Super Bowl

Who dat? Who are you pulling for? I have to root for the Saints - its their first trip to the Big Dance and I think they'll win the game! Normally, I'm a Steelers fan but between the Colts and Saints...Geaux Saints!!

Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger now Booksneeze

Still not sure what I think about the name change but I do enjoy being part of this program so they still get my support!

From peanuts to pressbox - Thomas Nelson

From peanuts to the pressbox: insider sports stories from a life behind the mic written by Eli Gold, voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. This book describes how Gold got started in sports broadcasting. If you love sports, this is the book for you. From basketball to football, hockey to NASCAR, Eli Gold has broadcast them all and shares many interesting stories about his years behind the mic!
As a young boy, he loved sports and as many boys did, would go to bed listening to a sports broadcast. By the time he was in high school, he had decided to become a sports broadcaster and started skipping school in order to educate himself on this career choice. He visited radio stations and listened to their announcers, he'd get as close as he could to the press box during games so that he could hear how it was done. Eventually, he got a job at The Garden selling peanuts and would spend more time watching games or the broadcasters then selling peanuts.
Throughout this book, Gold mentions various people who helped him out or who he met and remains friends with. Names such as Bob Costas, Marv Albert, Red Barber, Bob Wolff, Howard Cosell, John Brophy, Kenny Stabler, among many others. Knowing so many and so varied a group of people helped him when he hosted sports talk shows, he could interview a lot of well-known sports personalities.
Eli Gold is now best known as the voice of Alabama Crimson Tide - roll tide!
Thomas Nelson book-review blogger - http://brb.thomasnelson.com/
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”


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Good ending

Dawgs end their season with a 41-27 win over old miss! Go Dawgs and welcome home Egg!!


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Football Saturday blues

I cannot believe the SEC...you never know what's going to happen. Today, LSU got beat by old miss - can't believe it! And Arkansas has improved this season and beat MSU 42-21. Alabama and Florida played non-conf games and won with ease. Georgia is beating KY right now and TN is up on Vandy and trying to become bowl eligible.
Hope the Dawgs can beat old miss in the annual egg bowl next week - Go Dawgs!!

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The Jesus Book by Stephen Elkins

The Jesus Book is published by Thomas Nelson, cr 2009. It is illustrated with bright colors, perfect for little kids. It includes a cd with 30 kid-pleasing songs on it. The book is divided into categories: who Jesus is, what Jesus did, what Jesus taught, when it happened, where it happened, why it happened, and how it happened. It's a good book for pre-school age kids. Each story is short and very simplified and includes the scripture reference. It is very well done and the stories are the perfect length for short attention spans.
TN book review blogger


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What a game!

Go Dawgs! I thought MSU played pretty well against top ranked Fla Gators but not well enough to keep our win streak in Starkville alive. MSU had 2 interceptions returned for tds - both by #13 Jonathan Banks. Banks picked 1 in the end zone and returned it 100 yards for a td! This sent the Dawgs in the locker room at halftime down 13-10. However, some bad calls by the refs and the Gators win 29-19. All in all, a good game! Up next, Ky wildcats - Go Dawgs!!


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Finally! A BullDawg Win!

After suffering several loses, the Dawgs have played a good game against Middle Tenn. No turnovers but 4 interceptions by defense have helped the Dawgs win on the road! Win game 27-6. Go Dawgs!!


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Sports site

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Oh my! Football goodness...

First we beat JSU! Next we are beaten soundly by Auburn. Then we beat Vandy! And today....oh my! A very good game against LSU and very close to a win! I'm soooo tired still and its been nearly 3 hours since the end of the game. Haven't seen such a good game in a very long time! Stats wise, we beat LSU but in the end, its only the score that matters. Up next, Ga Tech - GO DAWGS GO!!!

Fearless

Max Lucado - Fearless (Thomas Nelson)

Max Lucado has done it again! I love his books and this is no exception! As the cover says, imagine your life without fear. This book is 180 pg plus a discussion guide with several lessons to help you better understand the book. To better help you understand different concepts, Lucado uses scripture to illustrate his point and he does so with several different translations to make it easier to understand. Every chapter starts with a Bible verse(s) that illustrate what the chapter is about. Each chapter is short and makes it easy to read a couple chapters here and there - the whole book is a quick read!

