Deployed by Mel Odom

Have you ever had a book that was just too good to put down? You stayed up way too late at night reading when you knew you needed a good night's sleep, but...well you just had to find out what happened next?!

That was me with Deployed.

The characters developed so well I actually had to check again to see if this was fiction. Bekah, Daud, Pike and Heath, I won't forget you! (Bekah I was rooting for you!)

This was action and war, so maybe not for the squeamish. It's a story of faith and overcoming and accomplishing  what you feel called to do. Some by God, others by necessity and still others by revenge and hate. Daud and Pike made me think another way about bad men vs. evil men. Bekah made me think another way about women in the military and what it costs them. I'm considering other people's stories and what brings them to where they are now.

This would be a good movie! I very much enjoyed this book.

 

 

*I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for reading it and writing an unbiased review. Tyndale House Publishing*

 

 

From the Back Cover

Lance Corporal Bekah Shaw joined the Marine Reserve to support herself and her young son when her ex-husband decided they were no longer his responsibility. Deployed to Somalia for her current tour of duty, she learns that her team must protect international humanitarian efforts and hunt down the terrorists responsible for the violence and carnage. The mission seems straightforward until the team encounters a renegade, a ghost who seems to be fighting against both sides.

Rageh Daud once lived in contentment with his family in Mogadishu, Somalia. But when that life was torn from him by a terrorist attack, he vowed to avenge his loved ones whatever the cost. Raising an army of men from the displaced people scattered through the countryside, his only goal is destruction—until he encounters an orphan child he feels compelled to protect.

When their worlds collide in a desperate situation, Bekah’s Marines and Daud’s militia realize that their only hope for defeating a common enemy—and their only chance at staying alive—may be to form an unthinkable alliance.

A Dream So Big Review

 

I'm so glad I read this book! You know when someone says, " I laughed...I cried..." well I really did. Steve has a sense of humor- this guy shares his heart, he's humble and completely real and he is really funny. I read incredibly sensitive words but always, in every chapter there is humor. I loved this book! This is definitely one I recommend you get for your summer reading. You'll be entertained, yes, but also informed, challenged and maybe you will actually be moved enough to do something with what you read.

Steve and Nancy and their two older sons experienced tragedy and let God turn it into something beautiful. Steve will encourage you, he might make you cry, sniff sniff, he will make you laugh, regale you with stories of baboons, giraffes, and impossibly brave, every day people.

Bottom line: this one is not to be missed.

Order it here

check out the website, kenyakids.org and sign up for the newsletter here  (I highly recommend the newsletter!)

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review

 

Publisher's Description

A Dream So Big is the story of Steve Peifer, a corporate manager who once oversaw 9,000 computer software consultants, who today helps provide daily lunches for over 20,000 Kenyan school children in thirty-five national public schools, and maintains solar-powered computer labs at twenty rural African schools. Steve and his wife, Nancy, were enjoying a successful management career with one of America's high tech corporate giants during the dot-com boom of the 1990's when, in 1997, he and his wife Nancy discovered they were pregnant with their third child. Tragically, doctors said a chromosomal condition left their baby 'incompatible with life.' The Peifers only spent 8 days with baby Stephen before he died. Seeking to flee the pain, Steve and Nancy began a pilgrimage that thrust them into a third-world setting where daily life was often defined by tragedy---drought, disease, poverty, hunger, and death. They didn't arrive in the service of any divine calling, but the truth of their surroundings spoke to their troubled hearts. A short-term, 12-month mission assignment as dorm parents for a Kenyan boarding school turned this ordinary man into the most unlikely internationally recognized hero, and his story will inspire you to pursue similar lives of service.

Get a Taste

of the true Gospel at work. The Gospel of Jesus Christ- the Gospel of Love.

 

I was convicted. I was inspired, jealous and intrigued. I wanted to go and then I realized I'm in the middle of my own mission field here and now.

Missions are wonderful to read about. But this, this was more like reading further chapters of the Book of Acts. The dead are raised, the starving are fed, the blind see and deaf hear. It's the real Gospel at work, and I'm sad that here in our country we can only read about it. I have often wondered why we don't see the same kinds of miracles here, but I suppose our need is different and we are cold. We don't love like that. It makes me so sad, makes me pound on Heaven's door for a taste.

