My Review of ILLUSION by Frank Peretti

Photo Credit: Howard Books

In the wake of losing his wife of forty years, Dane Collins is trying to move on with life, devastated by the heartbreak he feels. For forty years Dane and Mandy Collins were one of the best magic acts in the world, and they loved each other deeply. But now the act and their love for one another has been cut short by Mandy's death.

Meanwhile, Mandy wakes up in the present as the nineteen-year-old she was forty years ago. For her the last forty years haven't happened, and she finds herself in a world that is totally foreign to her. After escaping from a mental health facility, Mandy discovers she has some remarkable supernatural abilities that allow her to begin making a living as an illusionist. Soon she meets Dane Collins, and he is struck by how much this girl who calls herself Eloise looks like his wife. He becomes her mentor, and they both discover that something profound is going on. They're connected somehow, buy Mandy doesn't know how.

As the source of Mandy's abilities, as well as where she came from, comes to light, a group of people heavily invested in Mandy's abilities wants her dead. Will Dane be able to save her, or will he lose this Mandy just like he lost wife in a car crash?

ILLUSION is Frank Peretti's first novel in seven years, so there was a lot of buzz built around this one. The story is incredible. I've always been a fan of Frank Peretti's novels, but this one went above and beyond my expectations. The premise was interesting and how it played out was surprising, fun, and at times gut-wrenching.

Dane and Mandy were two of the most likable and developed characters I've ever read, and I couldn't help but want everything to work out for them in the end. Dane clearly loves the wife he believes to be dead, and he's clearly in turmoil over meeting the nineteen-year-old version of the woman he loved and married. Mandy's journey of discovering herself in a futuristic world is compelling, and Peretti's descriptions of her magic acts really took me into the world of the story.

The suspense increases throughout the novel and especially toward the end as the stakes are raised for both Dane and Mandy. I found myself emotionally stirred as I realized the potential of where this story could end up.

ILLUSION is one of the best stories I've read. I can't wait to see what story Peretti gives us next.

I received this book free for review from Howard Books and was not required to give a positive review.

Review of A LOVE THAT MULTIPLIES by Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are known as the parents of nineteen children and the focus of TLC’s popular television show 19 Kids & Counting. My wife and I have been following the Duggars for a few years now because we’re parents ourselves, though only of three, and we share the faith and hope to raise our children to know and follow Jesus as the Duggars do.

A LOVE THAT MULTIPLIES is a book that takes us on a journey into the Duggar’s lives and how they do what they do. The book is filled with personal stories that are sometimes funny and sometimes tragic. The Duggars reveal a rock-solid faith in God and a commitment to raising their children in the best and most spiritually nurturing environment possible.

The book also includes photos of the Duggar family, as well as fun activities and recipes. This a great book for families to read and learn from. What the Duggars are doing is clearly working, and A LOVE THAT MULTIPLIES is a great book full of the wisdom they’ve developed over the years as believers in Jesus and as the parents of nineteen children.

I received this book for free for review from Howard Books

Review of YOUR CHURCH IS TOO SAFE by Mark Buchanan

In YOUR CHURCH IS TOO SAFE Mark Buchanan calls churches to live and spread the life-altering message of Jesus in the spirit of the very first Christ followers. Buchanan makes the case that many churches are both too safe and not safe enough. Too safe in their willingness to become comfortable with a religious spirit that doesn’t engage a dying world with the gospel. Not safe enough in not being a refuge that the lost run to find the love of God most clearly expressed.

Buchanan has a great way with words as he paints a picture of several very relevant and applicable stories from the Bible. I loved his handling of the story of the woman at the well and her encounter with Jesus. Her past doesn’t matter once she encounters him. Suddenly, she has to tell people about Jesus, the people she was previously ashamed to be around and desperately tried to avoid.

In one part of the book he talks about naming evil for what it is and overcoming evil. The safe thing to do is to not do anything about evil. But I loved the story he told to illustrate that our call is to defeat evil by absorbing the evil. That’s what Jesus did. He didn’t pretend evil didn’t exist or ignore it; he absorbed the evil, and it changed everything.

A church that is dangerous loves people radically and relentlessly. People who the world typically gives up on. I love the idea of a church that embraces risk by trusting God alone and experiencing the end result of their faith.

YOUR CHURCH IS TOO SAFE is a beautifully written book with an incredible call for believers to live as fully devoted disciples of Christ.

