Amos 2:6-16

Amos has finished his prophecies about the surrounding nations and now reaches his main message – his proclamations against Israel itself.  Interestingly, his initial condemnations are similar to the charges made against the pagans.  The people of Israel are no longer distinguishable from the people without the law. As noted before, Amos’ listeners could very […]

Amos 2:4-5

Amos has prophesied against the pagan nations around Israel.  He began with those who are not related – Aram, Philistia, Phoenicia – and moved to the ones who share a blood relation to Israel – Edom, Ammon, Moab.  Now he speaks against the closest nation both geographically and relationally – Judah.  He is slowly coming […]

The Mayflower – Rebecca Fraser

Mostly enjoyed this book.  Parts were really interesting, parts were a little less interesting, parts read like a US History text book.  I actually had to go back and re-read some sections because I realized I had just sort of glazed over them.  When I re-read those sections, I actually enjoyed the book more. The […]

Amos 1:3-2:3

Amos proclaims judgment on seven nations surrounding Israel.  He prophesies against Israel’s neighbors before finally working his way back to Israel itself.  Six of the seven countries are pagan – the seventh is Judah.  The purpose of these prophecies seems to be to show God as judge over all the earth, not just Israel.  It […]

Artemis – Andy Weir

Total beach/vacation book.  Easy read, no messages, no deep meanings.  It’s a science fiction story about a conspiracy in a settlement on the moon.  The story keeps your attention and if you’re planning to be on a beach soon – and you like science fiction (and you’re a guy, as it’s a total guy book) […]

A State of Freedom – Neel Mukherjee

Exquisitely written, cleverly structured, powerfully resonant to the very last line. . . . A profoundly intelligent and empathetic novel of privilege and poverty, advancement and entrapment.      – Wall Street Journal Simply gorgeous. . . . A State of Freedom is a marvel of a book, shocking and beautiful, and it proves that Mukherjee is […]

Pale Rider – Laura Spinney

The Spanish Flu, which raged across the world as a pandemic from 1918-1920, infected one out of three people IN THE WORLD (500 million out of 1.5 billion).  It killed anywhere from 10-20% of the people it infected, so somewhere between 50 and 100 million people died.  If the upper range is correct, it killed […]

Betaball – Erik Malinowski

This is the second book I’ve read this year about the Golden State Warriors.  The first book was Golden Days by Jack McCallum, which dealt with one season and specifically on Jerry West’s role with the team.  This book is broader in scope as it tells how the team was turned around by Joe Lacob and […]

Matthew 7:24-27

Jesus concludes His sermon with a final application comparing those who look saved with those who truly are.  He already discussed people who go through the wide gate and travel the wide way versus those who go through the narrow gate and travel the narrow way.  He explained that there are false teachers who bear […]

Born Standing Up – Steve Martin

This is not a new book – written in 2007 – but I read something about it a few months ago and so have had it on my ‘to-read’ list for this year.  I’m glad I did.  It started out a little slow, but after a couple of chapters I started enjoying it and really […]