Finding Friendship In Today's Hectic World

Befriend

Create Belonging in an Age of Judgment, Isolation, and Fear

By Scott Sauls

“It is best to befriend those now who we hope to be his friend for all eternity,” says Ann Voskamp, who wrote the foreword to Befriend. “I don’t know if there is anyone better qualified to write this book than Scott Sauls because I don’t know a man who better incarnates the crucified Christ to everyone he meets.”  (Forward by Ann Voskamp)

Scott Sauls makes “A Case For Befriending” in the opening chapter because while real friendship can be hard to find, especially today when folks are often overworked, over-worried, and even overwhelmed, we really do need to be clear what it means to befriend.

Building real friendships – “the multilayered kind that exposes us to the grit of our own and each other’s lives; the kind that positions us to love across the lines of our differences; the kind that leads us to lay down our lives for each other’s sake” – takes time, effort and energy, love and forgiveness, knowledge and determination and maybe even a little bit of luck and a whole lot of grace.

In Summary: “Energy to serve God, and love our neighbor comes not through human effort, but by resting in the finished work of Jesus, contemplating his goodness, and receiving his grace and truth.”

Despite our best efforts some friendships will fail (we’re not talking about the online friends who can dismiss us with a quick ‘unfriend.’) Here the author reminds us that there is one intimate relationship that “believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. It never fails.”

Befriend, a collection of twenty essays based on actual relationships including the one with Jesus is the second book by Sauls, Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Pastor Sauls is husband to Patti and dad to Abby and Ellie. You can find Scott on Twitter at @scottsauls.

Note: This book would be a valuable tool to use in a Christian book discussion group. At the end of each chapter the author includes a summary, scripture references, and thoughts to be considered.

Notice: Tyndale House Publishers has provided a complimentary copy of this book. The words contained in this review are my own.

--Patricia Punt

One of the Few by Jason B. Ladd

  

U.S. Marine fighter pilot Jason Ladd shares the compelling story of his life and Christian world-view in this 2016 Indie Book Award Finalist. 

Part memoir (he is the son of a combat veteran, husband to Karry and father of five, a spiritual seeker), part action adventure story (military dependent living in the California desert, Florida, North Carolina and Japan, Navy Flight School graduate, Iraqi veteran, man on a mission), part textbook on comparing Christian traditions and beliefs, One of the Few is an highly informative and deeply thoughtful account of one man’s transformative and very personal journey.

Jason uses Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Code of Conduct for Members of the United States Armed Forces as a model for just living when faced with the enemy. The Code of Conduct he quickly reminds us is built upon principles which are contained in the Bible. (see Code of the US Fighting Force, Chapter 25 Never Surrender)

“If you allow Christ to change you from the inside out, everything becomes new. You will lead better, and you will love better – your spouse, your children, and your brothers and sister both in and out of Christ. You will not be deceived, and you will receive the power to ‘fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience.” (I Timothy 1:18-19).

“If you seek God, you will find him. If you seek truth, you will not be deceived. If you remain ready to defend your faith, you will fulfill one of God’s commandments, help Christians better understand their own faith, assist with the soul-saving work of God, (and) counter the negative image of Christianity in the media and culture….” Jason B. Ladder.

One of the Few is an amazon.com best seller and is available in Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle and Audible from amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.

FTC Full Disclosure - The author sent me a copy of this book, hoping I would review it. 

Reading

Biblical Evidence for Catholicism: Another High-Profile Conversion to the Catholic Church: Lutheran Philosopher Robert C. Koons

Biblical Evidence for Catholicism: Another High-Profile Conversion to the Catholic Church: Lutheran Philosopher Robert C. Koons

We Are All Storytellers

"The most important thing to realize is that everyone 

is capable of telling a story. 

It doesn't matter where we were born or how we grew up."  

Maeve Binchy
(1940 ~ 2012)

Anne Truitt's Daybook

"Artists have no choice but to express their lives. They have only ... a choice of process."                             ~~Anne Truitt


Renowned American artist Anne Truitt kept this illuminating and inspiring journal over a period of seven years, determined to come to terms with the forces that shaped her art and life. Her range of sensitivity—moral, intellectual, sensual, emotional, and spiritual— is remarkably broad. She recalls her childhood on the eastern shore of Maryland, her career change from psychology to art, and her path to a sculptural practice that would “set color free in three dimensions.” 

She reflects on the generous advice of other artists, watches her own daughters’ journey into motherhood, meditates on criticism and solitude, and struggles to find the way to express her vision. Resonant and true, encouraging and revelatory, Anne Truitt guides herself—and her readers—through a life in which domestic activities and the needs of children and friends are constantly juxtaposed against the world of color and abstract geometry to which she is drawn in her art


Beautifully written and a rare window on the workings of a creative mind, Daybook showcases an extraordinary artist whose insights generously and succinctly illuminate the artistic process.     (Scribner Summary)   

The Estate of Anne Truitt is represented exclusively by Matthew Marks Gallery. Truitt, a major figure in American art for more than 40 years, abandoned work in psychology and nursing in the 1950s to concentrate on art. Truitt drew, painted, and wrote, but she is best know for her large, vertical, wooden sculpture meticulously covered in many coats of pain.  (Matthew Marks Gallery website)   

Anne Truitt (March 16, 1921 - December 23, 2004) born Anne Dean, was born in Baltimore and grew up in Easton, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Her eyesight was so poor when she was a child that until she got glasses she didn't realize trees had individual leaves. Instead, she saw them as large masses of color and form which critics have suggested was an influence on her later work. In her late teens, she was sent to North Carolina to recover from a burst appendix and spent a summer playing volleyball with the writer Zelda Fitzgerald, who was a patient at a nearby psychiatric hospital.  She graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in psychology in 1943.

Thanks to Scribner, a division of Simon & Shuster via NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the e-book ARC (advance readers copy) for the newest edition of Anne Truitt's Daybook was published October 8th 2013.

Bellman & Black, One Moment In Time Can Haunt You Forever (November 5 2013)

Caught up in a moment of boyhood competition, William Bellman recklessly aims his slingshot at a rook resting on a branch, killing the bird instantly. It is a small but cruel act, and is soon forgotten. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to have put the whole incident behind him. It was as if he never killed the thing at all. But rooks don’t forget . . .

Years later, when a stranger mysteriously enters William’s life, his fortunes begin to turn—and the terrible and unforeseen consequences of his past indiscretion take root. In a desperate bid to save the only precious thing he has left, he enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner.

Together, they found a decidedly macabre business ... Bellman & Black is born.       ~~ ( Publisher's summary)


I am a fan of Diane Setterfield's novels (The Thirteenth Tale) and welcomed the opportunity to read and review her newest novel. Thanks to Atria and Emily Bestler Books for the Advanced Readers Copy (e-copy)  via NetGalley.   

Note: A copy of this book was provided by the publisher, Altria Books, for review purposes. My thoughts are my own and are provided without compensation.