Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

Book Reviews


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

The Road That Made America: A Modern Pilgrim’s Journey on the Great Wagon Road by James Dodson. Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster. 416 pages. 2025
****

James Dodson is one of my favorite authors, having read several of his books about golf. This is not a subject that I would normally have been interested in, but he is such a good author, I decided to listen to the audiobook version, which was reads by the author. And, I’m very glad that I did.
Dodson tells us that the Great Wagon Road is probably the least known historic road in America. The Great Wagon Road, which his father (“Opti”), first mentioned to Dodson in 1966, was the primary road of frontier America. It was a mass migration route that stretched more than eight hundred miles from Philadelphia to Augusta, Georgia.  This was the road that Dodson’s German ancestors traveled.  The author takes us in “the Pearl”, his 1994 Buick Roadmaster Estate station wagon, along with his faithful dog Mulligan, on this nearly five-year (COVID interrupted) journey that began in 2017. He crosses six contiguous states and some of the most historic and hallowed landscapes of eastern America, touching many of the nation’s most sacred battlefields and burying grounds.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review and a review of Go Forward in Love: A Year of Daily Readings from Timothy Keller
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ Tim Keller on the Christian Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Matt Smethurst
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →


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THIS & THAT: A Gathering of Favorite Articles and Quotes

  • Christians Must Resist Assisted Suicide. Local pastor Andy Huette writes “Yet in the fog of sorrow and difficult decisions, Christians should resist the cultural tide of euthanasia that undermines the value of human life. Instead, we should value God’s gift of life even amid suffering.”

  • If God Is Sovereign, Why Bother to Share Your Faith? Timothy Witmer writes “God has ordained not only the end but the means to that end. He has ordained not only whowill be saved but how they will be saved.”
  • Find Sabbath Rest as a Family. Steve Eatmon writes “So how can families create space for rest? From one busy parent to another, here are four tips to create margin for rest in this wild season of life.”
  • I Don’t Have an LGBTQ Neighbor – And Neither Do You. Rosaria Butterfield writes “If we think we have gay neighbors, we are making the kind of category mistake that weakens our prayers, discourages our hope, and tacitly condemns our loved ones to slavery to sin.  Without intending such harm, we replace the power of God’s justifying work in the lives of His people and our participation in God’s sanctifying power with the man-made category of personhood called “Sexual Orientation.” It’s one or the other.”
  • Comfort for Those Grieving a Pet or Preparing to Say Goodbye to One. Randy Alcorn writes “Sometimes the best stewardship is relieving our pets’ suffering. It helps me knowing they have a Master in Heaven who loves them. When an animal is clearly suffering with no hope, we need to do the hard but necessary thing. Our pets trust us to act in their best interest. We should trust God the same way.”

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  • Favorite Quotes of the Week

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FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

  • Does Work-from-Home Mean Work-Without-Rest? Greg Phelan responds to the question “How can I find rest when work-at-home mode tends to imply that work never really stops?”
  • Stop Running from Rest. Steve Graves writes “What action(s) should we take to make rest a reality in our lives? Here are four simple suggestions drawn from Scripture.”
  • The Glory of Leadership. The Leadership Freak writes “Glory isn’t standing above people. It’s serving them.”
  • Three Questions to Ask When Your Boss Leaves Without Warning. Scott Bellavia writes “Frequent or sudden changes in leadership rightly lead to questions and uncertainty throughout a company. The charge to Christians in these moments, however, does not change. Recognizing that God is our ultimate boss, we need to have a peaceful, patient presence and be salt and light to those without an anchor for their souls.”

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Leadership Attributes: Leaders are Readers

In our series on leadership attributes, we have previously looked at how leaders are learners. They demonstrate continuous and lifelong learning. A subset of continuous learning is reading. Leaders are readers.

In his book The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership that Matters, Albert Mohler writes that there is no substitute for effective reading when it comes to developing and maintaining the intelligence necessary to lead. Where I worked my entire career, continuous learning was emphasized – be it an insurance certification or an IT designation. Reading is always an important part of learning.

