Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio, is a phenomenal communicator. For the past 10 years his platform has steadily grown and he has become a voice for college students across the country. His book ‘I am not but I know I am’ tell the incredible story of God and is a mixture of scripture and personal stories from his own story over the years. He captures your attention from the beginning as he tells the story of almost being arrested in New York as he was oblivious to the fact that he was running down a 6 lane highway. He likes this to how we get so caught up and busy in what we are doing and the path that we have chosen, that we are oblivious to not only what God is doing around us. But we are oblivious to the Story of God.

As he tells the story of God he intermixes stories of his own. Going from Manhattan to London to Mount Horeb to explaining the Cosmos to Nazareth to numerous other divine appointments and stories from across the globe. His stories end with the biggest story of them all, the Cross. Louie is such a great communicator and I enjoyed his example of how he truly clinged to the Lord as his own father clinged to life here on earth. ‘The Cross of Christ is the place where trust in God is born, lighting the way through the valley of the shadow of death. What looked like the worst day in history is now the source of our praise.’

When we focus on the Story of God, we begin to realize how short our lives really are. I believe that is what Louie’s vision for this book was. To serve as a reminder of the Big God that we serve in our small lives.

www.familyfirst.net

There are a number of books that I read in order to prepare for a season of life that I haven’t quite reached yet. Though still a newly wed, I couldn’t wait to pick up Mark Merrill’s most recent release ‘All Pro Dad: Seven Essentials to be a Hero to your Kids’. For anyone that is interested in becoming a father one day or any father out there now, this is a book that you should include in your reading for 2013.

There are a number of great books on being a parent or a Dad specifically, but I don’t think any are written with the intentions that Mark Merrill had with this book. Mark’s Seven Essentials, also known as the 7 M’s, are: Makeup, Mind-set, Motive, Method, Model, Message and Master. All Pro Dad separates itself from other books because of the intentionality each chapter puts into being a Dad. Each chapter also brings ‘Huddle up and ask your child’ questions, which helps father apply what they are reading in the book.

The book brings great advice not only from Merrill’s perspective but from NFL Coaches and successful CEO’s that work diligently to balance the life between being a Dad and the demands of the workplace. There are also great personal stories of the author’s success’s and learning experiences as a husband and father. These stories help so many see that they aren’t the only ones that have made mistakes in their role as a Dad.

One of my favorite pieces from the book was on patience:

‘Patience is a choice. When you’re patient, you choose to hold your tongue instead of realizing it’s venom. You choose to have a long fuse instead of a quick temper. Patience is choosing to control your emotions rather than letting your emotions control you.’ (Merrill, 64)

If you want to be considered a Hero by your kids now or in the future, you must be intentional in preparing for fatherhood. All Pro Dad is a great book that helps you learn different ways to be intentional as a husband and a father, while giving you certain tools to apply what you learn. The 7M’s are all wonderful, but Mark hold’s true to his faith as he presents the most essential M of them all. Encouraging anyone who reads the book to ‘Know Your Master’. He continues on telling the story of creation and the Gospel. This is a must read for a father!

Being a Husband, Father, and Founder of a Large Ministry life can become a little crazy to say the least. Without balance I will quickly burn out, become exhausted, and as a result be ineffective both at home and work.
In this book Andy Stanley does a great job of illuminating the reality of how work can effect our homes in a negative way, but if we are intentional with protecting our family it can have the opposite effect in influencing our work in a positive way. This book was a breath of fresh air and something I need to continually hear as someone who can easily get caught up in going 100mph in my everyday work.
Stanley does an excellent job as always communicating real practical ways we can maximize our moments both and work and with our family and not allowing the two to collide in an unhealthy manner. Anyone who is feeling burnout, or finds themselves with no time or energy for thei family this book is a must read. May I also suggest those struggling with balance to take a deeper look into harborministries.com.

Author Douglas Wilson does a superb job in illuminating the results of absent Father’s and the damaging affects it has not only on the individual, but also society as whole. I felt that Wilson did an excellent jobwith his research and articultaed/supported it very well in throughout this book. I would also like to add that there are young men and women all over the world that grow up with Fathers in their home, but still hunger for a Dad that is engaged. I think this book also does a phenomenal job at encouraging men to not only be in the home, but also to lead the home and be spiritually active in the lives of their children.

I was thoroughly pleased that Wilson made it evidently clear that even with a spiritually present Father in the home there is still only One Heavenly Father that can fill that God shaped hole in our hearts. Overall I believe this book serves as a great reminder of the importance of engaged fathers, and it also serves as a great encouragement for Fathers go be spiritual leaders.

I think everyone who has longed for a more spiritually intimate relationship with their own father should read this book. I think anyone who is looking for their father to fill a role he was never intended to fulfil should also read this book. Overall, well researched and written book. It is applicable because every one of us has a longing to loved by our Father. The wisdom is in looking for the right type of love from the appropriate Father.

 As a newly married man, I try to do everything I can to grow in my knowledge about marriage. Whether through reading the Bible or grabbing a new book, I’m committed to grow in my knowledge in marriage and in my relationship with my wife. It’s a wonderful book that if read before marriage can help you establish how you want your dating, engaged and married life to be. Craig starts out with defining how many perceive relationships and the fact that we get caught up in what the world says how we are to pursue each other. He is so transparent in any mistakes that he has made before and after marriage which helps couples learn from his mistakes. It’s almost like getting a free manual of what not to do in relationships. Craig was not living and dating as he should and made numerous mistakes that have been hard to work through. He details different ways to move past…your past. It was encouraging for me even though I hadn’t made the mistakes he had, yet to see the Lord’s work and grace on how he approached marriage was humbling. It gives me hope, knowing that my life is destined with mistakes ahead, but God’s grace can overpower your worst mistakes.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get married in the future or those who have been married for some time!