I received this book for free for review from Zondervan

Happy 2nd Birthday Kalel!

My son Kalel turns two today. I can clearly remember laying down in a rollaway hospital bed two years ago with this little baby boy lying next to me, and I couldn't believe that I get to be his father. Now he's this two-year-old boy who loves adventure and exploration above all else, which gets a bit exhausting at times, but it's who he is and it's perfect. Sometimes I wish I could see the world through his eyes and know what he's thinking.

Lindsey and I are so blessed to be his parents and to lead him toward a life of courage and love and world transformation.

We love you so much, Kalel! Happy Birthday!

My Review of THE JOY OF CALVINISM by Greg Forster

Photo Credit: Crossway Books

I've read a lot of books on Calvinism, and it often seems that there are many differing opinions in the Calvinist camp on what exactly Calvinism is. Greg Forster's new book THE JOY OF CALVINISM is easily the best and most thought-provoking book on the subject that I've ever read. I found much to agree with in the book, things that could easily be said of biblical orthodox Christianity. While the book is specifically aligned with the Calvinist branch of Christianity, Forster presents a case for Christians to find joy and life-giving transformation through a daily walk with a God who is sovereign. Forster delves into Calvinism, dispelling common misunderstandings about it, and clearly, profoundly, and beautifully describing exactly what Calvinism is by focusing less on the negative descriptions associated with it and more on the active role God plays in our salvation. Using language that is easy to understand as well as descriptions that illuminate some of the key doctrines, Forster presents a defense of Calvinism that would be difficult for someone to argue with. As I was reading, it was easy to see that a lot of people who are not Bible scholars would likely walk away from this book convinced that Calvinism is true, even if they weren't exactly comfortable with its implications.

All that being said, I'm not a Calvinist, and no more so after reading this book. I have much respect for many Calvinist teachers, but ultimately find too many logical and biblical inconsistencies in the Calvinist system to be able to embrace it as an accurate portrait of the character of God. What I do appreciate about Calvinism is its commitment to seeing God as a loving and sovereign ruler over his creation.

Forster expresses discomfort with the TULIP acronym that is often used to describe Calvinism's five points, and I must say that Forster's descriptions of Calvinism's main tenets is a more positive and less discomforting approach. After a look at how depravity affects us, Forster outlines the main tenets of Calvinism in four chapters:
• God loves you personally
• God loves you unconditional
• God loves you irresistibly
• God loves you unbreakably

The focus on God's love and how that works for us was a brilliant move by Forster and one of the strengths of this book, even if we don't agree completely on how God's love plays out for all people. Forster's main point with God's personal love is that when Jesus died, he made atonement for specific individuals with those specific individuals in mind. In other words, God had a specific intention with the atonement for a specific group of people comprised of specific individuals. If you're a believer, it is because when Jesus died on the cross, he did it for you because he loves you.

This obviously means that the atonement was not meant for all people because if the atonement was meant for a guy named Jack and Jack never believes, then the atonement made for him was wasted; it didn't have its intended effect. Would God waste the atonement made for Jack? If God loved Jack enough to die for him to save him, then wouldn't Jack's rejection of God be a flaw in God's plan? Wouldn't that mean that God doesn't get what he wants?

So Forster argues that the atonement was meant for a specific set of individuals known in the Bible as the elect. These are the ones for whom the atonement accomplishes its intention in saving those individuals. The obvious implication is that God doesn't love everyone equally and some aren't loved enough for God to die for. Forster expresses discomfort with this implication, but states that it must be accepted because the Bible teaches it.

The problem is that the Bible doesn't teach that the atonement was intended for some individuals and not others. What has been commonly referred to as limited atonement is arrived at because of the appalling idea that a single drop of Jesus' blood was wasted and because it is logically necessary to be consistent with Calvinism's other tenets. I would agree that God has intention with the atonement for every single person and that no drop of Jesus' blood will be wasted by a failure of the intention coming about.

The Bible presents a two-fold antecedent/consequent intention for the atonement. It's most clearly outlined in John 3:18, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." The atonement was made for everyone, but the benefits of the atonement are only applied to those who believe. For those who don't believe, the atonement serves as the basis for their condemnation before God. Why would God punish someone for rejecting something that wasn't intended for them? Furthermore, concerning God's personal love, the Bible tells us that Jesus loved the rich young ruler, yet the rich young ruler walked away from him. Peter talks of some false teachers rejecting the one who bought them. 1 John 2:2 tells us that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. So the antecedent intention of the atonement is the sins of all people paid for. But the consequent will is for the benefits of the atonement to only be applied to those who believe, while the atonement serves as the basis for the condemnation of those who don't believe.

