Ex-Muslim by Naeem Fazal

I decided to review this book Ex-Muslim byNaeem Fazal because it was recommended by someone I follow on twitter. When I came to request a new book to review it popped up so I thought I’d give it a shot.

Ex-Muslim is an enjoyable and easy read. It’s a fascinating story of faith and culture that helped faith rise in me. A reminder that God’s love is accessible to all and is powerful.

The book is Naeem’s story of growing up as a Pakistani Muslim and finding God when he moved to the States. I imagine that many would read this book and really love it. A radical story of conversion and faith paints a picture of a real and personal God. These kinds of books are important because they show God as close and relevant. Ex-Muslim doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not; it is a story of finding God. That makes it inspirational.

But,

I sat there reading and, rightly or wrongly, found myself just flicking through the pages. I read it, I enjoyed it but I thought: I want to know a bit more. I want to know a bit more about the cultural divide between a Pakistani Muslim turned Christian. I want to know a bit more about the conversations with parents and family. I wanted to know a bit more about how I could reach Muslim friends and neighbours. Maybe I’m just curious, nosy, inquisitive, but I wanted to know more….

I would recommend this book because I think any story of finding authentic and living faith in Jesus Christ is worth sharing! However, I just wanted to know a bit more.

Moment Maker by Carlos Whittaker

I chose to review this book through attending a creativity conference last year led by Carlos Whittaker. At the conference, I was struck by Carlos' honesty and straightforward approach to bringing people closer to God. I was also challenged through that conference about making the most of every moment and intentionally seeing God in even the mundane moments of each day. 

So when his new book Moment Maker came available to review, it was a no-brainer for me and I wasn't disappointed. Today's culture is marked by busyness and this book challenges the reader to make the most of every moment and more than that, to make the best out of every moment.

Big moments. Small moments. Amazing moments. Devastating moments. In all of them, I will direct you to the greatest Moment Maker of all time - Jesus - and use illustrations from his life, his ministry, his messages, and his interactions with everyone he encountered to show you what a life of Moment Making is really all about

That is exactly what Carlos does. The book is split into 3 main sections: 

1) Created Moments - moments you orchestrate and create - hard work
2) Received Moments - allowing God to put his spin on moments you didn't have a part of making
3) Rescued Moments - we mess up and there are moments in our lives that need rescuing. 

and concludes with a practical way of intentionally making moments:

1) Understanding: Why is this moment important - once you understand the why, the moment becomes worth having

2) Exploring: Exploring moments in life cultivates attentiveness and intentionality.

3) Pausing: without pausing, stopping and reflecting, the why can get lost

4) Living: choosing to live in the moment with and on purpose

This book is punctuated with stories birthed in practising a moment making lifestyle and personally it provides real challenge as I find it so easy to drift through life in normality and routine. Moment making calls us to step out and step up, expecting God to be in every moment and expecting even the rubbish moments to be redeemed. 

There is something else: Sometimes when I read books by someone I have heard speak there is a disconnect between what they say in the book and how they came across when they spoke. This was not the case with Carlos, I read a book by a person wanting to make the most out of the life he has been blessed with. When I heard him speak, I heard a person wanting to make the most out of the life he has been blessed with. 

To me that counts for a lot! 

God is Just not Fair by Jennifer Rothschild

I like a provocative book title and when finding a book title, this one met that criteria.

The title offers a double meaning, initially I expected to pick up a book that explores the fairness of God and how Christians should respond when things don’t seem fair. In one sense, it kind of does….
Add a coma, to the title and it would read: God is just, not fair and for me that’s the heart of this book. Jennifer Rothschild explores the just nature of God, which is measured on a different scale to how we would humanly measure fairness.

This book is an easy, yet engaging read. I enjoyed the short chapters with clear direction supported by witty and relevant stories and illustrations.

Jennifer Rothschild is blind so writes from the perspective of someone living with a physical disability. That perspective offers huge insight into resolving the character of God with the current circumstance. The human tendency might be to ask why? or exclaim ‘this isn’t fair’ yet the character of God is to show that in, over, around and above the circumstance, God is still God.

The book is split into six parts that explore this theme in great depth:

God, are you fair?
God, do you err?
God, do you hear prayer?
God, do you care?
God, are you aware?
God, are you there?

I really enjoyed reading this book that reminded me of many truths about the God I trust. It opened my eyes to see God from a different perspective and has provided a useful pastoral tool to be able to recommend to people who see their current circumstance as insurmountable.

I would really recommend this book, as I have done already!

