Hear No Evil

If you’ve ever had the opening bars of a song transport you back in time or remind you of a pivotal spiritual moment, Matthew Paul Turner’s honest—and frequently hilarious—musings will strike a chord. Straightforward and amusing, Hear No Evil is Turner’s “life soundtrack,” a compilation of engaging personal stories about how music—and music’s ability to transform—has played a key role in his spiritual life.
Groove along on his journey as young evangelical Turner attends forbidden contemporary Christian concerts, moves to “ Music City ” Nashville , and dreams of becoming the Michael Jackson of Christian music.
Cosmic and compelling, keen and funny, every page is a new encounter with the people, places, and experiences that have taught the music-editor-turned-author some new things about God, forced him out of his comfort zone, and introduced him to a fresh view of grace along the way.

I was excited about being asked to review this book;  I could live without TV sooner than I could without music. I also love books so a book about music seems to combine the best of both worlds.

I did not love this book though.

Snarky doesn’t bother me.  I have even been known to make fun of people on occasion. But I believe “in all things moderation” and this book was not moderately snarky.

Maybe it is just me but it seemed that the majority of people in this book were criticized. Maybe I am oversensitive but I just don’t find that sort of humor funny – at least not in large quantities.

In fairness, Matthew Paul Turner also made fun of himself – or the self he used to be back when he was young and naive.  And yes, now I am being snarky because he is only in his mid-thirties - barely.

Would I recommend this book? Well, I know others have said that is is funny and others have liked it. I also don’t see the humor in Seinfeld or The Office so it could just be me. I would have to say, no I don’t really recommend it.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Once An Arafat Man

Some books are just confrontational. You know how some books make you realize that assumptions you have had are not correct or that they are wounding to people? Some books confront ideas that you have long had or make you see the other side of the issue.

Once An Arafat Man has been one of those books for me. It is subtitled the True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life – yep, not exactly light reading.

However it is a fascinating book. Because of Tass Saada, I no longer see things the way I did before. I mentioned Tea With Hezbollah before and how it changed my view of things in the Middle East, I have to say though that Once An Arafat Man left me feeling more hopeful at the end. Tea with Hezbollah showed me what  confusing mess it is, and Once an Arafat Man did that as well but it also showed me that God is working in that mess.

Born in the Gaza Strip, Tass's family was forced to move and as a result he gre up a very angry young man. In his youth, he found a way to channel that rage by directing it at Jews. He was a member of Fatah and worked as a sniper as well as training other recruits. Decades later he met a Jew named Jesus and what followed is inspirational.

God worked a miracle in Tass Saada’s heart and now God is using Tass to do more work.

About the Authors:

Tass Saada is a former Muslim and is cofounder of Hope For Ishmael, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to reconcile Arabs and Jews to Got and each other through the gospel of Christ. Saada was born in 1951 in the Gaza Strip, and he grew up in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. He was a PLO sniper and militant fighter. He worked directly for Arafat. In America, he became a Christian.

Dean Merrill has been published in over 40 magazine articles and has coauthored more than 26 books. Some well-known titles are To Fly Again and In the Presence of My Enemies, both with Philippine missionary survivor Gracia Burnham. In the Presence of My Enemies was a New York Times best seller.

This book was provided by Tyndale for purpose of review. I received no form of compensation other than a free book and all opinions expressed in this review are mine.

The Choice by Suzanne Woods Fisher

The Choice by Suzanne Woods Fisher is the first book in her Lancaster County Secrets series and a beautifully crafted story. Carrie Weaver has her future planned out but then tragedy strikes. Grief-struck, she makes a choice that could change everything.

I really enjoyed this book, I found the story well written and the characters engaging. There were some very unexpected elements in the story and some characters that are not found in the average Amish book. I loved how the characters developed and changed. I definitely give it 5 stars.

More about the book:

"Fisher kicks off a refreshing new series, Lancaster County Secrets, with characters that are strong, both in body and spirit. They also have weaknesses that develop into strengths with the choices they make."
4 stars, Romantic Times

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Suzanne is a wife and mom, raiser of puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind, and an author of Christian books, both non-fiction and fiction.

Her relatives on my mother's side are Old Order German Baptist Brethren, also known as Dunkards. That's where her interest in Anabaptist traditions began. Suzanne's grandfather was born into a family of 13 children, started his career as a teacher in a one-room school house in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and ended it as one of the very first publishers of Christianity Today. "We called him "Deardad" even though he was a very stern fellow. Still, Deardad's life inspired me to write."

After college, Suzanne was a freelance writer for magazines and became a contributing editor to Christian Parenting Today. Her work has been featured in Today's Christian Woman, Marriage Partnership, Worldwide Challenge, among others. She took the plunge into books a few years ago and now she's hooked. To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website at www.suzannewoodsfisher.com

If you want to see what other bloggers are saying about this book, check out the blog tour here:

 http://www.litfusegroup.com/Blog-Tours/blog-tour-for-the-choice-by-suzanne-woods-fisher.html

I recieved this book from LitFuse for a reveiw but I get no other compensation for my reveiw.

And the winner is . . .

Well the winner of the Tea with Hezbollah book is Heather. My 6 year old drew the name out of the bowl and since he had no idea what he was doing, I know he didn't cheat.

Actually now he is a little annoyed because he didn't win.

So I am shooting you a message Heather about how I can get this book to you.

Tea With Hezbollah and a giveaway

Wow,Tea With Hezbollah was not quite what I expected - and yet it was. I found myself being challenged more that I thought I would be. I found that Christians are just as guilty of spilling blood in the Middle East. I found things contrary to what I have been taught.

In Tea With Hezbollah Ted Dekker and Carl Medearis travel through the Middle East and meet with the great minds, the leaders. Not the ones you see all the times on interviews but ones seldom, if ever, interviewed. And they ask them about the parable of the Samaritian and what they think of it. Dekker and Medearis call the message of loving your enemies "scandalous" because it is something that is just too hard to do.

So would you like to have your thinking challenged? You can go to RandomHouse.com for more information and to order.

But WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group was nice enough to give me a copy to review as well as one to giveaway.

Yep, I said giveaway.

So if you want to enter, just leave a comment on this post. You can get a second entry for blogging about the giveaway and another entry for posting on twitter or facebook.

Good luck.

MySims games

Have you seen these games?


They are my kids favorites, they have had so much fun playing them. MySims Kingdom was great, they played it frequently for months.

So this Christmas we got them the MySims Agents. The background to the game is really cute, you get to solve mysteries - who does the do belong to, who stole the letters, who broke the surfboards, etc. You go around and talk to people, dig through trashcans, find clues.

The only problem is, it is a very short game. Once you reach the end of the mysteries, the game is done - there is no more. The game keeps track of how many hours (cumulative) you have been playing and it took my non-reader about 25 hours to beat the game. He is already halfway through it again.

Don't buy this game, rent it from a video store - it is really not worth the pricetag.


We bought this game, we have no connecttion to the company other than that of a customer. Would I be saying the same thing if we had gotten this game free? Yes, because this game is really not worth the currently $50 pricetag. It is fun and enjoyable but it is very short on content and once you have played the game once there is not more mystery to it.

And the winner . . .

of the One-Day Way book giveaway is Melanie! Shoot me an email with your address and I will get your book in the mail.

I like the idea of the 100 push ups and 200 sit ups. But I admit I like them better when someone else does them - which is why I am the shape I am.

And the Wii balance board is a whiny wimp that cries way too easily.