As I read this book, I remembered listening to the lectures (messages?) from which the essays came, lectures given at the 2007 Desiring God conference by the same name. The purpose of this collection of essays is, like the conference that went before it, to encourage by example and exhortation the kind of faith that perseveres through the difficulties of life.

The first chapter is a piece by Jerry Bridges which lays out four things that will enable the Christian to finish well. These four essentials are

* a daily time of focused communion with God,
* a daily appropriation of the gospel,
* a daily presenting yourself as a living sacrifice, and
* a continual firm belief in the sovereignty and the goodness of
God.

Bridges discusses each action, giving us the scriptural basis for it and explaining how practicing it has been helpful in his own Christian walk. He reminds the reader that it is by God's grace that we are faithful in these things, for "standing over all of them is the grace of God. The same apostle who said, 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith' also said in another context, 'But by the grace of God I am what I am' (1 Cor. 15:10). Paul attributed all of his endurance, all of his faithfulness, to the grace of God. And so as we look at our responsibility, keep in mind that we are enabled to fulfill that responsibility only by the grace of God."

This was, I think, the chapter in this book that was most valuable to me. I've been working to be more disciplined in these things now that I have the house to myself and time to think, and I found this discussion very convicting and useful.

The second chapter is John Piper's essay "Getting Old to the Glory of God." This means, says he, "getting old in a way that makes God look glorious. It means living and dying in a way that shows God to be the all-satisfying Treasure that he is."

I've reached the age where I think more and more about getting old, and I'll let you in on a secret if you promise not to tell: I'd like to spend the rest of my life in a way that is comfortably pleasant. Deep down, I think I've gone through enough of the difficult stuff already and I'd like just coast agreeably to the end. This is not the the kind of life-finish Piper is speaking about:

"Getting old to the glory of God means resolutely resisting the typical American dream of retirement. It means being so satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ that we are set free from the cravings that create so much emptiness and uselessness in retirement. Instead, knowing that we have an infinitely satisfying and everlasting inheritance in God just over the horizon of life makes us zealous in our few remaining years here to spend ourselves in the sacrifices of love, not the accumulation of comforts."

Okay. And yes, I do know this. I just need to be reminded of it and spurred on once in a while. If you're baby-boomerish, like I am, this chapter is especially for you, encouraging you to spend all of your years persevering in the "joyful sorrows of magnifying Christ in the sacrifices of love."

In the next chapter John MacArthur uses principles gleaned from Paul in 2 Corinthians to teach about maintaining a ministry that endures through various difficulties. This chapter is geared toward pastors, drawing from MacArthur's nearly forty years of experience at Grace Community Church.

The last two chapters from Randy Alcorn and Helen Roseveare on persevering through trials and tribulations suffer just a little, I think, from the kind of organization that works well enough for speaking but not as well for writing. These essays are more anecdotal and less formally structured than the first three, something I didn't notice at all when listening to them as lectures, but that made them less enjoyable when I was reading. I'm guessing that this wouldn't bother most readers, but I prefer things more tightly organized than these two chapters were.

At the end of Stand are two transcripts of interviews of the contributors conducted by Justin Taylor during the Stand conference. These won't be the parts of the book of most enduring quality, but they were very fun to read. I like knowing bits of people's stories and there are quite a few of them here. Did you know, for instance, that Randy Alcorn gives his books to people he meets as he travels? He tells some of the stories of his travel encounters in the first interview.

The purpose of this book is to encourage believers to stand firm in their life-long commitment to Christ and I'd say it fulfills that purpose quite well and I recommend it.

Like the others in this series of biographical books, this one consists of sketches of the lives of three historical christian leaders along with discussion of lessons the reader can learn from each. The men whose life stories are featured in this volume are Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen, who each defended truth in the Christian controversies of their day.

The introduction of Contending for Our All is a defense of those who fight for "the truth and meaning of the gospel" when the truth of the gospel is at stake. The reason this defense must be made is that "[i]n every age there is a kind of person who tries to minimize the importance of truth-de'ning and truth-defending controversy by saying that prayer, worship, evangelism, missions, and dependence on the Holy Spirit are more important...."

