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Review: Jesus Journey

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Jesus Journey is a look at the humanity of Christ by Trent Sheppard.

Book Synopsis:

Jesus was human, like you and me. If the gospel is true, he still is.

Christians worldwide believe that Jesus is God. But this belief
wasn’t the starting point for Jesus’ earliest followers. While Jesus’
humanity was a given for the disciples, his divinity was a truth they
grew into believing—it was a journey of faith. As Christians today, we
are also called into a faith journey—this time, to rediscover Jesus’
humanity.

Yes, we believe that Jesus is God, but do we truly believe that Jesus
is human? And if so, how does that transform our own experience of
being human?

Through eye-opening yet down-to-earth reflections, Jesus Journey
invites you to encounter Jesus again—as if for the first time—by
experiencing his breathing, heart-beating, body-and-blood,
crying-and-laughing humanity.

Join Bible teacher and storyteller Trent Sheppard as he shines new
light on the vibrant humanity of the historical Jesus through an
up-close look at Jesus’ relationships with Mary and Joseph, with the God
he called Abba, with his closest friends and followers, and how,
ultimately, his crucifixion and resurrection finally and forever
redefine what we mean by the word God. Come encounter the human who
radically transforms our view of God.

Come encounter the God who forever changes what it means to be human.

What do you get?

A book divided into five sections.

40 separate chapters covering topics such as Joseph and Jesus, Intervention, Nicknamed, Holy Fury, No Escape, Biology 2.0, and Ascension.

My Thoughts:

I tried, I really really tried but I had to stop part way through the book, I just couldn’t continue to read this book.

Points I struggled with:

1. Text taken out context.
2. Text changed without it making sense why he was changing the traditional understanding.
3. Too focused on the humanity of Christ to see the Godness of Christ as well.
4. When he did use text, he often stopped it too soon OR miss the point of the passage.
5. He makes too many suppositions.  Such as at the wedding at Cana he assumes there was a special look that passed between Mary and Jesus…when we have no sign of that AND he misses the point that the wedding is about God’s glory at work in Jesus.
6. He seems to want to bring Jesus down to our level instead of bringing us up to his. Jesus shows us what true humanity is all about.
7. I dislike the almost exclusive use of paraphrases throughout this treatise.

What I liked:
As a devotional Mr. Shepherd adds three points to the close of each chapter 
Ponder – He’ll give a point to think on.
Pray – He’s gives a point of prayer, something we can ask for usually.
Practice – How to put into practice the lessons learned.

Many of these three points I liked, particularly the practice ones.   It’s good to think on ponder on who Jesus was. 

I have to admit… I thought the idea of the book was intriguing, but the fact is this… Jesus was so interlinked, his humanity with his divinity that its one of those mysteries you just can’t really understand.   How can God cry?  Can God skin a knee?   Yes, if he’s also fully human.   Jesus wept, got hungry, got tired, just as we do.   Just as Jesus did, we need to grow in maturity in the sight of God and man.   Jesus is that perfect example of weakness held within strength.

Now.. just because I couldn’t finish this book doesn’t mean it’s not at all worthy to read.  I can easily see this book being used in a group study as a way to think differently about a subject and to talk out some of his points.  To read different translations, to get the full gist of what the bible passages are talking about and to look for how Jesus shows us how living as the humans that we are can be better.

Jesus Journey: Shattering the Stained Glass Superhero and Discovering the Humanity of God.
Trent Shepherd
Zondervan
256 pages
softcover
8 x 5

Reviewed for: booklookbloggers

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Review: Beekeeper’s Lab

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Do you know what we discovered the other day?   A BEE’s Nest!!!!   In our own backyard!   It wasn’t a honeybee, just a normal bumblebee… doesn’t matter though, the lad and I were so excited, and we carefully covered up the nest again (and reinforced it with other wood). When Gramma stopped in the afternoon, she was delighted as well and had the lad show her where the bee lived.   We like having easy going bees flitting about the house, so imagine our delight when the “Beekeeper’s Lab” showed up in the mail!  🙂

Kim Lehman is an author who knows bees well, having been a hobby beekeeper for 20 years and a contributing author to various bee publications and coordinating the Kids and Bees program.  She writes with a desire not only to teach, but help people really learn and see the beauty that can be found in all aspects of care-taking bees.

Her book has 8 chapters, covering everything you can think of in the world of keeping bees.  Each section is called a lab and can be everything from information to an experiment or art project that you can do. From providing the bees a safe home to working with beeswax and honey. It closes with a whole section on how to be helpful to bees.  This is a very informative and fun book about beekeeping.

