Old Man’s War microReview

When I first met my wife, I found out she and her family were major geeks and nerds. After breathing a sigh of relief, I descended to their basement and was shown the bookcase upon bookcase of sci-fi and fantasy reading material, and was lectured to at length on many series I had yet to read. (At the time, I was pretty limited to the Belgariad, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and Discworld).

One of the books my wife pushed on me until I at last got out of my box o’ reluctance and sat down to read was Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. The novel is set in a universe where Earth is colonizing the stars and dueling many, many species across the galaxy for planets, land, and resources. The caveat is most people born on earth are not allowed to immigrate to the colonies unless they are of a certain nationality or they enter the Colonial Defense Forces. The CDF offers anyone of seventy-five years old the opportunity to enlist, taking the experienced and aging population of earth and putting them in augmented clone bodies to serve in land-claiming and colonial defense.

I enjoyed the concept. The curmudgeonly, cynical stereotypes of kids-these-days is tempered with the characters discovering along with the reader what is out there beyond the safety of earth. I don’t really worry about accurate science in sci-fi too much (I am a geek about Star Wars, after all), so I’m not here to nitpick. Character development is good, I had a few chuckles, and some plot twists definitely had my jaw on the floor more than once. Scalzi’s concepts of how earth would set out and attempt to colonize the stars was thought-provoking and fascinating.

It is worth noting Old Man’s War can be read by itself as a stand-alone. Scalzi did produce another five in the series for those who wish to explore more in the world he created. For me, the first novel allowed enough closure to end well.

Old Man’s War was written by John Scalzi, published by Tor Books in 2005, and is 320 pages long.

The Men We Need microReview

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I grew up with two sisters. I did not realize how different I was from other guys until high school and college. Every other gentleman seemed to be big into doing things like eating ghost peppers, playing sports, and exuding swagger. I was quiet, bookish, unathletic, and staring mournfully at my bone-dry tank of self-confidence.

Anyway, that stereotypical introduction to my memoirs aside, I can now say I’m quiet, bookish, unathletic, and sighing as I survey the slow drip of God’s assurance into my tank of faith where my self-confidence never was. My ghost-pepper chomping, home-run hitting, swaggering brothers in Christ no longer intimidate me as much.

To get to this point, I had to ask the inevitable question of every Christian boy: what the heck are we supposed to do as men of God? As men, we communicate, act, and serve in certain ways. Culture moves on and action, communication, and etiquette are not the same one generation to the next. Obviously, our service to God is affected by such things and our service to God should not be based on those things.

Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, Brant Hansen in his book The Men We Need: God’s Purpose for the Manly Man, the Avid Indoorsman, or Any Man Willing to Show Up merely presents six decisions every male follower of Christ must face should that follower truly wish to be what God has called him to be.

In doing so, Hansen covers video games (he is not anti-video game), pornography (he is anti-pornography), toxic passivity, activism, and so much more with a thoughtful, anecdotal, and quirky style full of genuineness and humility. He commiserates and confesses even as he gently remonstrates and rebukes, and there is conviction in the pages for every Christian man. Whether that man nibbles on peppers for fun or not.

The Men We Need: God’s Purpose for the Manly Man, the Avid Indoorsman, or Any Man Willing to Show Up was written by Brant Hansen, published by Baker Books in 2022, and is 256 pages long.

Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music microReview

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When we take the words “art,” “music,” “movies,” “radio,” etc. and tack “Christian” before each one, the expectations toward each medium change drastically depending on the reader.

Phil Long once mused to me he wished more Christian music festivals left out the “Christian” in their title. “Why not just call it a ‘music festival?’” Thinking it over, I could see his point. How do we create music to appeal to everyone, not just a specific audience which already knows and believes in the gospel presented? How to explore the medium without being limited by producing what everyone expects to be “Christian?” What of the explorations in song and music of contemporary issues, of non-kosher things the average Christian and Non-Christian experience in day-to-day life? There the hard balance is sought.

Brant Hansen and his producer Sherri Lynn interviewed Gregory Allen Thornbury on their Oddcast awhile back. Thornbury recently wrote Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? The book is about Larry Norman, one of the pioneers of Christian Rock music. Norman sought the hard balance all his life. Thornbury details Norman’s struggles against the Christian anti-rock music movement, the influence he had on many secular artists, the yearning to produce quality music without turning to bland, everything’s-hunky-dory themes as many Christian songs seem to follow, and so on.

