Tuesday, July 21, 2009

A Perfect Mess – Book Review and Giveaway

a perfect mess A Perfect Mess – yep, that’s my life and that’s the title of Lisa Harper’s new book.  In this book, Lisa shows us from the Psalms how God loves us and wants to stick with us to transform our messiness into His beauty through His grace.  Using a selection of 12 Psalms, the author samples the richness of the psalter while weaving in stories from her own life experience.  In addition, there are interesting sidebars with tidbits of information about the Psalms, such as their classification or insights from theologians.  The end of each chapter includes some questions for personal reflection and/or group discussion.

Lisa Harper has given us an excellent book to help study several of the Psalms as well as encourage us in our walk with God.  I read a chapter of this book each night and enjoyed it.  Not only that, I found myself challenged by her insights.  I was particularly struck by her chapter on Psalm 51 and our need to confront our sin as well as the chapter on Psalm 23 and God’s rest for His people.  My one qualm with this book is that Lisa’s writing gets a little “flowery” for my taste.  I tend to prefer that author’s use a more simple vocabulary when possible.  Frankly, that’s a minor issue in an otherwise outstanding book.  I very highly recommend it.

As a funny little aside, Lisa Harper notes in one chapter that she used to be a lifeguard at Lake Swan Camp in Central Florida.  From what I can figure, she may have been a lifeguard there one of the years that I went to Lake Swan in high school!  Pretty cool, huh?  Well, because it’s summer time and there’s that really cool coincidence about summer camp, if you would like to win a copy of this book, just leave a comment, preferably telling me something about summer camp to do with you or your kids (or, you can just be boring and say hi).  Fair enough?  I’ll do the drawing on Friday, July, 24, when my son comes home from camp – how’s that for a theme?

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of this book, check out Random House.

Lisa Harper is a master storyteller whose lively approach connects the dots between the Bible era and modern life.  She is a sought-after Bible teacher and speaker whose upcoming appearances include the national Women of Faith Conferences. A veteran of numerous radio and television programs and the author of several books, she also is a regular columnist for Today’s Christian Woman magazine. Lisa recently completed a master’s of theological studies from Covenant Theological Seminary. She makes her home outside Nashville.

1 comment:

Glenna said...

Hi, Catherine,

I first attended summer camp when I was 9 years old. In those days we slept on old-fashioned army cots in tents on cement slabs.

I adored my counselor, an older lady with very long hair. She would let us girls braid it for her before she put it up on her head! I got pretty homesick that week, but my counselor was like a grandma who loved me through my first camp experience. She will always be special. Who says you are too old to be a counselor??

Glenna