Yes! I love sharing about books. Today, I'm featuring TWO books. They're different than a lot of the books that I read and review and highlight on here, but I'm so excited about them! So . . . here are two non-fiction (!) books that I would like to recommend to you!
Love Thy Rivalby Chad Gibbs
Available August 2012
Blue Moon Books
238 pages
In his first book, the best-selling God & Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC, humorist Chad Gibbs explored his own struggles to balance faith in God with passion for pigskin. Now Gibbs is back asking how Christian fans can love their enemies, when we can't even love rival fans.
From the cross-country culture war of Lakers vs Celtics, to the cross-state hate-fest of Alabama vs Auburn, Gibbs spent one year attending the most intense rivalry games in sports (Yankees vs Red Sox, Duke vs Carolina, and many more), observing the darker side of fan culture, and pondering the problems rivalry games present to the Christian fan.
The result... Love Thy Rival, an enlightening, laugh-a-minute look at what sports? greatest rivalries teach us about one of Jesus' most difficult commands: Love your enemies.
by Nik Ripken
Available January 1, 2013
B&H Books
384 pages
The Insanity of God is the personal and lifelong journey of an ordinary couple from rural Kentucky who thought they were going on just your ordinary missionary pilgrimage, but discovered it would be anything but. After spending over six hard years doing relief work in Somalia, and experiencing life where it looked like God had turned away completely and He was clueless about the tragedies of life, the couple had a crisis of faith and left Africa asking God, "Does the gospel work anywhere when it is really a hard place? It sure didn't work in Somalia.
Nik recalls that, “God had always been so real to me, to Ruth, and to our boys. But was He enough, for the utter weariness of soul I experienced at that time, in that place, under those circumstances?” It is a question that many have asked and one that, if answered, can lead us to a whole new world of faith.
How does faith survive, let alone flourish in a place like the Middle East? How can Good truly overcome such evil? How do you maintain hope when all is darkness around you? How can we say “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world” when it may not be visibly true in that place at that time? How does anyone live an abundant, victorious Christian life in our world’s toughest places? Can Christianity even work outside of Western, dressed-up, ordered nations? If so, how?
The Insanity of God tells a story—a remarkable and unique story to be sure, yet at heart a very human story—of the Ripkens’ own spiritual and emotional odyssey. The gripping, narrative account of a personal pilgrimage into some of the toughest places on earth, combined with sobering and insightful stories of the remarkable people of faith Nik and Ruth encountered on their journeys, will serve as a powerful course of revelation, growth, and challenge for anyone who wants to know whether God truly is enough.
Haven't heard of these books.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS.
Have a fun week
AWESOME BLOG...NEW FOLLOWER.
Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
http://silversolara.blogspot.com
Wow - they both sounds seriously awesome, especially the 2nd book.
ReplyDeleteThe Insanity of God sounds fantastic! I've just been given word about two Somali evangelists working in Africa, it's so rare to meet Somali Christians, let alone evangelists, I can't imagine what the Ripken's journey was like. Definitely getting this book.
ReplyDeleteWow, good recommendations! Looks like I'll be heading to the library soon!
ReplyDeleteNice picks! Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteI love the sound of both books added to my wishlist :)
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