Each page is filled with tons of images to delight and inform.  The images further explain the well written text enabling you to complete each project well.

Help bees find a home
How to make fire starters

On almost every page you will find a supply list, bee buzz (Tidbits of information about bees), Fun with Kids, how to take it further, and a safety note (only if required). 

All these helpful features make the Beekeeper’s Lab a very helpful and informative book.  I am actually looking at sourcing out some of these materials to do a co-op class since alas.. I have no bees from which to take honey or wax.  🙂  I think it would be fun to make honey sticks and beeswax art.  To help youth make smoker bundles and bee bread.  Learning about bees, their importance, their usefulness to mankind and how to protect them is vitally important to our food chain.  Keep the bees, keep the food, sustain life.   A good thing that!

I wonder if anyone will join me in making a wax candle holder?

 
Or perhaps make a whole host of the other crafts and projects found within the pages of this marvellous book all about bees?   52 different ideas.  Pick and choose or do one activity a week for a whole year!  🙂  You will find activities that will challenge your teens or delight the littles and everyone in between.  Science, art, bee care, 52 different labs to entertain, delight, educate and inspire everyone in your family.
The Beekeeper’s Lab: 52 Family Friendly Activities and Experiments Exploring the Life of the Hive.
Author: Kim Lehman.
Publisher: Quarry
144 pages
250 photos
8.5 x 8.5 inches
Reviewed for: The Quarto Group

Where can you find this treasure trove?
 Amazon.ca – Beekeeper’s Lab: 52 Family-Friendly Activities and Experiments Exploring the Life of the Hive
 Amazon.com – Beekeeper’s Lab: 52 Family-Friendly Activities and Experiments Exploring the Life of the Hive

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Review: Voyage to Magical North

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I have to admit to eagerness with Voyage to Magical North.  I thoroughly enjoyed the sequelin  Journey to Dragon Island and now I had a chance to find out how the whole thing began.   AND the book did not disappoint.  

What can I say… if you have youth who like fantasy… these books will not disappoint.  🙂   Cleverly written with humour… it works!

Enter a girl (Brine), add a boy (Peter), an evil magician, a bunch of pirates (with their own set of rules) and a girl who isn’t plus..throw in an unusual quest.. perhaps an impossible one.  Can they do it?  Will they survive?  Is it a hoax?   Will evil triumph?  NOW THAT is the question.

I absolutely refuse to tell you too much about the story.  I want you to dive right in and enjoy it from start to finish.  Use your brain, try to see where the story is going, quotes at the beginning of the chapter lend a clue.  BUT Brine is trying to find her place in the world, Peter is trying to be a decent magician, Pirates well.. they want to be the best pirates they can be, and well .. evil will be what evil is right… even clothed in an odd ball figure!

Know this.. the characters are real, their struggles seeming insurmountable.. but through it all they build their friendships, their loyalties are tested, their characters developed and life is lived.  This is not a humdrum book, but one full of life and wit. 

Watch out for the penguins… seriously….

Book Synopsis:
A swashbuckling story of a girl and a boy, an evil magician, a merry band of pirates, and an unthinkable quest.

Twelve-year-old
Brine Seaborne is a girl with a past – if only she could remember what
it is. Found alone in a rowboat as a child, clutching a shard of the
rare starshell needed for spell-casting, she’s spent the past years
keeping house for an irritable magician and his obnoxious apprentice,
Peter.
……

Title: Voyage to Magical North
Author: Claire Fayers
Publisher: Square Face
 336 pages
Ages 8-12 years
Series: Accidental Pirates

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

What are you waiting for?  Get this book!   Not just for your middle schooler…but for yourself!
  Amazon.ca – The Voyage to Magical North

Amazon.com – The Voyage to Magical North (The Accidental Pirates)

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Art Series: Hand Lettering A to Z

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You know how some people have a skill that amazes you?   I have a friend on the crew that regularly hand letters bible verses and her skill amazes me.  It really does!  And later I’ll be sharing some of her work with you because I have this oh so lovely book to share with you today.   Hand Lettering from A to Z.  It’s a book that is designed to give people who hand letter, creative ideas that they might want to try (or for people like me .. at least give me a clue about how to do it!)  (grin)

Abbey Ly has put together a book where she talks about three styles of lettering, why they are called that, and the different forms those letters can take.  Serif (6), Sans Serif (4) and Script (4).

She calls in four different artists to help illustrate these different ways to hand letter.

BUT before she gets to that, she has an introduction to the book where she teaches about different papers, different utensils, and different places to find creative ideas. I learned so much in this section.