This book was astounding. Well-written, and awe-inspiring. I wish that we all could experience this kind of life, let alone read about it. I suppose we all have our work to do, and our chapters will be written too. Sigh. I would love if mine were written with half so much love and passion.

The best message I have read in ages.

Thank you to Baker Publishing for the privilege of reviewing such a wonderous book!

*I received a copy free for the review*

 

Like Reading the Book of Acts for Our Time!

 

Outrageous

 

So, I recently finished a book that had my complete attention. By the time I finished the last page I was thinking to myself, "that was just like reading the New Testament stories from the book of Acts!"

 

Faith building for sure, inspiring and a book that will really make you rethink your soft life. It's seriously hair raising at times. The story of Tracy is odd and crazy and wonderful. Her friends are every bit as interesting. This book had not one hint of boring- not a bit of the too-common sappy stuff. It's hard-core, faith-in-action, fast-moving, and I still don't know if I want to be like Tracy or really grateful that God hasn't called me to that life.

 I'd say this is a definite must-read.

*I was given a copy of this book free for the purposes of an unbiased review by Chosen Books.

  www.bethanyhouse.com | www.chosenbooks.com

Feed My Babies

I have a new friend. A lovely woman with a heart for the Lord and His work. She's living out

 James 1: 27

 

You +1'd this publicly. Undo

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

 

She raises money to provide high calorie, high protein porridge full of vitamins and minerals to hungry children in Kenya. I''m excited about this!

She's a sweetheart, and I'm blessed to get the know her better. She is able to send almost 100% of the money raised to the feeding program. Anybody involved in something like this knows just how hard that is. Anyway, please check out her ministry's website.
I just finished reading a blog post from the site and really, you need to read it too. Here's a portion of what Cindy Romberg wrote on her blog:

       Standing behind the tub and ladling porridge into a stream of cups gripped tightly by grateful hands, my heart was deeply moved as I looked up to gaze upon a single-file line that stretched as far as my eyes could see. I knew that for some this would be the only meal they would eat that day. I noticed that others were helped here by their friends because they were too weak to walk here on their own. Hiding the tears behind my sunglasses, I took a deep breath and continued to pour knowing that each child, in spite of her circumstances, was a special gift and deeply loved.

As the line eventually dwindled, I became aware of one little boy near the end who seemed to stand out from the others. I wondered why the light of his countenance was especially bright. I handed him a tangerine-colored cup of porridge and watched him as he made his way back through the crowd, only to stop in front of three other children. He must have known who needed to eat more than he, for he poured the entire contents of his cup into theirs. He gave all he had, every last drop!

"That is Kemani,” the program organizer commented to me. “He is 7-years-old and he has a heart for the poor."

"He has a heart for the poor?” I was stunned! “He is the poor! How could he do that? What would motivate a small child to spend his morning standing in the back of a long line of hungry masses just to receive something that he would only give away?”

The image of precious porridge thoughtfully draining from orange plastic will forever be with me. Kemani may never realize the extent of his deed, but his simple irreversible act of kindness made a profound impact on my idea of what it means to love. He showed me that it’s one thing to give from my abundance, but love gives from my need. More than just sharing my left-overs with others, love is extravagant and costs me something personally. It gives sacrificially, and at times may even require my last drop.
It’s been two years since I visited Kabera, but I remember my experience like it was yesterday. I will always be grateful for Kemani, and I pray that I will have the courage to follow his example of compassion to others no matter their circumstances… or mine. I don’t know what the future holds for little Kemani, but in my mind he will always be a 7-year-old boy with a heart the size of the slum in which he lives. And he will always be holding a tangerine cup looking for someone who needs its contents more than he.