Even though I am now retired, I am still an avid reader. Actually, since I am retired, I have more time than ever to read. And as I read as a leader, I read primarily in four categories: Continue reading →


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MUSIC REVIEWS and NEWS

Music Review:
50 Years from Home: I Gave You Everything I Had – Vince Gill
****

Vince Gill is celebrating five decades in the music industry, which includes twenty-two Grammy awards, including time with Pure Prairie League, and the Eagles since 2017. Over the next year, he will release a series of EPs called 50 Years from Home. The first of the EPs is I Gave You Everything I Had.
The new EP includes six new songs, which Gill has described as “very personal”, as well as a newly recorded version of “Go Rest High On That Mountain”, which features a new third verse. All songs were written by Gill, who also produced the project.
The songs feature Paul Franklin on pedal steel, Gill on guitar along with Tom Bukovac, Jedd Hughes and Jack Schneider, keyboardist John Jarvis, multi-instrumentalists Stuart Duncan and Jim “Moose” Brown, banjo player Russ Carson, with Gill’s wife of 25 years, Amy Grant, and daughters Jenny Gill and Corrina Gill singing background vocals. The songs were recorded at Gill’s The House studio.

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– More of this review
– Music News
– Song of the Week Lyrics~ Stand Firm by CityAlight and CXMMXNS Continue reading →


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

BOOK REVIEW:
The Multigenerational Church Crisis: Why We Don’t Understand Each Other and How to Unite in Mission by Bryan Chapell. Baker Books 168 pages. 2025
****

The latest book by Bryan Chapell (pastor, seminary president and denominational leader), is designed to help churches fulfill their biblical responsibilities to each generation so that churches maintain faithfulness for many generations. In this book, he aims to help different generations grasp why they may have trouble understanding each other, and at the same time to help them treasure and steward the contribution each can make to Christ’s mission in their particular time and context. He tells us that the overall goal of the book is to help churches understand how our changing culture is affecting generations of faith. He wants to help churches understand how our changing culture is affecting different generations within their midst so that we can work together for future health and mission. He wants to help us understand generational differences so that we may celebrate how God has differently gifted his people for the purposes of his church at this critical time and so that we may respond with a unified mission.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
BOOK REVIEW ~ More of this review…
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ Tim Keller on the Christian Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Matt Smethurst
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →


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My Review of the Movie “Solo Mio”

Solo Mio, rated PG
***

Solo Mio is a romantic comedy set in Italy about a man who was left at the altar, and is trying to pick up the pieces of his life. The film was directed by Charles Kinnane and Daniel Kinnane, who also wrote the film with Kevin James. The film includes some beautiful scenery of Italy.
Matt Taylor, played by Emmy nominee Kevin James (The King of Queens, Paul Blart: Mall Cop), is a fourth-grade art teacher who proposes to teacher Heather, played by Julie Ann Emery (Better Call Saul), in front of their class. They plan for a big wedding celebration in Rome. But, when Heather does not walk down the aisle, Matt finds that she has left, leaving him a letter in the dressing room, along with her unworn wedding dress. Continue reading →


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THIS & THAT: A Gathering of Favorite Articles and Quotes

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  • More interesting article links
  • Favorite Quotes of the Week

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FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

  • Come to Jesus, All Those Who Feel Overwhelmed by Work. Kaitlin Febles responds to the question “Many scenarios could make the seasonal burdens of work feel overwhelming—think of an accountant in April, a teacher in August, or a pastor in December. But our work can also feel overwhelming on a more mundane level. A full email inbox, a big project, or even the regular daily grind can leave us tired and discouraged. What does God offer in the Bible when I’m feeling overwhelmed by work?”
  • Leading Through Hardship: A Conversation with Mark Vroegop, President of The Gospel Coalition. What does faithful leadership look like when navigating organizational turbulence? On this episode of Working with Dan Doriani, Dan sits down with pastor, author, and current president of The Gospel Coalition Mark Vroegop to explore the hard-won lessons that emerge from leading through difficulty.
  • Be Faithful At Work, Even When It’s Not Your Dream Job. Julianna Graeber writes “If you’re wading through a disorienting season of elusive career direction, remember this: God’s purposes remain trustworthy, even when they aren’t immediately revealed.”

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Leadership Attributes: Perseverance (Finishing Well)

In our series on leadership attributes, we now turn to perseverance, or finishing well. We can see our calling as a leader as a race. And after all, as we finish our race, don’t we long to hear Jesus say to us:
‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’  Matthew 25:23
But how do we persevere as leaders? I’ve seen many emerging leaders work hard on their development, pursuing educational goals, working with mentors and taking on challenging assignments. At times they would express concern to me that they were working much harder on their development than existing leaders were. The perception was that for some leaders, once they achieved a formal leadership position, they tended to coast – and I’m sure that’s true. Servant leaders, on the other hand, desire to keep on growing as leaders and adding value, as long as they are physically and mentally able. Continue reading →