There is a tendency for us to read the Bible and presume that the people of the Bible were flawless and obedient. We tend to say things like, “If I were like David I would have no problem serving God”. Or, “If I had the opportunity to have walked and talked with Jesus in person, I would be far more committed to Christ”. We do tend to think that God cleaned everyone up before he loved them or used them. This is not the case. Even those who walked and talked with Jesus did not always get it right. In his book, Cast of Characters; Common People in the Hands of an Uncommon God, Max Lucado walks the reader through scripture in order to show us that the people of the Bible were not “super-saints”. Instead, just common people. Through brief snap-shots of the lives of Joseph, Nicodemus, Abigail, David, the Samaritan woman, Esther, Lazarus, Peter, Paul, and others, Lucado plainly shows us the failures and flaws of these men and women.

Lucado, in typical Lucado fashion, does an excellent job allowing the reader to see themselves in the struggles and difficulties of the men and women of the Bible. For example, Jonah was called and sent to Nineveh to share a message of hope. Instead, he ran in an attempt to hide from God. At times we are guilty of running when we should be serving. David stood in front of the Philistine giant Goliath and refused to allow the size of the giant to shake his confidence in God. In the same way, we should stand up to and face head-on our giants; depression, guilt, financial strain, abuse, and addictions with a focus on God, not the giant. These men and women were just ordinary people who come into contact with an extraordinary God. This is good for us. The fact these men and were not perfect helps us to know that we don’t have to be “super-saints” for God to love us or use us.

I really enjoyed this book. This book served as a reminder that my hang-ups and hiccups are nothing new to God and are no problem for Him. Short chapters make this Cast of Characters and easy read. I found myself reading it in two days. This book would make a great small-group resource. At the conclusion of every chapter there are study questions related to that chapter. I recommend this book. It is one of those books that I will reread at least once.

I believe that Christians carry burdens they were not meant to bear. Health problems, financial difficulty, excessive worry, relational matters, and poor time management create seemingly unbearable situations that Jesus has promised to give us rest and peace over. In his book Unburdened, Chris Tiergarten deals head-on with the burdens that many are carrying today. Each of us have responsibilities, people to answer to, tasks to finish, and deadlines to meet. That’s life. Tiegreen does not advocate just letting go and avoiding our responsibilities. Instead, he shares with the reader that the best way to deal with our burdens to learn to carry them differently by transferring their weight into the capable hands of God. Tiegreen does an excellent job in laying out the root of our burdens and the reasons why we are reluctant to let God carry them for us. I feel the chapter dealing with trust is the pivotal one of the book. Jesus has promised to help with the burden and difficulties of life. It is up to us to trust Him to do just that. This book is not a how-to manual. Rather, Unburdened is a case study of those throughout scripture who eased their burden by trusting God more. I recommend this book to anyone struggles under the weight of their responsibilities. A great resource.

 Modern Christianity has an image and idea of who Jesus Christ is. Sadly, that image does not match who the real Jesus is. Along the way we have lost the reality of the person of Jesus Christ while striving to follow and be like Him. This is what Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet write about in their new book, Jesus Manifesto. This book is a clarion call for the believer and the church today to embrace Jesus for who He is: eternal, sinless, the once-for-all atoning sacrifice, the Son of God. It is a call to reject the notion that Jesus Christ can be who we want Him to be. It is a call to reject the notion that Jesus Christ is merely a wish-granter or a back-up plan. It is a call to reject the notion that Jesus Christ needs to be defended in social and political circles. Jesus Manifesto holds the key to spiritual renewal and revival. That key: see the resurrected Jesus and embrace Him.

Viola and Sweet have penned a masterpiece in my opinion. They have successfully shown, through scripture, how Jesus Christ penetrates every point of life because He is life. As I read this book, I found myself at a loss for words. This review won’t do the book justice. I was challenged by this book greatly. Challenged to love Him and see Him as never before. Convicted as well. This book is about a person. Viola and Sweet write, “So what is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. Christianity is not an ideology or a philosophy. Neither is it a new type morality, social ethic, or worldview. Christianity is the ‘good news’ that beauty, truth,a nd goodness are found in a person. And true humanity and community are founded on and experienced by connection to that person.”  Pick up this book and read it. You will not be disappointed.

 There is a statement made in today’s culture that goes something like this, “getting there is half the fun.” In The Sacred Journey: The Ancient Practices Series by Charles Foster, getting there, wherever “there” may be, seems to be the most important thing in life. Foster sets out to show that man was created to be a wanderer, a person on pilgrimage, and happiness can’t be found in just sitting still. He uses the writings of prominent belief systems (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism) to support his position that man, by nature, is a pilgrim on a journey. To me, it was not clear if Foster believes the journey itself is a means to an end to find a relationship with God, or if God expects a pilgrimage of some kind from us in order to be drawn closer to Him. As a result of this not being clear, I was left to debate that question throughout the entire book.

 I had a difficult time with this book. I hoped that I would like it, but I could not get there. In the beginning of the book, Foster deals with the story of Cain and Abel. The story was used to support the notion that God favors the wanderer more than others. Foster shares that God despises cities and that permanent structures indicate that man has stopped his journey. I found one statement to be especially hard to agree with. Foster wrote, “Throughout the Bible (with a crucial last-minute twist) God hates cities. He is much easier to find in the wilderness. He takes the side of the itinerant shepherd against the factory farmer.”

 The reader, as I was, is somehow left with the impression that if you never have the opportunity to leave the comforts of modern life and take a journey of some sort you will never be satisfied. Although one example is given to the contrary, the initial impression still stands. Although I did not like this book, I was challenged by it. The Sacred Journey is well written and well researched. Foster challenged me to remember that our lives as a Christ-follower is a journey: every day moving closer to Christlikeness. He challenged me to be active in my pursuit of Jesus Christ.

 Imaginary Jesus is a fast-paced, off-the-wall, not-quite-so-true story of Matt Mikalatos’ search for the real Jesus. The author goes to extreme and amusing lengths to show how believers today can easily create their own idea of what Jesus should be, based on their own need and desires. This can be seen in a need for his Imaginary Jesus to get him out of a parking ticket. Along the way, he exposes imaginary Jesuses such as Legalist Jesus, Magic 8 Ball Jesus, Free Will Jesus, Bargain Jesus, Testosterone Jesus and Televangelist Jesus (by far the funniest of all) in his pursuit to find the authentic Jesus.  Although these Jesuses have bizarre names and act strangely at times, Mikalatos does a great, through them, to show how easy it is to focus on the wrong thing and miss the joy of following the real Jesus.

The reader should know something up front. Imaginary Jesus is not a theological treatise on the person of Jesus Christ. It was not intended to be. It is however a light-hearted, fun and dizzying journey of one man looking for the real Jesus. This story takes the reader from a coffee shop in Portland to ancient Judea and a talking donkey. In places, this book is laugh-out-loud funny. In other places you can feel the pain of the author as he struggles with God’s goodness and will in the midst of a personal struggle. I highly recommend this book. As the reader, you have to make a decision up front to stay with it and keep reading. If you do, you will not be disappointed. Imaginary Jesus will challenge you to seek the true Jesus and refuse to settle for the imitation.