 

 

join us in the fight against world hunger - Home

Hardships Can Become Strengths

"Twenty years ago I ran for my life as I tried to escape the soldiers with guns. Today, I run for my life as I chase down the incredible opportunity God has laid out in front of me. I was a lost boy, surviving on one meager meal a day, a boy who looked forward to garbage days because eating trash gave me the best meal of the week. Not anymore. I ran in the camp to survive. Now I run to help others not only survive, but thrive." exerpt from "Running For My Life" by Lopez Lomong, page 226

Kidnapped by rebel soldiers at 6 years old, starving in a crowded and filthy hut while other boys died daily, and the stronger were trained to be rebel soldiers, to a miraculous escape with "angels", running for days on end through the desert, to surviving a refugee camp where food was scarce and opportunity nil, this young man wrote an essay in a language he barely spoke, in order to come to America. He came with a 1st grade education and 3 years later graduated highschool. He went on to become a professional athlete and Olympian, and best of all, to him, a college graduate. He went from being an orphan to being a beloved son of an American couple who not only gave him opportunities but pushed and fought for them for him. Oh yes, and just like our God to give a happy ending, Lope was reunited with his family in Africa!!

I loved this story- I cried a lot. It was just so amazing and made me remember afresh the rest of the world doesn't enjoy the luxury we do. Lopez's life is a reminder that turning our hardships into character is a matter of the will. Overcoming hardships will strengthen us if our attidtude is right. If Lopez can do what he did, then anything really is possible. The hand of God was so obvioiusly on his life, and just like he points out in this very well written account, his life really did mimic the biblical account of Joseph and what others meant for evil God used for good.

This man is using the platform his fame and talents have given him to help the people of Sudan. He invites us into the privelege of joing him.

Love, Love, Love this book. It will be required reading in my homeschool from now on.

*I recieved a copy of this book for free by the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.*

No Greater Love Review

I recently read the story of Levi Benkert and his family who, faced with the collapse of their finances and his business, did something just a tad bit radical. Faced with pressures too real in this economic downturn, and maybe feeling desperate and a little panic, they sold most of their possessions and packed up their kids and moved to Ethiopia to take charge of a new orphange in a village called Jinka. What was supposed to be a brief visit to help, and really to get a break for Levi and some perspective, turned their lives upside down and rightside up.

They faced some major hardships, obviously.What looked so dismal at first ended up being a blessing to their spiritual lives.

 I would have liked to have read more details in this book. It lacked discriptions and richness, which is unfortunate because it's an amazing story. I'm not saying it wasn't a good read, because it was, it just really left me hungry to be able to visualize more as I read- expressions, places, and of course just to know what the people looked like. Levi is so humble, and the book is written from his humility and it seems to me that for that reason the story lacked color.He was painfully honest about his failings, and while I admired that, I still would have liked the book to focus more on the daily life in Ethiopia and to see the people in the story developed more. I'm glad I found his facebook page because I was finally able to see what he and his family looked like. I don't know why that's so important to me, but it is.

It turns out this little family was majorly instrumental in the country of Ethiopia finally facing the issue of child murders- an ancient practice of what is essentially child sacrifice to appease evil spirits. They had (have?) rules regarding children- if they are conceived without the proper notification to the elders of their tribes, out-of-wedlock, or if their teeth top teeth come in before their bottom teeth, they are considered "mingi", cursed. The tribes believed they would all be cursed if they didn't kill these children. Infants, after being born, would be left out in the elements with a handful of red, dry, dusty earth poured into their mouths to suffocate. Practices also included drowning. Many, many infants and children, although loved, were murdered.The mother in me was freaking out! I SO wanted to be there and grab up babies to take home.

 Levi and his wife and a few others brought awareness to the government of the practice that was mainly going on in the remote regions south- it turns out many in the cities had no clue what was going on in rural villages.

I'm not going to say more because there story is worth you reading for yourself. It's inspiring to be reminded that one person, or a group of people, really can make a difference. This family, seemingly on accident, made a huge difference in the lives of rural Ethiopians. It's a modern day missionary tale that will effect you, maybe it lacks more meat, but it's good! I'm not complaining, just saying I wouldn't mind of this book were a little thicker, with more descriptions and more depth. I read it quickly, feeling like I'd like to have spent more time with this characters- real people, but they went by too quickly.

*This book was given to me free of charge by the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

Website: http://bringlove.in/

Follow Levi on Twitter and Facebook.

Read the 1st chapter