Monday, June 20, 2011

Book 37

Case for Faith for Kids by Lee Strobel

I actually finished this book a couple weeks ago and I'm just getting back to blog it. Oops! Another pre-read for Matthew. I think he will get more out of this one than Case for Christ. This book answers the "hard" questions, at least some of them. "Why would a good God allow bad things?" and "Can other religions get us into Heaven?" are among them. It's a good book for the age group targeted.

Recommended: yes for either older children, youth or new adult believers.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Movie - Pirates 4

We unexpectedly went to Pirates of the Caribbean, on Stranger Tides today. Let's just say if I had gone onto unplugged.com to check it out before we went, we would not have taken M. Bad language being the reason. It's a popcorn movie. There are places where it is completely unbelievable - Blackbeard is magic, or rather his sword is. There are some thinly veiled sexual references that I don't think M got. I'm not sure about the girls. And then the zombies and the mermaids. Not your typical mermaids either - they were evil. Or rather you learn later that they react to the evil around them. There was a missionary in the movie. They didn't make him out to be over the top, thankfully. Nor did he turn on his faith. He wasn't what I would have hoped for a missionary either.

Not the best Pirates movie. But not a wasted 2 hour.

Recommended? I'm not sure. If you really like Pirates, the go. If you aren't a Pirates fan, then save your money, this one won't help.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Movie -Walk the Line

Oh no. More than one post in a single day! :-)

J and I sat down and watched the movie tonight. K didn't want to and H wasn't home - babysitting. And it's just not a movie for M. There was a little bad language, but not a lot. Enough to discount M but not enough to discount H. One after s*x scene, but nothing showed. So that will depend on your point of view.

In case this is new to you - it's a biopic of Johnny Cash. At least up to the late 60's. I didn't realize Johnny and June met so early and while he was still married to Vivian. Of course, all I ever knew was that June was a born again Christian, I didn't know when that happened. The movie did not paint Johnny's dad in a good light at all. But then it didn't really skim over Johnny's drug and alcohol addiction either. There was the allusion of affairs with fans, but you didn't see anything. Johnny was not made out to be a wonderful person, he had many flaws and they seemed to show them all.

I always wonder about movies based on real life - how true are they. I really don't know about this one. It's not something I looked up. I like Johnny Cash's music, some of it, but I'm not really a fan. I'll take the movie at face value and leave it at that.

Recommended - I don't know. Like I said I'm not a big fan of his music but I did enjoy the movie and seeing where he came from and how he came up through the ranks.

Book 36

To Live is Christ Day by Day by Beth Moore

This is a 90 day devotional that I used during quiet time each day until I finished it. I loved this one! From past experience, I'm sure she has either a book or a Bible study that goes along with this, probably by the same name except no "day by day" part. I enjoyed this devoational so much that I want to do the whole study now. :-)

Friday, June 3, 2011

Book 35

The Pastor's Wife by Jennifer Allee

This was another book I "bought" because it was free on the Kindle. It's a good beach read. That's actually where I read it. :-) Good beach read because if you get interrupted by others, it's fine. Good beach read because it's relatively brainless. If you need some sort of escapist reading, and who doesn't at some point, this is a great book for that.

The book starts with Maura coming back to Granger for the reading of a will only to find that she must move back in with her estranged husband for 6 months to inherit anything. Se quickly decides that what she will receive is worth it and moves back to Granger. What follows is the courtship of a couple that is already married. It's still a Christian romance and so they do nothing about being married for a long time!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Book 34

Case for Christ for Kids by Lee Strobel

This is a kids book similar to The Case for Christ, by the same author. It's a good book and covers some basic questions - who was Jesus? Did he fit the Messiah picture? Did his friends tell the truth? Can a dead man really come back to life? Then the last few chapters are about young people sharing their faith through common encounters.

I think for where Matthew is in his faith, this book is a little young. Which is not to say that it's young for many 10 yos! Matthew is just very mature in his faith.

Recommended - yes.