Booksneeze Review: Fasting by Scot McKnight & Phyllis Tickle

Fasting
The Ancient Practices
By Scot McKnight, Phyllis Tickle
*I received this book for free through the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze Program in exchange for my unbiased review.

Though I hate to admit, I struggled my way through this book, cover to cover. Not necessarily because of it's content, but because I am a lover of FICTION. So,anytime I read anything but fiction, it is a struggle for me to complete it.

I requested this book because I feel very uneducated on Spiritual Fasting.
This book did a good job of explaining some of the different reasons people fast,and how sometimes those reasons are not why it was taught in the Bible.

The recurring statement in the book "Fasting is the natural, inevitable response of a person to a grievous sacred moment in life," made complete sense as the authors explained different elements of fasting.

I appreciated how the author explained the difference between "abstinence" (the choice not to eat or drink specifice items even though one is still eating and drinking other items) "fasting" (the choice not to eat or drink for a specific period) and "dieting" (the choice not to eat or drink various items for heath reasons).

I also appreciated how the author made it clear that fasting should be a response to a certain event (such as sin, death, impending disease, the lack of justice). The author was clear that Biblical fasting was not about trying to get something from the fast. "fasting isn't a manipulative tool that guarantees results." (page xix) "Fasting is a response to a sacred moment, not an instrument designed to get desired results." (page xix) For example, fasting for the health of others is not about showing God that you really "mean" what you are praying, but responding to the grievous event (the disease).

In the beginning of the book, the author also spent some time explaining that fasting is "whole-body stuff." He explains that Westerners sometimes have a hard time with dualism. Dualism can occur when we don't see a connection between our physical bodies & our spiritual bodies. "Biblical fasting is about joining the material to the immaterial, the body to the sould, the body to the spirit in a unified, organic act," (page 17). I liked how the author explained that "Fasting is the expression of the whole person, and when the whole person is united within itself, fasting is natural," page 18.

All in all, this book was informative. It was a little above my head at times, and used terminology that wasn't always easy to understand. Personally I don't see it as a "pick up & read in a night" or "couldn't put it down" kind of book. However, as a tool to study about what the Bible says about fasting, this book hit the mark.

Yeah another movie from the makers of Fireproof!

Courageous Synopsis

Holy Cow!

Has it really been since May since I've updated?

I've considered abandoning the blog because I've been using facebook instead. But it's hard to let it go completely. And I realize not everyone is on facebook.

So I'll make another attempt.

School has been going well for the kiddos. PT conferences went well.

We're enjoying Junior High football; today is the last game.

I'm trying to post a couple of photos but am having technical difficulties.

FYI: Camper is sold.

Cooper's Birthday

Here's a post I discovered I'd begun in June & am just posting it now...From Cooper's 5th birthday.

Camper For Sale

floorplan this is off their site of the 2010 model, but it is the same as ours except the entry into the "master" bedroom has sliding doors in the center rather than off to the side. Also there is no place for an LCD TV in that spot. There is a place above the pantry area for a TV, though you'll have to provide your own. The dinette in ours is not a "U" but a normal 2 bench sit across from each other kind.

Outside shot

Kitchen

Dining/Living Room area-the slide is where the table/sofa are


Bathroom-sink/toilet/shower/tub

Quad Bunks-These are great & hard to find in used models

Queen size bed in the front


We are so excited! We closed on a cabin at the lake yesterday. So...our camper is for sale if you're interested. With Brad's busy summer schedule we think the cabin will be a much better fit for our family. And I don't have to learn how to PULL the camper! Although I did appreciate the offer from my Uncle & Aunt to teach me.:)

Here's a little info about this super-fantastic camper:

32' 2005 Keystone Cougar Bumper-pull.
Sleeps 10 w/quad bunks (hard to find in a used model!)
Super slide-out in living/dining room area
A/C and heat
Fiberglass siding
Electric jack
Outdoor awning
Queen bed in the front part
Shower/tub/toilet/sink
Asking $16,000.
NADA books this model between $16-19,000.

Spring Soccer Pictures

Chloe's handful of worms. Just a little something to play with during Cooper's game.

Hunter

Cooper's team giving fives after the game.

Cooper

Parker & Kamrie

Mason, Cooper & Malachi

Kids Last Day of School 2010

I had to drag Cooper out of bed for our photo shoot.

Cooper-4 3/4
Hunter-12 1/2
Parker-9 1/2
Kamrie-8 1/2
Chloe-6 7/8

Summer Vaca '10

I can hardly believe the kids will finish their school year tomorrow. Where in the world has the time gone?

It's been a great year, although BUSY. I try to just stop once in awhile and remind myself to breathe. Enjoy this time. Someday when the kids are gone from home I'll be wishing for the noise & the mess & the hectic schedule. I can't wish this time away!

I've been able to be in the girls' classrooms this year once a week & loved that time. I've also been able to go on field trips! That is always fun.

The kitchen/living room project is nearly completed, just awaiting trim work. Which can be this fall if necessary.

Since that project is done we've moved onto the next: downstairs bathroom. For now the shower is torn out & will hopefully be replaced soon.

We're looking forward to summer events like baseball, softball, camps & swimming lessons. Also some CAMPING!

The nights are finally getting warm enough to consider de-winterizing the camper. And then I need some lessons on pulling it. Anyone willing to teach me? :)

Comfy Seats

Aah. We have comfy seats to sit in & a table to eat at! I'm so happy.

And thankful.

When the furniture was delivered yesterday seriously I didn't know if it would fit through the front door. But it's all in & looks super. After several hours looking at all the couch choices I can't believe Brad & I found something to agree on. :)

But, it sure all looked a bit smaller in the HUGE warehouse of a store. Brad keeps teasing me (is he teasing?) that we don't need smaller furniture, we need a bigger house. We may not have room to walk, but we have plenty of seating for all our friends & family.

So, come see us!

Maybe this weekend we'll actually get the kitchen sink installed. The countertops are waiting to be picked up in North Platte.

Funny story about Menards: After we placed the reorder on the countertops they told us since it was a reorder it would be priority so it may be quicker than 2 weeks. So, after a week we called nearly every day to see if it was in. Greg & Mike know us by name & know what we want as soon as we call. Mike called us early yesterday morning to tell us our order is in. Then later in the day Greg called us also.

After all our phone calls I'm sure they are wondering WHY we didn't run & get it as soon as they called!

Minor Setbacks

We haven't had any major problems as we've started remodeling our house, for that I'm so thankful.

I ordered the wrong style of hinges online, so I'm waiting to hang the doors until I get the right ones. I have them sitting there waiting like a puzzle to be put together.

And our countertops look beautiful. Or they will.

We mis-measured, so the one section turned out about 1 1/2-2 inches too short. And too short is too short. No way to stretch it or cut anything to fix it. So, we're waiting for a new piece before we can install them & the sink.

We purchased flooring yesterday, hoping to install it this weekend. We also ordered carpet for the bedrooms. It'll be like a whole new house with new flooring! I'm very excited about that.

For purchasing used cabinets unseen online & for doing much of the work ourselves, we haven't had any totally unexpected costs or mistakes. I'm grateful. Though we have to eat the mis-measured section of the countertop, it still won't cost us that much more to replace it.

We're looking for a counter-height table to put in the center as well as living room furniture. I purchased an antique cabinet last week for our TV to stand on. It's coming together & easy to see the end in sight at this point.

I'm also thankful for Brad & his willingness to work hard in his spare time to complete it.