Chasing Elephants by Brent Crowe

Chasing Elephants by BRENT CROWE
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

MY REVIEW:

Challenging. Convicting. Thought-provoking. Freeing. Beneficial. Implemental.

The intriguing title and cover are the first things to draw you into an intense, yet exhilarating probe of our freedom in Christ in the so-called gray areas of life. Brent has done a fabulous job at writing a book that sticks to the point, isn't full of big words and hard to grasp ideas, and stays true to the Word of God. In the first few chapters He presents the ground work of our freedom in Christ and in the last chapters he provides examples and "case studies" of what it all looks like fleshed out. In chapter five He presents sixteen questions as tools to aid you in establishing your freedom in Christ in gray areas.

Overall I really liked and appreciated this book. It's a comprehensive, yet simple and straight-forward book that the average person can both understand and enjoy. I was reading it in review before our teens in youth group begin to read it as part of this year's selected reading and while I think it's a great book, I do think it's possibly a little on the older side for some teens. However, that said, I still encourage them to at least try to read it as it does get easier as you go along. Brent has taken a hard issue and made it manageable - like eating an elephant one bite at a time! - and so I highly recommend teens and adults read this book and that parents work through it with their teenagers for maximum impact. It doesn't hold "all the answers" but it does give you food for thought that will help you think through gray issues using Scripture as your guide.

A Salute To Service by Mike Radford {GIVEAWAY}

A Salute to Service: The Rebirth of Patriotism by Mike Radford

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

MY REVIEW:

A Salute To Service is a wonderful book in which Mike Radford shares his passion for patriotism. He talks about his Hall of Heroes project and shares how you can start one, too. But this book is not a "how-to guide", it's a compilation of stories that will inspire you, encourage you, move you to tears, bring you to laughter.

You will read about the American G.I., teachers who truly taught, what a real patriot is, old-fashioned values that are really not old-fashioned, and so much more. This book will remind you of America's roots and why it's so great to live in the good ol' USA!

Reading A Salute to Service would be a great way to celebrate the 4th of July. It will remind you to be thankful for the things we so easily take for granted. This book would be a great one to keep on the shelf to browse through every so often, or to leave on your coffee table for guest to be encouraged by, or to give to a veteran as a small token of gratitude for their service.

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This review copy was provided courtesy of New Leaf Publishing, but the opinions stated are strictly that of my own.

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GIVEAWAY

In honor of the men and women who have fought to pay the price of freedom for my family and I, I want to thank someone who has served by making this giveaway for past and present servicemen and women only. 

Please leave a comment and I will draw a winner on July 13th.

Leonard’s Biblical Chronological Chart

Leonard's Biblical Chronological Chart by C. W. Leonard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

MY REVIEW:

Don't judge this book by it's cover! It's hiding a treasure inside - a 29" x 34" detailed chronological chart of the Bible.

This beautiful chart folds up neatly into a book for easy and safe storage on your bookshelf. The chart is an incredibly detailed reference tool that gives you the chronological order of the Bible, Old Testament genealogy, and many more facts. The chart is so beautiful to look at in it's original 1860 format that part of me wanted to hang it up. However, being able to neatly fold and store it in book format is certainly handy. The only downside is that it did not fold back up quite as compact as it was before I opened it. It would have been nice to have "folding-up" directions shown on the inside cover!

I recommend this unique chart to any person who is intent on studying the Word of God. Every detail on this chart is important and pertains to the overall goal of explaining the Bible in it's chronological order.

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This review copy was provided courtesy of New Leaf Publishing Group and the opinions expressed are purely my own.

Big Thoughts For Little Thinkers by Joey Allen

Big Thoughts For Little Thinkers: The Scripture by Joey Allen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

MY REVIEW

This series - Big Thoughts For Little Thinkers is excellent! These small little books are cute and easy to understand for young children all the while dealing with "deep" concepts.

These 4 books talk about and explain The Scripture, The Mission, The Gospel, and The Trinity at a child's level. Each book is "narrated" by a character who introduces their self to you at the beginning of the book in way that gets your child's attention.

I really enjoyed how easy it was for my kids to relate to the characters in the books and understand hard things. The book on The Gospel was my favorite, but all of them were very good and biblicaly sound. I read them to my 3, 5, & 6-year-old children and each of them were able to understand at appropriate levels.

Every home should have a set of these on their shelves!

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Thanks to New Leaf Press for the courtesy review copies.