One of my favorite chapters was the account of Mitsuo Fuchida whose life was supernaturally spared time after time. Even after advancing to lead the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Lord did a miraculous work on his heart. He became a born again believer and eventually toured the world to share Christ, along with–believe it or not, Jacob DeShazer–a pilot from among the Doolittle Raiders who swung the revenge attack for Pearl Harbor.

Paul Taylor, an associate of Fuchida during his time in Hamburg, 1961, described him in a letter to the author of the book, saying:

[Mitsuo Fuchida] was serenely without fear. Prisoners would pay careful attention when a man with Fuchida’s credentials stood to speak. He had a charming and friendly disposition . .. the grace of God had so obviously won his heart. . . .  I remember him above all for his passionate love for Christ. He was manifestly devoted to making Jesus Christ known as often as he could, and to whoever would listen.

However the Lord may have brought about our personal testimonies of salvation, may we be just as ready to share the power of the gospel today as the heroes of the past.

I did not want to write the book. When would I have the time? What would I write about? How would we get it published? We had never done anything of the sort before, and I honestly had a hard time catching the vision. I had always kind of dreamed about being an author some day, but not until I was 80 or 90 or so.

However, my brother Robert had a different opinion. And if you know Robert, he defended his opinion passionately, of course. “Daniel, you should write a book!” he said. “This is a fleeting opportunity you have to encourage future Bible Bee contestants and countless others to develop a love for Scripture.” And the more I thought about it, prayed about it, and discussed it with the rest of the family, the more I was convinced that he was right. It couldn’t do any harm just telling the story of how God taught me the value of His Word through the whole Bible Bee experience. So Robert won. I wrote a book. The vision Robert had back at the very beginning carried me all the way through to completion, until that startling day when I held in my hands for the first time a printed copy of the finished project.

Robert’s vision and the support and encouragement of countless others is truly what turned the book from a dream into a reality. My brother James is responsible for the masterful layout and design of the book, and the rest of the family (especially Donald and Esther) spent hours critiquing every word. Mrs. Rees rendered her professional editing services completely free of charge. Dr. Gothard offered words of rich wisdom and insight. I am also grateful to Barak Lundberg, Mr. Ondrovic, Tony Oliverio, Steve Mugglin, and perhaps most of all my parents, without whom the book never would have been completed. And, to tell you the truth, the only thing I had to write about was what my Heavenly Father did in my life through the Bible Bee. To Him be the ultimate glory!

The book is available on the IBLP Store. We hope to also have it here on our family site in the near future. Enjoy! I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

To be honest, I don’t have the time to read very much these days. But this book grabbed me. I haven’t finished it yet, but if the rest of the chapters are as good as these first ones, I believe The Noticer by Andy Andrews will be a bestseller. It is based on the true story of Andy’s life and the remarkable transformation that he experienced from being a homeless man sleeping under a bridge to one of the nations’ best known and best-loved communicators.

Take a few minutes and enjoy listening to the first chapter.

The Noticer MP3 (30 min)

Read the first chapter

“Titus was listening with all his ears, but he said nothing, for he hoped that the man would speak further…. He could have slipped away in the dark easily enough, and was half-minded to do so. Then he reflected that he might learn something more of his mysterious birth and parentage, if he stayed; besides, he had a strong curiosity to see the much-talked-of Barabbas; and underneath all, was an unconfessed desire to share in the exciting events which were soon to follow.”

Thus precedes the poignant climax of Titus: A Comrade of the Cross, by Florence Kingsley, 1894. Set in the historical setting of Christ’s public ministry on earth, this volume follows a fictional character, Titus, the son of a Greek-raised Jew, in his search for truth beyond the paganism of the Greeks and the hypocrisy of the Jews. The storyline is amazingly accurate to the Bible and portions of the book are direct quotes thereof. In some respects, it is a dramatized commentary! The delicate balance between mercy and justice is brilliantly portrayed in it’s heartbreaking apex of which I must say no more, as doing so would defeat the purpose of having salted the oats. If you have read and enjoyed Ben Hur or The Robe, you will certainly enjoy Titus, though it is written much more simply yet no less eloquently.

Mere Christianity challenged me to take my personal convictions seriously. What do I believe? Why? It also opened my eyes to the effectiveness of using analogies and illustrations to get points across and make them more interesting to others. I especially appreciate how C. S. Lewis used his literary expertise to explain magnificent truths so clearly.

“Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

Author: C. S. Lewis
Publisher: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Date: 1952
Genre: Theology

With a comprehensive vocabulary and astounding way of describing things, C.S. Lewis outlines his intellectual and spiritual journey through the early years of his life, telling of his espousal of atheism and return to Christianity. In this autobiography of a conversion, I was continually amazed at C.S. Lewis’ literary genius and ability to put into words thoughts and feelings we have all experieneced, and which I’ve been aware of but never attempted to define before!

At one point, when describing a situation from his own life, he makes an interesting observation: “Nothing, I suspect, is more astonishing” (and, may I add, more exciting) “in any man’s life than the discovery that there do exist people very, very like himself.” This fact is, I believe, the reason this book was so thrilling for me to read.

The central motif of his story is the course of “Joy” in his life, which he defines as “the sublime experience of the transcendent” and must be strictly distinguished from both happiness and pleasure. It is that “unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction”, and which, when experienced, becomes of incalculable importance and causes all else to appear insignificant in comparison.

It is at the culmination of the book when he discovers that this “Joy” – that fleeting glimpse of the eternal – is actually a harbinger, a precursor of a greater Something (or rather, Someone), and finds true satisfaction in a fulfilling relationship with That which Joy was pointing towards.

I had previously associated C.S. Lewis exclusively with “The Chronicles of Narnia”, but reading “Surprised by Joy”  has broadened my understanding of him as an author. If his other works are as spiritually and intellectually rich and engrossing as this one, I certainly anticipate reading them!

George Washington the Christian was given to me as a birthday present from my family this year. It was published in 1919 and provides a stepping stone as it were between the past and the present with direct quotations from Washington and those who knew him. Included among others are the testimonies of his relatives, those who fought with him during the war and those who found him at prayer. While a man of few and carefully-chosen words, his life spoke volumes.

In the back of the book is a list of some of the many names that Washington used to describe his Heavenly Father, including Providence. What may seem to us an indirect or impersonal title was, to Washington, a very dear term. After seeing the providential hand of God in saving his life, guiding his battle plans and founding his country, Washington was deeply aware that God worked, and loved to work, providentially in the lives of those who trust Him.

When I finished reading this book, I realized how well Washington could exhort the Christians of today with the apostle Paul: “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for you sake” (I Thessalonians 1:5). I would recommend it for anyone who wants to know George Washington.

In the year 2002 my son Robert gave Don and I a book for Christmas entitled “Morning by Morning” by Charles Spurgeon. Finally last year, 2006, I decided to read this devotional guide.

One of these was the entry for Feb. 20th entitled “God, that comforteth those that are cast down” 2 Cor. 7:16. It read “And who comforteth like Him? Go to some poor, melancholy, distressed child of God; tell him sweet promises, and whisper in his ear choice words of comfort; he is like the deaf adder, he listens not to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely… you will bring forth no psalm of praise, no hallelujahs, no joyful sonnets. Be let God come to His child; let Him lift up his countenance, and the mourner’s eyes glisten with hope…Christian, when thou art dry, go to God, ask Him to shed abroad His joy in thy heart, and then thy joy shall be full. Do not go to earthly acquaintances, for you will find them Job’s comforters after all; but go first and foremost to thy “God, that comforteth those that are cast down,” and you will soon say, “In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.”

I had first heard of Charles Spurgeon from my grandfather when I was a girl. Unlike myself, my grandfather read quite a bit and I remember him always having a pile of books beside his chair and more piles in his bedroom, much to my grandmother’s chagrin. I am now, out of curiosity, reading a biography of this incredible “preacher.” Maybe later I can tell you what factors in his life contributed to his literary success.

Brother Yun made the tough decision of dedicating his life to God at a young age in a nation with a government extremely hostile to such beliefs. However, from the very beginning God’s faithfulness was evident through the many miraculous incidents He worked in his life.

Yet the primary message of this autobiography, I believe, is on how to respond correctly to suffering. God brought Brother Yun through many purifying trials and tribulations, ye he was able to rejoice because he saw what God was doing through them. This book is a remarkable demonstration of the power in a life which is full of the fear of the Lord, yet totally free from fear of man or what man can do.

Title: The Heavenly Man

Author: Liu Zhenying (Brother Yun)

Publisher: OMF  Literature, inc.

Date: 2002