Next, God loves you unconditionally. Nothing you could do could earn God's love for you, and his love for you is an utmost priority for him. Forster's argument in this chapter is quite interesting. He discusses how God prioritizes what he loves. Forster's suggestion is that all other theological traditions besides Calvinism hold that God loves something more than he loves people, and his love for this one thing is the reason not all people are saved. This one thing he calls the system of nature, which he clarifies as free will. In other words, God loves your ability to make a free choice more than he loves you. Therefore, if you choose to reject him, God lets you not because he loves you, but because he loves free will.

Forster suggests that only Calvinism teaches that God loves you above all other things, including life, and was willing to die for you. While it's a brilliant and almost convincing argument, it would be easy to counter that God does love people more than free will, but that he loves people who have a free will. He's not placing their ability to choose above them. He's choosing to love free individuals above all else, and this means that some of those free individuals will freely reject him (and the atonement will serve as the basis of their condemnation). God loved you enough to die for you. He did not love your free will enough to die for it.

Forster makes the argument that God's love for you is independent of anything in you and wholly dependent on himself. However, the conclusion Calvinists reach with God's unconditional love is that God's electing love is only for a certain set of specific individuals, and this love for them is not conditioned upon anything in them. This means that another certain set of specific individuals, while loved by God, are not the object of God's electing love. Forster makes the common Calvinist claim that God values his own glory more than his love for all people, and for the second set of specific individuals, their ultimate good in salvation comes in competition with God's glory, so God doesn't elect them. He gives no reason why their salvation will compete with his glory, and instead appeals to mystery as all Calvinists do. Never mind that to say that anything threatens God's glory is in itself to actually diminish God's glory in our own eyes.

Why does God choose one individual and not another? Forster says that God's choice isn't arbitrary or ramdom, but also that his choice is based on nothing in the individuals themselves. The choice is unconditional. The problem with the Calvinist conception of unconditional election is that there isn't a way possible for someone to make a choice that is based on nothing in individuals without it being a random choice.

I'll explain using an illustration that I once heard from a Calvinist. The illustration is of an individual walking on a beach and picking up seashells. The person claims to pick up any seashells they want and that the reason they choose the specific seashells they do is not based on anything in the individual seashells themselves but upon reasons grounded in the person choosing the seashells. A sovereign, unconditional election of seashells. The seashells are not alive (a picture of humanity being dead in sin), therefore they are unable to do anything to affect the person's decision in choosing them or not, including meeting a condition.

The problem is that if the person were pressed to explain the reason for choosing the seashells they did, they could not explain it without mentioning something characteristic about the seashells. For example, the person might say I picked these seashells because I love big seashells, or dark-colored seashells, or smooth seashells. A Calvinist would have to say that the person wouldn't state any such reasons for their choice because obviously to be chosen, the seashells had to meet the condition to being chosen. But if the person were to state that they picked the seashells they did based on something they loved in them self, without any regard for anything in the seashells, the choice would have to be arbitrary or random. If the choice of them is based on nothing in them, then that means they are viewed all equally as the exact same. Any differences in them would have no bearing on the person's choice. It is truly unconditional, but it's also random.

In the Calvinist system, God views all human beings as equally depraved, equally in desperate need of salvation, but chooses a set number of them to give faith to so that they are no longer equally the same as the rest of humanity. But his choice of them, if the reason is based only on something in him, has to be random. That means that God has rolled the dice with your eternal destiny. If you're in, it's because you were lucky enough to be chosen in the random drawing. But we believe that God does nothing at random and that he loved the elect specifically as individuals. Calvinists are uncomfortable with the idea of God saving someone based on their response of faith to him. This seems to put a person's salvation squarely in their own hands.

