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list of many characteristics intended to help
you see if you are truly experiencing the
abundant life offered by Christ.
Rating: 4 —ARG
PICKING DANDELIONS:
A Search for Eden Among
Life’s Weeds. Cunningham,
Sarah. 221p, paper,
Zondervan 2010,
9780310292470 [277.3]
Written by a pastor’s daughter, this memoir
describes her feelings on being a pastor’s
kid, and moves on to her experiences at
college, her marriage, her teaching career
and the inspiration she found volunteering
at Ground Zero. Throughout runs the
thread of her desire to become more
Christ-like. She describes her prayers,
admitting to God that she hates some
people, telling God of the faults of others,
while asking Him to help her overcome
her shortcomings and to reflect Him more
fully. It’s a breezy sometimes funny account
I could relate to. She writes, “I try to get
things straight with God, to own up to
who I am and reflect on who I want to
be.” “This lasts for about half an hour,” she
admits. In one hilarious chapter, she tries to
heal her trait of impatience as she teaches
a class of inattentive, unruly high school
students. Rating: 3.5 —EB
THE RADICAL DISCIPLE:
Some Neglected Aspects of
Our Calling. Stott, John.
142p, InterVarsity 2010,
9780830838479 [248.4]
I wanted to really like this
book; I was looking for a “tune up” in the
New Year. And there are elements in it
which are instructive and helpful. But there
are also places in this book where I find
I disagree with the author and his views
of what it means to be a Christian today.
Included in its entirety is a document
entitled, “An Evangelical Commitment to
Simple Life-Style.” Again, I thought this
was insightful and interesting, but it seemed
to draw barriers between the “haves” (the
Christians as defined by Stott) and “havenots”
(those not), instead of bringing them
together. After reading this book, I believe
that John Stott needs you to believe his
kind of Christianity, which separates one
from another, instead of bringing them
together. I found many of his passages too
17
divisive, too much like the Sadducees of
Jesus’ time. On the whole, I found this to
be a confining and narrow view of what
a disciple of Christ needs to be. I think if
anyone were to read this, it would have
to be with an educated and discerning
eye. I would not recommend it to a group,
except to perhaps to encourage discussion.
Rating: 0 —CP
THE REWARDS OF
SIMPLICITY: A Practical
and Spiritual Approach.
Pierce, Pam and Chuck D.
Pierce. 197p, paper, Chosen
2010, 9780800794774 [241.4]
While there is much written and
discussed about the need we have in
this technological and very busy world
to simplify our lives both spiritually and
practically, this book does not aid the
reader in practical ways to accomplish the
task. Written by two authors, the sections
of the short book are extremely different
in style and approach. The first section
written by Pam was easy reading, but
cluttered with biographical tales that often
did not add to the subject. The second half
by her husband was wordy and contained
some disturbing ideas on theology and
prophesy. Though there were some good
thoughts on keeping the Sabbath and
not letting technology rule our personal
lives, these were not enough to overcome
a serious lack of content and practical
applications. There are many better books
on the subject of simplicity than this one.
Rating: 1 —AL
SO LONG, INSECURITY:
You’ve Been a Bad Friend
to Us. Moore, Beth,
352p, Tyndale 2010,
9781414334721 [248.8]
Beth Moore is a favorite author
of many Christian women, and this book is
a good introduction for those who haven’t
read her work. She frankly chronicles her
own battles with insecurity, adding other
women’s stories—and even surveyed men
for a perspective on their insecurities and
how they notice lack of self-confidence in
women. She closely examines numerous
reasons women feel they don’t measure
up, then suggests ways to replace
insecurity with dignity. Even women
who don’t struggle with this problem can
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