Of course, these things are important, but they all depend on clear teaching of foundational truths. As Piper explains,

"I love the passion for faith and prayer and evangelism and worship behind those statements. But when they are used to belittle gospel-defining, gospel-defending controversy they bite the hand that feeds them. Christ-exalting prayer will not survive in an atmosphere where the preservation and explanation and vindication of the teaching of the Bible about the prayer-hearing God are devalued. Evangelism and world missions must feed on the solid food of well-grounded, unambiguous, rich gospel truth in order to sustain courage and confidence in the face of afflictions and false religions. And corporate worship will be diluted with cultural substitutes where the deep, clear, biblical contours of God's glory are not seen and guarded from ever-encroaching error."

Athanasius, Owen and Machen all understood how high the stakes were in the controversies of their times. They did not love controversy for controversy's sake, but they all understood how vital certain truths are to the health of the church, so they contended for the truth out of love--"love to Christ, his church, and his world."

Athansius defended the deity of Christ against the Arians way back in the fourth century. At times, most of Christendom stood against him. For more than forty years--all of his adult life--Athanasius fought for the truth of Christ's deity, even though for much of that time, those in power were working to get rid of him, exiling him five times. Eventually, however, the orthodoxy Athanasius fought for won out, although he did not live to see the successful outcome of his work.

John Owen, a Puritan pastor of the 1600s, wrote to defend against errors that diminished the gospel. He worked hard to uphold the truth throughout his whole life, despite the heartbreak that came from burying all eleven of his children. His writings include, among other things, defenses of the doctrines of perseverance of the saints and definite atonement.

J. Gresham Machen did his contending in the first half of the last century, standing against the errors of liberal Christianity. His most important work was Christianity and Liberalism. My favorite story about Machen is this one. As he lay dying, he sent a telegram to his friend John Murry that said, "I am so thankful for [the] active obedience of Christ. No hope without it." You have to love a man who finds his comfort in death in the doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness.

John Piper draws out many lessons for us from the lives of these three men who contended for the truth against false teaching, but his central lesson is this:

"Faithful Christians do not love controversy; they love peace. They love their brothers and sisters who disagree with them. They long for a common mind for the cause of Christ. But they are bound by their conscience and by the Word of God, for this very reason, to try to persuade the church concerning the fullness of the truth and beauty of God's word."

I love biographies and I love church history, so I loved Contending for Our All. However, if you are looking for detailed life stories like you would find in most biographies, you may be disappointed. But if you want to learn lessons from the lives of these historical figures of the church, lessons that you can apply to your life now in our times, this book will suit you well.

Christmas topics from writers that Nancy Guthrie respects--"essays that reflect a high view of Scripture; and that put the incarnation in the context of God's unfolding plan of redemption."

Included are pieces from the sermons, essays or books of both historical and contemporary Christians. I've decided that listing the contributors would be more useful than anything else in helping you decided whether these are essays you would enjoy reading, so here you are, from first to last.

* George Whitefield
* Joseph "Skip" Ryan
* Martin Luther
* John Piper
* Tim Keller
* Martyn Lloyd-Jones
* J. Ligon Duncan III
* Jonathan Edwards
* Charles Spurgeon
* Saint Augustine
* J. I. Packer
* John Calvin
* Alistair Begg
* Randy Alcorn
* John MacArthur
* Raymond C. Ortland, Jr.
* Francis Schaeffer
* J. C. Ryle
* James Montgomery Boice
* R. C. Sproul
* R. Kent Hughes
* Joni Eareckson Tada

Impressive, isn't it?

Some of the specific topics of the reflections are Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, the wisemen's gifts, the Holy Spirit (he did, you remember, have a big role in the incarnation story), Christ's humility, his poverty, and what it means that he became flesh. Like any collection from various authors, some pieces are easier to read than others. Some you'll whip through like a summer breeze, and for a few, you'll need your thinking cap.

And as you might also expect, some readings are better than others. The selections are mostly (maybe always) excerpted from larger works, so when I used the word essay to describe them, that was not quite right. That they are parts of larger wholes shows more in some readings than others. If you are expecting tight packages with precise beginnings, middles, ends, and all strings knotted, you may be disappointed a few times as you read through this book.

There were two essay that I marked with an X, which is my indication that didn't enjoy it or strongly disagreed with it, and one marked with a question mark because I am unsure whether the whole premise stands. About half of the rest I enjoyed but didn't love, and I thought nine out of the twenty-two were quite wonderful. I won't be telling you which ones are which, since I read this book over a few weeks and have a hunch I didn't judge consistently over time.

I will tell you that my favorite reading was the last one, A Christmas Longing, by Joni Eareckson Tada. Christmas, Joni says, is still a promise, even for those who live on our side of the first Advent.

