God's Smuggler

I recently just started reading the book God's Smuggler, by Brother Andrew. This book is about a true story, and is an autobiography of the author. Even though I'm only a few pages into this book, it sounds really good already. My sister recommended it to me and said that she loved it, so I decided I would read it. From reading the summary and from what I've heard about it, it reminds me of a book I read last year called From the Flames by Hannah Duggan. From the Flames is about a teenage girl who helps to translate Bibles in fourteenth century England. Suspenseful, breathtaking, and thrilling this book is. This book was really good and interesting, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a compelling and remarkable book.

This book seems to be similar to God's Smuggler, because this book is about someone who smuggles Bibles into countries where they aren't allowed. The tension and confounding suspense from both books seems to be similar and really captivating.  In a summary of God's Smuggler, Brother Andrew's routine to smuggle Bibles to different countries was by packing them "as ordinary luggage then pray that the border guards would not see them. It worked." I'm curious to see what will happen in this book. From this quote and from what I've read so far, it seems like the main character will have to do things secretly, and hidden to stay undercover from people finding out about how he will smuggle Bibles. This book seems really interesting, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Link to summary of From the Flames.
Link to summary of God's Smuggler.

Marathon Training

I recently read an article about running and training for marathons. The article was called "Speed Training for Marathoners", by Richard A. Lovett. The article was mostly about how training at faster speeds and shorter distances can have advantages for long distance runners. Some marathoners will run all long runs to train, but in reality, training at faster shorter distances can be helpful. If you run too much distance, you risk getting an injury. But, if you run a mix then you can actually increase your oxygen levels (VO2 max). VO2 max is "the maximum amount of oxygen your body can process at peak effort," Lovett says.

If you train to make your VO2 max higher, it can help you in the long run to be able to use more oxygen when you are running longer distances. The article says that studies show that "the average runner can increase [their VO2 max] by only 5 percent to 15 percent--depressing news for most of those trying to turn a 4-hour marathon into a Boston qualifier." This quote shows that most may not be able to process much more oxygen, or be able to drastically change their race times, it is possible still to have a higher VO2 max. Being able to process more oxygen in your body helps you to move faster, and eventually increase your running speed. This article was very informative, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to find out more about running, especially long distance running.

See article here.

Mary Wineberg and Jessica Beard

I recently read an article about two female runners; Jessica Beard and Mary Wineberg. Both of these runners run the 400, and Mary Wineberg was part of the 4x400 relay team that won the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. The article was written in April 2012, and talks about how these two runners are competing along with others for a spot to race in the 2012 summer Olympics. They have to compete at different time trials to see who can run the fastest 400 meters, until they have the top four runners to form the relay team.

Last summer, I had the chance with my school cross-country and track team to meet Mary Wineberg. She visited our school to talk to us, and motivate us to work hard and run fast. With her opportunity to race at the Olympics, she encouraged us to try our best, and to never give up. Even when she had a baby in 2009 after racing in 2008, she still tried to make it to the 2012 Olympics, and didn't give up. A quote from the article I read is, "' People say 'Mary may be done,' but I'm not done yet,' [Mary] said in a phone interview. 'I trained for so long--eight years--to make my first Olympics and to experience that glory again, to be able to represent the U.S. and hear the National Anthem played, that drove me.'" With her encouraging and motivating attitude, she helps others around her to go after their dreams, keep working hard, and never give up.

See article here.

The Cross at the Center of the Gospel

One important line from the past chapter I have read in What is the Gospel? is, "Paul made sure the cross was the central point of the gospel he preached, and we should do the same." This quote is really important to the past section I have read, because it summarizes what it is most about. The line comes at the end, and is like a summary statement for what had been talked about for pages before that. Throughout the book, different pieces and parts of the Gospel are brought together to finally bring a fuller understanding of what the Gospel really is by the time you get to the end of the book. The point that the cross is the center of the Gospel is important because without Jesus dying on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, and then rising again, we would be without hope to be saved from our sins.

The book says, "Indeed I believe one of the greatest dangers [Christians face] today is the temptation to rethink and rearticulate the gospel in a way that makes its center something other than the death of Jesus on the cross in the place of sinners." Sometimes Christians might try to make it sound like you can save yourself by doing good deeds, or some people might say that you don't need God at all. But really, Jesus' death on the cross, and Him rising again is what made it possible for us to ask for forgiveness from God, and to be saved only by His grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). By keeping the cross at the center of the Gospel, we stay focused on the true message, and not getting sidetracked by what things we think we can do to be saved ("not by works..."). Overall, I really like this book, and I would recommend it to anybody who wants to read a really good and informational book!

"Krista: Living the New Adoption Law"

"Krista: Living the New Adoption Law"
In the article "Krista: Living the New Adoption Law" by Krista Ramsey, we are introduced to someone named Hope Coffee. Hope was adopted when she was young, and up until now she hasn't been able to access any data about her birth mother, but with the new bill passed, she will be able to find this information and possibly contact her birth mother by March 2015. One quote from this article is, "When [Coffee] began asking more questions as a teenager, her adoptive father told her the few facts he'd been told-her mother was 19 or 20, a college student, of Caucasian and Native American descent, and her father was African-American. It was enough. For a while."