Why are you afraid, O ye of little faith? (Matthew 8:26) I enjoy this quote from the book - "It's not the absence of storms that sets us apart. It's whom we discover in the storm: an unstirred Christ".

Lucado has listed 8 worry stoppers: Pray first, Easy does it (slow down), Act on it, Compile a worry list (did they actually happen??), Evaluate your worry categories, Focus on today, Unleash a worry army, Let God be enough. These worry stoppers spell out what we should be instead of fearful - PEACEFUL! Jesus is the ultimate example of how to deal with fears. When he faced the cross, he was anxious. What did He do? He didn't run and hide...He prayed and asked if it were possible, remove this cup from me but not my will but thine. We should pray without ceasing!


Fearless
Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger

Football is upon us!

The MSU BullDawgs won their season opener against Jackson State University 45-7. My opinion, however, is that this won't be the winning season that all hope for - I could be wrong but still.... I saw nothing in that game that sparked hope. A team like JSU is not in our league and yet we went into the locker room at half time 7-0. We should have gone to the locker room 45-0. Don't get me wrong, JSU rocked the house at half time with their band performance but they just aren't in the same football league as us. Well, we'll see what happens this week when we go to Auburn and take on the Tigers. GO DAWGS!!!

Its Football time!!

Go Dawgs!! First up for the Dawgs is Jackson State from Ms. This will be the first game for new head coach Dan Mullen and the spread offense. Be sure you wear Maroon for the first game and let's Go BullDawgs!!!

Thomas Nelson - Rick and Bubba's guide to the almost nearly perfect marriage

As usual, Rick and Bubba have added much humor to their current subject, marriage. They share many stories from their married lives. Stories such as having a date night and trying to get a hotel room in the town they live in only to have everyone recognize them from the show. Or attending a Presidential speech with the wives and not hearing much of the speech due to focusing on their wives. Or when Rick rented a van to take the family on vacation and Sherri ran it into a wall at the grocery store, thus giving him the best vacation ever because he could hold the leverage of the van over her head. Lest you think the guys can't be serious, they can. They also talk about how marriage needs respect, communication, and unconditional love to last and that the only true guide for a perfect marriage is the Bible. They also discuss ignoring those who try to hurt your marriage by talking bad about your spouse, don't join in with them and start gossiping or your marriage may end up torn apart. As Rick says towards the end "Surviving each challenge that life brings and getting through it together", that's what marriage is all about.
In typical Rick and Bubba fashion, they can't end on a serious note and thus have included, the Book of blame. A teaser - If you hit a pothole in the road, it's your husbands fault. He should have warned you about it...on the cell phone...from his office. Want to know more? You'll just have to read the book yourself!
Book info

Thomas Nelson - The I believe bunny

The I believe bunny is written by Tish Rabe and illustrated by Frank Endersby. This book is very well written and is a picture book that young 'readers' will enjoy. The illustrations are all in color. The story is about a bunny who in helping other animals, learns a lesson about prayer and faith in God's love. He finds that nothing you try is impossible with the help of God, even for little bunnies. The opening page of the book quotes the verse: I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Phil. 4:13
Thomas Nelson book info