But does faith really save us? If Jesus hadn't died to make atonement, but you placed your faith in God, would your faith save you? Not at all. We don't take the initiative to repair the broken relationship with God. Here's the position we find ourselves in: If you're in a relationship with someone and you betray them in a way that ends the relationship, can you do anything to fix it and undo your betrayal? Can you make the person you betrayed forgive you? Clearly, you hold no power in the relationship whatsoever. The ball is completely in the other person's court. They can forgive you or not forgive you, and there's nothing you can do to move their decision either way. It's completely their decision to make alone. Let's say this person extends forgiveness to you and an opportunity for a reestablished relationship as if the betrayal never happened. This is their gift to you, freely offered. By offering it, they are absorbing the betrayal so that they are paying for your betrayal rather than you. When the gift is given, and salvation is described in the Bible as a gift, there is a giver and receiver relationship. By giving you the gift of reconciliation, the person you betrayed is also giving you the opportunity to accept or reject the gift. If you reject it, reconciliation doesn't happen even though it was genuinely offered. Ifyou accept it, reconciliation happens, but did you cause it? We've already established that you hold no power. If forgiveness isn't offered, there's nothing you can do to make it happen. If you accept, can you make the person you've betrayed keep their end of the offer? No, they still hold the control over their offer of forgiveness.

God has declared salvation as a gift in Romans 6:23, and John 1:12 describes our receiver relationship. By believing, do we save ourselves? No, because we're not in control. We're not making God do anything. God is under no obligation to me to save me because I choose to believe in him. Faith would be completely irrelevant if God hadn't declared it as the condition of our receiving his free gift of salvation. So Christ alone saves. In this way, Christ alone is responsible for our salvation, and unbelievers are completely responsible for their condemnation. Hell is tragic because the people living there had their sins paid for and reconciliation offered, but they didn't accept the gift.

If God made atonement for all and sovereignly chooses to apply the atonement only to those who believe, then it's easy to see that God doesn't love individuals irresistibly. Titus 2:11 states, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people." But not all are saved, so clearly God doesn't ensure that his grace leads to salvation in every person. Instead, God's grace carries us toward God, and provided that we don't resist, we're carried to salvation. But our condemnation is our own fault based upon our final resistance of God's grace. If God made atonement for all, then he pursues all with his grace.

Finally, I loved the chapter on God's unbreakable love for us and Forster's focus on suffering's role in our progressive sanctification.

THE JOY OF CALVINISM was incredibly well-argued, and it helped me to wrestle with my own conception of God's character. There's definitely a lot that is helpful in this book. I would only encourage that people not read the book alone, but in discussion with others so that they too can wrestle with what the Bible reveals about God's character.

I received this book for free for review from Crossway Books

Writing Page-Turning Fiction: My Review of CONFLICT AND SUSPENSE byJames Scott Bell

Photo Credit: Writer's Digest Books

I've always loved reading really captivating fiction. A few years ago I sped through a Ted Dekker novel in under two days, and every time a new Dekker novel comes out I can't wait to dive into the story. It's the same way with Travis Thrasher, Mike Dellosso, Robin Parrish, and it'll be that way with the new J.K. Rowling novel. I love stories that keep me captivated and turning pages. I've also always wanted to be a writer of those kinds of stories.

James Scott Bell tells us what every successful story requires in his aptly titled book CONFLICT AND SUSPENSE. I've read a lot of books on writing, and Bell's books always stand out as some of the best because of the clarity and practicality of them. This book is especially helpful in its focus on developing a page-turning story. After all, if someone starts reading your story, ideally you want them to have a difficult time finding a place to stop in the story and put it down.

I love Bell's definition of the goal of a novel as providing "a satisfying emotional experience for the reader." Conflict is crucial to this because we experience conflict in our every day lives and conflict connects us with characters in a story, specifically how they deal with that conflict. Bell looks at conflict in every element of writing a story from the structure, to the setting, to dialogue. If you're wanting to know how to craft a story that keeps readers interested, Bell will clearly walk you through how to do it.

Bell describes suspense as rising out of conflict. His discussions of stressing the tension and cliffhangers are helpful to developing suspense in a story. He also discusses using setting specifically.

Throughout the book Bell uses several examples of popular novels and movies to illustrate what he's talking about. This helps to see the concepts as they've actually been put to use.

CONFLICT AND SUSPENSE is a great guide on writing a complete page-turning story. Reading it made me want to sit down and start fleshing out some new story ideas, which is a perfect result of reading this book.