This quote from the article shows that Coffee started to wonder what her birth mom was like, and what type of background that she came from. Coffee was happy with what she knew for a while, but from this quote, the sentence structure and wording of the end gives the reader the sense that she has become curious again, and wants to know more about her birth mother. The sentence length of the ending also gives the reader the idea that Coffee isn't done with the search, and plans to do more to find her mother. The diction of this line is pretty casual, making it easier for the reader to understand on a basic level. Overall, the syntax and writing styles of this quote demonstrate good use of sentence structure and quality writing.

One quote from "For better vision, kids need time outdoors" by Krista Ramsey is, "The kid who used to walk home from school looking at houses and trees now rides home staring at a screen not much bigger than his hand. The teenager who used to research at the library or hang out with friends outdoors now does her studying and socializing in front of a computer in her bedroom." One quote from "Super Bowl QBs score points for great style" by Krista Ramsey is, "It's a hopeful sign in a nation that now accepts flip-flops and jeans as appropriate wear for weddings, graduations, awards banquets and funerals. At work, 'Casual Fridays' have morphed into sundresses and golf shirts every day." These quotes also show Ramsey's writing style continues to have more casual diction, and varying sentence lengths and structures. One thing that stays consistent throughout her writings is to relate the article to the reader, and include lots of great detail to make the story understandable.

If I could ask Krista Ramsey some questions, I would ask how do you come up with different types of writing styles to make the writing interesting and keep the reader's attention, where do you come up with ideas for writing these articles, and how do you develop a tone while writing an article about a certain topic, event, or person.

What is the Gospel?

I have recently started reading What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert, as preparation for a missions trip I will be going on this summer. This book seems really thought out and informational so far. To better understand the book, I decided to do some research about the author. Greg Gilbert is a pastor of a church in Kentucky, and the author of the book What is the Gospel?. He also has a new book coming out soon that he helped with, called What is the Mission of the Church?. He wrote the book What is the Gospel? to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ more clear to readers. This book can be used in a helpful way to see why Jesus came to die on the cross, and to better understand that we are all sinners, and need forgiveness from God to be saved.

The book first starts off with common misunderstandings of what the Gospel is. I like that Greg Gilbert includes this in the book, to show where different mistakes are often made when learning about the Gospel. He then goes on to explain throughout the rest of the book what the true Gospel is, and uses many quotes from the Bible as proof. I also like how he includes a lot of evidence, to give his writing more back-up and support. I have really enjoyed reading this book, and look forward to finish reading it!

Review on Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is about a firefighter named Guy Montag, who lives in a futuristic society, where people burn books instead of reading them. Throughout the book I have enjoyed reading about the different things Montag must go through to gain more knowledge, and how it affects him. One of the themes explained in this novel is that knowledge is power. By knowing things in life, you can achieve the goals you set, and learn things that other people can't understand. Knowledge is feared in this futuristic society, because people are taught and told not to question government, or people with more 'power'. Nobody ever questions why the firefighters burn books until Clarisse motivates Montag to question Captain Beatty, the firefighter chief. One quote from this book is, "Once, long ago, Clarisse had walked here, where [Montag] was walking now" (138). This quote shows that Montag is taking the same path to question, and to ask others why something is some way, just like he first saw with Clarisse, at the beginning of the book.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. It was very well written with a lot of great imagery and detail. It also used many examples of satire all throughout the story to make and emphasize the theme. The word choice and diction was also good, with some elevated diction, but not too hard to understand as a reader. If I had to rate this book, I would give it a four out of five stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good and interesting read, with lots of great detail. Overall, it was a great book and I liked reading it.

Here is a link to a review on Fahrenheit 451 from goodreads.com. From here it also receives about a 4 out of 5 stars.
Review

Fahrenheit 451

While reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury in school, I have noticed and become more aware of the different themes, purposes for writing, and satire used throughout the story. The book is about Guy Montag, who is a firefighter in the book. But instead of having the job of a normal firefighter that we know of, the book takes place in a futuristic setting and Montag burns houses hiding books in them (books are illegal in this society). Throughout the course of the story, Montag starts to question whether or not he should be burning books, and starts to realize that maybe the information and knowledge inside of books is powerful and shouldn't be destroyed.

One quote from the book is, "' Pity, Montag, pity. Don't haggle and nag them; you were so recently of them yourself. They are so confident that they will run on forever. But they won't run on. They don't know that this is all one huge big blazing meteor that makes a pretty fire in space, but that some day it'll have to hit. They see only the blaze, the pretty fire, as you saw it'" (99-100). Faber (a character who helps to preserve books) tries to help reassure Montag. He explains here that firemen and other people in the city don't understand that they are destroying knowledge, but they are just doing what they are told, without questioning the government or society. He says that one day though, they will have to find out what is going on, and figure out a way to keep from destroying books. This book seems really interesting and entertaining, and I'm excited to keep reading it to see how it ends!

