First off, I had never heard about the Chaos series before reading this book and didn’t know what to expect.  The book was pretty interesting and very captivating with all of its twist and turns.  This book is centered around the life of Colt McAlister, who had the dream life, but then his entire life was turned upside down when his parents were killed in a car accident.  He moves across the country to Arizona, where he finds that his parents accident wasn’t an accident and everything he thought was a dream or science-fiction was very, very real. 

It takes a little bit of getting used to the setting of this book, but once you get a feel for it, the book is a very enjoyable read.  The time period is several years from now and all the major companies out nowadays, don’t seem to really exist anymore, instead a company called Trident Industries seems to own everything.  The book has a lot of science-fiction in it such as alien type creatures, flying motorcycles, and the ability to travel to other planets.  Overall it was a pretty good read, however it wasn’t a really good read.  If your looking for a science fiction book to read, or you are bored, I would read it.    

I received this book free from Booksneeze and am not required to write a positive review, but one of my own opinion.

Dinner with a perfect stranger.  How would you react if Jesus sent you an invitation to have dinner with him?  In this story, Nick Comisky is a business man who got an anonymous invitation to have dinner with Jesus.  Thinking it a trap from his colleagues he shows up and is sat at a table with a man claiming to be Jesus.  Through the course of the dinner, Jesus shows Nick how other world religions don’t match up and how people were made for so much more and how he offered that way.

The first thing I though about the book was, wow this is small.  I sat down and read the book in an hour and enjoyed it.  The setting is an expensive Italian restaurant and Jesus has shed the beard, cloak, and sandals for a suit, tie, and loafers.  The meal is more like a debate on how that Jesus isn’t who he says he is, but in a very laid back fashion.  Altogether it was a pretty good book and made some great points for the case of Christianity.  

I received this book free from the publisher and am not required to write a positive review, but one of my own opinion.

The Encounter is a short fictional story about facing the hurts and secrets of our past.  The story centers around Jonathan Rush, a very wealth CEO who goes to Alaska on a personal mission to find out about his past, in particular why his mother abandoned him.  His anger, resentment, and bitterness about his past had destroyed three marriages and led him to try to commit suicide.  He knew he had to deal with his past and figure out how to forgive his mother and himself before his past finally caught up with him. 

The Encounter is a short story stopping at 140 pages.  I read the book straight through in about an hour and it kept me reading the entire time.  The book is real short and seems like it could be longer and that things could be expounded upon more.  The message of the book isn’t incomplete, but for such a hefty topic the book is very short.  I really liked the book in that the message was super clear.  Overall it was a good read, a short one, but a captivating story with a message that is often not told about in our culture. 

I received this book free from the publisher and am not required to write a positive review, but one of my own opinion.

It seems this year that there has been a lot of controversy about Thanksgiving Day.  The question of controversy is whether or not Christmas music, decoration, etc... should be setup or played before Thanksgiving.  It is a fair question and should be asked, because so often we skip over Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas.  I think people ask this question because they want to remember what they are thankful for and in today's economy, people see a lot to be thankful for.  But that is not what I am as interested in.  What I see as so ironic is that the day we are supposed to remember what we are thankful for, is followed by one of the biggest days of violence and greed that stores see across the nations.  On Black Friday people are injured and killed trying to purchase stuff to satisfy their "needs".  The day that we sit down and think upon all that we are thankful for is followed by the day where we go and purchase stuff to satisfy our wants.  Kinda ironic isn't it?

Lonestar Angel is a book about how God uses tragedies and our hurts to bring us closer to Him.  The book focuses around a couple who had split, but joined together to search for their daughter who was kidnapped and who they thought was dead.  However, they were sent an anonomous note saying that she was alive and this is the adventure of finding out the truth, while growing close to each other and rebuilding their marriage and their relationship with Christ. 

Everybody has a past and not all of it is pretty.  We have all experienced hurt and sometimes it isn’t our fault and we by no means caused it.  However we are left hurt and feel abandoned, but through those trials God can bring us closer to Him and we can experience Christ in a way we never had before.  It also gives us the opportunity to see and experience new things, things we wouldn’t have expeienced otherwise that can make us a better person. 

This is a great book for everybody to read, because everybody has been through some sort of trial in one way or another and this is a book that brings hope and shows through a fiction story that God uses all things for good, for those who love God. 

I received this book free from the publisher and am not required to write a positive review, but one of my own opinion.

All I can say is WOW!  This book was a phenomenal read!  When the book arrived at my doorstep and I pulled it out of the packaging one of the first things I noticed was its size, the book was pretty thick.  I had read about the book before getting it and I didn't quite know what to expect as far as content goes.  I didn't know exactly what type of book it was, but knew I was in for a ride.  

