Paul Harvey's America: A Review

I read this book this month and am inspired by this story of Paul Harvey and the America he so loved very much.

The first chapter tells how Paul Harvey was born September 4, 1918 in Tulsa Oklahoma and when he was 3 years old his father, a police officer, was shot and died. Paul Harvey grew up without any clear memories of his father.

A very special teacher in high school recognized his talents for speaking and writing and took him down to the radio station and introduced him to the manager and stated, “This young man ought to be on the radio.”  Paul recalled later that she wasn’t prepared to accept no for an answer and Paul got his first radio job that day. It was unpaid apprentice work but he was thrilled to be working at the radio station.

In this book you will read about Paul meeting his wife to be “Angel” and he proposed on that first date.  She did not accept the proposal for about one year. But they got married and were a team.

Paul had a unique way of presenting the news and soon became a popular newsman.

He was still popular when in his 80’s he signed a ten year contract for $100 million dollars with ABC radio network. The same network he had been with for 50 years! (He believed in loyalty.)

Here are a few of Paul Harvey’s Maxims:

Love what you do, or do something else

Never feel resentment for those who have more than you. Remember we live in a wonderful land in which any man willing to stay on his toes can reach for the stars.

It is important to build an intellectual base for your goals. In this regard, formal education is fine, but self-education is vital.

You never accomplish anything by talking over the heads of others.

We can live longer if we behave ourselves—if we just practice self-discipline. Most of what ails us is self-inflicted.

Read this story and be inspired. Click here for more information and to order copies at a special price from Amazon.com.

Soul Care: A Review

This book by Gregory L Jantz, PhD contains Prayers, Scriptures, and Spiritual Practices for When You Need Hope the Most!

We live in stressful and uncertain times, leaving many of us feeling overwhelmed and overcome. Soul Care by Dr Gregory Jantz, mental health expert and author of Healing Depression for Life, is a healing collection of inspirational quotes, Scriptures, and prayers to help you or a friend get through times of emotional turmoil. Soul Care is a calming and comforting resource to help cultivate a healthy, faith-filled emotional life.

One of my favorite chapters in this book is entitled Laughter.

Sometimes wisdom can be found in the most unlikely places. That’s certainly true of this lyric from a 1977 hit song by Jimmy Buffett: “If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.” Now I doubt Buffett knew that he had science on his side, but as it turns out, the Physical, Psychological, and Emotional payoff of laughter is no joke. In fact, studies have shown that laughter is good for your health. Among the benefits identified by recent studies are

Reduced stress levels,

Improved immune system function,

Increased levels of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and

Increased heart rate and oxygenation of vital organs.

C.S. Lewis is quoted as writing “Joy is the serious business of heaven.”

For more information about this book and to order on line click here. You can also check for this book at your favorite book store.

Secrets to Wellnes: A Review

Water, exercise, love, lifestyle, nutrition, environment, sunshine, sleep—(The first letters of these words spell Wellness).

This recent book by Ernestine “Teenie” Finley covers all these topics. Mark Finley wrote the introduction for the book- the following quotes are taken from the introduction.

The book (Secrets to Wellness) …can change your life. These principles have changed the lives of countless people who have heard my wife, Ernestine, speak on wellness at large gatherings, attended one of her Natural Lifestyle Cooking School events, or participated in one of her many lifestyle seminars. She is an engaging presenter, a knowledgeable health lecturer, and an inspiring wellness enthusiast. She not only passionately believes the principles she shares but also lives them.

These pages take an integrated approach to health, combining its physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. One of this book’s most powerful features is presenting God as the architect of good health and His power as the means of accomplishing our goals.

Why should you read this book? Any woman who begins running marathons at seventy, places in the top two in her age group, and completes the marathon with no pain has something worthwhile to say. Read on, and you will be well on your way to better health and a more abundant life.

At the end of each chapter are “Teenie” Tips which give several specific things one can do to promote their health based on the chapter just finished.

The book quotes several studies of health benefits from eating nuts several times a week. After reading this, I went right out and bought a package of walnuts and intend to make nuts a more regular part of my diet.

You can read the first chapter of this book on line. Click here!