It happened in Italy - Thomas Nelson books

All I can say about the book It happened in Italy by Elizabeth Bettina is WoW! I'm a WWII buff and this is one of those stories that no one has ever heard of until recently. Jewish concentration (detainment) camps in Italy during WWII and they have been described as a picnic in comparison to German camps.
The books starts off with Jimmy Gentry looking a photos of the camps. He is one of the American soldiers that liberated Dachau. "The first thing I notice about these people is that they're not wearing rags of striped clothes; the clothes these people are wearing are nice, like clothes the men wore back home in Franklin at the time. They're well dressed - jackets, ties. Not what I saw in Dachau, no ma'am. These people are fleshy, not like the walking dead I saw in Dachau. They look well-kept. Nothing like the ones I saw in Germany - with those eyes - people with haunting eyes." And thus starts the story of camps in Italy and the Italians who helped the Jews.
In Italy, most Italians believed Amare gli altri come te stesso - love thy neighbor as thyself. Most Italians hindered the Nazis in Italy and helped the Jews because they saw them as humans just like themselves. Appoxamately 75-80% of the Jewish population in Europe died but compare that to 75-80% of Jews living in Italy, survived the war.
This book documents the stories of 12 survivors but thru it, many more stories have surfaced (see www.elizabethbettina.com). Few people outside the remote areas of Italy where the camps were located, knew such camps existed. In these camps, the Jews were able to worship, have visits from family members who were in other places, wear their own clothes and not have to wear the star of David. The main requirements placed on them was to check in each day at the police station, not leave the village, they couldn't own land, couldn't officially work their profession (ie: doctor). An attempt was made to reunite families living in seperate camps - something unheard of in any German camp!
In 1943, Italy broke rank with Germany and joined the Allies and that is when the true problems for Jews in Italy began. The Jews in German occupied Northern and Central Italy were rounded up and deported to German camps - 1259 in Rome alone. However, the numbers could have been greater but the police who were given the orders to round them up, often ignored those orders, in turn warning the Jews to leave the area to avoid capture.
The stories of the survivors all have a theme in common: if it weren't for the Italians, I wouldn't be alive today! They expressed their gratitude for Italians constantly and many of them were able to return to Italy with Elizabeth to visit the places they once lived. Several were even able to meet with the Pope!
In the book, there are numerous photos of the survivors as they were then and as they are now as well as copies of some of their documentation that has survived the years. There is plenty more I could say but eventually, I would spoil the book for you so I will conclude.
Thomas Nelson book info

Book Review – 100 Bible stories 100 Bible songs

This is my first book review for Thomas Nelson Books. I chose to review the kids book – 100 Bible stories 100 Bible songs. It is created by Stephen Elkins and illustrated by Tim O'Connor. The book is hard-cover but has a soft cover feel like a lot of kids books have. The book includes 2 cds that contain 100 songs and each song goes with a story in the book. The book is brightly colored and will catch the attention of any child. Each story (or Bible summary) is short and is good for short attention spans. Under the title of each story, is the title of the song that goes along with it so that you could listen to the song along with reading the story. It also gives the scripture reference that the story is from so that you can easily find it and read the whole story from the Bible. The book and songs are separated into Old and New Testament making it easy to pick which one you want to read/listen with your child.

The stories in the book are very simplistic and good for toddler age. I do, however, think they are too simplistic and tend to not complete a story/illustration fully. An example of this is in the story of Saul. The story goes on to say that "Jesus is the Son of God. People who believe this are called Christians." It says in James 2:19 – "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder." (NIV) Obviously, demons aren't Christians, so I think the simplistic nature of the book doesn't fully allow complete definitions/thoughts/ideas to be taught to a child. I think this is where the story's scripture references (and parental knowledge of the Bible) will come in handy in "Training up a child in the way that he should go."

If you want your child to learn about the 10 commandments, don't look to this book. It tells briefly how the commandments came about but it doesn't list the commandments at all. Again, the scripture reference comes in handy.

I didn't run across glaring inaccuracies in the book EXCEPT Moses. In the story about the promised land, it says that Moses went up to Mount Nebo and was happy as the Israelites entered the promised land. However, this is NOT biblically accurate. The scripture reference for this story is Deuteronomy 34 and in this chapter, it says Moses went up to Mount Nebo and died and God buried him there. In verse 8 it says, "The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days until the time of weeping and mourning was over." (NIV) If you continue reading into Joshua 1 verses 1 and 2 it says, "After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son on Nun, Moses' aide: Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them" (NIV)

I have just 1 more thing to point out. Don't expect that this book will mesh exactly with how you interpret scripture. Different denominations of churches interpret things in different ways. An example of this is baptism. Two statements made in the book are: "Baptism shows the world that we love Jesus" and "When I am baptized, God will be pleased". I won't get into a theological discussion on this except to say, I don't agree with those statements but no book will be able to cater to all beliefs.

Overall, this is a good introduction to the Bible for kids but don't let it be the only source for teaching your child about God. Make use of the scripture references listed and read the whole passage to your child.

Book info at Thomas Nelson

Thomas Nelson

Book Reviewer

So I signed up yesterday to be a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson. I think this will be fun! So watch my blog for reviews of various books. Up first is a children's book 100 Bible stories, 100 Bible songs.