Category Archives: The Randleman Review

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Book Review – The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Lost SymbolDan Brown has done it again. And I mean really done it. The Lost Symbol has received huge amounts of publicity and has been highly promoted, largely due to the overwhelming success of The Da Vinci Code, and the surrounding controversy.

The Lost Symbol promises to be no different. It’s already sold over a million copies, and that’s just on its first day of sales!

At the very front of the book, just before the Prologue begins, Dan Brown makes a statement very similar to the one found in The Da Vinci Code. He says that there is a cryptic document locked away in the personal safe of the director of the CIA that has Masonic implications. Is this true? Hard to tell. Brown also states that all organizations mentioned in this novel exist, as well as all rituals, science, art and monuments. Ok, easy enough to verify.

But what he doesn’t say is crucial: This is a fictional story. While the setting and locale are based in reality, the simple truth is this: This story is just that, a story. It is fiction. It is the product of Dan Brown’s (very creative) imagination. Just like The Da Vinci Code. But so many people read his fiction, and are convinced that it is real. We need to wake up and take a look around us. We need to stop accepting the truth of a statement, simply because it is in print.

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Book Review – The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight

The Blue Parakeet I have to admit I was hesitant to read The Blue Parakeet. I have decidedly placed myself (I think) in the non-Emergent (or even emerging) camp. I don’t believe that the Emergent discussion is as biblically accurate as most Emergents claim it to be. For more information, see my review of Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be). Better yet, see the book itself. Order it from Amazon here. 

However, the Emergent discussion is in the forefront of Christianity today. And I need to know what it is, and what it claims, so that I can compare and contrast that with what I find in God’s Word, and in time-tested authors. And so I picked up this book. 

And frankly, it really ticked me off. 

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Book Review – Fearless by Max Lucado

Fearless

“Heaven’s message for you is clear: when everything else changes, God’s presence never does.”

And with that statement, Max Lucado summarizes the premise of his entire book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear.

Fearless is a challenge. It’s the gauntlet thrown down, daring you to let go of your fears, your worries, your concerns, and allow God, who is already there with you, to handle them for you.

Fearless is a series of chapters addressing many of the most common fears we face: insignificance, violence, death, disappointment, challenges. Why do we fear so much? Why did Jesus have to tell us not to fear so much? Why can’t we just let God handle our fears for us?

These are the questions Max Lucado asks in Fearless. And the answers are a lot closer than you think…

Max Lucado has knocked it out of the park with Fearless. In my opinion, this is one of his best books to date. An easy read, and yet challenging on every level, you will benefit greatly from this examination of our deepest held fears.

I recommend that you read Fearless. And allow your life to be changed!

If you are interested in reading Fearless, you can purchase it at Amazon.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Book Review – Eat Mor Chikin; Inspire More People by S. Truett Cathy

Eat Mor Chikin; Inspire More PeopleS. Truett Cathy is the founder of Chick-fil-A restaurants. He has built a restaurant empire with nothing more that hard work and a solid vision throughout the years. And it has succeeded in ways above and beyond his wildest dreams, and far beyond the competition.

Cathy and his younger brother, Ben, decided to go into the restaurant business shortly after World War 2. From the start, they built their business upon solid, biblical leadership principles. And it has paid off. God has blessed their efforts in ways they couldn’t even imagine in 1946, and is still continuing to surprise Cathy even today.

From the very start, Cathy and his family decided that their lives would be God’s, including their business. That meant several things: they closed on Sunday, the busiest day in a restaurant’s week. They maintained a family atmosphere. They provided a trusting and challenging work environment for their employees. And they kept it in the family.

And as a result, Chick-fil-A has blossomed into the largest privately held fast-service food restaurant ever. And because of the blessings God has poured out into the Cathy family and business, they have been able to give back a generous portion of their profits to God’s work.

One such way they give back is through a scholarship program called the WinShape Centre Foundation. The Cathy family, and Chick-fil-A, has sent more than 1,000 students to Berry College with WinShape scholarships, paying for those students’ tuition completely. And Chick-fil-A has handed out thousands of smaller scholarships for students to go to other colleges. Another way of returning a portion of their income to God has been through the avenue of foster care. Truett Cathy and his family are foster parents to over 150 kids, in several different homes around the south and even in Brazil.

Eat Mor Chikin; Inspire More People is a book that tells the story of S. Truett Cathy, and Chick-fil-A. But it tells so much more. It is the story of God working through one man and his family who have committed their lives to being completely His.

God has done great things through S. Truett Cathy. And He will do even more through his children and grandchildren, all of whom are committed to continuing the legacy, holding on to the same values and principles. Eat Mor Chikin; Inspire More People is a great story of what God can do, and is doing. I highly recommend this book. It will challenge you to take stock and see if you are doing everything you do for God. S. Truett Cathy is.

