Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Facing Your Giants

Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado



In Facing Your Giants, Lucado examines the life of David and the literal giant Goliath as well as other figurative giants he faced such as being persecuted by Saul, warfare, family issues, and others. The book, like most of Lucado's books, is uplifting and encouraging to those facing tough circumstances in life. Whether it be sickness, career difficulties, relationship problems, or something else, he provides encouragement and helps the reader examine the life of David and how he worked with God through some of his own giants.

Multiple versions of the Bible are referenced and at times can seem as though they are chosen specifically to fit what Lucado would like the passage to say. This is not to minimize the scripture references but translations closer to word for word such as the New American Standard and King James are used minimally in favor of versions such as The Message and the New Living Translation.

Lucado definitely has a gift for story telling and uses this to provide visual imagery and possible thoughts the characters had during the Biblical stories of David. Some of this is interesting and provides a new perspective on familiar stories but the reader would do well to keep in mind that some of this imagery is Lucado's personal interpretation of the stories and not gospel truth.

A study guide is located in the back of the book which would serve as a good resource for further reflection or even as a group study.

As a whole, I found the book to be encouraging and thought through several difficult "giants" I've faced in my own life while reading it. Facing Your Giants would be good for anyone facing difficult circumstances to gain encouragement and inspiration through learning about the life of David.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Christmas Lights

These are some pictures I took of Christmas lights in North Kansas City as well as a home close to where I live. The picture of the house is currently posted on KansasCity.com.




Wednesday, December 16, 2009

How to Eat a Gingerbread Man


How do you eat a gingerbread man? Is it head first, leg by leg, the arms or do you prefer the more torturous (for the gingerbread man) method of picking each individual eye and button off? Maybe you lick the icing or just gobble down the first thing that comes to your mouth. Whatever your method, we here at the Wisdom of Dre salute you and your holiday cookie consumption. Remember: there's no wrong way to eat a gingerbread man.



If you choose to eat, please do so responsibly, excessive consumption of cookies has been known to cause weight gain. zero based caloric formula 1 cookie= 1 mile walked/run

Thanks to www.debbie-gray-illustrator.com for the gingerbread man illustration.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Kansas City Board of Trade

On Friday, I took a field trip to the Kansas City Board of Trade where they trade Hard Red Winter wheat commodities. This is the image you get when you think of the stock market and see people in a pit on TV waving hands frantically trying to buy or sell. This is a hub of trade for a large quantity of wheat trading that occurs in the United States. There are a few other trading exchanges for wheat as well, but this is a major one.

The majority of trading is done electronically via computer these days but there is still some that happens in person. As trades are executed, they're recorded and the price of wheat changes as a result whether up or down. The electronic boards in the background track the prices of wheat that is scheduled for delivery during various time frames. Some traders are just trying to make a margin on trades or speculation and some are hedging risk so that they get a guaranteed rate to buy or sell at. It was very interesting to see the market in person. The last 30 seconds close of the market was fairly rapid and exciting as well.


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