When you listen to an album, sometimes the words sound great, but the artist just lacks the conviction or experience to make it sound heart-genuine. Not so with Jeromy & Jennifer’s new album, Coming Home. And it’s not just an album. It’s a journey. A journey from suffering to faith. From intense questioning to endurance and trust.

Jeromy & Jennifer have been through a lot over the past two years. From living in Africa for several months, to the birth of a new baby, an MS diagnosis and the disbanding of FFH, they’ve run the gamut of suffering, trust, and God’s enduring faithfulness. Life is different for them now. But, more importantly, they’re different. They’ve grown, they’ve learned, they’ve dealt with the hard issues and found peace in the midst of pain.

Coming Home doesn’t deal tritely with the object of suffering either. From the first verse of:

Where Do I Go From Here/You brought me this far/Was it only to see me beg?/Was it only to get me to my knees/and then walk away… (more…)

The Shack

A review by RTF Staff Writer, Derek Hanisch

Over the summer I was at the store and I saw the book “The Shack.” I read the back and was intrigued, so I purchased it. I normally know the next five books that I’m going to read, so this book got lost along the way. It didn’t even make it up to college with me. When “The Shack” was chosen by The Hardback Society (the book club I’m in) as our book of the month I had my mom mail it up to me.

After finishing the book all I can say is, “wow!” (more…)

Pure: a 90-day devotional for the mind, body & spirit

by Rebecca St. James, best selling author and musical artist

When Rebecca was 12 years old she attended a program at her school that significantly impacted her life’s story. A speaker asked people to come forward if they felt God leading them to give their talents and gifts to Him. She responsed and that was the same year God began to lead her into music.

Rebecca feels that her God-given purpose is to encourage people to stand for God, to live for Him, and to live a life of worship.

Which is exactly how this book feels as you read it. Daily devotions draw you deep in the heart of a relationship with God, where purity is less about the outside and more about listening to and responding to the voice of God and knowing and being led by Him. (more…)

Welcome back to Part II of my interview with Crystal Miller, author and speaker. Crystal has traveled around the world, sharing her message of hope. Crystal is a Columbine survivor and she has written an amazing book called, Marked For Life.

Let’s continue the interview. Welcome back Crystal!

Suzie: You wrote a chapter called Heroes of Hope. How would you define a hero of hope?

Crystal: I believe that a hero of hope is someone who chooses hope over chaos- hope over suffering and hardships- hope over bitterness and anger – hope over death- hope over circumstances- hope over situations beyond control and hope over despair. All people who choose hope, even when things don’t make sense or add up- even when things still hurt- they are choosing Jesus Christ- the Hope-giver himself. The only one capable of bringing good from the bad. (more…)

One of our favorite sites is Planet Wisdom. It’s chock full of great articles, conference news, music, and movie reviews. This is a current review of:

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, reviewed by Steven Harrell

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
Rated PG-13 for mature material and sensuality.
reviewed by Steven Harrell

Excerpt of Review: Most of the anticipated summer releases this year have been aimed at the male species. The huge success of “The Dark Knight” is sure to further fuel the latex-and-complicated-backstory frenzy. But “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2″ is a movie built just for you, ladies, and without nearly as much sex or city (but even more product placement) as the summer’s other movie about four female friends.

The Story
“Sisterhood 2″ picks up three years after the first movie left off. (more…)

RATED PG-13
DISTRIBUTED BY
Warner Bros.
DIRECTED BY
Peter Segal

STARRING
Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart; Anne Hathaway as Agent 99; Dwayne Johnson as Agent 23; Alan Arkin as The Chief; Terence Stamp as Siegfried

Okay, I hate to admit it, but I’m old enough to have seen Get Smart the first time (when I was very young). So, it’s interesting to see how Steve Carell pulls off the remake.

Plugged In Online gives their POV on the movie. Here’s a brief excerpt. (Click here to read the whole review by Plugged In Online’s, Bob Hoose). (more…)

Making It Real: Whose Faith Is It Anyway?
By T. Suzanne Eller
Kregel, 2007, 162 pp., $11.99, www.kregel.com

From YouthWorker Journal, Review by Adam Griffin

What youth worker has not been frustrated by students whose faith waxes or wanes based on whether or not they can feel God right now? Who hasn’t dealt with kids who live by “borrowed convictions”? Whether they got them from their parents or their youth pastor, kids tend to grasp belief systems that they have been “raised in” without taking faith seriously and making it personal. Through six short, surprisingly deep and probing sections and their coordinating five daily devotions, Making It Real attempts to lead its teenage audience to a personal and living faith.

Completing 30 daily devotions may be an unrealistic expectation for many students, but then again, the goal of Christ-likeness requires a serious effort. Suzanne Eller consistently refuses to water down that commitment. Using a variety of scripture and thought provoking questions, she offers teens much more than another philosophy. She presents a faith worth living for.

 

Prince Caspian
Rated PG for epic battle action and violence

Review by Jamin Goecker, RTF Staff Writer

How do you exceed the perfection of Andrew Adamson’s last Narnian movie? Better effects, faster action, excellent costumes, new characters, and dazzling scenery. This 2-hour and 20-minute film kept me awake at 2 o’clock in the morning.

Caspian enters a wardrobe within the first 5 minutes. He’s not stepping into a new world; he’s escaping his uncle’s plot to murder him. The Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) have lived in our world a year since their last adventure into a wardrobe. A magical horn warps them back to Narnia to help Prince Caspian in his struggle against his uncle Miraz. If the Narnians are defeated, they will be annihilated. (more…)