"The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven"

The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven by Kevin and Alex Malarkey

Alex was just 6 years-old when he was in the car accident that would change his family forever. After a virtual death sentence from the doctors, Alex defied medical science and survived. No one knew what he would be like when he awoke from the coma...or if he ever would. When he emerged after 7 weeks in a coma, no one expected to hear the reports of heaven he returned with, or the amazing miracles God was working through the entire experience.

I'm going to start this review objectively, ignoring the subject matter and talking about the book itself. The majority of this book is written by Alex's father, Kevin, recounting the accident and life since. The book spans a few years time, although its not always specific with times and tends to jump around a bit. Kevin shares everything that happened during this time, from stories of faith being tested and marital problems, to conversations with Alex about the supernatural. He makes it clear that the family's faith is what pulled them through, while being honest about his doubts and struggles along the way. I would have liked to hear more from Alex in the book, but it was clear that he didn't want to be the center, and that he wasn't too sure about the whole book business. Overall, this book was pretty well-written, intriguing, and encouraging. Also included were some photos of the accident and Alex recovering.

Now, the personal! I was raised evangelical, so talk of miracles and spiritual warfare is nothing new to me, and is not hard for me to believe. I was also raised to filter what I hear through Scripture to be sure it is truth. That said, I believe Alex's story and find it very encouraging and uplifting to my own walk. Everything Alex says about God and Heaven lines up with the Bible. And he sounds a lot like several Biblical figures when he says there are things that he saw and learned that God will not allow him to speak about. Hearing about this little boy watching his own surgery with Jesus, speaking in his "Heaven language", talking about being attacked by Satan, and hearing his views on prayer, is amazing. It inspires me to take my walk more seriously, to realize that there is so much more to the spiritual realm than what we see and participate in. And how can you not believe a child really walks with God when he is constantly saying that it's not about him? I'll close my review with the quote that I found the most inspiring, especially since it comes from a little kid!

"Daddy, I'm always in prayer because part of my brain, through the Holy Spirit, is in constant communication with Heaven. My mouth is for talking to people." (page 183)

Highly Recommended 5/5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for a review.

"Flourish"

I had a love/hate relationship with this book the entire time I was reading it! As a whole, I enjoyed the book and the core message of living your best life, despite the circumstances. I underlined and wrote down quite a few parts of the book, so I guess it was a worthy read! My criticism, however, is that some parts were very heavily academic. Even as someone with a bachelors degree in science, I had a hard time following along with some of the research.

The first few, and last few chapters I found to be the best, as they were easier to read. They contained more stories and practical applications, compared to the scientific studies of the middle chapters. Weber includes meditation exercises and journaling questions throughout the book, with a complete "Creating my Intentional Life Plan" guide at the end, should you choose to engage in that way.

Final thoughts, this was a generally good book, despite the heavy research sections.

Recommended 3/5 stars.

I received this book for free in exchange for a review as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

"Too Rich For A Bride"

After a harsh lesson on a woman's life in the business world, Ida Sinclair joins her sisters in the mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado. She soon gets a job with the incomparable Mollie O'Bryan and is enjoying the accomplishments and opportunities that come with it, not to mention the attention of two handsome, eligible bachelors. Will it be love, money, or danger that makes Ida see what is truly important in life?

This book is the second in a series by a new-to-me author, but it can stand on its own (I haven't read the first). It was a good story, although it did have some parts that seemed to drag on, and didn't have the depth of characters that I like to see. But the book was well written, with some twists to the story, and make me want to read more from this author. Overall, this was a good read. I did smile at the awkwardness and clumsiness between Ida and Tucker :)

Recommended 3.5/5 stars.

I recieved this book free in exchange for a review as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

Great Moments in Leadership

A few weeks ago, I had a good car-talk with two girls about boys and dating. While I'm no expert at relationships (seeing as I'm practically chronically single with no immediate prospects), I gave them my tips that I have learned from observing and listening to smarter people. I passed on one of my favorite tips: writing a "husband wish list". Listing, in writing, what you want from a future spouse. Not little things like eye color or style, but things like has a heart for God, is a good listener, likes kids, shows patience, has a sense of humor, and shows wisdom. I've had one since I was 14 and it helps keep silly crushes at bay. If someone isn't a good match on my core values, they're not dating material for me. Plain and simple, no matter how cute they are.

So I shared all this with my girls. Last night, one of them came up to me all excited and said "I made a list!!" Then the other girl came up to me later and said that she and a friend she told about it also made a list. Yay for good relationships!

Also last night, on the car ride to an event, somehow all of the girls were talking about their level of comfort in talking to me. When one said she didn't really open up much to anyone, two of the others enthusiastically said that they felt they could talk to me about anything. I love being someone that teens feel totally comfortable with, someone they know they can come to with anything and be accepted and loved and get good advice :)

Finally, this morning I gave two kids their very first Bibles. One is a newly-9-year-old girl who has been timidly coming to church for about three weeks. She is a new Christian who has been coming with one of the ladies in the church. She was nervous to go to Sunday School last week, but I talked her into it and asked her if she had a Bible, she didn't, so I presented her with one today. After service, she came up and asked me to sign the "presented to/from" page so she would always remember. The other kid, a 13-year-old boy, comes to Sunday School about once a month with friends. I've had a really cool waterproof Bible waiting for him for weeks and he finally came today. So I pulled him aside, and gave it to him with a Bible-in-a-year plan. He wasn't excited by appearance, but was looking at it and through it so much I had to remind him to go back to class. After church, I saw him showing it off to his friends and their mom.

