A fearful start, but a great finish

Fearless by Max Lucado

Imagine Your Life Without Fear

I was prepared to love this new book by Max Lucado. I didn’t, at least I didn’t at first. It took me until about midway through to really start appreciating what was going on here.

I guess when you write a book about living a fearless life in total dependence and dedication to the Lord, you need to start out talking about the things that people fear and Lucado starts by talking about many of those fears. For me, that’s not a good way to start. Frankly, I was depressed by the first few chapters. People can be fearful in many ways, some I can surely identify with, others not so much.

About midway through Fearless, the tone changes and Lucado begins to develop the confident, but down home tone that he is so much known for. Fearless is a valuable reference guide to the promises of scripture and this book is not so much a narrative as it is a reminder that God’s promises run deep and true throughout scripture and the biggest reminder is how often God tells us not to fear. Jesus many times at the outset of a great miracle prefaces that miracle with the phrase “Fear not” or variants thereof.

Lucado’s Fearless is a tender, but persistant reminder of the character and nature of God and in the end, I enjoyed this book quite a lot.

This is Your Brain on Joy - A joy to read!

Recently I’ve been reading a book that is part brain research and completely fun. As part of my work as a marriage and family junkie, I often study the differences between men’s and women’s brains and this book is an interesting addition to that study.

Dr. Earl Henslin has taken the dull and clinical and made it really fun and informative. Dr. Henslin has studied brain chemistry for some time, and along with his friend and mentor Dr. Daniel G. Amen, they have taken a sometimes perplexing and sad subject and made it into one that offers hope and joy for those who read this work and take its suggestions and regimens to heart.

Dr. Henslin first shows the SPECT (single photon emission computerized tomography) scans of a number of types of disorders and imbalances. They graphically illustrate that these disorders are plainly present in people and he shares the symptoms that commonly accompany each major category of imbalance.

The best part of this book is that Dr. Henslin offers some real and tangible hope for those people that have these disorders. Those that demonstrate the accompanying behaviors can now receive some real and productive change and relief and hope for the future.

Dr. Henslin examines the 5 mood centers of the brain in this work and for each disorder that is presented, he offers suggestions for supplements and medications, mood balancing foods, music and cinematherapy suggestions, exercise programs, scriptures, prayers and much more.

Dr. Henslin also offers a Brain System Checklist that can help identify the disorders that people might be suffering from. You might need to have a full SPECT scan to confirm some of the underlying disorders that cause the behaviors that plague you, but this checklist is a handy screening tool.

This is a fun and hopeful book and I highly recommend it for your reading and research.

Book Review - The American Patriot's Almanac by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb

This is a new offering from Thomas Nelson publishers. In this daily almanac, Bennett and Cribb provide a daily glimpse into the events, actions, thoughts and emotions that took place in the founding of our country.

There is a page for each day of the year. On each of those days, Bennett and Cribb give a stirring example of an event that took place in our nation's past on that date. Also included is a list of additional events that took place on that day in our history called "America's History Parade."

In this age of "situational patriotism," this is a great read and I'm using it to help my kids understand the true costs of freedom. Many of the events and people profiled in this book were previously unknown to me and have helped me appreciate, more than ever, our founding fathers and the many sacrifices that they made to provide us the opportunity to celebrate and experience the type of liberty that we enjoy and that many take for granted.

Interspersed among the daily readings are some additional gems. The text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, The Gettysburg Address, along with poems, prayers and creeds are some of the nuggets included. These are all items that Americans should keep close at hand for easy reference. Not all the material in this handy book is related to colonial times and those items also reflect values that we hold dear.

I think you will enjoy this book and I highly recommend it.