The Least Among You

Richard Kelly was in jail because he tried to stop the violence in some riots, but he didn't and got sent to jail. One of the police officers had to go to the hospital. Instead of staying in jail, he got probation, but he had to go to an All-White Seminary.

Richard met a man named Sam, who was the grounds keeper. Sam helped Richard a lot, taught him a bunch of things. Richard's roommate was from Texas and a very nice guy that was on his side. Richard called him 'Tex'.

Richard had a friend named Roscoe he grew up with, but in the end, Roscoe died because he made a lot of wrong choices, including dealing in drugs. He also killed an old man because he wanted the man to sell drugs for him and the old man would not let him.

Richard had to get a petition signed with 70% of the students & faculty agreeing so that they would let more blacks or people of other races into their seminary within 10 days. President Beckett of the seminary started out on Richard's side, but in the end, was not. He ended up getting kicked out of the seminary for trying to bribe Richard to not do the petition.

This movie does have violence and people smoked a lot. I didn't like that part.


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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.”

Outlive Your Life

I earnestly enjoy Lucado's style of writing.  Love the short chapters, which tends to keep my interest without really dragging things out.  The Discussion Guide at the back of the book gives you the ability to be able to go more indepth with any of the chapters.

The more of Lucado's books I read, the more I realize he's ordinary just like the rest of us.  Rather, he is allowing God to use him in his giftings to bless many people, myself included.

I sort of had this book pegged incorrectly, but the title is descriptive.  It means to leave a lasting legacy for Jesus after you are gone fro this world.  This was an easy read and I was able to finish it in one day.  Thought it would take more, but I sort of focused and kept on track.

This book challenged me to think beyond myself in different ways for the Lord.  He stresses how God loves everyone, finds everyone valuable.  Yet, we often want to classify people in order to distance ourselves from them for whatever reasons. 

Lucado is great at giving example after example from not only the Bible of all types of different people from kings to peasants, from the healthy to the incredibly sick whom were totally sold out to Jesus.  He also gives modern day examples -- some I've heard of, others just learned.

He starts off Chatpers 2 -15 with verses from Acts of how to OUTLIVE our lives.  He ends every chapter with a prayer on the topic of that chapter, as well as verses from all over the Bible that share in that prayer.  I totally LOVED the prayers and prayed them.  This is the 2nd of 3 of the last books I've read have done this and I so like it.

I'm now challenged to take action upon what I've read.  Going to go to a hospital I live near and see if they need people to visit and pray over people.  Maybe I can do that a few times a week?  I may not be able to change the world right now, but I can do something in the world I live in in my own neighborhood. 
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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.”

Your Money God's Way

This book was nothing like I thought it was and is truly a book on tough love with your money.  Streater's message on money is very direct, straight forward and she minces no meat.  She does not coddle her readers, rather speaks very plainly, but with an exclammation point truthfully in terms that people in this day-in-age can relate to.

Rather than feel condemned for my own misconceptions & behaviors about money, it's better to embrace the truth, shed the lies, and move forward.  I've seen areas where I handled money unwisely in the past and some of the challenges that are currently being faced because of them.

She has prayers near the end of each chapter of repentence and to ask God to help us to take corrective actions and implement sound biblical principles.  Additionally at the end of each chapter are 2 things:  1)  a summary of the chapter in bullets (LOVE THIS!!!) and 2) a list of action items or questions to ponder.

God must be telling me something because the last 3 books I've finished reading all involve prayers in them at the end of each chapter, for which I've prayed all of them.  Prayer is very powerful and I'm uniting with the authors in agreeing to God's Truth.  God is moving.

Even in my situation, I do believe God wants me to take some actions -- not in a panic flurry, rather in prayer posture, worship to Him, and taking actions and letting God open & close doors.  I like how she gives examples in the book of real people who have made unwise choices but finally turned around and began making wise choices.  Likewise she also shares about people who only continue making unwise choices and never see that they are unwise.  She gives the consequences of both, and the latter is not pretty, rather very destructive not only to the person making those choices, but to those around that person. 

It is our choice to choose the lies of the enemy or listen & heed the Truth of God found in the Bible.  God is always consistent with His Word.  There are plenty of Scriptures throughout the book, too. 

Even if you're financially astute and making right decisions on a regular basis, this book still may provide for you valuable insights on how to be even better.  It is not a Dave Rampsey book, but a good compliment to his stuff. 
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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.”

The Boy Who Changed The World

The illustrations in this book are so beautiful and the message is so sweet. It's regarding the Butterfly Effect, but made simpler so young kids can read and understand this.

The message is simple, "EVERY THING YOU DO MATTERS!"

This includes big things, small things, and everything in between. This reinforces that we are beautifully and wonderfully created for a purpose by God. Our lives are significant, they do matter.

The book is physically a nice big book. The pictures are like mini-paintings and thoughtful. The expressions on the people's faces are tender & loving.

There is great hope in this book. Both my kids read this book and loved it. It's a must to share with your children, grandchildren, young people. This book also gave me time to speak to book of my children about making wise choices and to know that nothing they do is insignificant.

This book helps greatly convey in a simple manner that a person does have great value & worth. Great job Andy Andrews!

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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.”

The Butterfly Effect

This is the second book I've read by Andy Andrews. The first was the The Traveller's Gift, which was an wonderful fiction book that had a great message and has really changed how I view things. The Butterfly Effect also has the same poignant impact on me.

The jist of the book is to not place judgment on whether an event, something we do or say is of greater or lesser important, rather that ALL that we do has a consequence and is important. We do not know whether any consequence at any moment in time can result in something really impactful and significant or not occuring.

Sometimes seemingly insignificant events can ultimately result in HUGE things happening. He gives a couple examples in history that ONE person was able to impact the lives of millions and billions of people - countries, nations. However, when each person acted in whatever manner they deemed best in that moment, it set about a chain reaction that has greatly made a difference.

The conclusion of this is MY LIFE IS SIGNIFICANT. I really do matter. This isn't only for myself, but for every single person ever born.

When thinking about the impact of our words & actions can have for all eternity, it's a very sobering thought and makes me want to make wiser choices, be more courageous, be a person of integrity, a better person. Excellent book and very easy to read.

I had both my children read this book and they loved it.

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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.”

The Body Fat Solution

I borrowed this audio from the library and think this is an awesome audio.  In fact, it's so good, I'm going to buy the book.  This is a 10 hr audio that is excellent.  I purchased Tom Venuto's ebook Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) in 2003 and subscribe to his newsletters.  He's changed his newsletter format over the years as his business has grown bigger, but one of the things that I find refreshing is that he is an articulate, eloquent, straight-forward guy that cares a great deal about people.

Listening to this book was such a treat.  It really helps the average person that has a life, doesn't have the ability to spend all day working out, has a family, career, etc., which is the general population.  Over the past 7 yrs since reading his BFFM book and implementing some of those things, as I listened to this, there were many "a-ha" moments and things that really struck me quite deeply.

He not only talks about the diet and exercise, but he talks about the whole life from spiritual, the mind, the emotions, social behaviors, myths, excuses, all the different things that most of us have heard.  He doesn't endorse any diets, rather this is a way of life to shed unnecssary bodyfat and how to do it in a way that keeps that bodyfat off you for the rest of your lives.  He doesn't give a pat answer, but explains hot to find the root causes of what caused the excess weight.

It's really a well-rounded, informative book that has a lot of scientific backing up, but explaining it in laymen's terms.  For anyone who has excess bodyfat that they want to get rid of, I totally recommend this book.