Courageous

Dad and I have had some great father/son time this weekend—and the weekend is really just getting started! Due to a Christian educator’s convention happening in Detroit, it was just the two of us at home for a while. After a nice meal eating out, we spent some time last night going through his old memorabilia—stuff he saved from his childhood. I got to read letters and postcards his father wrote and enter a little bit into the relationship they shared in my dad’s early years. My grandfather died before I was born, so these kinds of memories are the only tangible things I have of him. He was a pastor and his love and care for his flock was evident through the letters left behind.

Our father/son time continued today through watching the new film “Courageous” together. What a film! Sherwood Pictures has done it again in creating a poignant illustration of a timeless message that fatherhood must be taken seriously. There will come moments of putting one’s life on the line, tragedies requiring going to God for grace to get through, situations for making tough decisions to stand up for convictions, and the time to own up to past failures and shoulder the responsibility. Honor begins in the home, and this is where a lifelong impact on a child’s life is formed. I’ll not give away the plot any further, but the film is riveting and is packed with both action and emotion.

What does God have to say about being courageous? “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9, ESV). That’s pretty clear isn’t it? Go live courageously!

Surviving Your Serengeti

This summer has been unmatched in terms of personal traveling and places visited than any other short period of time I can remember. Let's see, I swam in the Atlantic Ocean, drove all over the Eastern-Midwestern states, scaled one of the Rocky Mountains, cruised up and down the Pacific Coast, biked around some northern lakes, and saw the great city of New York from the sky. I saw firsthand such a variety of beauty and majesty! If I could specify one thing that I learned through my peripatetic prowess, it would be that all creation sings its Creator's song.

Now that I've returned from my travels, it's been time to settle back into life at home and line up work. One of the books I just completed reading was written with those goals in mind: to help the individual master seven skills for business and life. Enter "Surviving Your Serengeti" by Stefan Swanepoel.

This book is a fictional story about a few folks who travel to Africa for a vacation but through their encounters in the Serengeti return ready to reshape their business and lives back home. On their African adventure, they encounter seven different animals—all who exhibit a unique survival trait. Wildebeests must endure as they make the annual journey of 1000+ miles around the Serengeti in search of good food and water. Lions must be strategic in working together in order to eat. Crocodiles must be enterprising when opportunity comes their way. Cheetahs have to be efficient in knowing what to pursue in order to get the best results. Giraffes are graceful and are respected out there in the savannah (this correlates to professionalism). The Mongooses take risks and reap the rewards of wise maneuvers. Elephants communicate and pass on important information to the others in their herd, especially the young ones.

For anyone who likes a simple storyline with a little science lesson thrown in, this is great. It's a quick read and a fun one too. I enjoyed the author's ability to correlate the animals' strengths into easy-to-grasp self-help statements. Perhaps this book should come along with you on your next adventure!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of Surviving Your Serengeti through Book Sneeze, in exchange for my honest review.

George Washington Carver

Today for my lunch, I enjoyed two delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In fact, I’ve been going through the peanut butter so fast recently my family had to stock up on several jars of peanut butter from the grocery store tonight! There are so many varieties out there: regular, natural, organic…each coming in creamy or chunky options. Some people I know only go for the Peter Pan brand, others pick JIF, or maybe they just go for whatever’s the cheapest on the shelf. However, a few decades ago the food that has become a staple in today’s kitchen cupboard had not been created yet. True, the components for the food were all there, as God is the creator of all things, but no one had taken the time to ask Him how to separate the peanut until George Washington Carver came on the scene in the 1880s with a very important issue to resolve.

I focus on the way our lives have been affected today by this man, George Washington Carver, as I just finished reading a book from the Christian Encounters series that gave me an up-close glance at his life. Born a slave and orphaned at an early age, George grew up in his master’s home and took an interest in plants at a very young age. Though his body was physically weak all throughout life, he applied himself to whatever he was doing and did whatever he could to further his education. The majority of his life was spent working at Tuskegee Institute, a school founded to train black people in the South to learn a trade and make a living using their hands. Carver invested many years teaching the students agriculture and groundbreaking farming techniques. Carver loved working in his laboratory, because there he was able to go to God and make incredible discoveries on the crops that were growing well in the South. Carver had a special relationship with the Creator, and his creativity flowed out of his communion with God.

The book was very well written and approached Carver’s life in a respectful way. As a black man living in the South not long after slavery was banned, he endured a lot of racial prejudice and injustice throughout his life. The author made sure to include enough examples of Carver’s circumstances, experiences, and personal reflections. I found the pages full of information, easy to read, and worthy of my time. After studying this man’s life, I am very grateful for his self-sacrificing efforts to transform a field of potential into a world of prosperity. His life stands as a legacy of hope to all people that beauty can rise out of ashes and that much can be learned from God’s creation.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of George Washington Carver through Book Sneeze, in exchange for my honest review.