As important as he was, the book also explores his many failings and humanity. He, like many other artists of the 60s and 70s, was not shy about criticizing the government as well as church culture, adding to the friction. Scandals involving his friends and family dragged his reputation down. He argued with his closest allies, resulting in long feuds at times.

Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? is an important account of a man hoping for change, bringing change, and struggling with fallen human nature in himself and in others. Anyone seeking to create art and spread the gospel thereby could do well to read it.

Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock was written by Gregory Alan Thornbury, published and printed by Convergent Books in 2018, and it contains 292 pages.

Miracles microReview

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I confess I find it hard to believe in modern-day miracles. I suppose it’s because few of them happen to the people I know in real life. Trustworthy people with whom I have a personal relationship are more believable than the ones I read about.

I’m not saying miracles don’t happen, nor that they didn’t happen. The entirety of my faith hinges upon the greatest series of miracles leading to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These days, I subconsciously take the Jesus-works-in-subtle-ways road. As in, He’ll touch a heart here to send a check there and answer a prayer that way. As in, He’ll use someone’s pre-Christian experiences to minister to others in the best way, redeeming their past for the future He desires. Subtle.

But God isn’t always so subtle in his miracles even now, according to Eric Metaxas. In Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life, he explores the small and great, the old and the new in a variety of works of God which are deemed “miraculous.”

Metaxas writes with the non-believer and the theologian in mind. For those who say, “Life itself is a miracle,” he agrees and touches upon what makes it so. The first half of his book reads like a work by Lee Strobel, more in the vein of The Case for Creator or The Case for Christ. The rebuttals toward “the universe happened by chance” or “Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead” are familiar.

However, these arguments are a necessary foundation. Not only does he establish what a miracle is, but he also discusses what a miracle is supposed to achieve. Metaxas cannot do either without basing it on biblical narrative and analysis of miracles in scripture.

The second half of the book is divided into sections. Each section contains several stories of a type of miracle. The type of miracle is defined in a forward covering each separate section. Anything from miraculous healing to a staunch non-believer turning to Christianity in a conversion miracle to encountering angels obvious and angels disguised. It is a trove of anecdotes very much like those found in a Chicken Soup series book.

Overall, it is a solid exploration which left me with a lot to consider.

Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life was written by Eric Metaxas, published and reprinted by Penguin Books on October 13, 2015 and it contains 352 pages.

Blessed Are the Misfits microReview

Blast are the Messfits Growing up, my family and I would visit my Nana in Port Angeles. Sunday mornings, we trooped with her to church and I’d be the visitor from out of town in a Sunday School class. On one occasion, the teacher taught about Noah’s ark and how all those who accepted Jesus were basically on Noah’s ark.

Post lesson, one of the nice lady teachers asked me, “Do you feel like you’re on Noah’s ark?”

“No.” I said.

“Well, do you want to pray so you are?” She smiled a kind smile.

“No.” I looked around nervously.

Now, understand this: I was about seven years old. Let me project for you what literal seven-year-old me was thinking at the time.

“Lady, we’re in a class room. In a church. We’re not on a boat, much less Noah’s ark. So, no, I don’t feel like I’m on Noah’s ark. If I pray and ask to be on Noah’s ark, I believe you and I’ll be on Noah’s ark. I don’t like boats. So forget it.” Continue reading “Blessed Are the Misfits microReview” →

Escape from Camp 14 microReview

Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West is the fascinating, raw story of a man born in captivity. Treated as worthless but for the hard labor he performed, Shin Dong-hyuk grew up in believing he had no worth. His life, his mind, his psychology were all formed into a twisted, feral persona.

It led to him falsely accusing his mother and brother of murder in exchange for more food. Believing Shin knew more than he was letting on, the guards hung him by his hands and feet from the ceiling. Then, they lit a fire beneath him. Demanding he reveal all that he knew, they let out the ropes that held him aloft until his back began to burn from the flames. He tried to shift out of the way. The guards plunged a steel hook into his torso to hold him still.

To this day, he bears the mental and physical scars.

Continue reading “Escape from Camp 14 microReview” →