The Echo Within

The Echo Within is a new book by author Robert Benson. Here are a few tidbits from the jacket:

Written out of his own lifelong seach for and response to the calling voice of God, Benson recounts his discovery of the meaning of vocation, work, and purpose through the ups and downs inherent in family life, professional choice, and spiritual experience. The book is suggested as a way for readers to explore:

• How to love the work you do, and the process of doing it.
• Ways to sense God's pleasure in your pursuits, both in the pursuits and in you.
• Whether you fall into your vocation as a destiny or you chart that course.
• How to begin living with added dimensions of meaning and purpose.

Robert shares with widsom, humor, and heart what he's learned--and how you can discover your calling too.

I didn't think this little book was much more than a meandering text of the author's own musing on life. It was sort of "this could be your own idea of a vocation, or it could be a God-planned idea; you decide." In other words, there was not much substance. If you want to know if God is speaking direction to you, I suggest you delve into the Bible, journal, and seek out wise pastoral counsel.


In hardback, from WaterBrook Press.
If curious, I have two copies to give away.
It can also be purchased at www.amazon.com, www.familychristian.com, or www.christianbook.com.

OUTLAW MARSHAL

Wagon Train. Gunsmoke. Wyatt Earp. Have Gun Will Travel. The Rifleman. Wanted: Dead or Alive. Cheyenne. Sugarfoot. Bonanza. Myriad numbers of westerns were TV fare as I was growing up. Easy plots, too. The respected sheriff (good guy) faced the outlaw or crooked townsman (bad guys). There was always reasoning before the reluctant “doing his duty” shoot ‘em up scene. The good guy always won, and sometimes the bad guys took to heart a learned lesson and became upstanding, law-abiding citizens of whatever western town they were in. Ahhh. Simple.

Since it’s been a long time since there have been any good westerns around and an even longer while since I’ve read any books in the western genre, I thought it might be fun to read Outlaw Marshal, book one in the new Return of the Stranger series by Al and Joanna Lacy. In a nutshell:

“A good deed grants outlaw Whipley Langford early release from prison

and a friendship with Chief U.S. Marshal John Brockman. Another good deed

gets Whip framed for murder and looking at life through a hangman’s noose.

John arrives just in time to reveal the true murderers and lead Whip to Christ”

Like the TV westerns, I found this book to be very simplistic. Perhaps that was the author’s intent. As I began reading, it struck me that even western frontiersmen were saved. Hmm. Curious. Never thought of that before. Marshal Brockman (in the book he’s always Chief Brockman, but that made me think more of a fireman) carries his Bible in his saddelebag and at every opportunity tries to lead the outlaws he encounters to Christ. When he arrests them, as he locks them up in jail, on the road as he delivers them to prison, and when he visits them. Hardly a page goes by where the gospel is not preached. The reader learns very quickly the steps to salvation: recognize your sin, realize you are going to hell if you aren’t saved, receive Christ, get baptized, then go out and serve.

A Multnomah paperback, I have two or three copies to share.

It can also be purchased here.

About The Authors: Al Lacy is an evangelist and author of more than one hundred historical and western novels, including the Journeys of the Stranger, Angel of Mercy, and Mail Order Bride series, with more than three million books in print. JoAnna Lacy, Al’s wife and longtime collaborator, is a retired nurse. The Lacys have been married over forty years and live in the Colorado Rockies.

Triple Play

for couples only is a boxed set of two popular books by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn, for women only and for men only. Do you find yourself wondering if you are speaking a foreign language when he looks blankly at you? Does he get frustrated because you don’t agree with what seems to him a straightforward and logical approach to a problem?
You are not alone. These books may give you a better idea of how to love and support one another in a language you both understand.

Hardback, from Multnomah. It can be purchased here.



A few months ago I reviewed Love as a Way of Life. Now out is a companion, The Love as a Way of Life Devotional. This little gem by Gary Chapman is a 90 day devotional covering the seven distinguishing characteristics of a loving person, such as “kindness”, “patience”, and “forgiveness” to name a few. Each day has a scripture, a little story, and ends with a short prayer. Great food for thought.

Hardback, from WaterBrook Press. It can be purchased here.






Gripping. Intense. Remarkable. Just a few adjectives that come to mind after finishing I Do Again by Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs. It is the true story of their marriage. Years of emotional frustration led to an affair, then a divorce.

Cheryl: Selfishness, anger, looking for someone else to blame. Being in control. Entertaining negative thoughts. Allowing her heart to cross a line emotionally. Rationalizing. Choosing to ignore “warning signals.” Divorce in her mind and heart. Divorce for real.

Jeff: Worry. Not understanding. Pain. Betrayal. Anger. Suspicion. Renewed relationship with God.

Cheryl thought the freedom she envisioned would lead to peace and happiness, but it didn’t. She found herself once again on an uneasy path. This led her into the arms of a loving God who faithfully carried her, step by step, on a new road to a relationship with Him. Eventually this road, seven years later, led to reconciliation, restoration and remarriage with her husband, Jeff!

Big lessons learned? Relinquishing control. Commitment. Obedience to God. His perfect timing. It’s not about you, but about God and His purposes. God designs marriage not to make you happy, but to make you holy.

Well worth reading, this paperback is published by WaterBrook Press. It can be purchased here.

Intimate Issues

Valentine’s Day is almost here. Any specific thoughts come to mind, ladies?
Red…Chocolate…Roses…Love…Intimacy…Relationship…God? Can you add anything more?

Linda Dillow (Satisfy My Thirsty Soul) and Lorraine Pintus have teamed up to write this collection of insights about fears, hopes and concerns with regard to marital intimacy. They started with a nationwide poll of over one thousand Christian women to seek out 21 of the most asked questions on the subject. Then they set out to answer those queries using a mixture of scriptures, biblical insight, experts’ advice and testimonials.

One example of a block to intimacy is a self-image problem with which women often deal and which is not biblical.
They urge the reader to:
1) thank God for how he made you
2) remember your husband chose you
3) find a balance to accept yourself and be responsible for what you’ve been given

Tastefully written, practical and biblically based, Dillow and Pintus offer every woman hope that her marriage relationship can be all God intended.

In paperback from WaterBrook Press, I have two copies to give away.
The book can also be found at www.amazon.com, www.familychristian.com, and www.christianbook.com