I received this book for free for review from Writer's Digest Books

My Review of TEMPTATION by Travis Thrasher

Photo Credit: David C. Cook

COMING APRIL 2012

The town of Solitary is gripped by something sinister, powerful, and mysterious, and Chris Buckley, who once believed he was merely being caught up in the creepy things that have been happening in Solitary, soon finds out that he's at the center of it all. Still reeling from the loss of the girl he loved, Chris begins summer school determined to leave the past school year with all of its heartbreak and disappointment behind and start over. As he falls for the beautiful new girl Lily, life begins to feel normal for the first time in a long time. But nothing in Solitary is normal. There's a reason Chris has been experiencing everything he has, and when he finds out how he's intimately connected to Solitary's history, he's forced into a situation more disturbing than any he's faced. TEMPTATION is the third book in Travis Thrasher's Solitary Tales, and it deepens the mythology behind Solitary and continues Chris Buckley's struggle to uncover Solitary's secrets.

I first discovered Travis Thrasher's books when I picked up a copy of ISOLATION in a bin of random books in a Christian bookstore a couple years ago. After reading it, I immediately ordered three other Thrasher novels, and I've been following his stories ever since. I love stories that develop a rich mythology behind them. It's what I loved about the TV shows LOST and SMALLVILLE, and it's what I love about The Solitary Tales. TEMPTATION felt like a build-up to a breathtaking finale as we discover that this story is bigger than we could have imagined.

By the third novel in the series, Chris Buckley seems very familiar, and Thrasher has developed a very distinct voice for him through the first-person POV. We experience how he feels, and it all makes sense in light of everything the town of Solitary has put him through. I love the spiritual journey Chris travels as he wrestles with his doubts about God and yet the clear existence of the supernatural in Solitary. Chris seems real, and I want him to come out victorious in the end. Jeremiah Marsh, the creepy pastor of a church that has little to do with Jesus, makes more of an appearance in TEMPTATION than the first two novels, and somehow he seems less creepy up close. Chris surprisingly lets down his guard with Marsh, and it's interesting to see that play out. Lily is a girl with a carefree spirit who helps Chris forget, but she's also an enigma that Chris can't quite understand. She's definitely a different character from Jocelyn, Poe, and Kelsey (Chris' other romantic interests in the previous books), which shows Thrasher's ability to craft unique and memorable characters. Other characters such as Staunch and Chris' mom are just as memorable and make TEMPTATION the story that it is.

The preface at the beginning, which gives us a taste of a moment near the end of the story, was brilliant. Thrasher does a great job developing presuppositions in the reader's mind near the beginning that causes them to read the story probably through a certain perspective.

When it comes to Young Adult fiction, The Twilight Saga easily comes to mind, and really for good reason because it is admittedly a compelling story. But it would be great if more readers could discover The Solitary Tales because it also is a truly gripping YA series of stories that explores the deepest issues of life. TEMPTATION only makes me wish I didn't have to wait until January 2013 for the final book HURT. Make sure to check out TEMPTATION when it comes out next month.

I received an advanced copy of this book for free for review from David C. Cook. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

My Review David Garland's Commentary on Luke in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

Photo Credit: Zondervan

David E. Garland's contribution to Zondervan's new Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament of the Gospel of Luke is a welcome resource for looking deeper into Luke's perspective of the historical narrative of Jesus' life and ministry and all of its implications for us who live in a time far removed from the events recorded by Luke. I've always found Luke fascinating, especially since Luke writes somewhat like an investigative reporter on the story of Jesus and his first followers.

I've read many commentaries, and I really enjoyed the format of the ZECNT. Each section gives a summation of the main idea, a translation of the Greek text, as well as an outline of the text structure. This is followed by verse-by-verse commentary specifically based on the Greek text. One of the most helpful features for anyone teaching the Bible is the Theological Application, bringing the text's implications for our present context to the forefront.

The Luke commentary is easy to read. Some of the parts I enjoyed most were:
• the discussion of the connection between Luke and Acts
• the possibility that Luke may have been a Jew (it's commonly thought he was a Gentile)
• Luke's intention to record history
• Luke portraying Jesus the Jewish Messiah as the savior of Gentiles as well

With any commentary you probably won't agree with every single interpretation of the commentator. There were a few areas I disagreed with, but overall I found Garland's commentary enjoyable and illuminating.

The Luke Commentary, as well as all the others in the ZECNT, is a great addition to anyone who studies the Bible specifically to teach it. It's a great tool for anyone studying for personal spiritual growth as well. The format is great, and it has a fantastic ease of use. I'll be interested to check out some of the other commentaries in this series.