Gordan Macdonald wrote a fictional book about himself training people to be leaders, to be deep in their faith and not just wide.  There is so much that you can learn through this book and there as so many angles to learn from.  This book can help you to become deeper in your faith with Christ, it can also help propel you and give you ideas and inspiration for you to train others to becoming deep people.


Whether you are looking for a great read, some inspiration, or to find ways to help lead or teach others, this book will provide some sort of information for you in a easy reading, relaxing way.  I highly suggest reading this book!

I received this book free from the publisher and am not required to write a positive review, but one of my own opinion.

This book was a very great and refreshing read.  John Bevere does an incredible job by using scripture and stories to show you the life that is meant to be lived and how so often we settle for less.

I received this book free from the publisher and am not required to write a positive review, but one of my own opinion.

My days are becoming crazier and crazier...  School, which had slowed down is now picking back up, which isn't the reason my life's so crazy.  I'm volunteering for the Virginia Christmas Spectacular, in the lighting side of things, several days a week which adds a lot to the busyness of life.  On top of that, I had do some work on a set design for our middle school youth group, I had to reset the lights in our high school youth group, and re position the lights for the 4th and 5th graders.  Apart from classes, my days are spent doing some sort of lighting and my nights are being spent doing school for that day, or getting school done for the next day.  I'm going to be busy tomorrow doing schoolwork for the next week, so that my life isn't to hectic.  I sorta enjoy all the busyness in a way, because it gives me a challenge.  On the other hand, I'm taking in so much new information and learning so many new things, that I wish I didn't have to do everything else and could just focus on VCS.  

Some days are better than others, or so we say.  What makes a good day?  What makes a bad day?  How do we make days good, or what turns them into bad days.  There are some days that the reasons are simple, for why they are good or bad.  However for other days, for most of our days they have both there ups and downs, tending to equal out in our minds to average.  I don't want most of my days to be though of as average, I want to see each of them as having played a significant part in me growing closer to God.  A way to be able to make our days turn out for good, rather than bad is to start out by seeking God through the reading of scripture and through prayer and meditation.  I find that in my own personal life that the days that I do this, my days tend to be more productive and I tend to see and enjoy things more.  I tend to not be led into temptation and at the end of the day I feel a satisfaction that comes only from knowing that I rest in the arms of an amazing God.  On days that I do not seek out God at the beginning of the day, for whatever reason, at the least I don't feel that same satisfaction as when I read and discover the attributes of God and what He has for my life at the beginning of the day.  When I don't pray I don't hear from God, I don't connect and cannot give my trials, troubles, fears, request, and praises to God.  The day just isn't the same and doesn't have the same satisfaction and joy as when I'm able to start my day by connecting with an indescribable God.  You can study about God at the end of the day or in the middle, but it doesn't produce the same effect as kicking off the day, centered around God.  If you don't have your intimate time with God till lunchtime, then from the time you woke up till lunchtime will have been spent more or less without God.  When you start off having an intimate time with Christ, the whole day is going to be spent reflecting on that time with God.  However if you don't do it till lunchtime, afternoon, or evening you will not have had the privilege of spending your time previous to your quiet time thinking about what God said and spoke into your life.   

It’s a bitterly cold winter night; there is a light dusting of snow covering everything.   A door slams on a house and a boy stomps out, his drunk dad comes to the doorway in a drunken stupor and screams after him to stop.  The boy keeps on walking, keeps thinking on what he possibly could have done wrong, why did his dad always scream at him.  He picks up his step as he passes by the local bar, as his thoughts go to the destruction that lies theirin.  His eye catches someone inside and he freezes; his youth pastor from the church he had attended the past couple of weeks is sipping a beer.  The one person who he thought he might be able to finally trust with his family situation, the one person he thought might be able to listen and understand, was probably just like his dad.  How could he go to his youth group again, knowing that his youth pastor was just like his dad?  Why should he go to church, why should he believe what he was being taught if the youth pastor was just as bad as his dad?  Why should he believe in God and the power of God, if it didn’t change people? 

The thing is, the youth pastor loved his wife and their new precious baby girl.  He loved his job at the church where he had worked for several years and he loved the kids he got to hang out with and mentor.  He was having a great time talking about football and what not with the bar tender and just in general, relaxing.  Little did he know, was that outside the window was a boy who had attended his youth group for the past couple of weeks.  That boy didn’t see someone who loved his wife and baby girl, his job and the kids he got to hang out with.  No, that boy saw his dad, addicted to alcohol, always screaming, throwing things, and beating his wife and kids.  That boy didn’t show up at church the next week, he never showed up to church again, having felt abandoned, deserted in his time of need.

Many people ask “Can Christians drink”?  People even point to the Bible as their support for Christians being allowed to drink.  Jesus drank and His first miracle was to turn water into wine.  If Jesus drank wine, shouldn’t that mean we should be able to drink as well?

I believe that Christians should try to avoid drinking.  We need to look at the Bible in context and in its orginal meaning to see whether or not the Bible supports the drinking of intoxicated beverages.  Also, drinking can leave a bad impression, as we saw in the story above, and it can lead others to start drinking, which could lead others to becoming addicted.

We need to look at the culture 2000 years ago and find out what they were drinking to see if it is the same as today.  First off, the Bible mentions two types of drink: wine and strong drink (Leviticus 10:9).  Secondly wine in the Bible meant both grape juice (unfermented) and wine (fermented) in the same wording.  This means that in all these different scenarios that people say Jesus is drinking wine, or is creating it (John 2), it is highly possible and even makes sense that it was grape juice.  In an article done by Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D he says “Externally, contemporary authors, such as Pliny and Plutarch, attest that "good wines" were those which did not intoxicate, having had their alcoholic potency removed.” This would also back up the claim that Jesus did not turn water into fermented wine in John 2, but instead into grape juice, something that nourishes and gives strength to the body.

Drinking can leave a bad impression.  Everyone around you, is watching you.  The story that I started off, some may say is extreme.  However, people assume things subconciously either good or bad, by how they are influenced, taught, and treated.  Just because you drink and love, respect, and cherish those you love, someone might not have had that experience and automatically subconciously assume that you act the same as those who they were brought up by.

On the other side of things, you drinking could affect another persons drinking.  Everyone around you is watching you, everyone around you is also influenced by you.  If you drink, someone might see that you have the ability to drink and be decent about it.  Most people say that this is a good thing, that you are being an example of how you are supposed to do it.  But the question I have to ask, is why do you drink?  What’s the purpose?  What’s the point?

 Jesus saved us from our sins and offered us another shot at life, a life where we can find ultimate fullfilment and satisfaction.  People drink alcohol, try to become rich, look at pornography, use drugs, divorce and re-marry, all in hopes of finding satisfaction.  Through Christ we can receive satisfaction, we can receive joy, we can receive contentment.  If Christ is who we find satisfaction from, why would we want to drink and why would we want to point others to drink?  Why would we want to be the example of how drinking is to be done, shouldn’t we instead want to reflect Christ and how life is meant to be lived!

Your drinking could lead to someone else to an addiction.  God created us with free will.  But some people are more succeptible and more prone to becoming addicted to certain things, not just alcohol.  Just because you can put down the bottle and not think twice about it, doesn’t mean someone else can’t.  Why even take a chance on having the regret of influencing someone to drink and it leading to an addiction.

Some say that never in the Bible, is drinking inherently wrong.  Throughout the Bible wine or “strong drink” is almost never shown as middle ground.  It is usually either shown in a negative light or a positive light.  As I showed you before wine meant both unfermented and fermented.  When you look at scripture, such as Proverbs 31:4,6 you can tell the author is talking about fermented wine, but other passages such as John 2 make you think that the author it talking about grape juice.  Drinking liquor or fermented drinks isn’t listed on the Ten Commandments as something that is not to be done.  But that doesn’t mean is should be done. 

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:23 saying “You say, "I am allowed to do anything" -- but not everything is helpful. You say, "I am allowed to do anything" -- but not everything is beneficial.” Drinking may not be explicitly condemned, but that doesn’t mean we should do it.  As Paul said, just because we have the right to do it, doesn’t mean it’s helpful or beneficial.  What is the purpose of drinking?  Why do people do it?  To satisfy their need for satisfaction, or to supress a deeper problem?  Neither of these two problems can be cured by drinking.  Only Christ and His unfailing love can cure these problems, and provide satisfaction and peace.

Bacchiocci, Samuele. Wine In the Bible: A Biblical Study On the Use of Alcoholic Beverages. Michigan: Biblical Perspectives, 2001. Biblical Perspectives, Timely Books & Recording for Your Christian Growth. Biblical Perspectives. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. <http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/books/wine_in_the_bible/3.html>.

Leviticus. Bible Study Tools Online – Verses, Commentaries, Concordances, Verses, Parallel Versions. Bible Study Tools Online. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. <http://www.biblestudytools.com/nlt/leviticus/10-9.html>.

John. Bible Study Tools Online – Verses, Commentaries, Concordances, Verses, Parallel Versions. Bible Study Tools Online. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. <http://www.biblestudytools.com/nlt/john/2.html>.

1 Corinthians. Bible Study Tools Online – Verses, Commentaries, Concordances, Verses, Parallel Versions. Bible Study Tools Online. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. <http://www.biblestudytools.com/nlt/1-corinthians/10-23.html>.