“I received this book for free through Waterbrook Multnomah’s Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.”

We all have idols in our lives that we might not see. In fact, if we asked others to look into our lives they would be able to see them plain as day. With Empty Promises Pete Wilson shines a light on idols and lies that we put our faith and time into that cost us more than we know. The lies that we believe can be the worth we would feel by owning something or the satisfaction we would receive if we had a little more money. When we place our security in these things, we need to be cautious about what truth we are allowing to speak into our lives. There are so many things in life that happen that is beyond our control, but what we can control is the discipline to seek God amidst the craziness of life. Paul walks us through the idol factory, our heart, then guides us in how to find true satisfaction of our souls.
This book challenged me to look deep into my idol factory and see what was being created. I was surprised at how many small things I had let creep into my heart without a bit of resistance. I felt as if the author was writing directly to me, and because of that I finished the book in 2 days! I would highly recommend picking this book up, Paul Wilson speaks biblical truth and empowers others to do the same.

“I received this book for free through Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze book program in exchange for this review.”

As a director of a youth ministry, I always look for ways to better relate to my students. I think at times I haven’t done the best job in communicating with them because of low expectations that I might have picked up over the years. My perspective shifted the moment I read ‘Do Hard Things’ by Alex and Brett Harris. Since early in their teen years they have set out to prove the world wrong that you have to be a certain age to accomplish certain things. I myself was encouraged and motivated time and time again by the accomplishments that they have made in such a short time. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment is the Rebelution movement that they initiated through the publishing of this book. As they have taken on hard tasks at a young age, they lay out the vision for other students to ‘Do Hard Things’ and go to battle against the low expectations that adults have of them. As I read through the pages I couldn’t help but think of 1 Timothy 4:12 ‘Don’t let anyone look down upon you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and purity’. These words seem even more powerful when you look at the incredible movement that Alex and Brett started at a young age. No matter your age, you will not be able to read this book and not be encouraged to take on the world. As a teenager you get to read about living examples of people your age doing incredibly hard things around the world! As a 20-30 to 40 and on you read about what incredible things teenagers half your age are doing and it demands you to step up to the challenge with them.

We all like to think that we do a good job of protecting ourselves and our things from harm. In fact a lot of our money and time goes into protecting those things. It can be insurance, warranties, safety goggles, seat belts, sun screen, medicine, otter box cases….all of these things purposed to protect something or someone. I think that could be one of our problems though. We spend so much time and money on certain areas that often times we don’t think about other areas that need protecting. One of those areas is the Heart! When you think of protecting your heart, you might only think in reference to relationships. However, there are many more enemies of the heart that you need to protect yourself from than that. Andy Stanley does a fantastic job discussing the fine line of four emotions that literally can control our emotions. In doing so, those emotions usually control us. ‘Enemies of the Heart’ is a great way to ‘Check Yourself’ before you ‘Wreck Yourself’!

As I was prepping for marriage, I wanted to make sure that I was prepared as I could be. In order to be prepared, I read numerous books over marriage, relationships and families. As a result, the thing I was encouraged to do was to put the books away and begin to ‘study my wife to be’. I decided to take the advice to ‘study my wife to be’, but I still wanted to learn from other experiences. The book I enjoyed most was by Mark and Grace Driscoll entitled ‘Real Marriage: The Truth about Sex, Friendship & Life Together.
The part that separated this book from a number of others that I had read was the flat out honesty of the areas in their marriage that they had failed. I felt as if I were peering into the private journal of two people that loved each other, but were each holding back a piece of themselves. Mark and Grace share their struggles with communication, sex, work and numerous other areas of their lives. They shared the experiences of a marriage that in today’s society would typically crumble, but walked through the process of how they redeemed their marriage. It was humbling to read how they journeyed with each other through the years where the marriage was dry to now where it’s the best it has been.
As a 2.5 week newly wed, I was blessed to read this book before I was married to catch a glimpse of the different areas that I indeed need to study my wife. I think Andy Stanley said it best when asked about this book ‘Whether engaged, newlywed, or veteran, Real Marriage will serve as an invaluable resource.’

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers 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.”

Joel Beeke makes very clear that this book is intended for Christian’s parents who find their dependence in God and not their own abilities in raising children. Doesn’t mean non-christian parents shouldn’t read this book, I would actually strongly encourage them to. I believe anyone who reads this book will find some timeless truths. Due to the fact he writes this book using timeless Truth (the Bible) to support his claims. This book isn’t like most parenting books one might read. Even though the book stresses the parents need to depend on God is raising children, it does not excuse them from being active parents and playing a significant role in their child’s development.
Beeke divides his book into 4 main sections. The first section focuses on the theological foundations of parenting found in the Scriptures, and how parents should raise their children in the covenant of grace. It is clear Beeke holds to a reformed view in his writing of these chapters. The second section examines the role the parents have in child rearing as prophets, priests, and kings in the homes. I would say the second section (Chapters 6-14) provide the basic framework for parenting. The 3rd section Beeke does an excellent job of communicating some practical ways on how to teach, train, and rear children. In the final section he shifts the discussion towards raising teenagers. Overall a book I believe every parent should read. Will we ever be perfect parents? No. But that isn’t an excuse to not become better parents. Read this book, I promise it will encourage you to become a better parent.