Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Guns of Providence(book).


Guns of ProvidenceThis is the third book in the Faith and Freedom trilogy written by Douglas bond.
It's a good conclusion to the trilogy, and it's well written.
Here is a review

In this Faith & Freedom Trilogy Book 3, sixteen-year-old Sandy McKethe, son of Ian McKethe who plays important roles in the two previous books, Guns of Thunder and Guns of the Lion, sequel series to the Crown & Covenant trilogy, decides to go off to fight with the Continental Army under George Washington against the British in the American Revolution. After participating in the Battle of Dorchester Heights outside of Boston, MA, he and his new friend Salem Poor, a free black, sign on to serve in the Continental Navy aboard the sloop Providence under the intrepid sea captain John Paul Jones. Over the next four or so years, not only do they sail the seas capturing British ships, but they also spend some time in Paris, France, where Sandy meets both Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.

Upon returning to America, the two fellow soldier-sailors are assigned to the disastrous attempt under the hapless Commodore Dudley Saltonstall to take the British fortifications at Penobscot Bay in Maine, which results in total defeat and destruction to the Continental forces. What will happen to Sandy and Salem? Will they be captured or escape? Will they even survive? Here is historical fiction which presents an engaging and accurate account of America's revolutionary beginning without political correctness. Sandy faces some hard questions and wrestles with difficult decisions, as all believers do in times of crisis, but the emphasis of the book is upon his striving to follow God’s will in everything that he does. The ending is both sad and surprising. We did the book as a family read aloud and everyone enjoyed it.


I hope you get these books if you don't have them. They are good books with 
no bad and inappropriate sections, and are well written.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

A Thousand Years

This is a very beautiful piece done by the Piano Guys.
It's quite beautiful, and soft.
I hope you like it.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Guns of the Lion(book).

Cover for Item ReviewedGuns of the Lion is the second book in the Faith and Freedom Trilogy written by Douglas Bond.
And this is also my favorite of the three books.
Here is a synopsis(I did not write this one).

As the second installment of Douglas Bond's Faith and Freedom Trilogy, Guns of the Lion begins shortly after the story in Guns of Thunder ends. Ian M'Kethe and the trusted Indian Watakoog are canoeing down the Connecticut River on their way to the new College of New Jersey, where Ian plans to enroll. Along the way, Ian reads a manuscript written by his cousin, Gavin Crookshank, about the many trials he endured during the recent Second Jacobite Rebellion of 1745–46.
The young Scottish shepherd Gavin is taken from his familiar moor by British troops and impressed into duty aboard the admiralty man-of-war HMS Lion. It is learned that Bonnie Prince Charlie and a small army of supporters have sailed from France aboard two ships in an attempt to reach Scotland, organize a rebellion, and take back the throne of England for the House of Stuart. The Lion sails into French waters to prevent the two French ships from carrying out their mission. In a pivotal sea battle, Gavin serves with distinction as a sharpshooter, but Charles escapes and lands safely on Scotland's shore.
Gavin's unique position as a Gaelic-speaking Scot who faithfully served King George II is noticed by the admiralty. He is sent back to Scotland as a spy with orders to infiltrate Charles's army of Scottish Highlanders. Gavin wrestles with his national and familial loyalties to his homeland and to Charles, who is often more rogue than sovereign, and his sworn allegiance to King George II of England. How can he reconcile the command of Scripture to honor his earthly king and obediently serve the King of heaven and earth? Gavin resolves to go as ordered and to do all he can to save lives and prevent senseless bloodshed. Will he succeed?
The historical setting of Guns of the Lion is accurately presented. The reader will learn much about this period of Scottish history. Bond's storytelling is compelling—you will not want to insert your bookmark and turn out the light—and is suitable for ages teen through adult. The plot flows naturally from the character Gavin Crookshank, who is engaging and likeable, one with daily struggles, tests of faith, and foibles we all can relate to. He weighs opposite and seemingly legitimate courses of action as he meditates upon the words of Scripture—an example all would do well to heed. On the first page of his manuscript, Gavin tells his readers in America, "I hope in God." In spite of the many hardships, challenges to both his person and his faith akin to the Pauline perils of 2 Corinthians 11:26, Gavin's hope is confirmed and he remains steadfast to the end.


