The Sacred Journey

The Sacred Journey by Charles Foster was given to me by Booksneeze in return for an honest review for them. I am in no way being compensated for this gesture.

This is easily one of the best books I've ever read, and I am honored to be the first person to give it a 5-star rating. I've read all other 7 titles in the Ancient Practices Series, and for me this is the best.


In the foreword to the book, editor Phyllis Tickle warns that every single person who reads the book will totally disagree with at least something that the author writes. Judging from other reviews, she may be right. I imagine some young earth creationists will cringe when Foster writes about the humans who inhabited the Gargas caves in the French Pyrenees some 27,000 years ago. Other Christians might struggle with the author referring to our "hippie" God. Some may have a problem with Foster describing Buddhist, Hindu, or Muslim pilgrimage. I don't.

One reviewer is disappointed by the author advocating that we replace the word "Christian" with something else. But the fact is, we HAVE wrecked that word by our actions as a collective body of believers. Contrary to what the reviewer says, Foster is not looking for a more "cool" term. He simply wants to make the term more accurate to what the Bible actually describes as a person who follows Christ. "Jesus follower" is more accurate to what the Bible teaches than the generic "Christian," so I'm puzzled as to why anyone would object to that. And as Foster points out, in most versions of the Bible the word "Christian" is only mentioned 3 times.

Also, Foster isn't calling for every single person to get up and take a 2-week pilgrimage somewhere. At the end of the book he talks about a woman who's bound to a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis, and he has nothing but praise for her even though she can't physically walk on a pilgrimage.
Foster's section on Cain as a wanderer is brilliant, and well worth reading several times. Chapter 3 is perhaps the best in the book. Foster points out more than once that the journey is more important than arrival.

The other point that resonated with me the most is that.."Everyone who takes to the road is searching, and no one comes back saying 'that was a waste of time.' There is a 100 percent encounter rate."

Rock Bottom

Environmental and consumer advocate Brockovich has created a protagonist in her own image in this highly melodramatic thriller, the first in a new series.

Angela Joy "AJ" Palladino left Scotia, W.Va., population 867, as an unwed 17-year-old mother following a terrible accident that almost killed her. Ten years later, after success and fame in a battle against Capital Power that earned her the sobriquet "the People's Champion," she returns to Scotia, to assist lawyer Zachariah Hardy in a fight against Masterson Mining's new mountaintop removal project.

When Hardy dies before AJ's arrival, she teams with Hardy's lawyer daughter, Elizabeth, to combat the company owned by dastardly Kyle Masterson and run by Kyle's son, Cole, father of AJ's son, David. As the two women wage an uphill battle against murderous opposition, Brockovich's environmental message gets buried in a sludge pile of clichés.

I was given this book to review by FSB Associates for an honest review and with no monetary gain.

What Will Happen To Me?

What Will Happen To Me? by Howard Zehr and Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz is a book that was given to me to review by FSBAssociates for no monetary gain and to give my honest thoughts.

First off I have 3 uncles that are Wardens in the Texas Prison System so I felt like I was going to be hard to impress, but this book proved me wrong.  They interviewed 30 children whose parents are inarcerated, along with the childrens dreams and hopes.  We also have the reflections from the grandparents point of view.  Naturally they want to help with the children but sometimes they are not physically able or financially able to do so.  Our government is there to help a single Mother but there is nothing that can be done to help the grandparents, our government is badly slipping in my thoughts.  I think that where ever the children are staying they should be compensated to help pay for whatever the  children need or want.

Now I know that I am probably looking at this through rose colored glasses but I do think we could help a little more that we are presently doing.  After you read this book you will see how sad and put upon these children really are.  They would like a hug from their Mom or Dad right now--not in 15 years.  I'm not saying that the parents don't deserve the time but there has to be a better way to work on this so we do not get these children in prison in a few years.

In other words I think this book has some great points, but it is sort of a very sad read about our younger generation.  I think it would do us all good to take a few minutes to read through this book and stop and think then read through it again.  Then let's do something, okay?