I received this book for free for review from Zondervan

Review of ALIENATION by Jon S. Lewis

Photo Credit: Thomas Nelson

In INVASION, the first book in the C.H.A.O.S. Trilogy by Jon S. Lewis, teenager Colt McAlister discovers that aliens are real and that his grandfather was once a superhero. After discovering that the accident that claimed his parents' lives wasn't an accident, Colt is thrust into the world of C.H.A.O.S., a secret government military organization whose purpose is to protect our world from alien invasion.

ALIENATION continues the story of Colt and his two best friends Oz and Danielle. The three of them are accepted into the C.H.A.O.S. Military Academy where they and their classmates will be trained as the last line of defense against the oncoming invasion by the lizard-like shape-shifting Thule. The Thule have nearly destroyed their own planet and seek the destruction of earth's inhabitants to make our planet their new home. As Colt dodges a number of attempts on his life, he must learn to cope with the truth of an ancient prophecy concerning him and the destruction of the Thule.

ALIENATION is an action-packed young adult novel that clearly takes its inspiration from comic book heroes. Jon S. Lewis, in addition to penning the C.H.A.O.S. Trilogy, is also a writer for DC Comics. He even includes an interesting essay at the end about writing comic books and learning the economy of words. As a writer, I found this part especially helpful.

The book's story feels like an adventure, and we learn more about Colt's unique role in protecting the world. There is a bit of tension between Colt and Oz as Colt struggles with learning who he can trust. Danielle is the ultra-intelligent computer geek who can hack into anything, a skill that becomes incredible helpful to the trio as the story unfolds.

The setting of the military academy was very interesting. Though the stories are vastly different, the whole concept of the three friends going away to be trained to be heroes at a specialized school reminded me a bit of Harry Potter.

There's a lot of fun a stuff going on in ALIENATION, including hover boards and realistic combat simulations. I'm excited to see what Lewis has in store when the final book in the C.H.A.O.S. Trilogy releases.

I receives this book for free for review from Thomas Nelson through booksneeze.com

Two Great New EBooks About Getting Published from Jeff Goins

I've always wanted to be a writer, or at least something where I get to create most of the time. As a writer, I always want to grow and learn from others who are doing it well and finding success. I've been following writer and blogger Jeff Goins on his site goinswriter.com for the last year. He's on the front lines of helping aspiring writers hone their craft and just signed his first book deal.

Recently, I got the opportunity to review Goins' two newest eBooks EVERY WRITER'S DREAM and BEFORE YOUR FIRST BOOK. Both books are immensely helpful as Goins shares his own experiences on how to be successful as a writer.

EVERY WRITER'S DREAM is about building a platform to share your writing, creating a brand that is uniquely you, and building mutually beneficial relationships with readers and others in the writing world. Ideally, through this book, Goins takes writers on a journey toward never having to pitch their writing again because publishers will be coming to them. It's about getting your writing out there and making yourself known.

BEFORE YOUR FIRST BOOK is about getting experience with writing through writing feature articles and specifically how to get opportunities to write articles. Goins walks us through the process of getting our foot in the door, coming up with ideas, and pitching those ideas.

Both books are very quick reads, and the concepts are very actionable. As Goins shares his experiences, I'm encouraged in my own writing pursuits.

Both books are incredibly inexpensive at $4.99 for both. To purchase both eBooks, check out http://goinswriter.com/get-published.

Review of SECURE DAUGHTERS, CONFIDENT SONS by Glenn T. Stanton

SECURE DAUGHTERS, CONFIDENT SONS by Glenn T. Stanton is a highly practical and insightful exploration of raising sons and daughters to be uniquely who they are by God's design, even in the midst of a gender-confused world. Stanton begins from the assumption that both genders were created in the image of God. Therefore, each gender is important, and raising boys and girls to be secure in who they are as boys and girls is vital to a healthy upbringing.

As the father of a daughter and two sons, I could see the gender-specific characteristics in my children that Stanton outlines in the book. I'm encouraged in the ways my wife and I can help guide our daughter and sons into healthy manhood and womanhood.

SECURE DAUGHTERS, CONFIDENT SONS is a great book for parents and the insights contained within it will be valuable to raising confident and secure children.

I received this book for free for review through the Blogging for Books program