Book Review - Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World by Dr David Jeremiah

I have heard Dr David Jeremiah’s radio program “Turning Point” at various times and have heard that his books are excellent also. So the opportunity presented to my by Thomas Nelson Publishers to review Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World was a great chance to finally read one of his books. (hereafter referred to as LCCW)

LCCW is a good read. Good introductory chapter on the crises that have rocked the world in the last year. Ten solid chapters of biblical teaching with alliterated points “Stay C---“ – calm, compassionate, constructive, challenged, connected, centered, confident, consistent, committed, convinced. When Dr Jeremiah refers to a specific Scripture passage, he explains its relevance to issues in 2009 well. Overall, LCCW is solid reading for continued Christian growth. You can’t go wrong with good, biblical teaching.

Nonethelesss, I cannot say that I recommend you rush out and buy LCCS right away. If you do, that’s fine and it will provide you with reading material that is a good reminder of biblical principles for life. Yet it did not provide me as a reader with any particular insights or observations or connections that were beyond the ordinary – as I may have expected. It did not take a particular biblical book or chapters and relate it to the issues of 2009. Except for the chapter on “Stay Connected,” it did not really touch on specific applications of biblical principles that were unique to 2009, or that could not have been made 5, 10 or 50 years ago.

LCCW is a solid book, yet there are many good Christian living books available on the market (admittedly there’s also lots of junk too!). While the content of the book provides good reminders for the believer, there was nothing particularly challenging to this reader, leaving me a bit disappointed (though no less appreciative of Dr Jeremiah’s ministry).

This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson publishers.

The Truth about CanWest's Collapse

An interesting article in Macleans about the demise of the CanWest (Global TV) media enterprise... and a couple leadership lessons.


1) The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Yes, I know this sounds like a biblical quote (and it is) but it really is the story of this article. CanWest was a successful and growing company that got greedy and too multi-faceted. It was not satisfied to be a "wildly profitable player, secure in its Canadian niche." Rather they wanted more, more, more. In that effort to accumulate, they accumulated huge debt and killed the company.

2) When the idea fails, admit it and get back to the basics. Its seems that there were plenty of opportunities for Izzy Asper or his son, Leonard, to admit "defeat" and stop buying more assets - and more debt - in an effort to find the one that would turn the company around. And yet they kept acquiring various pieces of media that just kept putting them further and further in trouble fiscally. As much as a leader may be "committed" to an idea, sometimes its best to give it up, let it die, and be satisfied with what is working. As a former colleague used to say in reference to baroque music, "If it ain't baroque, don't fix it."

Share the Good News of Christmas review

I received my "Share the Good News of Christmas" package in the mail yesterday... and I am impressed and excited.

First, the material comes in a nice, attractive plastic Christmas gift bag - one that you can give away or hang on a door knob. Inside you will find a small, easy-to-read, visually appealing Max Lucado "tract" about "the Good News of Christmas" with a clear yet, I believe, inoffensive, approach to the message of Christmas. The second attractive insert is an invitation that the person giving out the gift bag would fill out in advance, indicating a church's Christmas service date & time. The third piece in the bag is the ESV New Testament, again with the same font and style design as the gift bag, brochure, and invitation. This "Christmas Bible" has a nice introduction (preface) for the reader like any other book would have and begins with two Christmas passage readings. The Christmas readings are again well-selected and written without Christian jargon. There is then a useful "Where to find help when you are..." topical index followed by a brief "How to read the Bible" introduction and then a suggested 30-day Bible reading program that takes selected chapters/sections from most of the NT books to review the life of Jesus to the spread of the Christian faith ending (obviously) in Revelation 21-22.

Overall, it is indeed an impressive gift bag. An attractive presentation with a clear and gentle message that I think would be appropriate to give to an unchurched friend without being preachy or causing offense. Having been a part of the family of God for so many years and be involved in church/ministry for so long, perhaps I'm overly optimistic. It seems to me that CrossWay has prepared an excellent packet that should be of use to many churches this Christmas season as they seek to reach out to their communities.