It was with great anticipation that I started Dee Henderson’s newest book. A well established writer in the Christian Romantic Suspense genre, Ms. Henderson writes books based in the world of the military and emergency forces. The O’Malley Family Series resonated with me in a way few book achieve, and, having had family in the military, I found her Uncommon Heroes series firmly grounded in reality. Honestly, the only one of her books I felt fell a little flat was her one stand alone, Before I Wake, and even it was well worth a Sunday’s afternoon reading. I expected Full Disclosure to be somewhere in the middle of her books, but it quickly vaulted to the top as I read it in – mostly – one sitting. I say mostly since there were a couple trips to my bookshelf to double check parts of her other books as a sneaking suspension turned into a glorious reality. The O’Malley’s were back.

I struggle with the concept of miracles. Or, at least, with the concept of direct divine intervention. Most of the arguments I’ve heard both for and against have felt like they go too far in their respective directions. To completely deny the existence of spiritual guidance, intervention, and warfare comes in conflict with the Bible. Yet, frequently the arguments for these things seem to take the other extreme path of attributing every small occurrence in our daily lives to them. This seems self aggrandizing to me at best. So my one line summary of my personal belief in miracles is that they did and do occur, that the “classification” of what is and isn’t a miracle lies outside to scope of human understanding, and that we tend to be too quick to use the word thus rending it somewhat mundane and trivial.

Because this can be such a murky theological topic, I tend to do a lot of reading on the subject. Real Life Real Miracles turned out not only to be a truly unique book in its field, but also a riveting read.

 

 

I was introduced to George Alfred Henty’s historical fiction when I was about 10 years old and they enthralled me in a world of adventure ever since.  They tell stories of young men between the ages of 15 to 22 mixed up with the famous or infamous historical invents of the time from as far back as the ancient history of the Bible to the Civil War.  Our young adventurer(s) always display impeccable integrity and honest straightforwardness that reflects a Godly worldview. Having lived during the Victorian period, his sentences are long and verbose, but when I read the books I always learned long, interesting words.

"I was an interesting combination of nerd, tomboy, and girlie girl," Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson writes in Winning Balance. Shawn knows what it's like to be a girl who doesn't always fit in, who isn't part of the cliques, and who can't always figure out what life is supposed to mean.

She also knows what it's like to lose the gold medal everyone expected her to winand then to win again where she least expected it.

Winning Balance might best be categorized as an inspirational memoir. With co-author Nancy French, Shawn describes her struggles and successes in finding true balance in life. This is the story of Shawn's journey from her childhood in Des Moines, Iowa, to her introduction to gymnastics, her growing love for the sportand its competitiveness--and finally to international fame and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Along the way, though, Shawn tries to follow two competing desires"I wanted to win, and I wanted to be just like everyone else."

 

Young, naïve, inexperienced Scardagger—on his first assignment and so lucky to have his uncle to mentor him through the traumatic process… (His Uncle Slashreap, that is. Not the other uncle, the one who recently devoured Scardagger’s cousin for his catastrophic failure).

Or so Slashreap suggests in this series of letters, originally intended for his nephew’s benefit and printed now in As One Devil to Another.

Throughout these letters transcribed by author Richard Platt, Slashreap pays not-so-subtle homage to C. S. Lewis’s original work, The Screwtape Letters. As his predecessor before him, Slashreap attempts to instruct his nephew and pupil on the proper Demonic Virtues. (Not so much temptation as distraction and confusion.) And, as his predecessor also, he lashes out against his nephew’s inept, idiotic behavior. “The moral is clear: Never allow yourself a moment of innocuous pleasure.”