Risky Gospel by Owen Strachan

I was drawn to the title of this book because one of my resolutions at the start of the year was to take more risks. Risks that take me out of my comfort zone and cause me to trust in God. Owen Strachan presents the thought that the only way to live in a place of risk, in a place of vibrant place of faith where we de-centralise control from ourselves over to God. I found this book helpful because it engages with the struggles of an ordinary Christian: how do I keep my faith vibrant, fresh and risky in light of the busyness and circumstance of life? He outlines that which many of us already know: That fear, uncertainty and comfort can cripple us moving into a place of risk taking for the gospel and outlines how we can move beyond that. I appreciated the challenge that it presents in your lap to take faith deeper and further. This book is a call and challenge to re-discover the Jesus and Gospel of the Bible, and in doing so we realise that the risk isn't that much of a risk after all!

Innovation's Dirty Little Secret

So what is Innovation's Dirty Little Secret? I asked myself as I picked a new book to read.
How dirty is it?
How little is it?
How much of a secret is it?

And i suppose that was my hesitation in picking up this book, the title suggests a revelation that the reader would not otherwise have realised. For me the contents and innovation's secret wasn't anything particularly new, but was something quite timely. It was helpful to read over the period of a new calendar year as it does pick out some really key leadership principles.

The most challenging to me and also the first principle of the book was about being prepared to fail. That effective innovation probably comes through a series of failures, of ideas that didn't quite work, or that needed tweaking. I was helped by the challenged that as a leader I shouldn't avoid doing things because they might fail, but I should keep doing things because they might fail, yes, but they may also succeed.

The contents of this book encourages the reader to take on the traits of a serial innovator, someone who isn't afraid to fail, but through careful planning, leadership and strategy see's their ideas and creativity become innovation on a regular basis.

So in that regard, It was a helpful reminder, a challenging read. Maybe the biggest innovation is the realisation that there is nothing that is really new, everything is a re-mix that becomes new to and through the eyes and circumstance of the reader.

I'd definately recommend and re-visit

Let Hope In by Pete Wilson

Let Hope In by Pete Wilson

I recently finished this book and found it to be an incredibly engaging read. The book is subtitled 4 choices that will change your life forever. I'll be honest. I'm always a bit dubious of subtitles like this, because it's never that easy. The reality of the read was far from my preconceived view of what I may find. I found Pete Wilson to write in a tremendously honest way. Sometimes Christian authors can come across as if everything is sorted in their lives, Wilson on the other hand wrestles with down-to-earth, real life stories that make the reader think "I get this"

His section on choosing to trust God rather than please God is carefully and thoroughly explained. The section about sin and our reaction to how sin impacts us is narrated beautifully and underlines the very easy grace that God offers us.

In summary the four choices that can change our lives are:

1. Choosing to transform rather than transfer
2. Choosing to be okay with not being okay
3. Choosing to trust rather than please
4. Choosing to free people rather than hurt people

I suppose the subtitle was accurate because if we are able to make these choices & allow God to take over our weakness then our lives surely can be changed- let hope in

Some of my favourite quotes from this book:

“With words self-esteems are shaped. Wars started. Murders initiated. Divorces sealed. Children crushed. And while we are sensitive about the words that come to us, we are often careless about what comes out.

Our firestorms of criticism are doing immense damage to the body of Christ. Not only are we distracting each other from our main mission, we are simply playing right into the hands of those outside the faith who already think we’re trite and hypocritical.”

Many of us wonder if we've made decisions in the past that were outside of God's will that are wreaking havoc on the present

Death by Living by N.D.Wilson

This is the first book by N.D. Wilson that I have read and he certainly stands out as unique in both style and substance. His vocabulary and literary style presents a welcome change to many of the books I normally read. He manages to mix non-fiction, engaging narrative and theological richness in a books that I would mark out as unique. Having said all of this, Death by Living is not the kind of book you can read whilst doing something else, my full attention was necessary to gain the full richness of this work. 

In summary, Wilson takes the reader on a journey of what life can be if we refocus our purpose and start living. Life is meant to be spent and according to Wilson that focus is gained by recognising we're first dying. I suppose some might read this and think of it as somber and negative, yet Wilson paints a picture of the joy our reality can become if we place it in perspective 

This quote stuck out to me:

"Lay your life down. Your heartbeats cannot be hoarded. Your reservoir of breaths is draining away. You have hands, blister them while you can. You have bones, make them strain. They can carry nothing to the grave. You have lungs, let them spill with laughter

I enjoyed this book, I found it different and sometimes difficult to read, but would definitely read future works by N.D.Wilson and go back and read Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl.