Thrive- a call to action

Thrive by Mark Hall

Thrive is a vibrant living call to action by Christian band leader, Mark Hall of Casting Crowns. Mark believes we should all be deeply rooted in God’s word. The first half of the book is dedicated to equipping the reader to be able to read, absorb, and act on God’s word. Through great stories, illustrations and solid doctrine, he encourages readers to actively pursue their own spiritual growth. He expects the benefits of a deeper relationship with God to help you reach out to others. The second half of the book is about reaching out and sharing God’s love with others. Mark’s background as a Youth Pastor makes the book particularly appealing to teens and young Christians, but all ages can all learn from this book. I enjoyed and highly recommend this book.

Pilgrimage by Lynn Austin

 Timely and wonderful - I was going through my own dry period and her journey helped me. Lynn Austin has written a travelogue of sorts - a journey of her body, heart and mind. She was in a dry spell where not even her prayers or her worship felt normal. She embarks on a journey to Israel to walk in the places of the Bible. Her journey begins in the wilderness of Zin, a dry dusty desert that reflects her present spiritual life. The tour progresses through to Jerusalem and on to Galilee and the coastal city of Capernaum. Throughout the book she describes the countryside and the places that she goes in context of the stories from the Bible that occurred there. Her descriptions are so vibrant it makes you feel like you are right there with her. She often brings to light things about the story or the culture that aren't necessarily well known. Each destination in each chapter ends with a beautiful prayer praising God for the things she has seen and the knowledge or understanding she has gained from this experience. By the end of the book she is in a better place spiritually, rejoicing in the understanding she has gained from God through this journey. I would very much like to go on the same tour she went on. Even though the reader did not go physically on the journey I believe God will use her journey to minister to you as well.
I am so grateful that Mrs. Austin was willing to share her struggles with others. We feel less alone in our doubts and fears when we realize there are others who feel similarly. I'm reading through a second time to be sure I didn't miss any blessing God has to share with me!

Davis Bunn's "Strait of Hormuz" is wonderful!

Marc Royce is on the move again working as a freelance operative for his former boss Ambassador Walton. He has asked Marc to look into a report of money being laundered through the high end art world of Geneva, Switzerland. Walton tells him to trust no one, as there has been a leak of information reported.
Kitra Korban is contacted at the Kibbutz in Israel by a mysterious man who claims to be a friend of her father. He asks her to fly to Geneva to save the life of an important man, Marc Royce. Having no idea why Marc is in Geneva or why someone would be warning her to go rescue him, she packs and leaves. She goes even though she and Marc had recently broken off their relationship.
Marc arrives at the back door of the gallery in time to see that the contact has been murdered and the building is rigged to blow. Amazingly he sees Kitra at the front door of the gallery and he runs through and grabs her and throws her in Lake Geneva just as the building explodes.
This begins a rip roaring sequence of fast car chases( with Ferrari's, Bentley's and Roll's), alternate identities, lots of bad guys, fights and guns and a great deal of angst. It's a race to save the planet from the Iranian nuclear agenda or is it something else entirely.

Marc and his band of helpers do the leg work, go rogue against what the government wants him to do and ultimately solves the problem. He and his group manage all that is thrown at them with faith and perseverance.

Davis Bunn has created a finely woven story of courage, faith and stick through- it- ness that makes for an edge of your seat , nail-biting thriller. His characters are believably human, they have their doubts, they have their wounds but they also have their faith to rely on to get them through whatever life throws at them. His characters pray and read the Bible and share their faith with one another. It is a beautiful multicultural blend of sharing together despite their differences.

 

This was the most enjoyable of the three Marc Royce books. The action was non-stop, the plot was relevant, believable and could have been written from today's headlines. Christians need books like this not only to help us wake up to the world around us but to visualize how we are to respond to our world a Christians.

Adventure Here....

