, I think this sign may cause some considerable problems! The first time I read it I definitely thought they were trying to say that me clearing up my litter endangers road workers lives, implying that I ought therefore to leave my litter lying around where possible (which then would, ironically, further endanger the road workers’ lives).

Communication’s hard. I don’t know who can take credit for saying this, but they’re right:

It’s not what you say that matters, it’s what they hear.

Have you ever said anything that wasn’t received as intended?

As an afterthought: isn’t it nice that Jesus knew how to communicate? When asked by the high priest, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ Jesus’ answer is clear:

I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. (Mark 14:62)

The Word of Promise New Testament

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Word-Promise-Testament-Audio-Bible/dp/0718024249/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268668444&sr=8-1

The Word of Promise New Testament is a dramatised audio version of the NKJV translation of the New Testament, with full orchestral soundtrack, sound effects, and the voices of almost 150 actors (including some Academy Award winners). It’s recorded over 20 CDs with an extra DVD which has a Behind The Scenes documentary, and a new song by Michael W. Smith written especially for this recording.

To start, I absolutely love the concept. Listening to the Bible with a full soundtrack and effects, and with different actors speaking the different parts with emotion etc. is a good idea! I think anything that gets people into Scripture is a winner, and this is just different enough to attract a whole new audience. The choice of translation is a good one, and it’s presented in a good way – each chapter is a separate track, and where possible books have been presented on one CD.

Something that the dramatisation and additional sound adds is real emotion. It’s great because it presents enough information to inspire our emotions without dictating exactly what we should think. Highlights for me included being moved to tears by the stoning of Stephen, and some pretty exciting action in the book of Revelation. If you like audio Bibles, this is a real treat.

That all being said, this recording has some serious flaws. The sound effects are often dropped in almost as an afterthought and sometimes feel out of place. The orchestral soundtrack is beautiful but at times gets a bit too much, and tends to repeat itself.

The worst part of it, however, is that it’s just a bit cringeworthy. Some of the voice actors, and in particular Jim Caviezel who provides the voice of Jesus (he acted as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ), just seem a bit melodramatic. I would have liked Jesus’ voice to be full of joy and authority, but it’s this sombre, gentle voice of someone sounding sorry for themselves, which unfortunately takes any joy out of hearing the gospels, which should be the highlight of the New Testament!

So in conclusion I really want to give a positive review for this because it’s such a good idea and I’d love for these to continue to be made, but there are too many flaws for me I’m afraid.

I got this book for free from BookSneeze.com. I’m not required to give a positive review.