I've been a book and product reviewer for almost 5 years now. The reason I started it was because I needed a hobby in my husband's opinion. At the time, he was traveling about 75% of the time, and it was hard being separated from him for such long periods of time. Being a dedicated wife and mother, was a full-time job and aside from that, I didn't really have many outside interests. I loved that at the time, companies were just beginning to really expand on the idea of Christian themed novels in just about any genre you could imagine, including my favorite horror and suspense.
At first it was just the companies that were beginning to
reach out to bloggers who were posting at least 5 times a week and they would
offer you a book at a time. That was great for most people, but for me, I
literally inhaled them the moment I got them, like a parched person in a
desert, these books were life-giving water to my book lover's heart.
In fact, my dad still reminds me every time we get together
of just how much time I used to spend isolated from my day, getting lost in the
worlds of the books I read. Talking to my step mom, both avid book lovers at
heart, we get that gleam in our eye when we think about how wonderful it is to
step inside a book store, to feel the weight of the book in our hands as we
flip pages, and why people don't understand our love of a paper book over an
electronic download. There is something to be said for flipping pages instead
of swiping them. There is that essence of the smell of ink on a page and
nothing gives a book lover greater joy than adding to their collection. It is
why we collect them and love nothing more in our minds than having a library
filled with the books we have loved and adored reading.
Only book lovers can understand that! Everyone else simply
shakes their heads until you put it in terms they can understand like shopping
to some women, buying shoes and purses, watching sports, hunting or fishing or
whatever your passion is.
Book Reading is that for me.
It provides a virtual escape to another place to interact
with interesting characters we might never get to meet in a very safe place. I
actually have had time leaving my characters hanging in some life or death
situation when I have to step away for a time. But I do, even though it's
painful.
I got the rare opportunity to be a part of an exclusive
tele-conference yesterday for one of the companies I work with on promotions
and get to listen to Kirk Cameron talk about his latest venture, Saving
Christmas, coming to theaters starting November 14th and lasting only 2 short
weeks.
His reason for making the movie was to simply restore the
joy that seems to be missing in our homes because of guilt, commercialism or
simply being too stressed out during the holidays. We forget what the real
reason is supposed to be about, even though the Bible doesn't specifically call
for the celebration of Jesus' birth, nor does December 25th appear as the
actual date of Jesus' birth. It's all about the joy of celebrating with friends
and family what Jesus is doing in our everyday lives. The love we share being
with family and friends and the traditions that we hold on to and value.
I was immediately impressed and aware of his true passion
for the project and how strong he is in his faith to God. His love of his
family is apparent in everything he does. I applaud him for using his
"celebrity status" for promoting God and His Word through a number of
projects like Fireproof, Monumental and now Saving Christmas geared to get to
the heart of what's important. From our marriages and families to our
foundational beliefs as a country and now the importance of Christmas in a
growing world that would hate us for even mentioning the words Merry Christmas!
I would encourage you all to take the time on November 14th
or any time for the two weeks that the movie comes to theaters to see how we
can get our Christmas joy back into our Christmas celebrations and how we can
incorporate those into sharing our faith with family and friends. Sometimes the
love of God we show to others through our actions by being a bitter Christian
allows people to see that being a Christian isn't so fun after all. I mean
looking at us and how we are, why would they want to jump on and join Jesus?
Let's stop being so judgmental about the things happening
around us, and instead show the love of God a whole lot more. The most
important part of this movie from Kirk's perspective is simply this, "What
is he hoping people will take away from watching Saving Christmas? To get their
joy back in celebrating Christmas instead of feeling bad for what they are or
aren't doing. It's about rejoicing, pulling out all the stops, to celebrate God
with Us!”
For those of you that haven't had an opportunity to visit my book/product reviewers blog, Reviews From The Heart yet, you might want to stop by. I am hosting a couple of giveaways that end this month and it's simple to enter. You never know if you just might be the lucky winner. The giveaways are listed in order on the right hand side of my blog, Reviews From The Heart. Simply click on the picture and it will provide you details of what you need to do to enter that giveaway!
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