The Black Pearl by Peter Tonkin
Years ago a Japanese firm finds a massive oyster bed in a lake deep in the jungle of Africa that produce priceless black pearls. The lake is at the bottom of a volcano which erupts and buries the Japanese firm. The area is between two warring countries and there is also a renegade guerrilla force with a witch doctor guarding the jungles. A Russian mining group has found that the black pearl site contains a vast reserves  of coltan, a Rare Earth metal used in electronics and computers worth a fortune. They asks Richard Mariner to take a team in and claim the remote lake. Richard must cross through almost impenetrable jungle fight and survive attacks from all sides including a Chinese firm which is trying to lay claim to the same land. Who will win??? This is a nail-biting thriller, a very enjoyable read.  Great characters, excellent plotting, a wonderful thrill ride! Peter Tonkin has written other books with the characters of Richard Mariner some of which are alluded to in this book but reading his other books is not absolutely necessary to enjoy this great adventure.


Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye by Len Bailey
This is a wonderful read. The author replicates Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters and setting perfectly. He develops a new Sherlock adventure where Sherlock has found a Moriarity built device called the Needle's Eye which allows Sherlock and Watson to travel back in time to solve ten mysteries of the Bible that they have been challenged with by an unknown source. They begin their journeys as invisible witnesses at first but eventually they become more than observers. The juxtaposition of Sherlock's almost atheism against Watson's strong belief in the Bible makes for interesting discussions between the two. The bible stories are familiar but flourish under the scrutiny of the pair of detectives.

Easy Go by Michael Crichton
 This was a fun read. (It is a shame we lost such a talented voice as Michael Crichton.) This is a plot for classic B movie Egyptian  the story of a lowly professor who translates hieroglyphics. He is translating an obscure piece of parchment when he finds that it is a puzzle, a code written into the hieroglyphs by the author. He deciphers the code and finds that the scroll identifies a location of an unknown undiscovered tomb near the Valley of the Kings. The professor finds an adventurous newspaper reporter, who recruits a crew of thieves and together they set out to locate the tomb and  smuggle the goods out of Egypt. They begin by lawfully setting up a site near the tomb under the guise of taking museum quality photographs of all the hieroglyphs in all the already excavated tombs of the Valley. This they do by day and at night they search for their tomb. Will they find it?...Can they escape with the goods?
This is a fun book and would make a great movie!

Short takes: short reviews of what I've been reading

The Noticer Returns by Andy Andrews
Andy Andrews revives his wisdom espousing friend "Jones" in a delightful book about parenting skills sort of. As in the original book, "Jones" is a notice and he watches and notices and points things out to you from a different perspective than the one you are seeing the situation from. I thoroughly enjoyed this second installment with "Jones"! He brings up thoughts for careful consideration. Thoughts to help you become a notice in your own life, a different way of looking at things. The book has an at home among friends feel to it that makes these people your friends. And if you ever visit Gulf Shores, Alabama You will feel right at home!

Wisdom for Everyday Living 365 Daily Devotions From America's Most Influential Christian Leaders/ compiled by Steve M. Woods
This is a very enlightening a uplifting devotional compiled by a great group of writers ( over 100 Christian leaders contributed). There is no set order, but there are 365 devotionals, so there is one for each day in a year. Each begins with a bible verse,  often included in print so there is no need to drag out your bible to look up the verse. The devotionals are quick, insightful , to the point and moving. I have enjoyed reading through each day so far and plan to continue.


The Gate by Dann A. Stouten

Suffering from burnout and looking to get away Richard stumbles on a real estate ad in the paper for Angel's Gate a former resort that is for sale. He decides to take the weekend and  check it out. When he finally finds it and goes through the gate he has entered a whole other world, possibly a back door to Heaven. The book is slightly similar to The Shack by Wm. Young in that Richard has conversations with God but it goes further in imagining that this place might be what Heaven is like. It is a delightful read with many values and morals passed along by the people he meets there. This is truly an adventure into the unknown.

 

Davis Bunn's "Unlimited" Talent with New Screenplay, Movie and Book titled "Unlimited"

Davis Bunn has a fabulous new book , a novelization of a screenplay that he wrote for an up coming movie. The book was wonderful and I am looking forward to the movie. There are links to win copies of the books on his Facebook and web pages which I will include links to below. I will also have an additional post with a Q&A with Davis Bunn and his biography included.

Here is my review:

 

Unlimited is an interesting battle set in Mexico and partially based on a true story. By battle I mean that it is a human drama about good vs. evil, but much more about finding a personal sense of meaning and responsibility in this life.

Simon Orwell is a man who has made a complete mess of his life:  taking wrong turns at every opportunity. He is a brilliant scientist, although still a student, whose latest wrong turn has gotten him and his favorite professor booted out of MIT. Simon feels so ashamed and remorseful for betraying his professor that he wants to somehow make things right. The two had been working on a project together to create a device that would garner the unused (“wasted”) energy and create unlimited free energy from it. The professor dreams of bringing free energy to Mexico, his home, since the current power company there is very expensive and oppressive. The professor has sent Simon an email saying he has made a breakthrough in their design and needs Simon’s help to finally make their device work.

     Simon takes everything he has including his version of the device in his car and goes to Mexico with the intention to apologize for betraying the professor and  to do everything he can to help him complete his device. The minute Simon crosses the border everything goes wrong. Simon is run off the road and forced to flee with his device from a man with a gun. Simon hides the machine in a drainage ditch and manages to make it into town to meet the professor at the town council meeting to present their device in hopes of receiving funding. When he arrives he is greeted with the news that the professor is dead and the council claims they never offered funding, but would like to buy his device for 1000 bucks. Devastated, not only that his friend is dead, that there is no funding and the lo-ball price the town offered for years of his research, Simon leaves  only to find that someone is still trying to kill him. Simon is rescued by the assistant to the mayor and taken to the orphanage for refuge. There Simon meets Harold Finch, who helps Simon set out to find out who killed the professor and why. He also helps Simon believe in himself (and the love of the heavenly father) and to rebuild the machine and  to make it work. But they must fight against a powerful drug cartel which has other more sinister plans for the device.

It is a wonderful story of redemption and hope! There is even some romance involved. Mostly the reader is exposed to the hardships and terror that living in Mexico can be today. The powerful drug cartels are ruthless and dangerous and make just surviving difficult in an already treacherous environment.

Davis Bunn has created a wonderful novelization of his screenplay for the film “Unlimited” which is also coming to theaters soon. Writing a book based on a movie is difficult because all the dialog and stage directions together have already produced the story; there is no room for embellishment or change. There were a couple of instances in reading the book that the conversations seemed a bit stilted but I’m sure the same conversations flowed in the movie and were necessary to the plot. I am looking forward to the movie!

Link to free preview of Chapters 1-3 of Unlimited (http://on.fb.me/1c5IyCS)

 

Here are links to all of Davis’s online “homes”:

 

Website and Blog: www.davisbunn.com

Blog Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DavisBunn

E-newsletter (to receive subscriber-only giveaways & previews of his upcoming novels):  http://www.davisbunn.com/news.htm

Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/davisbunnauthor

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/davisbunn/

Twitter: @davisbunn - http://twitter.com/davisbunn

I received a complimentary copy of Unlimited from B&H Publishing group in exchange for my honest review.

Egyptian Adventure in "Easy Go" by John Lange (psd. Michael Crichton)

Michael Crichton has always been a great writer; further evidenced by these early writings under the pseudonym, John Lange. “Easy Go” is a fun romp,  through a story of intrigue and adventure, that would make a great movie. Set in Egypt after World War II, the book has a noir mystery feel to it, like a really good Vincent Price movie. A disrespected, but brilliant, hieroglyphics translator and archeologist deciphers a text that leads him to believe there is one more pharaoh’s tomb still out there to be found. He finds a bored writer who in search of adventure believes him and agrees to assemble a team to search for the tomb. However, he determines that they should keep the search a secret and steal the riches and sell them back to Egypt for a ransom; thus making a great deal of money from the loot. The writer knows a British Lord who has funds and might be interested in the adventure. Lord Grover agrees to their delightful proposition and funds their efforts under the guise of a photography expedition to photograph the great tombs and sites near Luxor and in the Valley of the Kings. The adventure continues as the group manages to complete both the photography expedition by day and the search for the lost tomb by night.

It is a thrilling and enjoyable story all the way through to the twist at the end! Enjoyable for mystery lovers, fans of Egyptology and Michael Crichton fans!