BOOK REVIEW: "AMISH COUNTRY HIDEOUT" (PLAIN SECRETS BOOK 1) BY MEGHAN CARVER

After 20 years in the Witness Protection Program, how did the killer of Veronica Williams' parents locate her days after  escaping prison? Could Amish bookstore owner Matthew Yoder and his sister Esther save the young women from a vengeful murderer and her accomplice? 

"Amish Country Hideout" is the first in Meghan Carver's Plain Secrets series. Carver does an excellent job of keeping you turning pages, ready for the next plot twist,  and at dealing with the different worlds her main protagonists are living in, Matthew an Amish man who lost his parents in a farm with a bad leg as a reminder, and Veronica a 30 year old who spent 2/3 of her life with a new identity but always ready to run when needed.

 I normally don't read Amish fiction, but I'm looking forward to the next installment of this series.

I received an ARC provided by the author; all opinions are my own.

THE ONES I LOVE TO HATE, TO CHEER THEM ON TO DEFEAT - MY FAVORITE VILLIANS IN BOOKS, MOVIES/TV, AND COMICS

 

Conflict is an important part to an interesting story. A tale where everything goes right for the main character is basically BORING. What propels things is conflict. Maybe it might be a 100 year flood threatening a community, or an asteroid about to destroy the earth. But more often, it's an antagonist, with the villain being a typical form.

You probably realize it, but while all villains are antagonists, all antagonists aren't villains. In legal dramas, the opposing attorney and maybe the judge are effective antagonists, but they aren't bad... they're merely doing their job. For an example, attorney Mitch Taylor is the main protangonist in Randy Singer's second novel "Directed Verdict." After that story, Taylor becomes a prosecutor, and while keeping the characteristics you liked about him, he is a frustation to protagonists in later stories. Not at all a bad guy, but you're not rooting for him anymore. You don't want to see him hurt. You just want him to lose this trial.

But we find villains interesting, with it is an evil killer like Freddy Kruger or a cheater like Dick Dasterdly. In fact, as in the case of Batman or Dick Tracy, the hero is more bland while it's the villains that get the attention. 

What are my preferences in dealing with villains? One thing is I like seeing villains survive the story, and maybe even be reformed. Sometimes, the bad guy needs to be taken out, but I am not always satisfied seeing the villain getting his case before the Ultimate Judge of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart getting sped up (or in other words, the villain getting killed). In fact, I've been bothered in several James Bond movies where it seems more like the criminal gets murdered as opposed to executed, such as when he destroys Blofield's control tower using a solo passenger sub as a wrecking ball, with Blofeld inside the sub in "Diamonds Are Forever."

Another thing I like is when the villain has a sense of humor and seems to enjoy being bad. The Batman villains fall into that category. On the other end, I often find villains lack any redeeming value; if I didn't want a villain who's human, I would focus on sharks as being the foe. One movie like Jaws was fine, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

One more observation. Most villains fall into those who are in their right mind doing wrong things and those who are not in their right mind. The former are dangerous because their evil is well planned and thought out, the latter are dangerous because they're unpredictable. My preference is the former, but that's me. (I've never been a Joker fan.)

So now, let me give my list of favorite villains. They come from various sources: Novels, Movies, Comic Books, and TV. Some of these villains have appeared in different formats, and it's one form that puts him (or her - there's a couple of "ladies" in with the "gentlemen") on my list, and I'll point that out.

So are you ready for me to bring out the baddies? And I'll do this as a count down.

20. Jaws. No, not the movie. This Jaws was a henchman/assassin of the main villain (Karl Stromberg) in "The Spy Who Loved Me." Unlike most Bond bad guys, Jaws survives and returns working for Hugo Drax in "Moonraker." In the end, Jaws turns against Drax, and survives the adventure with his girl friend.

19. The Rhino, a Marvel supervillain who was introduced as a Spiderman foe and later faced the Hulk. In Hulk #102, we see him out of costume saying it was hard finding a job for someone who used to be the Rhino. He may have been meaning a job with a villain (and his old bosses rehired him with an acid proof costume), but my impression was that he was looking for a legitimate job, and I felt sorry for him. That put him high on my list. Looking at his bio, he later reforms.

18. Antonio Salieri, from "Amadeus," played by F. Murray Abraham. Won a well-deserved Oscar for this role.

17. The Gladiator, aka Melvin Potter, not to be confused with Kallark. Both Gladiators were Marvel characters. I am not familiar with the latter, whose main contact is with the X-Men. Potter appeared 11 years earlier, in '66, and was primarily a foe of Daredevil. He reformed, though he had some hiccups in his life since then.

16. Khan Noonian Singh, aka Khan. Yep, the superhuman villain introduced in the episode "Space Seed" of Star Trek, the Original Series, and returned in "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan," played in both by Ricardo Montalban.

