Fresh Start is Fresh!

If you have ever started something and failed (which is everyone) this book is for you.

Doug Fields, a pastor at Saddleback Church in California, author of Purpose Driven Youth Ministry, wrote this new book called

FRESH START.

This is a brilliant work that looks at issues of pride, success, hurt, rejection, anger, fear, joy and other things in this book and he does such a great job of telling stories from the Scriptures and his own life to illustrate how powerful a Fresh Start can be for a person.

My favorite line from the book is from page 57 where he says, "God wants to take your checkered past and guide you to a genuine conversion...Don't miss out on a genuine conversion because of your past." This is not a book that will give you seven steps to a new you. This is a life changing book that gives very practical applications for the daily pressures we face. In the last chapter, "What You Value Most" he creates a journal page right in the book where he asks three questions to help you examine your life and make steps to move to a fresh start. The book also has a study guide in the back for individuals and groups. I would highly recommend this book for small groups - especially church youth groups - because often times in small groups we don't encourage a fresh start.

This book is not about just putting makeup on problems, it is about life transformation. Buy it today from Thomas Nelson Publishing!

Matt Nash

Thomas Nelson Book Reviewer

The Future Needs a Big Kiss

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BONO

THE EDGE

ADAM CLAYTON

LARRY MULLEN

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VIEW FROM OUR INCREDIBLE

SEATS AT THE SNOW PATROL AND U2 CONCERT!

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BONO DOING WHAT ONLY

BONO CAN DO AND THAT IS SWEET ROCK!

I know that it has been too long (9 days) since the U2 Concert but life has not slowed down at all and I am just now getting to my thoughts about the show.

We first arrived in Chicago at our friends Doug & Mara's house where we met up with our new friends Won and Angie who also had tickets to the concert. We went to an amazing mexican food place called Uncle Julios and Jeana and I split the beef and chicken fajitas. My friend Doug let me try one of his shrimp and it was not just ANY shrimp.

This shrimp was wrapped in bacon with a jalepeno and covered in butter.

I normally avoid jalepenos like a good movie goer avoids a hannah montana film - but I went for it and it was AWESOME!

After dinner we went to Soldier Field and took our seats for the most amazing night of live music any of us has ever experienced (no I am not overstating it). Snow Patrol went on first and Gordon Lightfoot their Scottish lead singer has such a captivating voice and it that stadium it sounded so great. They did 9 songs from a couple of their albums and then after a break U2 came out.

Words really fail me at this point to describe how I felt during U2's performance. There were reflective songs that really made me think, there were fun "jump like a crazy person" rock songs and then there were moments where 70,000 people were worshipping, perhaps without even knowing it.

On U2's latest album, No Line On The Horizon, there is a song called "Magnificent," here are the lyrics for you to see...

Magnificent
Magnificent



I was born
I was born to be with you

In this space and time

After that and ever after I haven't had a clue

Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue



Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar


I was born
I was born to sing for you

I didn't have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise ...

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar


Justified till we die, you and I will magnify

The Magnificent

Magnificent


Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love unites our hearts



Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent

Magnificent

Magnificent


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After the show we all walked away changed because we saw 4 guys use their gifts and

talents that God has given them to bring praise to his name.

In these songs - Magnificent, White as Snow, "40" (which is Psalm 40) they captured how

our response to a loving God should be and it was just great to be a part of it.

People say that at live concerts, especially the great ones, you walk away with

a sense that you know the band more, that you are friends. I felt like I was

watching 4 friends that night with my wife and 4 friends.

Matt

Fearless

Fearless is a book that is bold in its wisdom of facing our fears with a faith in a loving God no matter what the circumstances. Max Lucado presents a clear perspective of what a life of fear does to a person and how ultimately we must hope in Christ and trust him and fear less. This book has so many real live examples of what fear looks like and what trust looks like for every person. Once again, Max Lucado has knocked it out of the park with his latest book, Fearless. Usually Lucado writes a christian living book every year but he has spent the last two years writing this one because the subject is so important. Whether a person is a follower of Jesus or not, fear is something that is universal and so with a host of inspirational stories about athletes, fighter pilots, politicians, musicians and even from his own life and family - Lucado paints a work of art with his words. He does a great job of weaving stories of Jesus in the gospels with the fears that we face today. You cannot help but put yourself in the shoes of the disciples as they are on the boat when the storm hits, or standing before a hungry multitude with nothing more than a sack lunch.

As a parent of a little girl, when Lucado talks about being in Brazil and dedicating his baby girl to God, I could not help but feel a deeper connection with God and his care for me as a father. In Fearless, he does not give simple answers or dismiss pain with clique “christian responses” but wrestles with a loving God intimately connected with a broken world. In this book Max Lucado challenges his readers to look their fears in the face and have courage, not because of who we are but because of who God is.

Each chapter is short enough where you can read the book in one day (like I did) or over a period of time as a devotional. This is the beauty of Lucado is becuase you could begin anywhere and be inspired and encouraged without reading the entire book at once. He speaks about fears and issues that are very relevant for today: job loss, terrorism, global crisis, bailouts, political wars, and speaks hope into all of those situations because of Jesus and the sacrifice he made for us.

My favorite chapter was chapter 12, The Shadow of a Doubt, where Lucado grapples with the fear that God is not real. He references the filmmaker Woody Allen and talks about his fears in life and how sometimes Lucado has doubt as well. When prayers seem like they fall short and when faith is reduced to just behaving properly are the moments that doubt creeps in like a burgler and robs us of joy. Lucado ends this chapter with the telling of C.S. Lewis’ journey from atheism to relationship with Christ which will relate to a lot of readers and inspire people that no one is to be seen as hopeless.

As with most of Lucado’s other books, it includes a discussion guide for individuals or groups to go deeper in their spiritual journey. Thomas Nelson Publishing has also created a DVD curriculum for churches (www.thefearlesschurch.com) as well as small books called “Imagine Your Life Without Fear” that churches can hand out to guests or use as an evangelism tool. These resources are excellent for taking conversations further and helping people see they don’t have to life a life of fear, but of faith, hope and love.

Matt Nash

Thomas Nelson Book Reviewer

*thanks to Thomas Nelson for the advanced copy

Oudin Inspiration

Of all of the tennis I have watched in the last few years, there have been few athletes that have been so inspirational as this girl - Melanie Oudin. She is a seventeen year old high school student from Marietta, Georgia and in the last 3 months she has beaten 4, top-20 ranked players in the world. At Wimbledon she beat Jankovic that shocked the world and then in the last few weeks at the US Open, she has beaten the 4 seed, 29th seed and today beat the 13 seed Petrova. The 29th seed that she beat Saturday was former champion and former world number one, Maria Sharapova.

It is always great to see a person that inspires people with their performance and with their personality. In all of her interviews this week, Oudin has been humble, gracious and yet confident about her skill as a tennis player. She is capturing the hearts of tennis fans not only here in the States but all over the world. My hope is that she can win her quarterfinal match and make it to the semis or even the finals.

Success is often measured only in victory, but Oudin has already proved that she is successful not because what she has done, but in who she is. She just wants to do her best and leave the results where they fall. How many of us "older" people can say the same. I know I get in the performance trap where my identity as a person gets wrapped up in what I do. My job is not who I am, just as being a tennis player is not who Melanie Oudin is, it is what she does.

We can all learn from this girl who gives her heart for the sport she loves and leaves everything on the court.

Matt