Hit Hard-One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was-and Learning to Live Well with What Is: A Review

LIFE HIT PAT AND TAMMY McLEOD HARD when their son Zach collapsed on a high school football field; he had sustained a severe brain injury. Facing the devastating possibility that things would never be the same for their beloved son, they committed to staying strong as a family and finding a way to maintain their footing. But the process would reshape their faith, their family, and their future in ways that they never saw coming.

What would it take for them to navigate the endless fallout of their son’s life-transforming injury? How could they reconcile their grief over the life Zach lost, with gratitude for the life that remained? And how does a couple move forward together in their search for hope, rather than letting indefinable loss drive them apart?

Hit Hard is the true story of the McLeod’s journey through ambiguous loss, both having and not having their son. It’s the story of a family who faced unexpected heartbreak, a story that offers us all glimpses of how we can pick up the pieces, redefine expectations, and trust God for hope in the midst of unresolved pain.

Shortly before this football accident happened Zach and family plus 25 students from Harvard and Sanford Universities had taken a trip to south Africa. This was a short learning project to assist at an orphanage where children orphaned by HIV/AIDS as well as children with severe physical and mental disabilities were cared for. 16 year old Zach was a real hit with the children in the orphanage.

The accident that changed Zach and his family’s life forever occurred when he returned home and back to his high school.

Naturally, there was hope Zach would be healed. However, as more treatment and surgeries went on, it became evident that Zach’s life would never be the same as he had been before.

Tammy tended to look at what they had lost. Pat tended to look at what they still had so sometimes they seemed to have a high wall between them. Finally, it sank in on both of them that they needed to accept what had happened and be thankful for what they now had and move on with their life.  

Zach is wonderfully a blessing to many people with his cheerful attitude.

For more about this book click here. Check with your book store or order on line to get a copy.

Wired That Way-A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Maximizing Your Personality Type: A Review

Author, Marita Littauer, the daughter of nationally recognized Personality expert Florene Littauer, grew up with “The Personalities” as part of her daily life. She offers a fresh perspective on identifying the Personality needs of others,

A great resource! Wired That Way will help you learn to connect with people more effectively on personal, social and professional levels. You might even learn something about yourself in the process! Quote by Cyndy Salzmann a national speaker and author.

Well written books, such as Wired That Way about the temperaments fascinate me. They bring so many insights to me and others as well as helps us to understand that people with other temperaments truly do see things in different ways. Understanding that helps us to relate with each other in a better way.

There are 4 main “Personalities” and here they are;

Popular Sanguines: “Let’s do it the fun way.”

Powerful Cholerics: “Let’s do it my way.”

Perfect Melancholies: “Let’s do it the right way.”

Peaceful Phlegmatics: “Let’s do it the easy way.”

As the author brings out most everyone has a couple of these that are more dominant in their personality. She tells numerous stories how that when people have learned to understand what personality mixture  someone is coming from how much easier it is to learn to relate with them.

This personality matrix brings out our strengths and weaknesses in each one of us.

Wired that Way is a great book to read and is available at bookstores and online.

J. N. Andrews-Mission Pioneer, Evangelist, and Thought Leader: A Review

Gilbert Valentine, author of this new title in the Adventist Pioneer series has spent 10 years researching and writing this more than 700-page biography of John Nevins Andrews.

I am drawing a lot from the forward by George R. Knight who is also the editor for this series of books on Adventist pioneers.

So what do you know about John Nevins Andrews? Probably that he was the first foreign missionary officially sponsored by Seventh-day Adventists, perhaps that his scholarly History of the Sabbath put him at the forefront of the denomination’s early scholars, and maybe that Adventism’s flagship educational institution (Andrews University) was named after this hardworking individual who combined evangelistic mission with thorough scholarship, thereby setting the ideal for Adventist Education,

But Andrews was much more than that. Like most early Adventist leaders, he had to wear many hats, including the presidency of the General Conference and the editorship of the Review and Herald. Valentine helps us capture the man.

J. N. Andrews is considered one of the “Big 5” of early Adventism. The other 4 have at least two well-researched biographies each. This new book is the first for Andrews.

Valentine characterizes Andrews as James White’s Melanchthon.