Reflection

This trimester, I have read a total of 3 books. Even though I didn’t reach my goal that I set at the beginning of the trimester on Goodreads, I hope to continue reading more in my free time throughout the next trimester. I used Goodreads to gain suggestions for reading new books, and to see what types of books I might like from a certain genre. I also talked to family and friends who helped give me suggestions for reading new books that I might like. Reading other people’s blog posts also gave me information and summaries of books to see what I might want to read in the future. One thing I struggled with through this experience would be finding time to read from my books. I was very busy this trimester, and it was hard to set aside time just to read. I worked through this struggle by reading in my free time, and I hope to continue reading more throughout the next trimester. One strength I had with blogging would be to pull all my thoughts together into one blog post. This helped me to see more clearly the plot and story of each book. Also, it helped to see where there might be foreshadowing and connections throughout each book.

                   During this trimester, I have grown a lot as a reader and a writer by posting each week. An example of this would be from the beginning of the trimester where I wrote a blog post titled “Peace Child” (see post attached). In this post, I don’t go very in-depth in my explanation of the book Peace Child. I did talk about why I started reading the book though, because the missionary/author of the book visited my church a few years ago. In the post I said, “I chose to read this book because the author and missionary (Don Richardson) is friends with some people from my church.” Even though in this post I get the point across clearly, I could have tried to go more in-depth in my post. In this post I also said, “It takes place in Irian Jaya Indonesia (formerly called Netherlands New Guinea), which is just north of Australia.” To make this post more visual and detailed, I could have added a picture of a map to show where this place is located instead of just describing it.

                  A post that I made toward the end of this trimester would be one that I titled “Connections” (see post attached). This post is also written about the book Peace Child by Don Richardson. In this blog post, I made a connection from the book to myself. I wrote, “A connection that I can make from Peace Child to myself would be that I am going on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic in a few months.” Later on in the post I go on to explain that even though it’s not the exact same as moving to a foreign country with your family, our group will still need to have the same mindset as the missionaries who moved to this faraway country. Through this post and others, I made the book and blog more personal to myself, and improved my writing style throughout the blog posts. My reading also improved, by understanding more detailed and in-depth parts of the books I read. A quote from the book is, “’Lord God, have I been a fool? These men have never even learned to respect a policeman, let alone honor You-and here we are: man, wife and child, sixty-five river-miles from the nearest government post-defenseless except for Your Spirit surrounding us.’” This quote shows that the missionaries had to trust God that they would be okay when going out to the villages. They weren’t sure what they would do if the people there turned on them, or how to protect themselves. However, they trusted God, and were able to be safe. Even though the missions trip I will be going on isn’t as dangerous as this, we still need to trust God to keep us safe and to pray for the people we will be helping there. Overall, my writing and reading/analyzing strengths have grown throughout this trimester through my blog posts.

John Piper

To understand more the book I'm currently reading Let the Nations Be Glad, I wanted to do some research about the author. John Piper is a Christian author who has written many books on Biblical topics. He wrote this book to show the importance of missions, and that worship should be the center of it. He is currently an author/preacher and has been a pastor at a church in Minnesota for over 30 years. I can't wait to finish reading this book, and learn more from Let the Nations Be Glad!

True Face 2

I finished reading the book True Faced, and I thought it was very good! It had a lot of information that you could learn about, and read in-depth about. A lot of what the book talks about is how Christians wear "masks" to hide their sin and mistakes from others, and sometimes put on a show to make themselves look different than they really are. This book explains that you don't need to wear masks or try to be somebody else, and that the masks just pile up over time. A quote from the book is, "I also cannot give love from behind a mask, at least not love from the real me." This quote shows that wearing a mask will hide yourself from others, and you can't be yourself while wearing one. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a good and challenging book!

True Face

A new book that I have started reading is called Truefaced. This book is written by a group of writers including Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch. This book is about examining your life as a Christian, and splits up believers into two different categories (or rooms). These are the Room of Good Intentions and the Room of Grace. The people in these rooms both have different mindsets and goals for what they should do in their lives. This book is very interesting, and has lots of good information to read about!

From reading Romeo and Juliet in class, I am enjoying so far reading the dialogue between characters, and the foreshadowing taking place in the play. I am so far concerned with Romeo's dream, and how he thought that going to the Capulet's party would end up in someone dying before they should. I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the events in the play will finish, and what will happen now that Romeo and Juliet know that they are from the opposite families.

Connection

A connection that I can make from Peace Child to myself would be that I am going on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic in a few months. Even though it's not the same as moving to a foreign country, with a completely new language, and with people who want to kill you, it's important to still have the same mindset as the missionaries to went to these tribes in New Guinea. Similar to Don Richardson (author), when our group goes on the missions trip we need to be ready to serve the people there, and trust God for what will happen. In the next section of Peace Child, Don Richardson sacrifices everything to go talk to one of the tribes and start to build a "house" for his family. Luckily, he trusts God and he is able to make some new friends who help him to build his "house" and prepare to start living among these tribes.