"Every Christmas is still a "turning of the page" until Jesus returns. Every December 25 marks another year that draws us closer to the fulfillment."

Ah yes! We don't reflect on this often enough, do we? Christmas calls us to celebrate a glorious event of the past, but it is (and maybe more so) a call to celebrate what is to come.

All in all, Nancy Guthrie gets a blue ribbon from me for her editing choices. The shortcomings in Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus are minor, and not really shortcomings at all, but rather, the unevenness that comes in any collection of essays, particularly when the selections are taken from many authors and from different centuries. I can't think of a Christmas anthology that is better than this one.

I love using this handy-dandy reference work. Included are seven historic reformed confessions--the Belgic Confession of Faith (1561), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), and the Canons of Dort (1618-19), the Second Helvetic Confession (1566), the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646-47) and the Larger and Shorter Westminster Catechisms (1647)--side by side in seven column format, arranged by subject matter.

And there's more! Also included are an introduction explaining the historical background of each of the seven confessions and an annotated bibliography. The bibliography is organized by subject, and points us to the best English works up through the twentieth century on the various topics of the confession, giving a short summary of each work. On the doctrine of God, for instance, there are twelve recommended works, from Charnock's classic, Discourses on the Existence and Attributes of God, to the more recent classic, J. I. Packer's Knowing God.

This is a large book--8 1/2 x 11 and 288 pages--which helps make the seven columns easy to read for old fogies like me who have difficulty with fine print. It's paperback, but with the sort of heavy cover and pages that text books are made of, so I expect it to stand up to repeated use better than most paperback books.

I love charts and comparing things, and that means I love this book for the format alone. I also love history and theology--and historic confessions, especially. You can't imagine how much I've enjoyed comparing the different confessions, seeing where they differ and where they all agree. This kind of book is not for everyone, I know, but I'm pretty sure there are at least a few others who love things like this as much as I do.

Wendy Alsup, says the blurb, "enjoys teaching theology to women." That's what she's done at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and that's what she does in this book.

The title calls this practical theology, but the term is not used in a way that sets practical theology apart as a specific type of theology. The point Wendy Alsup is making by using this term is that the study of theology, defined as "the study of God and deep religious truth," affects our lives in a very practical way. Theology, she says, "is the root, foundation, and framework for practical living...." She is using the term, I think, in order to appeal to those who believe that theology is something for the intellectuals or the super-spirituals in the church, but not something useful for the average Joe or--considering the intended audience for this book--Jane Christian.

But why have a theology book aimed specifically at women? Because most theology books are written by men for readers who are predominately men. By writing a theology book intended for women, Alsup hopes to "fight the unspoken mentality that theology is for men, while parenting, sewing, or dieting classes are for women."

Essentially, this is a very basic, entry level book of doctrine. It is more elementary than any entry level theology book I've seen. It's shorter, too, at 150 pages, and written in a more conversational style. I'd judge it to be geared for the lay person with no previous interest in theology.

There are three main sections in Practical Theology for Women: What Is Theology?, Who Is Our God?, and Communicating with Our God. The first section discusses the meaning of theology and faith and how they are related. The second section, which I think of as the heart of the book, looks at the roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our lives. God is our Father, the sovereign, compassionate, wise one who disciplines us, the Son is our Saviour, our example, our bridegroom, the one with whom we are intimately united, and the Spirit is our helper and sanctifier. The third section examines communication with God--our communication with him through prayer and his communication with us through his word.

The teaching is straight and true. The choice of content, for a book intended for beginners in theology, is exactly right. Considering the target audience, the conversational tone and organization is best, too.

If you read Charnock or Edwards, like some women I know, you'll probably find this book too basic for you. Likewise, I suppose, if you've had a college level course in systematic theology or doctrine and paid any attention. But for the majority of Christian women I know, this book would be perfect. Wendy Alsup does an excellent job of making the deeper things of God easy to understand for someone who has absolutely no background in theology. The best use for Practical Theology for Women, as I see it, would be in a group study for women, where women can use it to spur each other on in the study of who God is and what he does.
Comment

What Is a Healthy Church Member? is patterned after the book What is a Healthy Church? by Mark Dever, and is the third book in the IXMark series. It gives us "one proposal for becoming a healthier member of your local church."

The ten chapters in this little book (and it is little) are based around ten marks of a healthy church member. Each chapter ends with a few questions for deeper thinking on the topic of the chapter, and many chapters also include a short list of books for more reading on the topic. It's all biblically grounded, theologically sound, and most of all, practical.