Like…did you know that watercolour paper comes is three different styles?   Did you know that different paints work better for doing lettering or that pencil crayons can bring a vibrancy to your work?   Read and find out more eh?  🙂

So let’s say you want to do hand lettering…what should you do first?
Start with simple.  Seriously.  Write out a simple alphabet, learn a basic lettering of the alphabet.. make the letters smaller, bigger, squishy or wider, play around with just the basic lettering.

Then.. once you are comfortable with that…add a bit of width to it.  Draw a letter and just change one side of it. Maybe angle it a bit or make it wider all around.  Just slowly keep changing it, then as you go.. play around with it a bit, add some colour and pizzazz.  Just take it step by step and make a font that is all your own.  Who knows… perhaps your style might look like this: 

I love the bright colours found throughout this book.  Careful illustrations to show how you might replicate a style.

As you see different styles, learn the names of them.  Replicate them, become more confident in your own abilities.  Learn to create your own style all the more.  🙂

As you get more confident, consider adding some embellishment to your work.

At the close of book, Abbey Ly showcases the work of her guest artists.   It was so interesting seeing the different styles.  This one is a serif style (see!   I learned something eh!).   Good to do that you know?

I thought I would share some hand lettering that I just adore from people mostly on the crew.   Don’t they do a great job?

This one is by Lisa.

These are by Carol, aren’t her verses lovely? 

and this one by her daughter.  You can find a post here. 

And if you go to the bottom of Deann’s post here, you can see a lovely one she did.  🙂   If you find that this book intrigues the socks off you, you might find The Postman’s Knock a good blog to follow.

Title: Hand Lettering A to Z: a world of creative ideas for drawing and designing alphabets
Author: Abbey Ly
Publisher: Rockport
Pages: 128
Type: art book
Form: trade paperback
Reviewed for: Quarto Group

Where can you find this lovely book?
 Amazon.ca – Hand Lettering A to Z: A World of Creative Ideas for Drawing and Designing Alphabets

Amazon.com – Hand Lettering A to Z: A World of Creative Ideas for Drawing and Designing Alphabets

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Books read in the Month of May

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 May…the time for spring flowers and rolling back on the schooling expectations, business in the outdoors planting gardens, going to for walks, and cleaning out rabbitries.   Not a time for a whole lot of reading, but still.. I DID!  YES!  I read some books!!!

Wow. Guilty Wives by James Patterson…
Wow… I have to admit, that the beginning of the book had me NOT wanting to read the book, so I read part of the ending which… was just enough to intrigue me to want to know how the bad guy did it.

Wow.. this was good read.  I was so glad I stuck it out.  The horror of French prisons though… NASTY.  Are they like that in real-life?   I don’t know, but I do know I don’t want to go to France and break the law and get stuck in jail there. 

The determination of Abbie, the main character, was impressive.  Her ability to focus and work on proving her innocence amazes me despite all the hardship she was put through.   Perseverance and commitment, being the type of person she needed to be for her children’s long term care.   It was such an interesting read…definitely a book for ADULTS!

Urban Wildlife Habitats was a neat read about how different animals have adapted to living with people in urban areas.

Everything from storks to monkeys, to sheep and lizards, to snails and kangeroos.   So many animals have learned to co-exist with people.  Throughout the book are a copious amount of pictures, and tons of information to help us co-exist with them and even help them.  

So tell me….would you want to see a moose in your take-out window?

We’ve learned about muskoxen and ostriches recently.

Fascinating critters.
Did you know that male ostrich lay on the eggs at night because their black feathers are the perfect camoflage. 

 Rip and Red and the Tournament of Champions.

Two boys learning and growing together… finding it’s hard … Red with his autism (high-functioning) and Rip with his Dad returning… hard things for boys to deal with.  But they manage to pull it together around the world of a basketball championship.

 Secrets and Sequences of the Secret Coders series.

You’ll find my review here.   

Using a graphic novel to teach some of the basics of coding. 

 Mission to Pluto is a book my son thoroughly enjoyed.  He used it to further his learning with his apologia studies.  

It’s part of the scientist series. And it is a really well done series.  if you have a chance to read some with your children (or even just for yourself do so.)  Elephants and Dolphins are the next on my hit list!

Books I am working through.

My mom-in-law asked me what I thought of this book and I said “this man writes my hubby preaches!”

I am so far loving this book and looking forward to digging into it all the more.  It’s not a quick fiction read, but a let’s grow a discipling people read.

Good book … My review is coming!

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©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Canada Book: Irish Chain

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 I almost didn’t do this book in my books on Canada series… but then thought I HAVE TO.  SERIOUSLY have to.