I hope you enjoy.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Three Questions to Ask Before Watching a Movie.

This is another really good post from the desiring God blog.

Even though it is really long, I suggest you still read it. 

It's really profound and very true, you might be more careful about the movies you watch.

 

Three Questions to Ask Before Watching a Movie

Three Questions to Ask Before Watching a Movie It’s never been easier to watch movies, and lots of them.
Netflix, which leads the race as the top online streaming service, provides more than 10,000 movie options for its 40 million subscribers — and it’s flanked by formidable competitors like Hulu Plus, Redbox, and Amazon Prime. Considering the sheer crowd on this track, and each one’s continued efforts to specialize its features, the movie industry doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
Add to this online surge the weekly box office numbers, and one thing is clear: a lot of us are watching a lot of movies.
And let’s face it, they’re not all good movies. In fact, many of them are bad. And I mean bad in every sense — poor storylines, debaucherous scenes, shaky acting — there are plenty of ways it could go wrong. Which means, there are plenty of ways to ruin your evening by watching a movie. Therefore, we should think carefully before devoting hours of our lives to the screen, whether at home or in a theater. So in hopes of more thoughtful entertainment, here are three questions a Christian might ask before watching a movie.

1. Should I really watch this movie?

Seriously. Don’t assume you’ve already answered this question because you want to watch a movie. Back up and think honestly. Why are you interested in this movie? What is this movie about? How do you know that’s what the movie is about? What piqued your interest in it?
This sort of interrogation is simple permission to play. And we shouldn’t let up so easily. Don’t be duped by the rating or the trailer. Those are both marketing tools that are not trying to talk you out of watching. Read some reviews. See what other people are saying about it. And of course, set a standard, which won’t be the same for everyone. Without getting into prescriptions here, consider two aspects for how you discern that standard.
First, make it a reasonable benchmark that you can sustain. Which means, don’t make overly audacious goals built on bad logic. Consider whether your movie standard, if applied to the Bible, would bar you from reading important portions of the Old Testament. And, to be sure, don’t think that biblical narratives like David and Bathsheba, or Ehud the assassin, mean it’s okay for us to watch similar scenes on screen. Be critical and sober about what you say is good to watch.
Second, how you discern a movie standard is largely determined by your integrity. Some movies should be out of the question, and for those on the bubble, we know best how certain things affect us. We know where we are weak. And if you are unsure, I think it’s safe to say that if you find yourself repeatedly stumbling over the same sort of scene, then it means you should avoid it. We just know, if we’re like most people, we shouldn’t watch everything put before us. Sacrificing our serenity of mind — or mental purity — is not worth a few minutes of supposed entertainment. We can still understand a story even if someone stronger has to fill in the gaps we can’t handle.

2. Where are the true and false depictions of reality?

This actually starts with the concession: this movie will have true and false depictions of reality. Then we ask, so where are they?
We should be shrewd here. Oftentimes the most twisted depictions of reality are in the PG flics, and worse, the feel-good movies that present a dangerously shallow picture of romance. Letting our guard down on these romantic comedies is partly responsible for the mass confusion today when it comes to dating and relationships. Unless we watch these cheesiest of movies with a critical eye, we may simply be inviting Hollywood to instruct us on what love is. Look for what’s false and expose it, at least in your own mind. Work at recognizing the garbage even in the prettiest packages.
And also, be able to see the good — because most of the time, even in the darkest of movies, something true is being said about the world. Mentioning examples in movies risks a perceived endorsement, and a spoiler if you’ve not seen them yet, but some themes to look for include:
  • confusion — Are the chaotic moments in the storyline treated as problematic? Is there a restlessness about them?
  • hope — Is there a perceivable solution to the problem? Is that solution sought?
  • justice — Is there genuine recoil against evil? Does the oppressor pay in the end?
  • mercy and grace — Are there moments when the character forbids a harmful tactic even when it’s in his or her power? Are there surprising moments when a character is motivated only by the good of another?
  • sacrifice — Is putting others before yourself, even at personal cost, imbibed by one of the characters?
  • order — Is a resolution realized by the movie’s end? Do the characters sense that the chaotic events of the story have been put to rights?
There are others, but this is a good start. Basically, we want to watch movies with an eye for the true, the honorable, the just, pure, lovely, and commendable. Heeding Paul’s instructions in Philippians 4:8, we should “think about these things” — which doesn’t mean we retreat from the world and handcuff ourselves to the idea of truth, but that we go out into God’s created world and look for the truth that’s there — especially when we are watching a movie.

