Book Review- The Power of Respect by Deborah Norville

Respect is something we all want for ourselves and all too often fail to give to others. A regard or esteem for others, respect is the opposite of selfishness, greed, or indifference.

Deborah Norville, a journalist, broadcaster and author, makes a strong argument that respect ought to be the common thread in all human interaction, and that the lack of it is the foundation of many of our dysfunctions, both as a society and as individuals. She argues that families will be stronger, schools more successful, businesses more productive, profitable, and less likely to be sued, and people happier and more content if we all practiced mutual respect.

Based on more than just the author’s opinion, the book constantly references research by sociologists, psychologists and educators that supports her premise.

I found the book an easy read, with numerous stories of people who have learned this lesson and have made their lives better by applying it. I also found it bogs down a bit with the repetition of the same points in the stories of different people. I found myself having to work at finishing the last third, and I am not sure there was anything said there that had not already been said. However, that may have been my own impatience.

I think this is a book that ought to be read, and its lessons heeded, by most of the people I meet in stores, businesses and gathering places. I would encourage it most of all for young people, who seem most to be missing this important character trait.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

Book Review- Fearless by Max Lucado

One of the most difficult things we have to overcome is fear, and its cousins doubt, anxiety, and worry. Max Lucado, a pastor and prolific writer, explores how fear affects us, how it limits us, and how it can ultimately be overcome.

We fear so many things- failure, challenges, money (or the lack of it), violence both human and natural, the unknown, death. We fear what we cannot control, and we are anxious about the things we do control. Almost every aspect of our lives offers something to fear or something to worry about. It poisons our joy,
Christ's most common command in the New Testament is not to love God, to love our neighbor, or to do good; it is “don't be afraid.” If Christ, who knows us as only the Creator can know His creation, spends so much time talking about our fears, it is a clue to us that dealing with our fears should be a priority. But how? By refocusing away from our fear and onto the person of Jesus, who tells us "Take courage. I am here!" (Matthew 14:27 NLT).

Lucado is an engaging writer. He uses simple language, extensive Scripture, and even humor to express a profound faith, and invites us to share that faith. I greatly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone, but in particular to those who find fear and anxiety their companions.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

Book Review- The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley

Andy Stanley is a prolific writer and great communicator. His gift is to present simple principles using simple words that communicate profound truth.

In this book, Andy talks about something that seems trivial, and he admits it; the destination where we arrive depends on the road we travel to get there. Get on a road going north from Atlanta, and you are not going to arrive in Florida. It doesn’t matter how much you wish for it and how hard you pray for it- the road you have selected just won't get you there. The powerful message of the book is that this principle applies not just to our travel, but also to every aspect of our lives.

Life is full of desired destinations - a career, a home, financial, relational and spiritual peace- and every one of those destinations comes at the end of a journey along a path. Choose the wrong path and despite our desire or intention, we will not arrive where we wanted to be when we started out.

The power of this book is that beyond pointing out this principle, Andy uses Scripture to encourage the reader toward choosing the right paths in the first place. I found this book entertaining and encouraging, and hope all my friends read it; especially the younger ones- they still have time to avoid some of the nastier journeys and destinations.

Healing Place...Part 2

When a person is losing blood, it is pretty obvious- it is messy, and to the untrained eye, horrifying and distracting. Even obviously contrived Hollywood blood is distressing. In many injuries the thing that kills is not the injury itself but the resulting blood loss. One of the first things done in the ER is to start to restore blood volume with saline, plasma or even whole blood.

What are we losing in emotional trauma? Joy, contentment, self-confidence, sleep,concentration, and more. How do we restore these things? Check out Galatians 5:22-23. These "fruits of the spirit" are just exactly what are needed.

When in pain we are internally focused. Our healing goal is to redirect focus from "me" and "my pain" to "Him" and "His presence in my life." Of course, as naturally selfish and self-centered, our tendency is inward and not outward- but outward and toward Christ is the only place we will ever find true joy and true contentment. After all, the pain and loss we are dealing with is usually caused by the loss or betrayal of something human or worldly.

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself...

In fact, I doubt I could have said it nearly as well.

Sometimes, people are surprised to learn that The Church at Argyle is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. In many ways, we don't seem to fit the mold of what people think a SBC church should look like. We have often been asked why we don't decide to become non-denominational.

Ed Stetzer is a lot of things- a former pastor, church planter, author, speaker, thinker, and researcher. Among other current hats, he is President of Lifeway Research, a part of Lifeway, the agency of the SBC concerned with curriculum, publishing, etc. Ed writes for Between the Times, the faculty blog of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In a recent post there, he discussed Why I Am A Southern Baptist..

Pastor Ken and I agree- good reading and excellent reasoning.

Healing Place...

Even though it's not in my primary job description, I have found myself doing a lot of counseling lately. People might be amazed at the depths in which some people find themselves. Sometimes the situation is the consequence of their own poor choices; sometimes they are the result of someone else's poor choices; regardless, they are desperately hurting.

I started thinking about what we sometimes do in our church office to what goes on in an emergency room. Let's think about it. The patient has been stabbed — deeply. The knife is there, buried in the wound. He is in terrible pain, blood is everywhere, and a life is in danger. Sometimes he is screaming and writhing in agony; sometimes he is motionless, paralyzed with the injury. What do you do?

I am going to spend a few posts exploring this metaphor a little and comparing how much alike a knife into the body and a blow into the soul are alike.

In traumatic injury, the very first thing to do is to control the bleeding and shock. There will be a lot of things that have to be done in the future, but the absolute first thing is to stop the loss of blood, restore blood volume, and deal with shock.

What is the analog of physical blood loss and shock is the emotional trauma? Stay tuned — you didn't think I was going to waste a multi-entry idea on a single post, did you?

Early Morning Adrenaline Rush

Way early Betty woke me- "I need you!!! There's a snake in the den!!! The kitties were trying to play with it!!!!" She had a cat in each arm and really wide eyes. Cats were pretty wide-eyed, too.

I went to look at it and thought, "Yikes, that's a coral snake!" About 4-5 inches long and skinny, really pretty. I put on garden gloves, got cooking tongs and an empty pill bottle and stuffed him in.

Then, just to be sure, I went to the handy-dandy online Florida snake identification guide. Turns out our visitor was not a very poisonous coral snake, but a friendly little scarlet kingsnake.

Everyone calmed down, got heart rates under control, let the cats out of the closed bedroom, and put the visitor back outside where he belonged. Of course, too wired to go back to bed. Cats are still looking and sniffing around the den, looking for their playmate. Of course, I suspect the snake is just as glad he got away.