The Well-Behaved Child

This is the next book I'll be reviewing. I'm done with the intro and first chapter and my first impressions are: Old school and punishment. We'll see how it unfolds.

Mosaic Bible Review

The Mosaic Bible is beautiful. That was my first thought after pulling it out of the envelope. The front cover reflects the message of unity throughout the ages perfectly. The back cover is adorned simply with the Apostle's Creed. The contents of this volume continue this theme.

The first section is comprised of the Weekly Meditations (over 300 thicker pages, with full color illustrations at the beginning of each week). These sections each include five scripture readings (at least), historical and global contributions, original meditations that “connect the weekly theme to the modern world,” and white space for note-taking, sketching or journaling. The historical and global contributions are my favorite as these sections include “content from every continent and every century of Christian history.” Full-color artwork, excerpts from influential Christian thinkers throughout church history, quotes and stories from ordinary believers and other worshipful pieces all work together to bring us into contact with the history of our church and closer to our God. These are organized to be used in connection with the church year (liturgically) or you can use them thematically, organically or create your own plan. I also enjoyed the “Tesserae,” which is essentially the index for the weekly meditations. They organized this in two ways, which, while interesting, may have been a bit of overkill. If you are interested in more from the contributors in each weekly section, you can go to the Tesserae and find the source material for the quote/art/story/essay, either by week or by century it was produced in. The second way is kind of fun to look at, but not altogether necessary.

I wanted to try to follow the church calendar with the Weekly Meditation section, but found it to be rather difficult to figure out which week it was when I started (because the church calendar is different from year to year). Thankfully, Tyndale has created a companion website, http://www.holybiblemosaic.com/, which alleviates this difficulty. Just click on the “Calendar” tab and there you have the current week! I think the website is a brilliant idea as it is also a place to find numerous resources and, my favorite part, the community forum to discuss the Bible itself and that week's Meditations.

After the Weekly Meditations section comes the actual NLT Bible. The scripture is arranged in two columns per page, separated by a thin center column reference system. These cross-references are based on relevance to the referenced verses' meaning rather than just individual word connections. In addition, there is an original-language word study system connected to the NLT Word Study System with Hebrew/Greek Dictionary and Index located at the back of the Bible. “There are word studies for 100 Hebrew words and 100 Greek words.” The pages in this section are very thin and the type is rather small, so I could see how it might be difficult to read for some.

Lastly, as previously mentioned, there is a robust NLT Word Study System with Hebrew/Greek Dictionary and Index followed by a Dictionary/Concordance and four pages of full-color, standard biblical maps.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Mosaic Bible. Initially I wasn't sure if I liked the Meditations all at the front, but I've grown to like the separation. The scripture stands alone, as it should, without any interruption. The concordance/dictionary and word study system make this a great study Bible, too.

Mosaic Bible Releases Today!

Make sure you go checkout the new Mosaic Bible and buy one if you like it.

See more about it here:

http://www.holybiblemosaic.com/

And buy it online here:

bit.ly/8xF3P

You can also get in on the action here:

http://nltblog.com/2009/09/join-our-partygiveaway-mosaic-releases.html

Carry on!

Mosaic Bible

I received the Mosaic Bible in the mail today...and it looks awesome. Seriously, it's beautiful. I'm excited to use it for a couple of weeks and let you know what I think about it.

Also, on November 18th my blog is going to be the site of the Tyndale Blog Tour Stop! That day the general editor, Keith Williams, will visit my blog throughout the day and interact with everyone that posts any questions they have in the comments section. I'm really excited about this!

Lastly, I have a certificate to give away for a FREE copy of the Mosaic Bible! I haven't decided how I'll choose who to give it to, so stay tuned to find out!

Fearless by Max Lucado

Max Lucado is like that old friend you haven’t seen in a while. When you get together, it’s just like old times. He tells stories, and some are corny, but you’re better off for having listened. When you spend time with Max, you feel better. And not just in a warm and fuzzy sort of way. You feel better because he’s reminded you of the Truth.

In Fearless, it’s as if we met Max for coffee. After pleasantries are exchanged, he asks us how we're doing and we say, “Max...I’m scared.” His response? “I understand. Let’s talk about it.” Then, for a good while we get to tell him what we’re afraid of. That we don’t matter. That we’re not good enough and that God is mad at us. That we're not going to be able to pay the bills or put food on the table. That something terrible will happen to our children. That we won't be able to overcome the next challenge in life. That the “what ifs” of life are too much. That we sometimes doubt God is even real. And of course...death.

When we're done explaining our circumstance, Max responds. Lovingly and with the Truth. With scripture. With stories of those who have waged war with fear, just like us. He understands that we all have fears. Even he has fears. But, the good news is that we don’t need to fear. In Fearless, Max reminds us why we can be confident in our God. He reminds us that faith, not fear, is what enables us to thrive in this life. “Imagine your life wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats?” he asks. With this, Lucado sets the stage for our lives to be changed.

In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield asserts that, "Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do." Max expands on this thought in Fearless by telling us what we have to do, or rather, Who we have to go to. We need to take our fears to Him and let His peace and confidence permeate our lives so that we can push forward.

Fear isn't going away anytime soon. Fear is a normal reaction. The real question is what we do with fear when it punches us in the gut. Do we give up? After all, fear is big and burly. “Fear is the big bully in the high school hallway: brash, loud, and unproductive,” says Max. “For all the noise fear makes and room it takes, fear does little good.”

Or, do we stand and fight, armed with the Truth of God? “Feed your fears, and your faith will starve. Feed your faith, and your fears will.” Will we feed our faith and lock fear up in the basement?

With Fearless, Max puts his hand on our shoulder and tells us it's going to be alright. His voice, as clear and as engaging as ever, comes through on every page and in every story. He illuminates old scriptures we've read a thousand times and somehow they become new again. Ultimately, he challenges us to heed Jesus' invitation: ”Don't be afraid.”

And that's a challenge I hope we all accept.

Fearless by Max Lucado

I just got this and will be starting it shortly. I love Lucado, so I'm really looking forward to this.

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