Answering 911

"Answering 911" by Caroline Burau

If you know me you know that I like a little drama, a little tragedy so this book intrigued me by its title. It is written by a 911 operator and although it doesn't go into a lot of detail about certain calls it does give you a look inside a day of a 911 operator. It is a thankless job but a vital one. "But, beyond that, there's a certain mentality in law enforcement that says you shouldn't be the type of person who takes things personally. If you are, you're weak. Build a wall. I hear that one a lot. The problem is, I'm a person. And when another person calls me on the phone asking for my compassion and my help, I don't want them to have to jump my wall to get it." It is hard to answer emergency calls all day and not let them get to you but still have compassion for the person on the other line. "Sometimes I wonder: How does God handle all the 911 calls that He gets?" He answers and He answers with compassion and a knowledge of all things and for that I am so glad. "Good things happen, I remind myself often. It's just that nobody calls 911 to tell us about it when it does." Maybe we should, maybe we should. Who knows whose day we might make.

Unbroken

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

This might be one of the best books I have ever read. I highly recommend this book and would urge all to read it. It is a story of World War II and prisoners of war. The more stories I read about wars the more grateful I become of those who serve and sacrifice their lives for my freedom. I am in awe of all that they endure so that I can worship the God I want, be who I want and raise children that believe they can be anything they want. This story is truly amazing. "A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain." "He smiled without interruption." I like that line, and hope that often I can smile without interruption. I think my husband does that to me. "Men didn't go one by one. A quarter of a barracks was lost at once. There were rarely funerals, for there were rarely bodies. Men were just gone, and that was the end of it." A whole plane full of men would be killed and never found. "At intervals between a bomb falling it sounded like church: voices from nearby slit trenches all chanting the Lord's prayer together-over and over again." "Without dignity, identity is erased." A lot of men would have rather died than been a prisoner. They were no longer men but slaves or animals at the hand of the enemy. There was no dignity in the prisoner camps. "Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it. The loss of it can carry a man off as surely as thirst, hunger, exposure, and asphyxiation, and with greater cruelty." In these camps that was the goal, to deprive men of their dignity and in doing this death came quickly. "If I knew I had to go through those experiences again, I'd kill myself." This was spoken by a prisoner of war. "He was not the worthless, broken, forsaken man that the Bird had striven to make of him. In a single, silent moment, his rage, his fear, his humiliation and helplessness, had fallen away."

Fatal Convictions

"Fatal Convictions" by Randy Singer

A part time pastor and lawyer takes a case of a Islamic man convicted of honor killing two people because he believes he is innocent. Soon all the evidence is stacking up against his client and he wonders if he just made the biggest mistake of his life. Not only is it a fight for his career but it just might be a fight for his life too. This book keeps you guessing and honestly I didn't put it together till the very end. It kept me intrigued and interested as there were some twists and turns. "The test of faith is not just whether it helps you live well, the real test of faith is whether it allows you to die well." I know that I want to die well and I have seen death both ways. My father in law died well, knowing that he was in God's hands and so thankful for his life, his family and friends and telling others about Him till he took his last breath. Faith to its fullest is faith lived out till death. "Often, the most dangerous deception was the one that looked most like the truth." Isn't that how the devil works?

The Deepest Waters

"The Deepest Waters" by Dan Walsh

My dad bought me this book for my birthday because on the cover it said, "Walsh demonstrate that, like Nicholas Sparks, men are capable of writing romantic fiction.", and my dad knows I love Nicholas Sparks. This was a great book! It is about a couple taking their honeymoon aboard a steamship only to be separated due to a hurricane. All the women and children are rescued but the men are lost with the ship. She faces a devastating loss but must face life alone. There are a lot of twists to the story and lots of happy endings. This book is also inspired by real events and real people. "But it was the way he looked at her. She had never seen such a look in a man's eyes; it was something she had only cherished in books." Since I am an avid book reader I love this line. We read so much in books and sometimes believe it only happens there, within pages and not in real life. "But if Jesus can make my heart free, can't no man make a slave of me." We can all be slaves of something or someone but when Jesus is in our hearts we are free indeed. "My life, before discovering your love, was like a harsh journey up a steep incline, only to reach a landing and find myself staring out at the most magnificent view. Your love has been breathtaking. I hadn't lived before you came, merely existed." This is the kind of love we all search for and the kind of love God gives, freely to all. Read this book and be inspired by love, the will to live and God's miracles.