The Life and Spirituality of John Newton, A compilation of his personal letters

The story of the life of John Newton is definitely one that every Christian should become familiar with. For a great comprehensive book on the life of John Newton I would recommend you read, "John Newton, from Disgrace to Amazing Grace," by Jonathan Aitken.

This book is a collection of John Newton's personal letters that he was asked to write by a friend who thought that people should hear directly from Newton as to what his life had been like. Bruce Hindmarsh gives us a short introduction to the life of Newton and the reason for these letters to have been written in the first place. But then the rest of the book is a collection of Newton's letters.

To read the letters from John Newton is to find yourself investigating the life of a young man that had it extremely difficult yet found that God had a plan for him and that God's plan would not be stopped short. Newton was to come full circle with his life and serve the Lord Jesus Christ as a fine young man and bring the Gospel to hundreds of people.

I was highly encouraged by these letters and trust that you will be as well.

Bedtime Devotions with Jesus, from Thomas Nelson Publishers

A wonderful devotional guide for you to share with your small children. This book is a hard back edition so that it will withstand some use. The format is 52 weeks of devotions, six a week, Monday through Friday with one for the weekend as well. The scripture is taken out of the International Childrens' Bible, by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

According to my wife the pictures are "cute!" I turned to her for the word because I didn't think you would believe me. The pictures are of a teddy bear in different poses on each page. There is a scripture reference and then a very short devotional thought. The devotions are written by a variety of authors.

The print is good size for a very young reader. The stories will take you a couple of minutes at most to read with your toddler or pre-schooler. then you can spend time praying with them.

It is marketed as a Bedtime Devotions book and I think that is a great application for it.

Take a look, I think you will like what you see and read.

Two Roads Home, by Deborah Raney

The second book in the Chicory Inn series will trace the family crisis of another of the children of the family. Jesse and Corinne have the perfect life, at least as far as Corinne is concerned. Jesse has a great job as a Salesman for a major business and makes good enough money that they have been able to build a nice large home in a great neighborhood on a larger than normal plot of land. They have three little girls who are amazing. Corinne doesn't have to work because of the good money that Jesse makes so she is a stay at home mom.

They love the Tuesday night family dinners at the Chicory Inn where everyone gathers together with mom and dad and the siblings and their families. It is a wonderful life and couldn't be better.

But then the bottom falls out. On a business trip Jesse travels with others from work, one of those being Michaela, a young woman who happens to think Jesse is attractive. Michaela takes to flirting with Jesse and he is not smart enough to see the signs (or is it naive enough?). Bottom line when Michaela starts calling him at home on his days off Jesse realizes that there is a problem. He confronts Michaela at work and she in turn threatens to file a sexual harassment case against him with the State. Jesse's employer calls him in to tell him and things get worse.

The story will revolve around the issue with Michaela and Jesse as well as Jesse coming to terms with a thought he has had for a long time that he would like to pursue becoming a teacher. But if he does that it will change the economic status of the family and they will have to change everything.

The story does not have any real mystery to it. It is a nice story about the trials of one family and how they will deal with them. It is a true, down to earth family story. As such there are good lessons for each of us to learn from the story and to put into play in our lives.

Enjoy!

Lorie's Heart, by Amy Lillard

Another in the Amish life series about Wells Landing, Oklahoma. As the story starts Lorie Kauffman and her family are grieving the death of her father from an accident. Lorie and her step-mother go to the county coroner’s office to identify the body. That is difficult to do, but the more difficult thing is that Lorie notices that her father has a tattoo! That is not something an Amish man should have.

When she tries to ask her step-mother about it she gets no answer and is told to let it go and not ask again. But the tattoo has an attraction that makes her think that it was gotten in memory of her mother, whom she doesn’t really remember because she was so young when her biological mother died.

So, Lorie sets out on a quest. She takes a look at the items the police return to the family that belonged to her father. In his wallet is a drivers license, another no no in the Amish community. But low and behold the license has a different address and a different name than Kauffman. What does that mean, did he have another family somewhere else?

As Lorie works to unravel the mystery she will discover that he father was an honorable man but one with many secrets. She will meet a grandmother she didn’t know she had. She will meet a nice English boy who will turn her head and make her question whether she should marry the Amish boy, Jonah, that she has been dating forever.

Just when I thought I couldn’t find an Amish novel that would offer a new story line and some new twists this one came along. I was very pleased with the story and how it developed. I enjoyed the mystery as well as the struggles a young Amish woman will have.

The story maybe wraps up a bit too nicely, but what did I expect?

I enjoyed the story and think it would be a good discussion book for a church book club to read.

Enjoy!