I have finished the sixty-third book in my Epic 100 Book Attempt of 2011!

The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions by Jeff Manion was a very well crafted book addressing the heartache involved in being in a transition time of your life.

Manion begins the book by telling how he was thrown into The Land Between …a heartbreaking time of transition…when his mother was killed in a car accident. Shortly after, his father took a new job in another state, and he and his family moved away from his home. Shortly after the move, his father got remarried. A short time later, the family again relocated to another state. So, the author definitely has an idea of what it’s like to be stuck in the middle of a difficult time of transition.

Throughout the book, Manion uses personal stories of people who are in a transition time…getting divorced, losing their job, losing their home, being unable to conceive, etc… to illustrate his points. He also uses the story of Abraham, his descendants…the children of Israel…, and Joseph to draw parallels to our own Lands Between and inspire us by their example…both positive and negative…to trust in God to bring us through.

I think that this topic could feel really heavy-handed, but Manion does an exceptional job in writing this book. I am really glad that I chose to read it, and I encourage any of you who find yourselves in a transition time to read it yourself. The book also includes a discussion guide at the end. It could be really good for a small group ministry.

I have finished the sixty-second book in my Epic 100 Book Attempt of 2011!

The Little Flowers of St Francis of Assisi by Brother Ugolino

Amazon description:

The phrase “little flowers” refers to “notabilia,” or a collection of noteworthy events in the lives of St. Francis and his followers. These stories were originally collected and compiled by Brother Ugolino during the early 1300’s. Ugolino attempted to draw out similarities between Jesus and St. Francis, since both leaders taught their disciples to deny the things of this world and to instead seek humility and holiness. Ugolino’s original Latin text was lost, but by consulting a variety of sources, scholars have worked to reconstruct Little Flowers into both Italian and English translations. Livingstone advises readers to enjoy Little Flowers with a sense of humor, as the contents of several stories contain much irony and amusement.

Finally! This is my third book about St Francis of Assisi, and I have finally learned in detail about the miracles and specific incidences in the life of St Francis. I’m glad that I read the first two book before reading “Little Flowers”, because they gave me a really good overview of his life. So, as I read “Little Flowers”, it was like coloring in the outline I already had in my head.

I am not Catholic, and, until the last couple of years, didn’t really know much at all about Catholicism. So, to say the least, I was not familiar with the lives of the saints, not even St Francis, arguably the most well known of all the saints. Coming from an evangelical background, I read everything with a skeptical eye. It’s hard to wrap my mind around the idea that the events accounted for in this book could actually be true. Another reason that I am glad I read G.K. Chesterton’s biography of St Francis first is because he made the point in his book that if we trust the historians who handed down to us the more routine facts of St Francis’ life, why should we suspend that faith in their honesty when they relate the miraculous events. If we can’t believe their honesty about the miraculous, then they are not worthy of our trust in their ability to accurately record the normal things. This proposition was what was in the back of my mind as I read “Little Flowers”.

I’m not going to recount any of the miracles I read about. If you are interested, I encourage you to read the book. It’s easy to read…each “incident” is recorded in it’s own very short chapter. The Kindle version is only 99 cents on Amazon.

I enjoyed the book, and my curiosity and interest in St Francis have been satisfied for now.