3. What kind of hero does this movie really need?

This last question is related to the previous. The themes mentioned there are fundamental for a decent story, even though they’re sure to be flawed. There has to be some sense of confusion portrayed as confusion, and some concluding sense of order portrayed as order. But each movie’s definition of confusion and order probably won’t line up perfectly with God’s.
In the same way, every movie will have its hero. There will be a protagonist — the character that we are supposed to root for, the one who we consider better than ourselves just enough to want to be like him, at least in some ways. And, in most cases, this character won’t line up perfectly with the true and better Hero.
So what if we asked, when this hero is put forward, how the true and better Hero would act? Whether than this or that flaw, how would he be perfect? No Achilles’ heel to work around. No foible to tolerate. How would Jesus be in this movie? How could the good ending be even better?
What if we let the message of the movie point us to the bigger and better story that is actually real life? The one where the writer enters the script and assumes the guilt of his characters, suffering in their place and defeating their greatest foe, and only then to reign as the unseen king through the simple acts of his former-fiends-now-turned-friends until the day when everyone and everything will see him as he is, when justice is executed and mercy consummates the creation of a whole new world where pain is eternally absent and joy is eternally endless.
Christian, this is our story — the true story. And if we are going to lend our mind to a movie, let us walk away with a greater grasp of what really is.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Cello Wars(Piano Guys).

This is a hilarious parody done by the Piano Guys on Star Wars.
It was done really well, and I hope you enjoy it.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Santus-Libera

This is another beautiful piece done by Libera, an amazing boys choir.
I know it's not Christmas, but I still want to post it.
Enjoy.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Guns of Thunder(book).

Front CoverThis is the first book in the Faith & Freedom Trilogy written by Douglas Bond.
 I recommend this book, especially for those looking for a bit of North American history, and who like story's that have a biblical world view with no bad language.
If you don't have This book, I suggest you try it. It's well written, has lots of action, dialog, and is safe for smaller children. 


It's on the life of a young American during the French and Indian war.
As war nears, Ian MKethe is too young to go. His grandfather teaches him to hunt, along with Watookoog, an Indian, who hunts with a bow. Ian takes care of the farm by himself, growing a crop of corn and selling it to provide form his family. Although he really wants a new rifle, he makes a sacrifice and purchases a pair of spectacles for his cousin Roland instead. For the first time in ages, Roland can see clearly.When the war arrives, Roland enlists. Ian is still too young to go. He continues to work his cornfields and take care of his family. When Roland is taken prisoner at Louisbourg, Ian in consumed with worry. Had Roland been injured? Lost his spectacles? Would the French force him to fight against his own colonials?Now eighteen, Ian leaves his family and goes to war. But he doesn't get to fight. He find himself engage in manual labor, salvaging debris, moving cannons, digging trenches, and building. One day when he is gathering firewood, he is shot at. An Indian attacks him. But before the Indian can finish him off, Frenchmen take him prisoner. This is an intriguing story of a boys life during the French & Indian War. There is a lot of history packed in here, including some historical issues of faith. Overall the story was interesting as were the historical facts and Ian's life on the farm.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Riverdance

This is very amazing.
I have never seen anything like this before and it gives men the goose bumps when I watched it.
It's some sort of Irish dancing that is really amazing.
Hope you enjoy.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

The Entertainer

This is a nice piece that you have probably heard many times before, but I like it very much.
So here is the Entertainer by Scott Joplin.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Douglas Bond.

Douglas Bond is a Christian writer who has written more than 20 books,
primarily historical fiction.
He writes books that are safe for all ages, and very intriguing and real.
Check out his blog here, and I will be doing reviews on some of his books in the upcoming weeks.



Monday, February 3, 2014

A very amazing story.

This is a story of  a young man with Down Syndrome who owns a restaurant.
It's just so amazing what God can do in peoples lives.
watch it and pass it on.