Tag Archives: Striving Together

Book Review: A Word to the Wise Daily Devotional

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Just this week, Striving Together Publications released a new daily devotional by Pastor Chappell: A Word to the Wise: Practical Advice from the Book of Proverbs.

With a devotional reading from Proverbs for every day of the year, this book is perfect as your daily devotional or as a gift. (Through Wednesday of this week, if you purchase the hardback, you receive the ebook free—so it can be your devotional and a gift! Also through Wednesday, if you purchase multiple copies, you receive further discounts. These are release week bonuses only, however. So hurry!)

Each day’s reading begins with a text from Proverbs followed by a brief action-orientated application. Although the devotions are all drawn from Proverbs, there are support/cross-reference Scriptures all throughout the book. Additionally, each page of the devo includes further reading that will guide you through the Bible in a year. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Burden Bearer

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  • How is it that we who personally know the One who invites us to cast our cares upon Him still stagger on bearing our own loads?
  • How is it that we who have chosen Christ’s easy yoke persist in carrying our lopsided weights on our shoulders rather than hitching them to our shared yoke with Christ?
  • How is it that we who have dedicated ourselves to the service of the Burden Bearer so often find ourselves feeling heavy, burdened, weighted, and exhausted?
  • And one more question: If we learn to cast our cares on His shoulders, do we release them from our own?

These are the probing, opening questions in The Burden Bearer by Pastor Paul Chappell. Perhaps you’ve had similar questions. So has Carrier—the allegorical Lifter with whom I readily identify. Carrier’s story is woven throughout the book with plenty of Pastor Chappell’s personal illustrations and biblical insights given as well.

This book was one of the projects I have been privileged to help with serving on the team at Striving Together Publications. Without a doubt, The Burden Bearer has been one of my favorite projects. Released just under a year ago, many have shared with me that this is one of the most encouraging, uplifting, helpful books they’ve ever read. Continue reading →

2 in 1 Book/Curriculum Review: The Choice Is Yours

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Several years ago, I was volunteering in an overcrowded church nursery that included ages 0–2. A young mother dropped off her two boys, and we nursery workers looked for the best way to make room for them. Because the oldest son seemed like he would be willing to play alone, we put him into one of the cribs. He really was too old for a crib, but it seemed a good way to contain him at the moment.

The boy played contentedly in the crib for several minutes and then suddenly said, “Hey, I’m in the crib! Why am I here?”

We laughed and moved him out. But I think all of us sometimes find ourselves in a different position than we ever imagined we would be. After months or years of making choices that lead us to our destination, we suddenly realize that we did not get to where we wanted to go. Only then do we stop and cry out, “Hey, I’m here in the crib. Why am I here?” Continue reading →

Christmas Is a Gift

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Ordinarily, I don’t believe in celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving, but I changed my mind this week when the shipment of Striving Together’s new minibook by Dr. Paul Chappell came in. I had the privilege of helping with this book prepress, and seeing it arrive felt like an early Christmas!

Christmas Is a Gift—Unwrap the Significance of the Season is beautiful inside and out. The glossy hardcover makes it perfect for a coffee table decoration or gift, and the full-color Christmas photographs throughout make you want to read it in front of a roaring fire with a cup of hot tea.

But the message inside is the best. Through this 130-page minibook, we see that Christmas is more than an event—it is a gift. Christmas is the gift of Christ’s presence, and His presence in our lives changes everything. Continue reading →