May 27, 2009

Book Review

Matthew 24-28: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary

MacArthur provides thorough Scriptural commentary throughout this book. There are many great lessons to be learned from this text. MacArthur provides a great description of a spiritual tradgey (Matthew 26:36-46) as well as a great view of the command to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20).

MacArthur's commentaries are mainly expository. Meaning, he takes scripture and explains it with other scripture. His expository style, however, is easy to read and understand. He does digress into other scripture or theological topics at times, but I believe he does this so anyone reading this commentary would be able to understand the other scriptural passages that he references.

I would highly recommend The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series to anyone looking for an in-depth Biblical explanation of Scripture.




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May 22, 2009

A letter to Money Magazine

Below is a letter I sent to the editor of Money magazine regarding an article in their June 2009 issue.



I was excited to see an article about the associated costs of living a faithfully religious lifestyle
("The Price of Faith" June 2009).

The Jewish and Muslim families seemed to adhere to their religion strictly and faithfully. The Christian family seemed to also, but the closing statement caught me off guard.

"'We used to feel that if we just did our jobs using the gifts God gave us, we would be taken care of financially' says Kent. Now they know it's up to them to take care of themselves."

If that is how the Koeman family really feels, I think the authors could have and should have found a more faithful family to represent Christianity.

My question to the Koeman family is this: When you were "poor" only making around $30,000 a year, did God not provide for you?

Maybe they didn't have everything they wanted, but I'll bet God gave them what they needed! Too bad they didn't realize it.




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May 18, 2009

Letter to the Editor of Smartmoney

Below is a letter to the editor of SmartMoney Magazine.

While I agree that e*trade is a pretty good brokerage firm overall, ("Finding the Best Fit" June 2009) the article left out one huge mistake e*trade pulled on some of its clients.

In March, e*trade abruptly terminated their line of mutual funds. This of course forced investors to liquidate their holdings, no doubt many at huge losses. How's that for customer service!

I have yet to read any analysis about this from any newspaper or magazine source, probably because e*trade advertises in most major publications (including your own).




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May 12, 2009

Lasagna anyway you cook it!

While I was shopping the other day I noticed in the pasta area there were two types of Lasagna, oven ready and regular.

I needed to know the difference, so I started my sleuthing.

First, the obvious. Both were branded with the Great Value label. The oven ready box is blue. The regular box is red.

Next, I observed the price. $1.49 for each. Interesting.

What about the size of the box? The regular box is 16 ounces and the oven ready box is only 12 ounces.

That's it! The weight is different, therefore, it must be because the ingredients are different making one box heaver than the other.

Upon looking at the ingredients they were identical.

So then what is the difference between regular lasagna and oven ready lasagna?

Apparently you get 4 ounces less of the oven ready lasagna for the same price as a regular box!

Remember you read it here first at Doe Valley, the place that answers those tough questions simply by thinking.




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May 11, 2009

Book Review

Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge

This book is co-authored by John and Stasi Eldredge. Sometimes it is clear who is writing, other times it is not.

Overall the premise of the book is for women to be captivating. Their hearts should provide the invitation to romance so they can let their true beauty shine forth all the while having an adventure throughout their lives.

“What Wild at Heart did for men, Captivating will do for you” is the caption on the back of the book. When I read the caption, I was a little annoyed because “Wild at Heart” did nothing for me. In fact, I though the book was wrong, so I had little expectation for this book.

As I started reading, however, I found this book to be better in places than “Wild at Heart.” The places I found myself enjoying were when Stasi wrote. I found myself usually disagreeing with John’s writing.

This book is an okay read, but could have been better if Stasi would have wrote the whole book. As with “Wild at Heart” the theology is a little off in places and the authors seem to use more movie and cultural references than scripture to prove their point. Sometimes (as with “Wild at Heart”) the scripture is interpreted in a weak or liberal way to further attempt to substantiate their point.

This is another book you can safely skip.




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