If you are interested in reading Eat Mor Chikin; Inspire More People, you can purchase it at Amazon.com.

 

Disclosure of Material Connection:
Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Book Review – Born To Run by Christopher McDougall

Born To RunIt all started with a pain in his foot. Christopher McDougall was a runner. And he developed a pain in his foot that left him limping and gasping in pain every time he tried to run. In the search for the cure to his foot ailment, he found a lot more than he bargained for.

McDougall researched and discovered that there exists a tribe of people, hidden deep in the Copper Canyons of Mexico, called the Tarahumara. These people run because no one has ever told them they can’t. And when they run, they run! They run for 60, 75, 100 miles at a time over some of the roughest terrain on the planet! And they do so without serious sports-related injuries! How is this possible?

McDougall’s research and questions take him all over the globe searching for the answers; and partners him with some of the most amazing ultra-athletes ever. And in the end, they enjoy a friendly race with the top runners of the Tarahumara people, in their home in the Copper Canyons, organized by a mysterious gringo runner living in the Canyons named Caballo Blanco.

But along the way, the story gets very interesting. McDougall’s questions and studies lead him to the fascinating conclusion that we were all born to run. Our physiology is designed (or evolved; he is never consistent in his selection of words, much less theories) to make us runners. Not merely sprinters, either. Endurance runners.

McDougall examines the Tarahumara and their passion for running. He explores ultra-athletes, who run 100 to 150 mile races consistently. He gets excited over biological and physiological research on how our bodies handle running long distances. He exhausts every resource to uncover runners, like the Bushmen in Africa, and how they can run down an antelope during the hunt. He exemplifies his findings in his own life. And he excludes nothing.

Born To Run is a great story with an incredible point: the best runners don’t run because they have to. They don’t run because they’re fast. They run because they love running. And they love running with others. There is a solid connection between running and relationships. And when they run the way the Tarahumara run, they run more healthily and safe.

Born To Run is a fascinating story about one man’s search for why we run. And for how to run the best way possible. A gripping tale for runners or non-runners alike, you will be challenged by this story. Give it a read, and then go for a run. And enjoy it!

If you are interested in reading Born To Run, you can purchase it at Amazon.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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2009-2010 Reading List

2009-2010 Reading List

2009-2010 Reading List

Each year as I wrap up the busy summer and start getting geared up for the school year, I try to take stock of where I’m at spiritually. Each August, I try to limit my activities and spend time with my family and spend some time alone to refresh and renew my spiritual life.

It’s at this point each year that I set for myself several goals that I want to accomplish. And that includes putting together a pretty extensive reading list. In fact, I leave tomorrow for two days of solitude and simplicity. I’m going camping. Just me, God’s Word, and a few books from this list.

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Book Review – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury has managed to create a world which is science fiction and yet seems eerily familiar all at the same time in Fahrenheit 451.

Guy Montag lives in a world where it is illegal to read books.  Books have been banned, and firemen are there to enforce the law.  Firemen don’t put out fires; they start them, in homes of lawbreakers.  Montag lives in a society that is swallowed up by their addiction to a futuristic version of the television.  And all else has been lost.  Life has no meaning, no purpose.  And any type of social activity is strictly prohibited.

Montag meets a seventeen year old girl named Clarisse.  She teaches him that people hold value, and are meant to be in relationships with one another.  And Montag meets an elderly professor.  Professor Faber teaches Montag that it is all right to think for himself; and he casts a vision for Montag of a future where thinking is encouraged once again.

While Fahrenheit 451 is a book which was written 50 years ago, about a society far in the future, even from today, and completely centered on censorship and defiance, it haunts the reader with frighteningly accurate glimpses of reality today.  And not simply in the area of censorship, though that is familiar enough.

There’s a spiritual element in Fahrenheit 451 that shouts to be heard over the noise of a godless society.  In Montag’s world, people have no purpose or meaning.  Individuals have lost their individuality.  People have become purposeless drones, drowning in their own sorrows, and covering up their shattered lives by wearing masks. 

In a very real way, this describes us, today.  We wear masks, hiding who we really are, and we’ve done this so long that we’ve forgotten who we really are.  We need people like the group of old men Montag meets at the very end of the story.  People who seem to represent pastors and ministers.  People who hold the truth in their minds.  People who have the keys to restoring our individuality and relationships.  People who are willing to serve others, meeting their needs.

Just like the people in Guy Montag’s world accepted their imprisonment by their society, we have put up with our own for far too long.  We need to stop reveling in our bondage, our sin.  We need to return to reality; return to the Truth.  We are trapped.  We need a Savior to free us.

While Fahrenheit 451 may not have been written with a spiritual purpose in mind in 1953, there is a message there for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.