Leadership is full of ups and downs, craziness and busyness, but these are the moments that make it all worth it and keep you going through the hectic planning stages. And I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world!

Foot Creeper Two

I just got a message on my SparkPeople that was so funny/disturbing that I had to share! It's reminiscent of *this post* .

See, SP is the site I'm using to lose weight, as I've mentioned. And, as I've also mentioned, I'm rewarding myself along the way. The first reward I'll earn is a pedicure.

So I was on SP this morning, trying to earn enough points to get my next virtual trophy (don't judge!), when I found a message board post about toe polish. It asked "what colors are you wearing for summer?" So, I commented (worth 3 points), about how I'm one pound away from a pedicure and might branch out from my usual bright pink.

A few minutes later, I got a private message from someone named Investor that read:

Us foot guys are rooting for ya!! We love new toe colors lol [really happy emoticon]

Awwwwwkwardddddd.....and he hasn't even seen my toes! Plus, to make it a little creepier, his profile is unfindable, and he has no profile picture. Creeper.

**edit** Now, 20 minutes later, he has a picture and a profile....and I just realized he STARTED the thread....ooops.

Weirdest. Teaching. Ever!

Our usual youth leaders are in Greece with their new baby bump,

so I'm teaching youth group tomorrow night!

I was driving the other day, pondering what I would teach on,

when Lady Gaga's song "Born This Way" came on the radio.

And since I have some issues with the song, I thought

"I should teach on this song!"

Then I laughed.

Then I stopped laughing, and thought about it.

Then I said, "This is crazy!

Lord, You're gonna have to give me a real lesson!"

And then...nothing.

Well, nothing else.

Instead, I got more and more insights into the song!

So, tomorrow night, I will be teaching....

on Lady Gaga.

And I guarantee, its not what you think.

(And to you nervous youth leaders,

Don't worry.

Its not sacrilege.

Just a little weird

But its a good Word

and it stays on topic from the past few weeks!)

My Weekend on Capitol Hill

There's so much to say about last weekend that I'm not even sure where to start.

Ok, the beginning. I spent last weekend at International Justice Mission's Advocacy Training in DC. Sunday we spent the say learning a little bit about Human Trafficking and how to be an effective advocate and lobbyist before going to Capitol Hill on Monday to put it in action.

Backing up a bit, I've been getting more and more involved in the modern-day abolition movement. I first learned that slavery is still happening about a year and a half ago. I was stunned to learn that there are 27,000,000 people enslaved around the world today. I sort of ignored it for a while. But then God started....gently throwing it in my face, I guess. It was everywhere I turned. A book on sale at my favorite warehouse, an email from a missionary, a TV show. So I started to pay attention. I started educating myself, reading books, following websites. This past October I took a big step and attended the Global Forum on Human Trafficking. Since then, I've been following Not For Sale, IJM, attended the Justice Conference and have been reading everything I can find and praying about where I'm supposed to fit in all of this.

I don't think I've really written about it here just because its such a big issue and I wasn't sure how to address it. And I figured there were much more experienced and knowledgeable people out there than me. But I've come to realize, that compared to the general population, I'm an expert. I know a lot more that I thought I did, especially after this weekend. And I think since this is such a big passion in my life, and becoming an evermore present part of it, its a fitting subject for my 100th blog post!

So moving on. We spent Monday meeting with big shots on Capitol Hill (still can't believe that little old me met with all these lawmakers and discussed an upcoming bill!!!!!). Our goal for the day was to make our senators and representatives aware of the upcoming TVPRA bill.

This is the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. This law was created in 2000 and made great strides towards the abolition of slavery by making HT against federal law and creating the TIP (Trafficking in Persons) office, which investigates and prosecutes in HT cases, among other things. The office publishes the annual TIP report which ranks countries according to their efforts to eradicate slavery on a tier system. The TIP office also gives grants to organizations in 68 countries working to abolish slavery. This bill needs to be reauthorized every two years, this being one of those years. With the reauthorization this year, some added provisions are being recommended, including fully funding the TIP Office, creating "focus countries", and increasing resources to provide an effective emergency response team (for situations like the earthquake in Haiti that left many children and women vulnerable to trafficking).

Some of these provisions are taken from a proposed law known as CPCA (Child Protection Compact Act). This bill passed the Senate unanimously last year, but time ran out in the house so it didn't make it to law. This year, it has been reintroduced by one of the senators, but IJM (and myself), while they support the bill, is putting more of an emphasis on the TVPRA. This is because the TVPRA includes many of the provisions of the CPCA and there stands to be more lost if the TVPRA doesn't pass. It must be reauthorized by September 30th. If it doesn't pass, the TIP Office would not necessarily close right away, but would be severely impacted.

The other thing I learned about during this training was IJM's Project Lantern. I think this is so cool! In Cebu, Philippines, human trafficking, in the form of the child sex trade, was at extremely high rates. IJM partnered with local law enforcement, training them in how to recognize HT and enforce the laws. Giving these officers the tools and confidence to deal with Human Trafficking made a huge impact in this area. In the 4 years of this project, an outside agency found a 79% drop in child sex slavery! 79%!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With this information, one hope of the TVPRA is to implement this plan in other Tier III countries.

So, that's how I spent my weekend. Talking about these things with lawmakers. I was really nervous going into this weekend, and going into each meeting, but God is awesome and gave me and my team the words to speak. It was definitely a time of growth and stepping outside of my comfort zone. There is so much more to this issue, such as the who's what's and where's of trafficking, but I think this is enough for today!