Here are the 10 marks of a healthy church member, otherwise known as the ten chapter titles:

* A Healthy Church Member Is an Expositional Listener
* A Healthy Church Member Is a Biblical Theologian
* A Healthy Church Member Is Gospel Saturated
* A Healthy Church Member Is Genuinely Converted
* A Healthy Church Member Is a Biblical Evangelist
* A Healthy Church Member Is a Committed Member
* A Healthy Church Member Seeks Discipline
* A Healthy Church Member Is a Growing Disciple
* A Healthy Church Member is a Humble Follower
* A Healthy Church Member Is a Prayer Warrior

There's nothing earth shaking here, but that doesn't mean this isn't an exceptionally useful book. I'd call it a church member's user manual, but that would make it seem too much like a to-do list and it is not that. It does have suggestions that the reader is encouraged to practice because they desire to become a healthy church member, but in the end, Thabiti Anyabwile brings us back to the gospel of Christ Jesus as the foundation for everything and the gracious work of the Spirit as the means by which these 10 marks are accomplished.

What Is a Healthy Church Member? would be well-suited for use in a new member's class or other group study as well as for individual reading and study.

What John Piper has done in this book is take fifty of the results of Christ's death given in scripture and listed them for us as fifty reasons why Jesus came to die. That, of course, makes perfect sense because any results of Christ's death are intended purposes of Christ's death, since God has the power and wisdom to do things so that only exactly what He wishes is accomplished. This means that there are no unintended results from anything God does, only purposed results. And any purposed results are rightly called "reasons why."

Each of the fifty reasons is allotted two pages of text. First, supporting scripture is given and then there are several paragraphs of explanation. This makes the book especially suited for devotional reading, two or three reasons at a time. Anything more than that might be too much, as there is so much reflect on in each little section.

You'd think by now I'd know all there is to know about the purposes of Christ's death, but there were several in this book I'd never thought about before. For instance, one of the reasons Piper gives for Jesus coming to die is "to give marriage its deepest meaning." This is, of course, based in Ephesians 5. Our marriages were designed to picture Christ's relationship with his people, and Christ's suffering shows husbands (especially) how they should love their wives. And if Christ's death is an example of how we ought to love our spouses, then that's an important part of God's design for it.

I'd call Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die an introductory level book--there's nothing difficult in it--and yet I'd say almost everyone will learn a thing of two from it. And who among us doesn't need a reminder of the infinite wisdom of God in the cross of Christ?

Here are a few ways this book could be used:

*It would make--dare I say it?--an excellent bathroom reader.

*I'm going to use it as a universal gift book. There's nothing intimidating about it, the sections are short, and the information invaluable. Everyone needs to know what's in this book. I plan to order a few extra copies to have on hand whenever I need one to give away.

*I recommend it for tucking in your purse to read while you're waiting in the supermarket check-out lines (or anywhere else for that matter.) That's how I read much of my copy. It sure beats the gossip magazines that I've been known to read while I wait. Not to mention how oh-so-right it is to be redeeming the time spent waiting to redeem your groceries (and maybe your coupons) by reading about the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

*It would be a very appropriate book to give to anyone who asks you about the meaning of the cross, something that I've had happen to me a couple of time so far this year. I gave a short answer--that's all I could do in an everyday conversation--but the whole multi-faceted answer is so much more glorious, and I wish I'd been able to say, "Here's a book you can have that explains it in much more depth."

*It would be suitable for a small group to use for study.

The publication of this book resulted from the collective reasoning of Ligon Duncan, Al Mohler, Mark Dever and C.J. Mahaney, who all agreed that it would be useful to have three classic essays on the atonement by J.I. Packer included in one book. These three pieces--"The Heart of the Gospel," a chapter from the classic book Knowing God; "What Did the Cross Achieve?: The Logic of Penal Substitution," originally a Tyndale Biblical Theology Lecture; and "Saved by His Precious Blood," the well-known introduction to John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ--along with Mark Dever's article, "Nothing but the Blood," first published in Christianity Today, make up the heart of this book.

Since this book is a collection of essays, I've decided to go through it chapter by chapter, giving a short summary of each and, when I think it'd be useful, my evaluation of it.

* Foreward: The story and reasoning behind the publication of this book told by Ligon Duncan, Al Mohler, Mark Dever and C.J. Mahaney.

* Preface: A short discussion by both Packer and Dever of recent unorthodox thought on the atonement found in evangelicalism, an error they have dubbed anti-redemptionism. It is this error that makes these essays particularly useful as "a composite tract for the times."

