Paris Reidhead:
“Why should a person come to the cross? Why should a person embrace death with Christ? Why should a person be willing to go in identification down to the cross and into the tomb and up again? I’ll tell you why! Because it’s the only way that God can get glory out of a human being!”
From Peanuts to the Pressbox by Eli Gold
“From Peanuts to the Pressbox” is a story about how a little boy from Brooklyn pursued his dream to be a broadcaster. This book takes you through the life of Eli Gold from his first game at Yankee Stadium, to having non-paid jobs at radio stations to get in the door, to a peanut boy at Madison Square Garden, to, eventually, Eli Gold becoming the “voice of the Crimson Tide”.
The book “From Peanuts to the Pressbox” allows us, as readers, a fresh perspective on the “rags to riches” storyline. In typical rags to riches storyline, there is more of a focus on events as opposed to thought process and relationships along the way. This books highlights on the latter. What went through Eli Gold’s mind as he pursued his dream of broadcasting? Who did he meet along the way? What relationships were formed? These questions and more are answered in detail and they help add a depth to the story of Eli Gold.
What struck me was Eli Gold’s dad’s involvement in his life. Read the following quote:
“I remember vividly my first trip to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. I was about for years old, and my dad took me to a game between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians on a Wednesday afternoon. The funny thing was, my dad wasn’t a big sports fan. If it was up to him, he wouldn’t be at a Yankees game on a Wednesday afternoon or even on a Saturday, but he knew that I wanted to go. So we went.”
Having strong involvement from both of his parents helped to provide Eli Gold with a strong foundation of which he could pull encouragement from.
Another aspect of this book that I found interesting was Eli Gold’s passion to be better at broadcasting. Even as a small child, he would sit in his seat at various arenas and stadiums with a tape recorder and practice his play-by-play. In addition, as he grew up, he gave his tapes of these play-by-plays to respected people in his field; Eli Gold then leveraged this feedback to help further perfect his timing, voice inflection, vocabulary, etc.
Having put this book down, I am encouraged and challenged by the life of Eli Gold. As a father, I hope that I can help steer my children in the right direction as Eli’s parents did. In addition, it gave me a renewed passion to work hard at being who I’m destined to be.
Matt Legere
I had the priviledge of reading the book “Fearless” by Max Lucado in advance of the book’s publication date of September 8th, courtesy of Thomas Nelson Publishing. Wow! What a great book. See below for the book review:
The book “Fearless” by Max Lucado dares to pose a stirring thought to a culture saturated by fear: “Imagine your life without fear”. The very idea that we could live our lives, as the title of the book suggests, fearless may seem rather bold, even unrealistic at first; however, it’s Biblical. Max Lucado seems to reach into the atmosphere where fears are swirling around and, after picking out the ones that hold us hostage; he then proceeds to explain Godly solutions to these fears in way that inspires faith and rekindles hope.
One of the chapters of this book that was most impacting was Chapter 2 where Max Lucado confronts the “fear of not mattering”. God used this chapter to bring previously undefined emotions and reactions to the surface of my heart. As I read about the “fear of not mattering”, something clicked in me and I saw why it bothers me so much when I’m left out or when someone doesn’t return my phone call. I fear not mattering. And if we buy into this fear, “the fear of insignificance creates the result that it dreads”, as Max Lucado says.
Another appealing concept about this book is that it wasn’t written based on proof-texting (i.e. I have a cool book title so let’s find a Scripture that works). Instead, it presents the simple and profound truths of the Bible that show us we don’t need to be fearful, no matter what the economy or job market is doing around us. We can trust in the Lord and we have hope!
I encourage you to get this book and I pray that you are as impacted as I was.
Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
The book called “Love and Respect” by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs has a different approach than any other marriage book I have ever read. In reading about how this book was birthed, I then understood what makes this book so impacting and fresh: it was developed in response to illumination from Scripture! You may think that that’s how it should be (and you’re right); however, for those of us who have read a lot of books, too often we find books that contain people’s opinions wrapped tightly around handpicked Scriptures that prove their point.
In 1998, Dr. Eggerichs was studying the Bible and he saw the “love and respect” principle in Ephesians 5:33 where it says, “Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband”. Dr Eggerichs says it like this “Without love, she (the wife) reacts without respect. Without respects, he (the husband) reacts without love. While we previously were told that love was the answers for all issues (both male and female), the inclusion of respect will help marriages to be solid and Biblical.
My wife and I have been watching the DVD series on Love and Respect and it has been just about one of the best teaching we’ve heard on marriage. We’ve begin to apply these principles in our marriage and it’s helped us “decode” how each other thinks and reacts to situations.
If you are looking for ways for your marriage to be more Biblical, I would highly recommend this resource.
