Share the Creation with your family, Purposeful Design, Understanding the Creation

A review of award-winning coffee table book that beautifully reveals the principles of science that operate our world. Purposeful Design, Understanding the Creation offers compelling evidence that a loving Creator was purposeful in His design of our world.

The book beautifully reveals the principles of science that operate our world and masterfully explains the elements of design that make life possible. What I truly enjoyed was how the author compellingly presents evidence that a loving Creator God was purposeful in these designs.

Jay Schabacker is very specific that it is just not intelligent design, but purposeful design, that has made life possible on earth. That has made possible our own existence here. And that everything around us, in the Universe, has come together to make life happen. In his opinion, and mine, it would not have been possible, without a purposeful design.

I first read the book by myself and I was compelled on how the author used science together with photography to bring forth the beauty of the Creation. Everything in the book is very accurate, even minuscious but at the same time it is filled with the wonder and admiration for the skill and love that our Purposeful Creator had, both for the world, and for human beings.

The pictures beautifully blend together with the words from Bible and science while the author explains the facts behind the work of God. In my opinion the book is a wonderful thing to have in any home, both to look at and to study.

The second time I read the book together with my ten year old son. We went through the Creation once again. He knows the story and it was very interesting for us both to read the scientific facts of why it was necessary to have the atmosphere, or why it is so important that such a huge part of earth surface is oceans.

The book is a powerful tool to teach children, not just teenagers. My son might not have been able to grasp all the scientific facts but that is why Purposeful Design, Understanding the Creation is so important to have. It gives a family a way to share the story of Genesis from another point of view, with Biblical facts. And it enables the parents to teach how Bible holds itself against, and together, with science. That believing in God and in the Bible, is not against the science, but science, in fact, is also part of the purposeful design.

I recommend the book for all Christian parents wanting to give a biblical and scientific option to their children. But especially to parents who are homeschooling and looking for material to impart their teaching.

The author Jay Schabacker is a former aerospace engineer and businessman. He was an engineer on the Apollo Moon Program and the founder of a financial investment firm. His goal in writing the book was to offer an enduring and positive alternative to the negativity inherent in modern life. He has a two-fold purpose in doing this, for one side to reveal the principles of science that operate our world and for the other side offer compelling evidence that a loving God deliberately created these designs.

Schabacker comments, "I wrote this book because I want everyone to have an immensely positive view of themselves, of this world that we are in, and of others, mostly through understanding our own astounding and loving creation".

He adds, "It concerned me that newspapers continually remind us of the negative. On the contrary, this book is my attempt to impart a healthy belief system and lifestyle to both teens and adults that will better serve them for the rest of their lives".

Purposeful Design - Understanding the Creation was winner of the 2013 Illumination Book Award, Bronze, in the category of Education (Home School, Bible School, etc.).

Purposeful Design - Understanding the Creation in Amazon. 

You can also buy the book straight from the author's page.

Disclosure: I was provided with a e-copy of this book for review purposes.  All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

The Painted Table Book Review

The Painted Table is story of three generations of women whose life revolves around a beautiful Norwegian table.

The book’s true heroin is Sapphire’s, or Saffee how she is normally called. And we find ourselves emerged into the story of how the table affected her life, her mother’s life and her mother’s mother’s life.

For her mother, Joann, the table is full of painful memories of her mother, a wife of a small farmer in the prairie, with too many mouths to feed. A woman who did her best to take care of her children and help her husband in his new country.

For Joann the table is the memory of the mother she lost and longed. Of the childhood she never really got to experience and of the powerful destruction of a prairie fire she experienced as a child.

While she grows up, marries and has children of her own, the table becomes her possession. Table that she desperately paints over and over again, to get rid of the memories that haunt her and make her life impossible.

Little by little she loses her sanity while her two daughters watch the process, unable to reach to the mother that they need. Obliged to keep their mother’s sanity and guard her, like their own daughter.

Saffee, the older daughter, grows up and goes to the college where she finally finds her life and a way to live it. While the younger daughter, April, is left behind to watch her mother to wither away further to insanity. And finally their father has to institutionalize her for her and the family’s safety.

April, the restless spirit, flees to Europe and Saffee finds herself making her new life. A relationship with a man she has learned to love and respect, a marriage and the question of her life: will she repeat the mistakes her mother made in her life?

When she finds out that her grandmother also had mental health issues her fears double, is she predestined by fate and biology to repeat the same behavior? Going through families old papers she finds the answer to the question and the new direction for her life.

The book tells a powerful story of redemption and love that is born from guilt, fear and broken and desperate lives. It is a book for wives, mothers and daughters to read, and for men who want to understand the women in their lives. In my opinion, a perfect gift for the upcoming Mother’s Day.

I sincerely recommend the book for anyone who wants to read a good book with a good story. Or for anyone who wants to achieve a better understanding of America’s past and how migration has affected it and the people’s lives in the country.

The Painted Table’s author Suzanne Field, a graduate of the University of Minnesota, has taught English as a Second Language in China, Ukraine, and Hawaii. She has also been a magazine editor and home-school teacher. Suzanne writes to encourage others to rise above memories and embrace the goodness found in each day. She and her husband have five children and divide their time between Dallas and Hawaii where she is a tutor and mentor.