* Introduction: Penal Substitution Revisited. Written by J.I. Packer, this is an overview of the doctrine of penal substitution, explaining briefly what it is, what are some of the reasons for viewing the atonement this way, and how embracing this view of the atonement should shape our personal faith. It's a short piece, but valuable as an introduction for the essays that follow. It includes, by the way, that uniquely Packerish phrase, "smartypants notions."

* The Heart of the Gospel by J.I. Packer. This is chapter 18 in the must-read Packer book, Knowing God. It discusses propitiation--what it is, where it's found in the Bible, how Christ's death accomplishes it, and how a proper understanding of propitiation is necessary for a proper understanding of many of the key elements of true Christianity. I've read this piece several times while reading and re-reading Knowing God, but I was surprised to find that my experience of it was different when reading it as part of a book about the atonement rather than a book about the nature of God. It's always been my favorite chapter in Knowing God and I think it's my favorite chapter here, too, so I'm glad it's included in this book of essays on the atonement.

* What Did the Cross Achieve?: The Logic of Penal Substitution by J.I. Packer. This is the only one of the four main essays that I hadn't read through before, although I'd read parts of it. It is definitely the most difficult essay in the book, written on a more scholarly than popular level, but it's worth the work it takes to get through it.

One of the more interesting point Packer makes is that there are three main ways in which Christ's death has been explained in the church. The first way sees the cross as primarily dealing with humankind's failure to understand God's love for us, and thus sees the whole purpose of the atonement to work a change in our attitude toward God The second way of explaining Christ's death sees the work of the cross as chiefly the defeat of hostile spiritual forces. The third way of looking at the cross sees it, first of all, as having it's effect on God himself, propitiating him, and on the basis of that, turning humankind toward him and overthrowing the nasty forces-that-be. In other words, the third view, the one which includes penal substitution, incorporates the other views within it and gives a basis for them. The first two views, then, are wrong because they are incomplete, treating "half-truths as the whole truth" and "rejecting a more comprehensive account."

* Nothing but the Blood by Mark Dever. This piece was included at the insistence of Packer. It's probably not a timeless piece in the same way that the three by Packer are, but it is very helpful in that it places the defense of penal substitution within the context of the current criticisms made of it.

* Saved by His Precious Blood: An Introduction to John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by J.I. Packer. At it's core, this is a defense of Calvinism in general and limited atonement in particular. I read this many years ago, and, although the biggest factor in pushing me over the edge on that fifth and hardest point of the five points of TULIP was Hebrews 2, this essay was influential, too. This piece is well-regarded for very good reason: the explanations and arguments are impeccable. I can't say much more than that. If you haven't read this one, you really must.

* Epilogue: Christ-Centered Means Cross-Centered by J.I. Packer and Mark Dever. This is a short summary essay explaining the necessity of Christ-centeredness and cross-centeredness for healthy Christianity, and asserting that true Christ-and-cross-centeredness comes only "by facing up to the reality of Christ's blood-sacrifice of himself in penal substitution for those whom the Father had given him to redeem."

* Books on the Cross of Christ by Ligon Duncan. I'd pay full price for this book just to get these reading lists. Included are lists of recommended reading on Christ's work: a top ten list, an introductory list, a list of sermons, a list of systematic theologies and more.

* Annotated Bibliography by Ligon Duncan. Here you'll find background on the books and authors recommended in the lists above. I loved this almost as much as the book lists themselves.

If you've read this far, you probably don't need me to tell you that I highly recommend In My Place Condemned He Stood. The question someone might have, I suppose, is "Why would I pay for this book when so much of the material is available elsewhere and I've already read it there?" To be honest, that was my own question as I worked my way through it. Now that I'm done, I'm really glad to have a compact volume that includes all these essays. It's a very good thing to have them in a book I can hold, a book I could mark up as I read, and a book I can refer back to as needed.

Jani Ortlund has written this book with mothers who are raising children in mind. Her purpose is to help women learn to delight in God through his law and to help them pass on that love for God to their children.

What do you think about the Ten Commandments? Many of us, I'd say, tend to think of them in either of two ways, both of them wrong. We think of them as a list of very demanding rules that we need to keep in order to become righteous, or we think of them as a list of very demanding rules that no longer, since we are new covenant people, have any relevance for us.