Just as the charismatic Martin Luther led the way in the Reformation, and it was the scholarly Philipp Melanchthon who systematized Luther’s thought, so it was that the dynamic and inventive White had Andrews to work out the details and extensions of Adventism’s developing theology and polity. Readers will discover that in nearly every challenge in Adventism’s first twenty-five years, White requested Andrews to study the topic from the Bible and write out his findings for the church at large.

In many ways, the book is a history of early Adventism from a new perspective. Central to that new perspective is what I will call “texture.” And into that category fall such topics as what it was like to be an Adventist in the turbulent years after Millerism’s Great Disappointment and the extreme sacrifices experienced by early workers and their families. I know of no more graphic treatment of those subjects than the material in this book.

Valentine puts flesh and faces on many of the pioneers who guided Adventism through its early decades and the complex interaction between them. And to put it bluntly, it is sometimes a messy picture.

George Knight concludes the foreword to this book with the statement “I trust that reading J. N. Andrews will be a fascinating and profitable journey.”

For me it definitely was a “fascinating and profitable journey.”

Here are a few of what I consider significant highlights in John Nevins Andrews’ story; he:

·         experienced the Great Disappointment of 1844 as a teenager

·         served two one-year terms as General Conference President

·         was president of the New York State Conference for nearly a decade

·         served as interim senior editor of the Review.

·         was elected a member of the General Conference executive committee for many years and served on both the influential Publishing House Executive Committee as well as other institutional boards.

·         was the first official Seventh-day Adventist overseas missionary

·         kept up his friendship with the Seventh-day Baptists who had introduced him to the biblical understanding of the importance of the 7^th day Sabbath and he continued his relationship with 7^th day Baptists throughout his life.

I hope you will read this book. As a starter click here and you can read the first chapter on line.

The Sonship of Christ: A Review

Ty Gibson, author of this new book The Sonship of Christ has down a masterful job of helping explain in what sense Christ is the Son of God.

Ty Gibson says we need to take the Bible from beginning to end and learn about the Covenant that God made with his people and realize that the term Son as applied to Christ is a Covenantal term referring to the Covenant that is told through out the Bible.

Christ was the one who fulfilled the Covenant that God had from the very beginning to bring people back to a relationship with Him

Covenant, in a nutshell, is omnidirectional love; love between God and humans. love between humans and humans, and love between humans and the creation over which they have charge.

A covenant was made, to which God was faithful and Israel was not. As the Son of God, the life of Jesus was a complete and faithful reenactment of Israel’s history. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this is the whole point of the Bible.

In becoming the Son of God, God bent reality itself, His reality, to meet us in our need. God did this for you. for me. He became what He was not so that we could become all we’re meant to be. This is the story of the Bible, and it’s nothing short of the best story imaginable, because it’s a covenant story… and that means it’s a love story.

I recommend this book- As a starter click here and you can read the first chapter for free on line.

Have You Ever Been Lost: A Review

Chris Holland, author of this recent title, is speaker/director for It Is Written Canada. He has been a pastor and teacher of Bible Prophecy for many years. He is known for his clear presentations of God’s Word, and his greatest joy is to see lives transformed by the living power of Jesus Christ

The message of this book is based on three parables that Jesus told which are recorded in Luke 15. The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin and The Prodigal Son The last chapter of this book is entitled Three Strikes but Not Out.

The three parables are about the truth that Jesus desires to find us and bring us back to himself. As a Shepherd goes to seek his one lost sheep so Jesus is searching for each one of his children who is lost. The sheep knew he was lost but did not know how to get back home.  The coin is lost and illustrates the one who does not know they are lost but Jesus still can find even those who do not know that they are lost. The Prodigal son knew that he was lost, and he could make the decision to turn back toward home. Yet truly it was the love of the father that brought him home and restored him to being a member of the family.

The final chapter-Three Strikes but Not Out, uses the story of the disciple Peter who denied Jesus three times yet still Jesus accepted him back as one of his disciples.

You may have been away from Jesus and not known it; you might belong to a church but feel lost; you might have intentionally walked away; or you might have even denied Him. The promise of Jesus is that He will take you back. Though you’ve been lost, He will restore you. All of heaven will have a celebration when Jesus ultimately brings us home to be with Him and we are forever safe. The Father will be waiting with open arms.

You can read the first chapter of this book for free on line, click here.