Review: Mock n Roll

From Mind&Media, I received a copy of Mock n Roll by Paul Aldrich.
A cute musical comedy CD, not quite as kid-friendly as I expected.
Don't get me wrong: there's absolutely nothing wrong with this CD, no explicit lyrics or anything like that - It's completely clean; just some of the humor I don't want to have to explain to a five year old. I'd say the humor is maybe for anyone over thirteen years of age. Younger than that and they just won't get it, or you might have to explain some concepts that younger kids aren't ready to understand.
Samples of the songs are available on Paul's website.
I first described this as a "cute" CD. It's not side-splitting funny. It's "thinking funny". You'll be saying to yourself, "Oh yeah, I know exactly what he means" when he sings about driving through the night and coming upon a glowing sign that lets you know you can feed your Slurpy craving. Or you'll agree (begrudgingly) when he sings that he's got cable TV and a modem, but should stop wasting his time with those and learn to love his "brothers and sisters" instead. And you'll laugh at the ridiculousness of the political correctness of Gilligan's P.C. Island. And, if you're like me, you'll laugh at the Dyslexic Love Song, even though the song doesn't accurately describe dyslexia (unless you're a conediam).
There's more to find and enjoy on the CD, and it's all fun; plus more humor to explore on Paul's website.

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Review: God Is The Gospel

From Mind&Media, I received a copy of John Piper's God Is The Gospel.

An excellent book reminding us what exactly the gospels in the Bible are trying to tell us.

I found this book to be very interesting. I'd be reading, and just starting to lose interest because it seemed the author was long-winded, when Bam! - he says something important or interesting that instantly grabs my attention right back into the text. At times it seems he is belaboring a point, and then the point becomes so fascinating that I have to keep reading.

This book needs to be studied, not browsed through or picked up on whim. It requires the readers concentration on the topic, and pays off by reminding us that God is the ultimate goal of Christianity - not being good people, or singing worship songs in church once a week - but eternity with God. And I can't do justice to explaining that point in a few words - that's why John Piper wrote the book.

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Review: Nature Never Stops Talking

From Mind&Media, I received a copy of Samuel J. Alibrando's book Nature Never Stops Talking. It's a collection of articles on nature and, basically how amazing God is for creating it.

The author doesn't bash you over the head with religion. Instead, he subtly evokes a world-view where God is the Creator, and that's refreshing in any book. When I first got the book, I expected a series of essays on how the author was walking in the woods and heard the crickets chirping and that reminded him of the angels singing praises to God - or something like that. That's not what I got. Instead, the articles and essays are well thought out and researched observations of the facts of everyday life, nature, science, mathematics, astronomy, etc. and how amazing it is that God simply spoke the world into existence creating all these things.

This is a great table-top book for visitors to pick up and browse, or for anyone that loves nature, and loves our Creator-God.

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