A book that the lad excitedly tells gramma about so that she has to read it and then stays up all night so that she can finish it… that’s a good book.  🙂

But seriously… if you don’t know about the explosion in the Halifax harbour you are missing a big part of Canadian history.   This story is about a family and how they lived before the explosion, and how they lived after the explosion.  It is fiction.

Tied throughout is the heartbreak of a girl dealing with dsylexia and being bullied.  That same girl who is loved fiercely by her large extended family.   

Woven throughout the story, is the Irish Chain,,, the stories woven in the pieces of a quilt made by their gramma who brought the family out of Ireland during the potato famine.

Their history is woven throughout the history of Halifax.

This is a poignant story, heart breaking in the truths it speaks.   The horror of the explosion and the confusion that followed.   The struggle of being thought of as stupid and having one’s self-esteem totally eroded.   The joy of a strong memory, of conviction of spirit, the determination to hold to a truth you know to be real despite the discouragement of others, and finally the coming to terms of who God is and how he acts.    Ms. Haworth-Attard has carefully wrought a story of life in early 1900’s in Canada.

The war in the background, hard working immigrants, prosperous landowners, women working, there is so much of Canada in this book that it is SO worth reading.

Mind though….you might find yourself staying up all night.  🙂

Where can you find it?   Now that’s a great question, cause seriously…you need to read this book, it was, at least in three members of the families opinion, a seriously good read.  🙂
Amazon.ca – Irish Chain

Amazon.com – Irish Chain

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Review: Head First

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Imagine a day where you are going to have fun skiing with your family and an unexpected tragedy occurs.   You slide down a hill, losing your skis and smashing headfirst into a tree.  You survive.. but not well.

What is YOUR reaction?   What would your outlook on life be?  How about those in your inner circle?  Positive or negative?

In the book Head first: a crash course in positivity, Steve H. Lawton gives 8 principles in positivity to help you through whatever crisis you might happen to face.

Steve Lawton suffered a horrible accident and came out of it better than before he went in.  He learned the power of positivity and wrote this book to share those lessons with you.

8 lessons.
8 Chapters.
8 principles in positivity.

The lessons are simple to learn.
The steps to making them part of your life are explained and broken down in to small steps.
Each lesson is accompanied by a practical worksheet you can fill in, or ways to breaking down a problem into smaller steps, or just needing to change your focus from yourself to others.   

 The eight lessons in positivity are
1. It happened that way for a reason.
2. Focus on what you can control
3. Learn to laugh in the midst of your pain.
4. Small Steps to a larger goal.
5. Know When and where to push yourself.
6. Invest positivity into your network.
7. Creating a positivity practice.
8. Embrace growing pains and learn from your struggles. 

Worksheets to help you grab hold of the principles he is teaching, with scattered quotes throughout the text to help inspire you:

Recommendation?
Yes and no
Yes. I have to admit, it’s a great book.  It is. Practical and helpful.   I love how the author gives practical ways to put his advice to work.  The Worksheets and tables.. great stuff.  I really like that aspect of it.  If one works through all the 8 steps in this book your life will be changed.  Your manner of approaching life will be influenced for the better.  Thinking positive helps your brain, your heart, your body.  It’s a scientific fact (as well as a social one eh!)   Honestly.. I liked the book and plan to hang on to it for a while.  🙂

No…even with all the positive thoughts you have in the world.. you CANNOT always change your life circumstances.  As I write this I can hear my lad in my head coming up with all these reasons why even if you think positively why it can’t always fix things.  Sometimes, even with all the positive things you can do in the world, you can’t fix things.  Sometimes a broken body will stay broken, sometimes broken relationships will stay broken.   Will having a positive attitude help you work through that and past that?  FOR SURE.  So don’t misunderstand me.  Positive thinking can and will help you work through the big stuff (and the small stuff in life) but sometimes.. life bites you back anyways.  It does.  🙂 

I regret that God seems to have played no role in his thinking.   Again, don’t misunderstand me, this fellow came back from a horrible accident.  Regained use of his body against the odds.  He attributes that all thinking positively and I look at it and say “there’s the grace of God at work”.  He used an ability God gave him (thinking positively) to influence his own thinking and to help heal his heart, mind and body as he moved through the consequences of this accident.  I just wish he saw that.  🙂

Title: Head First!  A Crash Course in Positivity.
Author: Steve H. Lawton
Published by Fedd Books
Reviewed for: Advantage Media Group
Pages: 150

Where can I find it?
 Amazon.ca – Head First! A Crash Course in Positivity

Amazon.com – Head First! A Crash Course in Positivity

 
This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/