The Painted Table in Amazon

Disclosure: I was provided with a e-copy of this book for review purposes.  All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Saturday Book Review

Days of Diamonds by Bill Kraski

Days of Diamonds is a 14 day monthly devotional ebook by blogger and author Bill Kraski. The book begins at the beginning of the year and follows us through the first two weeks of the year. Every day has its own Bible verse and devotional, there is also a prayer thought for every day.

I have been following Bill's blog for a while and knew his wisdom and love for Christ. I had high expectations for his devotionals. The books has been everything I expected and more. It has made my morning devotionals more beautiful and profound. The Bible verses are well chosen and thought through, the devotionals are made to bring you closer to God and the Truth. And the prayer thought concentrates it all so you can commune with God the thoughts that were risen from your heart.

One of my favorites were Day 4 with thoughts on our seek to be new men at the beginning of the year. The praeyr thought for the day is for God "to show us what He made us, originally". Another favorite of mine, and something I actually highlighted so I could blog about it later on, was Day 5 with a text from Proverbs.

The devotional is short but profound, it touched my heart and made me yearn even more closeness with God. There is such beauty in burning the unnecessary and purifying yourself as a sacrifice to God.

Another amazing feature was Bill's posts in his blog. He followed through the theme during the whole month and helped us even deeper to the love of God. Purifying and polishing ourselves and our faith like Diamonds, a perfect gift to offer to God.

About Bill Kraski:

Bill Kraski is a graduate of Maryland Bible Collage and Seminary and Upsala Collage, with degrees in Church Ministries and Business Administration.

Mr. Kraski has been an active part of the Pastoral Care department at Greater Grace World Outreach church. As well, he has been a leader of evangelistic outreach teams in Maryland and a jail outreach in Massachusetts.

You can find Bill Kraski's in Amazon also, in his author page.

You can find Bill Kraski at his blog Bill's Musings, where he explores the Word of God, how it makes life better, and leadership subjects.

I highly recomend bying this book. I bought this ebook myself and did not get any kind of reward from reviewing it.

Best of all, Bill has a new devotianal ebook for February that you can get from Amazon for a very reasonable price. The ebook is called Love's Red Sardius and you can also get it from Amazon. I already got mine, now go get yours :)

Saturday Book Review

A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven by Chris Loehmer Kincaid

Chris Loehmer Kincaid writes about her Mission trip to Kenya, Africa. The goal of the trip was to educate the Kenyans about disease prevention and to share the word of Christ. What a found most compelling about the book was her quest to surrender her life to Christ and find the meaning of her visit, what God wanted to accomplish with the time she spent in Kenya.

The author tells us how mission trip was the last thing she had on mind. It was through many consequences and nudges from God that she finally understood God was calling her to visit Africa. Sometimes we can be quite hardheaded to understand what God is telling us, and I found Chris’s honesty compelling. The way how she tells about her own down comings and how she feels not able to fulfill God’s calling in her life is both raw and touching.

The story starts while the author is still in the States. We get to see how she prepares for the journey with her daughter Val, who travelled to Africa with her. And how her worries make her doubt her decision and calling.

Chris spends two weeks in Kenya, seeing the reality of a developing country, the beauty of the countryside, goodness of people, poverty and need of the slums and the hunger for God’s love that the people have. Even though the author gets to help orphans, commune with AIDS victims and to educate the Masai people about hygiene and disease prevention, she feels lost and alone. Chris keeps asking, why is she in Africa? What is the meaning of her visit? What kind of difference her two weeks can make to the people’s lives?

There are answers. As the representatives of the organization say, it is very impressive for the local people to see how far you have come to here to share the time and information with them. But as in all of our lives, some things are left unanswered when Chris returns to the States. Only after the trip she sees the differences that the visit to Africa made in her own life. But finally there is an answer, the author says, she discovered a God she never knew before.

In Chris’s own words “My first book, “A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven – One Woman’s Trip to Africa: My Story”, was published by Life Sentence Publishing in December 2012. This memoir tells the story of my mission trip to Kenya in 2006 and how it changed how I look at life and how I look at the God I love and serve. After the book was published, I was drawn to return to Kenya, where my daughter had already decided to start a nonprofit organization to help the people we had met there. We may not be able to change the entire world, but we can improve the world for many people.”

The Amazon tells about the author: Chris Kincaid has been writing since she was in the third grade, and though she has worked in the medical field for over 20 years, she has never lost the desire to put words to paper. However, her family and her faith have always come first, making some days a challenge as she continues to work fulltime, mentor a local Kinship kid, mentor her church’s college students and remain active as a member of the state society for her career in medical assisting. She lives in northern Wisconsin with her husband, four cats and one dog. Her two children, Nick and Val, are grown and living on their own. They both share their mother’s passion for Africa.

I found the book interesting and thought provoking. I enjoyed reading Chris's story, her struggle with the African culture and the difference with Western efficiency thinking. I also identified with her quest for meaning, the reason why God had chosen her to go to and what she was supposed to do. Her honesty spoke to my heart and her vivid descriptions of African culture, people and landscape made reading like participating in her story. I highly recomend the book for everyone and anyone.

Chris Loehmer Kincaid has an author page in Amazon.

You can also find Chris in Facebook.

LIFE SENTENCE Publishing has provided me a complimentary copy of the book but the opinions expressed here are solely mine.

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Every-Purpose-Under-Heaven/dp/1622450302/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1388617198&sr=1-1