God, Faith and Reason

"What you will see in this book are snapshots of God, not a complete film. This book is presented in an omnibus style and does not have to be read in precise, sequential order. What you will see is one man's glimpses of God - images along the road of life. It is a scrapbook of the highest power through dreams, memories and stories, much like the ancient texts. I know a lot of people who are not religious but say, "You know, it's terrible. We were once a great Christian nation, and the churches are empty and the mosques are filling up. They always wanted someone else to go to church. People who don't go to church don't' really believe in God. They want someone to believe for them. They cry, "Oh, why are the churches empty?" To which I reply, "Well, why don't you go?" They aren't religious, but they wish other people were. Well, you are the other people."

As I have said many years ago, we've gone from St. Christopher medals to dream catchers in one generation. When I was a kid, it seemed as though every other car had a Catholic owner. They had little St. Christopher's statues on the dashboard. Myself, I didn't have one, but I liked that there were people who believed in God. And one day, I woke up, it was post-Obama and there were dream catchers hanging off mirrors. There are so many things hanging off mirrors, I don't know how people can see through their windshields. Mirrors and beads and voodoo. There is voodoo paraphernalia hanging off automobile mirrors and the country is melting down. It's total anarchy." (God, Faith and Family Preface).

God, Faith and Reason is a hard hitting book from Michael Savage, who doesn't hold back blunt honesty. If you are looking for a candy-coated rainbow colored book on what has happened to this once great nation that was founded on Christian principles, you might want to find another book. Michael Savage is about taking the hard hits and giving readers the blatant truth of his own opinion on where he believes this country was headed and how we might hope to get back the same foundation it was once built on. But it is going to take people to stand up for what is right, regardless of the costs. We need to stop building more laws and put the old laws back into place. Our country was built on the Constitution the way our founding fathers wrote it, not reinterpreting it to please our latest mood at the moment. When did people start becoming so offended anyway? Do we all have to agree? Can we not all have differences of opinion any longer? Must we all be forced to get along even when we don't agree with the way things are going?

I received God, Faith and Reason by Michael Savage, compliments of Center Street Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Groups. I LOVE his books because he doesn't hold back the punches that need to be addressed. For the last 8 years, we have had leaders in this once great nation, completely rewrite and reinterpret what our Constitution has meant. Almost reading between the lines as it was. Now bakeries are being sued because a gay couple wanted a cake baked to their standards even if it didn't agree with this particular bakeries standards and beliefs. In fact, they had turned down other orders for the same reason, but now, it seems like everyone is lawsuit crazy instead of merely taking their business to another baker, they sued based on what? Their feelings being hurt. Seriously, that is what is wrong with this country and it is time to take back the country from the children who were running it based on what certain people felt. In my own lifetime I never thought I would see it coming apart at the seams but thank God in His mercy, He has allowed us a chance to possibly get this country back on its feet and earn the respect it once had. Something people could be proud of. We just need to get rid of those in office that are making that difficult. Hopefully some of the things Michael talks about in this book might help us do just that. All it takes is one person at a time, doing the right thing. For me, I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion. Check it out for yourself and I hope you LOVE what you find tucked inside.

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God, Faith and Reason by Michael Savage

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Sky Lantern

"We never know if this time we say "I love you" will be our last, or the last time we will say it in quite that way. In the next few days I would hear from people all over the world, telling me their stories of their own fathers, of fathers who loved them but couldn't quite say it, or who loved them and had passed away and had been unable to say it for many years. Or, for some, fathers who never showed any sign of love, or even showed evidence of the opposite.

I couldn't have known any of those things, either. Who knows how far a simply love letter will travel? Who knows how far a sky lantern, with a simply phrase of love scrawled on the side, will fly? None of us have any idea.

So we have to keep singing it, keep saying it, keep writing it, keep showing it.

We have to send our live out into the world so others will find it." (pg 49).

In the book Sky Lantern by Matt Mikalatos, a seemingly ordinary event of picking up trash that had blown into his yard, turned into a life changing event when he discovers a sky lantern in his yard with a heart felt love letter inscribed on it by someone only known as Steph. Matt takes readers into the journey of his search to find Steph and convey to her what he believes any father would say to his daughter if he could. Along the way, Matt discovers something about his own love for his three daughters, an unexpected friendship with Steph and more importantly how we can all make an impact in our own world to make things better for someone each day.

