Understanding how the Lordship of Jesus Christ extends to all areas of life.
The Carpenter’s relationship was an all-American love story, complete with a romantic courtship and marriage, followed by a “happily-ever-after” ending. That is until they were both nearly killed in a dramatic car accident the day before Thanksgiving in 1993. They had only been married for three months. To make a long story short, Krickitt emerged from the accident with no memory of Kim whatsoever. She had lost several years of her memory completely, and had no recollection of ever meeting, let alone marrying, Kim. The book details Krickitt’s struggle to come back from the brink of death, and their desire to maintain a marriage, that no longer held shared memories to help hold it together.
This book would be a great read for anyone who is dealing with head trauma in their family, is experiencing marital conflicts, wants to have a successful marriage, or for anyone who simply loves a good story.
Kim and Krickitt are very honest about their own struggles and failures and I appreciated that their book wasn’t overly simplistic. They demonstrated that life is sometimes hard in the long run and everything doesn’t get neatly solved in a half an hour.
Kim was committed to his wife, even though she didn’t love him anymore, even though she didn’t LIKE him anymore, even though she didn’t even remember him anymore. Krickitt had to learn to trust God to give her love for a man that she no longer knew. Their true story is an inspiration because it shows ordinary, everyday people, being heroic simply be doing the right thing; day after difficult day.
The book was made into a movie that hit the theatres in early 2012. http://www.thevow-movie.com/ I have not seen the movie, but from what I can gather, there is little to no emphasis on their Christian faith reflected in the new film. To hear a bit about the real story, check out this interview:
On a scale of 1-5, I’d give this a 3.75 overall.
224 Pages.
The Vow
(The Kim & Krickitt Carpenter Story)
By Kim & Krickitt Carpenter, with John Perry (and Dana Wilkerson
Copyright 2000 & 2012
Broadman & Holman
ISBN#0-8054-2130-0
ISBN# 978-1-4336-7579-9
By Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek, is a modern-day Christian apologetics classic. I have to place this book in the top ten books written so far on regarding understanding a Christian philosophy of of all of life.
This is a very linear, comprehensive work that seeks to answer the major questions of life and religion. The book begins with Epistemology and the fact that truth can be known. It then moves to Cosmology and addresses the origins of the universe. It addresses the questions of morality, the existence of miracles and the supernatural, the historicity of Jesus Christ and His claims to divinity, the compilation and canonization of the New Testament texts, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and includes some good appendix chapters that address things like “If God, Why Evil?” and “Isn’t That Just Your Interpretation?”
Another outline could be:
To give you an idea of the general acceptance of the overall soundness of this book, it is endorsed by: Ravi Zacharias, Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, Phillip E. Johnson, Cal Thomas, William A. Dembski, Hank Hanegraaf, John Ankerberg & J. Buudziszeski.
As with all of the Hovel audiobook titles, the narration is excellent and the quality is superb.
Hovel Audio
ISBN: 978-1-59644-399-0
Copyright, 2006.
www.ChristianAudio.com
Crossway Books
ISBN: 1-58134-561-5
Copyright, 2004.
www.crossway.com
448 pages. On a scale of 1-5, I’d give this a 4.5 overall.
Review by Israel Wayne.
Rescue Me
We all know people who have made a mess of their lives. Sometimes that person is us, and sometimes it’s someone we love. The hard part is knowing what to do. How do you escape an addiction, habitual sin, or character flaw that renders you helpless and hopeless?
Rescue Me: Finding Freedom Through Godly Character by Glenn Meldrum is an excellent resource for people who need to find freedom from themselves. The book of James (chapter 1) tells us that the slippery slope of self-destruction begins with a desire that originates inside of us. We want something. We believe that the object of our desire is good for us (at least in the short-term). Once that desire has conceived, it gives birth. The child that it bears is sin. When sin grows up and matures, it brings forth death.
Jesus came to give us life. Abundant and full LIFE! He provides the means to overcome our own struggles and live a victorious life. In a world of “self-help” books, Rescue Me, stands out. This book correctly identifies us as the problem, not the solution. The solution is found in learning how to tap into the resources that God has made available to us through the Atonement, the Word of God and the Spirit of the Risen Christ.
If you need to break free from habitual sin in your own life, or if you know someone who just can’t seem to overcome their own issues and character flaws, please consider picking up a copy of this important book.
Published by:
Wisdom’s Gate
P.O. Box 374
Covert, MI 49043
1-800-343-1943
http://www.wisgate.com/rescueme.html
I would give this a 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. (Review by Israel Wayne)
The Promise of Jonadab
My good friend, E. Ray Moore of Exodus Mandate has written a fabulous little book entitled, The Promise of Jonadab: Building a Christian Family Legacy in a Time of Cultural Decline.
I love this book. If you ever wanted to be inspired by a multi-generational view of covenant faithfulness, this story, right out of Scripture, will do the trick! Imagine if you could have such an impact on your family that 240 years later, your descendents were still being faithful to the Lord because of your influence! That was the true example of Jonadab.
You can read more about his life and influence here: http://www.exodusmandate.org/art_jehonadab.htm
I would strong encourage you to pick up a copy of this book for a husband / father that you love. We read this book aloud as a family in our Family Worship time and it was a great blessing to us.
Copyright 1999
Crossway Books
ISBN: 0-8423-1808-9
ISBN: 978-1-59644-336-5 (Audio Book)
This book is the follow up to the bestselling book that Nancy wrote with Charles Colson entitled, “How Now Shall We Live?“. Total Truth is a kind of magnum opus for Nancy Pearcey who has spent many years writing essays on the topics of Science and Philosophy.
Total Truth sets out to answer the following question, “Does Christianity have a legitimate role to play in the public realm of politics, business, law and education?” She delves into the notion of the Sacred/Secular Dichotomy, which relegates civic matters to the secular sphere and religious matters to the private sphere of personal experience. This split has created a whole generation of schizophrenic Christians who try to balance their personal religious “faith” which includes church on Sunday and prayers at meals, with the entire rest of their life (which is largely dominated by anti-Christian philosophies and practices).
The goal of this book is integrity and cohesiveness in our worldview. Nancy provides a wonderful historical background to the ideas she discusses, giving strong evidence from reason, scripture and historical evidence that the Christian faith cannot be contained to merely a private, personal expression. It must work its way into every area of life.
If you like Chuck Colson or Francis Schaeffer (she was a student at L’Abri in Switzerland as a teenager), you are going to really enjoy and benefit from this book. As a final note, Nancy proves beyond any doubt that women can be power-house intellectuals. Thanks Nancy for such a great book.
On a scale of 1-5, I’d give this a 4.0 overall.
574 pages.