Jani Ortlund argues that God's law has three purposes for us today. First, it leads us to the Saviour because it shows us our sin. Second, the law helps us understand who God is. And third, the law is a guide to those who are being saved through Christ, because it shows what living the like-Christ life looks like.

His Loving Law has an introduction, a conclusion, and ten chapters, each chapter examining one of the Ten Commandments. The chapters end with two sections of study questions and activities. One section is for the woman herself, to help her consider how she might live out each specific commandment, and the other contains suggested questions and activities for children to help mothers give each commandment to their children.

In the chapter on the sixth commandment, for instance, we learn that the command "You shall not murder" prohibits us from taking human life, but also includes positive expectations of us along with that prohibition. At its core, it's a call to value and protect human life, or using Jani Ortlund's words, "we obey this command by being life giving to others, rather than life depleting." We must "cherish and honor and care and protect this life we have received from God..." And of course, those who are truly obeying this commandment will show this honor for human life by their words and actions. The study section for adults asks, among other things, what "it means to be made in the image of God." In the second study section, one activity for children given is reading Romans 13:8, which says "love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law," and writing down a concrete plan for giving "life-giving love" to someone who needs it.

Let me let you in on a little secret: It's only in the last few years that I've begun to understand how much is rolled up in the summary words of each commandment. I'll admit that I haven't paid as much attention to the Ten Commandments as I should. That's why I enjoyed this book, even though I'm not teaching young children anymore.

If you are a mother with children at home(or if you teach young children), I've going to doubly recommend this book to you. You'll probably learn from it, like I did, but you'll also learn, from someone who's raised four children, practical ways to pass your new knowledge and love for the law to your children. As I read it, I kept thinking that it would make an excellent book for a group of young mothers to study together. And I couldn't stop wishing there were more books like this one, books that are both theological and practical, geared to mothers who want to teach their children.

I've listened to quite a few of D. A. Carson's sermons and lectures (Okay, I'll be honest. I've heard every single one I can download for free.), so I already knew some of his stories about his family and upbringing. I already knew that there were at least a few parallels between my own upbringing and his. My dad, for instance, was a small church pastor and missionary like Carson's father, Tom Carson, and some of what I'd heard Don Carson say about his father made me think that he might have been a bit like my dad. My own mother used old adult-sized clothing to create cute clothing pieces for my sister and me, while Margaret Carson, Tom Carson's wife, remade hand-me-down suits for her son to wear. And like D. A. Carson, I grew up poor, but unaware until later how much less we had than most people around us.

This is the reason I was hoping I'd be able to read and review Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, Carson's new book on the life of his father, who was a missionary pastor in Quebec. I can't pass up a good biography, anyway, and if there are similarities between the people portrayed and the people I know and love, so much the better. And this was a good biography. I received my review copy in the mail on Thursday and finished it a couple of nights later because I stayed up reading until 2:30AM on Easter morning.

As it turns out, Tom Carson was different than my own father in many ways. Still, the parallels are notable, making the book all the more engrossing for me. Like my dad, Tom Carson was a faithful, ordinary pastor. His congregations were small; he wrote no books. His circumstances were often difficult, but he kept on serving and loving God, serving and loving his family, and serving and loving God's people. He was disciplined in his use of time, one thing I've decided I need to work at more consistently.

The marketing for Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor seems to be directed primarily to pastors. If you aren't a pastor, don't let that keep you from adding this book to the list of books you wish to read. You may be particularly interested in reading about the life of Tom Carson if

* You are an ordinary pastor. We all enjoy little peeks into the lives of others who've had lives similar to our own, don't we? I bet you'll find encouragement and wisdom for your own walk in this account of Tom Carson's life.

* You were (or are) an ordinary pastor's kid. It's a good thing to be reminded again of the sacrifices our parents made and the discipline their vocation required.

* You have an ordinary pastor. Let this book give you a better understanding of your own pastor's life.

* You are Canadian. Those of us who are Canadian are probably ahead of the game when it comes to understanding some of the circumstances surrounding Tom Carson's experiences. Plus, this book contains a little piece of Canadian church history. And let's face it: There aren't that many biographies of Canadian missionary pastors, so when one comes out, we're probably obligated to read it.

* You enjoy biographies. This one is a pleasing mix of real journal entries from Tom Carson, excerpts from his sermon notes and letters, and Don Carson's engaging retelling of his father's life.

* You are an ordinary Christian. The example of an ordinary Christian who remains faithfully dedicated to doing God's work through the common problems of life can spur us all to remain faithful.

Can you tell that I found Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor delightful in every way?