"I was sitting at my gate an hour later, thinking about my trip, which had come to an end much faster than I had expected. I had a new friend who lived halfway across the country. Someone I would have never met, would have never known, if not for that lantern crashing in my yard. I had driven through her city many times. She had come to visit Portland, even staying ten miles from my house. It was strange to think that all the so-called strangers around me might be one small act of kindness away from becoming good friends. We have so much in common, all of us. We have lost our loved ones or we will. We have lived, fought, loved, and wanted to be loved. We have cried and laughed, struggled in relationships. We have lit in the darkness with our small flames. It that not enough to build a friendship around?

What if Steph wasn't some amazing friend I had found through a series of inconceivable coincidences or generous providence? What if, instead, it was that every place was full of these potential friends, crowded around us, but we were unable to see them? Could it be that every person sitting around me could be someone who would be my friend, if only I took a few moments? If only I paid attention and gave them my full attention?" (pg 136).

I received Sky Lantern by Matt Mikalatos compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation, aside from a free copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review. This is a book I believe we all need to read because there is some nugget of wisdom for all of us to glean something different from this book. Perhaps its validation that you are worthy, that you have something to offer the world, that you are loved, and most of all to take the time to tell others they are loved, to write letters if you are unable to, or to make a friend in the most unlikeliest of places through divine appointments in your own life. For me this one was well worth a 4.5 out of 5 stars and as you can see, I have shared with you some of those nuggets of wisdom I gleaned to share with you.

For more information about Sky Lantern, Matt Mikalatos or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Sky Lantern by Matt Mikalatos

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To read more reviews on Sky Lantern, please visit Howard Book's website. 

Unprocessed

I don't think I have ever read a memoir quite like Megan Kimble's. In fact the only time I will really read a memoir is if the author is someone I really want to know more about. However, her year long challenge to see if she could go without eating anything that is processed, was something I was truly interested in, especially after watching, Super Size Me, and watching how processed fast food impacts the body. I was more than pleasantly surprised after sitting down and reading this from cover to cover in one sitting and asking myself if I could do the same thing Megan did. My outcome, probably not, but I loved living vicariously through her while she did so on a very meager budget I might add.

When you think about it, most of the food we eat outside of fruits and vegetables are mostly processed in order to preserve shelf life and to last longer than it would without all those additives we seriously never considered what they do and if they are good for our bodies. I mean, they wouldn't be able to sell the stuff on the supermarket shelves if they did right? You might be just as surprised as I was after reading this. As Megan experiences things such as learning how to make bread, the old fashioned way, and what is the right grains to use, yes, she becomes a younger version of Martha Stewart and buys a grinder. She learns what it means by "rule of thumb" and how through trial and error manages to pull of home made bread that calls to her after she finishes baking it in the over. She shares with us all that even those tried and true places we believe may in fact be healthy like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, might in fact not be as innocent and healthy as we thought.

She takes you on a journey not only how things are made, but at the conclusion of each chapter, she shares her secrets on how to make things like sea salt, bread, chocolate, how to can tomatoes, how to make your own almond milk, and so much more. For someone like me, this book is chalk full of great facts like knowing for example that 90% of our sodium intake is from processed food and only 10% is added by us in our daily diet. What the difference is between all those brands of sugars, raw and natural as well as artificial sweeteners, along with the differences between all those milk products we find, which is truly the best for our body and why we are often lactose intolerant. You might be more than surprised. I applaud her efforts to pulling this off and I learned quite a bit about reading my labels more accurately and supporting local farmer's markets to sell strictly organic, pesticide and antibiotic free produce and meat. We may not be able to change how supermarkets sell produce but we can decide how to spend the money we earn in a better way to support small co-ops and organic farmers and dairies.

I received Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food by Megan Kimble compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review aside from a free copy of the book, and the opinions expressed are strictly my own personal. For this reader, I may decide to take up canning if done properly to ensure I have some great produce available when it is out of season, and now found some new uses for my food processor. Overall, well written, informative, and engaging to keep me interested in finishing this in one sitting, thus a 5 out of 5 star rating in this reader's opinion.

For more information about Unprocessed, Megan Kimble or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Unprocessed by Megan Kimble

You can find Megan Kimble on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest books.

To read more reviews on Unprocessed, please visit William Morrow's Website.