Category: Books

‘Bud & Me’: The Wild West and two amazing kids

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Bud&MeIn December I had the pleasure of reading “Peace Like A River,” which was the fictional tale of a Minnesota family that treks into North Dakota in search of a family member on the run from the law. Like many others, I got caught up in the story and enjoyed the way author Leif Enger told the story through the eyes of young Rube Land, whose retelling of the story caught the innocence yet had a maturity to it.

If you enjoyed that, imagine a true story of two young adventurers on amazing trips, including one by themselves! Bud & Me: The True Adventures of the Abernathy Boys is told through the eyes of Temple Abernathy (the “Me” in the title), who at age 5 rode horseback with his 9-year-old brother Bud from Frederick, Okla., to Santa Fe, N.M., and back.

The world was a different place in 1905, but to read something like this it just amazes you. At one point, Temple Abernathy says he and his brother were encouraged by reading Mark Twain’s “Roughing It,” a book that I’ve read and enjoyed. This is the kind of book that would be fun to read with children and then talk about. In the last year I’ve read through “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris and so have my two children. The idea of that book was to defy the low expectations that are placed on kids. I would say these kind of adventures would fall in the “Do Hard Things” category!

To read some sample pages of “Bud and Me” go here.

 

HT: The Children’s Hour

Who was John Calvin?

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This year marks the 500th anniversary of reformer John Calvin’s birth. To mark that anniversary, Reformation Trust has published a collection of essays from some of the top reformed teachers and pastors looking at Calvin’s life, ministry and teachings. The list of authors in the 20-chapter book is impressive:  Derek W. H. Thomas, Sinclair B. Ferguson, D. G. Hart, Harry L. Reeder, Steven J. Lawson, W. Robert Godfrey, Phillip R. Johnson, Eric J. Alexander, Thabiti Anyabwile, John MacArthur, Richard D. Phillips, Thomas K. Ascol, Keith A. Mathison, Jay E. Adams, Philip Graham Ryken, Michael Horton, Jerry Bridges, and Joel R. Beeke.

About the book, D.A. Carson says: “On the five-hundredth anniversary of John Calvin’s birth, it is utterly fitting that a book of essays should appear that is designed for ordinary Christians, not scholars. The scholars will have their conferences, of course, and rightly so, but here is a collection of essays that will inform and move ordinary readers to grasp something of the profound gift God gave to the church in the person and ministry—and especially the writings—of Calvin.”

Ligonier Ministries, of which Reformation Trust is a division, is selling the book as well as offering a sample chapter online. It would do anyone well to better understand a man who had a profound effect on church history and was probably one of the greatest Christian thinkers.

Jane Eyre audiobook — for only $1.95

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jane-eyreThis is something I thought I’d pass along. My wife and daughter, faithful followers of Jane Austen adaptations and all things romantic and such, were captivated by a recent viewing of Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” Well, actually it was just half of it. One of the discs of the two-disc set was missing.

Of course, this wasn’t satisfying to them so they managed to find the remaining episodes on YouTube. After this, to please the cravings of the women in my house, I went to iTunes to see if I could find the movie. While that was unsuccessful, I did manage to find something that could turn out to be quite a deal. An unabridged version published just last year is being offered for $1.95 at the iTunes Store. Considering that most titles are usually around $10-$15, this is quite a bargain. There are also titles from Jane Austen and Bram Stoker being offered at the $1.95 rate.

News books coming from John Piper

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Currently, John Piper is on a writing leave at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. This update was posted today on the progress he’s making five weeks into it. Here is where he’s at:

I have completed a manuscript titled Seek It Like Silver: The Place of Thinking in the Pursuit of God. It’s the same length as Finally Alive.

To explain the title, here’s the last paragraph of the introduction:

If you…raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver…then you will…find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:3-6). I need all the help I can get to love the knowledge of God more than the profits of silver. I assume you do too. So I wrote this to remind myself of the place of thinking in the pursuit of God. As a little echo of Calvin and Augustine, I say with them, “I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write.” If you join me, I hope you find it helpful.

I put the finishing touches on the fifth book of The Swans Are Not Silent series, Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing Christ to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton.

I tweaked the endings of the four narrative poems on Ruth with a view to producing a new artistic book on Ruth like the big Job book. This will go with a new book on Ruth that will be out in about a year titled, A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and Sovereignty in the Book of Ruth.

And there are more projects he’s working on that you can read about here. Continue to pray for John, his family and his church as he works for another three weeks on this leave.

The ESV Online Study Bible — for free

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Crossway Books has announced today that, for a limited time, the ESV Online Study Bible will be available to everyone for free. This means that the complete ESV Study Bible with all its notes, charts, articles and maps can be accessed for free.

I have had access to it for about a week now since my ESV Study Bible arrived and I can say that it is a tremendous research tool for indepth study of the scriptures and extremely helpful in understanding the scriptures and answering questions. An added benefit of the ESV Online Study Bible is the ability to take notes and have them available anywhere you have Internet access.

Thanks so so much to the folks at Crossway Books for making this available. I would strongly encourage all to take advantage of this offer and check out this resource.

The ESV Online Study Bible is now available for free for a limited time.
The ESV Online Study Bible is now available for free for a limited time.

Are we ready for tough times ahead?

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The coddled Western world will sooner or later give way to great affliction. And when it does, whose vision of God will hold? Where are Christians being prepared for great global sorrows? Where is the Christian mind and soul being prepared for the horrors to come? Christians in the West are weakened by wimpy worldviews. And wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians. God is weightless in our lives. He is not terrifyingly magnificent. His sovereignty is secondary (at best) to his sensitivity.

— John Piper, Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of God (13)

We don’t have to imagine as hard these days to envision tough times in our country. But tough economic times aren’t the same as tough times to be a follower of Christ. It is good to turn to Christ for comfort, but some times we need more than just comforting words. We need words of warning. There is evil in this world and it touches every one of our lives. The fact that we live in comfort in our Western world is a providence of God, but we should not look at it as the only way.

In John Piper’s Spectacular Sins, cited above, he examines how evil in our world not only fail to nullify God’s purpose to glorify Christ they — by his providence — succeed in making his purpose come to pass. And through understanding this, we can be strengthened in our own lives in the difficult times that will surely come.

The book is one of many that you download for free as a PDF onto your computer. If you still prefer to hold a book in your hand, you can purchase it here.

John Piper on ‘Finally Alive’

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John Pipers latest book is Finally Alive, due for release Feb. 2
John Piper's latest book is Finally Alive, due for release Feb. 2

John Piper’s new book Finally Alive is due for release next week. Today at the Desiring God Blog is a Q&A with Piper about why he decided to write this book at this time. Of note, he voices a concern that he sees in the church today:

I am deeply concerned that there are many church members in America and beyond who think they are saved when they are not. Part of the reason for this nominalism is a failure to teach and understand the true meaning of the new birth.

You must be born again. It is a miracle. Many, I fear, don’t even want to think in terms of “being saved” as being in the category of a miracle that only God can perform. They want it to be a decision based wholly on human power involving no necessary miracle. That is deadly.

Where ‘Do Hard Things’ came from

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Alex and Brett Harris, teen authors of Do Hard Things and the The Rebelution blog,  explain how a message at the New Attitude conference in 2004 changed their lives:

Growing up, going to New Attitude was always the highlight of the year. Not because it was our big brother’s conference, but because of the worship, teaching, and discussion that took place. The sessions by men like CJ Mahaney, Al Mohler, Mark Dever, and John Piper were the catalysts for major steps of growth in our walk with God.

In 2004, Dr. Mohler delivered a message on the modern crisis of young people delaying adulthood—particularly in the area of marriage. His challenge to embrace responsibility resonated with us. It served as the seed for an idea that grew and matured over the next two years — the Myth of Adolescence, and a challenge for young adults to rebel against the low expectations and “do hard things” for the glory of God.

In 2004, that idea became a ten-minute speech for competition in the NCFCA (National Christian Forensics and Communication Association), placing first in the nation. In 2005, that speech became the first series on our new blog, The Rebelution. In 2007, that series turned into the opening session of our first conference tour. In 2008, that session developed into one of the first chapters in our book, Do Hard Things.

Can a conference change the whole course of your life? For us, the answer is yes.

Fear God and Love God: The God Who Smokes

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Scandalous Meditations on Faith
The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditations on Faith

I am continually grateful for  The Discerning Reader, which “is a site dedicated to promoting good books — books that bring honor to God” and “to help Christians avoid being unduly influenced by books and teachers that are not honoring to God.” Thanks to Tim Challies for the site and all who review books there.

A book that I have been interested in since I first heard the title was Timothy Stoner’s “The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditations on Faith.” Reviewed recently by Trevin Wax, who blogs at Kingdom People, Discerning Reader gives “The God Who Smokes” its recommendation. From the review:

Timothy J. Stoner acknowledges the validity of many of the concerns raised by those in the Emerging Church. But unlike some in the Emerging movement, Stoner is able to address these concerns without abandoning historic Christian convictions.

His book, The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditations on Faith, is thoroughly enjoyable on a number of levels. First, it is very well-written. Secondly, it uses humor as a way to communicate serious truths. And best of all, Stoner uses personal stories to help him make his case.

Wax continues in his review, stressing that it is not an attack on the emerging movement but rather a clarification:

Stoner’s negative view of Emergent does not lead him to bash those who advocate Emerging theology. In fact, he appreciates many aspects of the Emerging conversation.

But Stoner believes the Emerging movement ultimately delivers reductionistic picture of God. He worries that the Emerging Church downplays the wrath of God and leads to a lopsided vision of God that ignores essential aspects of his character.

“We are not only invited guests but the blushing Bride. And our Groom is a heroic King, a mighty warrior who is good and just and stunning in his beauty. He is so full of passion and blazing emotion that he burns – and yes, smokes in the ferocity of his infinite, holy love that compelled him to give it all away for his Bride. And he who gave it all for us is worth giving ourselves completely to.”

So we worship a God who smokes – a God whose passionate jealousy for the glory of his own name is an integral aspect of his glorious love for creation.

This sounds like it will be a good book perhaps more along the lines of Mark Driscoll than, say, Donald Miller or Rob Bell.

Disney bails: Will there be another Chronicles of Narnia movie?

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Disney has decided not to distribute another Chronicles of Narnia movie.
Disney has decided not to distribute another Chronicles of Narnia movie.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Disney has declined to exercise its option on the next installment of the Chronicles of Narnia, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” The movie, which was slated to hit theaters in May 2010, is now in limbo:

While declining to elaborate, Disney and Walden Media confirmed Tuesday that for budgetary and logistical reasons the Burbank-based studio is not exercising its option to co-produce and co-finance the next “Narnia” movie with Walden.

The third entry in the series, based on the classic books by C.S. Lewis, was in preproduction and set for a spring shoot for a planned May 2010 release. The development puts the participation of the talent attached in doubt. Michael Apted was on board to direct a script by Steven Knight. The key players of the second installment, “Prince Caspian” — Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, William Moseley and Anna Popplewell — were to return for the third film.

Walden has a strong relationship with the Lewis estate and will shop “Treader” in hopes of finding a new partner. The most likely candidate at this stage is Fox, which markets and distributes Walden fare under the Fox Walden banner.

Hopefully, a new distributor will be found, and one that will fully support the films without compromising the stories. While news like this is disturbing, we must remind ourselves that we do have the books themselves, which are treasures whether they are made into movies or not.

HT: Tim Challies