Ice - Book Review

Ice by Shane Johnson

Summary: The author is a Christian author, and writes with a Christian world view. This is a fictional story, written as if the Apollo missions had continued on through to the original plan. The story starts with Apollo 19's expedition to the southern pole of the moon, where they are searching for ice that had been detected there. Once the two astronauts are there, they find that they cannot return because of a failed rocket to get them off of the surface. In their remaining time they decide to drive off as far as they can in their rover. To go further than they originally anticipated. Once they get to the end of their road, they find more than ice waiting for them.

My Thoughts: I had this book on my Froogle Wish List for a long time. I had put it there on a whim, because it sounded interesting. Also because I enjoy Christian fiction, and there isn't a whole lot of that out there.

My mom must have seen the book on my wish list and bought it for me last Christmas (Thanks Mom). Since we have recently been doing a little less TV lately, I have had some more time to read, so I just finished this book this morning.

I have to be honest here in my book reviews, so I must tell you that it did start off a little slow, and there were a few of the dialogs between the characters that seemed to drag out a little bit. Once the story started going though, it pulled me in. There was just enough suspense to keep me going. The author didn't tell too much, so I kept trying to figure out what all of the events were leading up to.

It had a good Christian perspective to it, and I always love when an author ties in some science fiction to the Bible. I love hypothesizing how things could tie in, in those ways. I don't have a book rating system yet, but I will say that this was worth a read, if you enjoy science fiction writing.

This Too...

I did a post a while ago called, This Too Shall Pass. It is my all-time most visited post. Partially because of that, but also because of life itself, I have grown to love that phrase.

And because I am so bored, here is a T-Shirt...

Or the Mug!

Mover for life.

I have come to accept the fact that I will never be able to escape two fields. The teaching field and the moving field. I am not talking about destiny, I think I might be talking about a life sentence.

Anyway, since I have been doomed to summerly servitude, moving people's sleeper sofas and refrigerators, I decided to make a T-shirt. (I would just go out and start my own company, if I could afford the insurance.)

Here is the emblem that I created.

And here is what it looks like on the back of a T-shirt.



I would like to change the little tag line, but I couldn't think of anything quippy enough. I thought about, "Taking the pain out of the moving process" or "Movers that help not hurt" or something like that. But I haven't decided yet.

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop them in the comments section, or to give me a quick e-mail. To see all of my other stuff just click here.

it will come when it will come

Ceasar --

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.

William Shakespeare in Julius Ceasar

keep us

Every once in awhile, I will read a passage of scripture that will stay with me for days. My mind will keep coming back to it. It is usually a passage that I don't ever recall reading before and I don't recall anyone else reading to me.

The passage that I posted about a couple of days ago has been like that for me. I know I said this in that post, but it all started with a little curiosity over the "it is written" when Jesus rebukes the Devil and says that "man cannot live on bread alone but on every word of God."

This last weekend I was asked to give the devotional on Sunday morning. Our checkout time was 10:00 from the cabin that we rented, and it just wasn't possible to get all of us ready and out the door and to a church on time, so we decided to have church right there. The "service" ended up just being me giving the devotional, but that was alright, we were about out of time.

I shared that passage from Deut. 8, because it was still so fresh on my mind. I don't know if anyone else got anything out of it, but I have simply been drawing off of it.

Here is an example of this passage in my own life: This next little while, I am going to be alone. My wife and my children are all spread across the nation visiting relatives but I am down here, bringing home the bacon. That is OK, because me and the dog need bacon. It isn't necessarily that I need companionship from anybody, I usually turn down or avoid most dinner offers, but I do start to miss my family.

Like that passage says, I start to get hungry. I want my family here. I don't like to live alone. These aren't bad things that I want, just like the Israelites desiring food. They weren't wanting or hungering after something bad, but God will sometimes let us go hungry, just to see what is in our hearts.

Hezekiah went through something similar. Consider II Chronicles 32:31,

"Howbeit, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart."

Sound familiar, doesn't it? We know that God didn't actually abandon Hezekiah, but God left him on his own to reveal his heart.

My first response was that I needed to just prepare myself for these times, but Spurgeon, in his devotional book called Morning and Evening, had a little bit of a different response. And I love the way he puts it,

"Therefore let us cry to God never to leave us. Lord, take not they Holy Spirit from us! With draw not from us Thine indwelling grace! Hast Thou not said, 'I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day'? Lord, keep us everywhere. Keep us when in the valley, that we murmur not against Thy humbling hand; keep us when on the mountain, that we wax not giddy through being lifted up; keep us in youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming conceited of our wisdom, we may therfore prove greater fools than the young and giddy; keep us when we come to die, lest, at the very last, we should deny Thee! Keep us living, keep us dying, keep us laboring, keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need Thee, O our God!"

May "keep us" become our heart's cry!

Pigeon Forge 2007

All of the...
relaxin, socializin, hot-tubbin, game-playin, shop-walkin,
dog-rule breakin, out of park by a ranger kickin mountain
trekkin, flea-marketin, traffic-sittin, go-kart racin, phone
losin (during the go-kartin), food-over-eatin, philosophisin,
pool-playin, dance-dance revolutionin, grocery store raidin,
and grandma about viagra talkin
...that you can handle in a weekend.

Click here if you would like to purchase a T.

The Castle in the Attic - Book Review

The Castle in the Attic is the first full length book that I read with my boys. It is a book that my mom read to me when I was a kid. She even bought three extra copies of it (with the cover that is shown to the right) for each of her kids.

Summary: A young boy is given a toy castle as a parting gift from nanny, who is moving back to England. The castle is unique, not only because it seems to be made out of stone and has all working parts, but also because the small lead knight comes to life the moment the boy touches him.

The knight, the lady, and the young boy all need to make it back to the knight's homeland to stop an evil wizard. Sounds like all of the proper elements to a good story to me.

My Thoughts: I can remember this book from the first time that my mom read it to me. It was good enough that it stuck in my mind over all of these years, and it must have been good enough for her, because she bought all three of her kids a copy of it.

It is not a Christian book, but it has some good themes in there as far as good vs. evil and how selfishness can hurt others.

I would definitely recommend this book.