Again, I review books for Thomas Nelson in exchange for free reading material. Here's my review of What Difference Do It Make? by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynne Vincent.

I love homeless people. I think that's a pretty well known fact about me. The reason I picked this book was because it that's partially what it is about. A lot of the book is about Moore's struggle with homelessness. While I've never personally been homeless, I was still able to sympathize a lot. I know homeless people. I know a lot of what they go through. I also know a lot of Christians, my former pastor included, who refuse to help them because they "put themselves in that situation!" I wish I could give a copy of this book to people who think that way. It's a really short book, it's not all that deep. It's pretty easy, quick reading. It's not my usual style of books (I'm an unashamed avid Rob Bell reader. David Dark has become one of my favorites recently, too.), but it wasn't bad for what it was.

I haven't updated this since August 1st? Really? Wow.

I'm a month away from finishing my next-to-last undergrad semester. It's been.. crazy. I started off the semester by having major panic attacks every single night and seriously considered withdrawing. Things are a lot better now.

Half of the school* had H1N1. I haven't caught it yet.


I'm still trying to figure out what it means to follow Christ. I honestly don't know if I want to anymore. His other followers are so disheartening. I know that's a silly reason to not want to be a part of it, but it's really hard to get past. I had a woman tell me last night that in order to be in God's will, you must be super-conservative politically. When I explained that even though my politics lean towards the liberal side of things, I believe that the gospel doesn't require me to believe certain things when it comes to politics. Love God, love others, live simply. I can't find these values in any political party, but that is what I believe the gospels are about.

My professors are letting me take my finals before Thanksgiving so I can stay home and not have to drive 20+ hours before Christmas. Hopefully I can get a job or something.

Revelife is about to feature one of my blog entries from wordpress.

I can't decide what to do about grad school. I know I want to go. I don't know what I want to go for. As much as I love literature and writing, I feel completely burnt out on English. There's a program at Duquesne University that is Social Policy with a concentration on Non-Violent Conflict Resolution (or something similar. I forget the exact words). I'm really hoping to get into that program. If not.. well, we'll see. Hopefully I won't have to go work at Starbucks just for health insurance or something.

I like Mark Mathis.



*I exaggerate. A couple guys on the baseball team and maybe two or three others had it.

I signed up to be a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson publishing. This was the first book they sent me.

The gist: You have to market to men and women separately. Elizabeth Pace will tell you how to do just that.

My review: I have to admit, I was really bored through the whole thing. I'm not very interested in marketing. It was sort of interesting from a psychological standpoint, but overall I found my mind wandering while I tried to read it. I haven't read any other marketing books, but I think that if someone was interested in the topic, they'd like this book. This book also made me realize that, if they are correct, I think like a man much more than I think like a woman. It seems that she is going more by stereotypes than by actual research, but I could be wrong. The majority of the time she talks about men, she points out that they are not emotional, not sensitive to pain, and generally macho. When she talks about women, she lumps us all together as emotional, sensitive, and concerned with things that are pretty.

Overall, the book wasn't too bad. I really think if I was interested in marketing, I'd like it more. I didn't like the stereotypical way of portraying men and women. Maybe we are all like how they assume we are. I don't know. 

Side note: There was something crusty on the book when it was sent to me. I'm kind of grossed out.