15. Flat Top Jones. I was introduced to him as one of Dick Tracy's best known villains, and in Chester Gould's comics, he also had a son (Flat Top Jr.), a daughter (Angeltop), a brother (Blow Top), and other relatives. But I'm focusing on his appearance in the Warren Beatty movie (1990), played by William Forsythe. One of my favorite scenes was when the main villain with his two henchmen Itchy and Flat Top tried to bribe the hero, who refused. So they rigged the boiler to blow up. As the bad trio left, Flat Top stopped, turned to Dick Tracy, and said, "You sure you don't want to change your mind?"

14. Fraer, villain/musician of Janalyn Voigt's "Tales of Faeraven." An example of a villain who had a sense of humor.

13. Muttley (snicker snicker), the henchman of Dick Dasterdly in Hanna Barbara's Wacky Races and the sequel (or prequel?) "Dasterdly and Muttley and Their Flying Machines." He actually was introduced as "Mugger" in the movie "Hey There, It's Yogi Bear," a little more menacing but exhibiting all the Muttley behavior.

12. Mad Madame Mim, from Disney's "The Sword and the Stone."

11. Javier Beck, from "Act of Valor", True Blue K-9 Unit Book 3, by Dana Mentink. I've read over 100 Love Inspired Suspense novels, and the villains are mostly evil people without a strong unique personality, with some who are just creepy pschotics. Beck stands out. His drug dealing was observed by the heroine of the novel, so his mission was to kill her to impress his higher-ups, and he seemed to have a ball in being a bad guy.

10. The Wicked Witch of the West. Cue in the evil music as she flies by on her broom, accompanied by flying monkeys. Do I need to tell you this is Margaret Hamilton's portrayal in 1939's "The Wizard of Oz?" I didn't think so.

9. The Catwoman. Of course, as a boy watching the Adam West/Burt Ward Batman series who also loved cats, it's logical for the character to be my favorite. Also of course, looking back at the three who had the role in the series and the multiple catwomen on the big screen, the one that rises to the top would be Julie Newmar. 

8. The Mirror Master from 1990's Flash series, played by David Cassidy. Yep, Keith Partridge plays a villain, and I loved that portrayal. (Not the only atypical choice for a villain - Mark Hamil played the Jokeresque Trickster, which helped him get the role of being the Joker's voice in the cartoon series from the 90's.)

7. Marv from Home Alone, played by Daniel Stern. More fun than his boss, Harry (Joe Pesci)

6. Darth Vader (body of David Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones), Star Wars. 

5. Scaramanga, played by Christopher Lee in "The Man With The Golden Gun." Another bad guy who seemed to be enjoying himself, including a duel with James Bond.

4. Blow Top Jones. Brother of Flat Top (see above). I got to see him in action in the 50th Anniversary story, where Dick Tracy and his unit ran into several of Tracy's old foes, including Blow Top. As you'd guess, Blow Top would lose his cool frequently, though only on trivial matters; he listened when it was a serious issue. And unlike his brother, his niece, and his nephew, Blow Top reformed.

3. Riff Raff, a thug of a badger and regular foe of Underdog.

2. Harry Mudd, played by Roger C. Carmel. I'm a Carmel fan, and enjoyed him play various bad guys, but the remembered role for me and probably most people was his two appearances in Star Trek, The Original Series. He also voiced Mudd in the cartoon series. Another villain who seems to be having the time of his life.

1. Riddle me this. Who do you think is the top of my favorite villains? If you say Frank Gorshin's portrayal of the Riddler on the Batman TV series, you'd be correct!

Would any of these be on your favorite villains list? Any you'd disagree with? How about ones that you're disappointed I didn't mention?

MOVIE REVIEW - JUGGERNAUT (1974)

 

In the mid '70's, I was introduced to one of my Marvel supervillains, the Juggernaut, who is most associated with the X-Men. At the same time, my dad got me a book on the films of Boris Karloff, who starred in a non-horror role in a 1936 suspense movie with this title. Neither of those have anything in common with each other, nor with the 1974 movie "Juggernaut," which I'm reviewing (though both movies are suspenseful and are British movies).

The 1974 Juggernaut fits neatly into the disaster movies of the '70's, and like those, it has a large cast of good actors: in this case, it's Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, Anthony Hopkins, Ian Holm (received a nomination for supporting actor for "Chariots of Fire," though is probably better known for his role in the original "Alien"), Julian Glover, and one of my favorite actors, Freddie Jones ("Firefox," "Dune, "Firestarter," "Krull"). 

The plot is typical for this type of movie. The owner of the ocean liner Britannic gets a message from someone who calls himself "Juggernaut," stating that he has seven barrels with high exploves on the ship, and any attempt either to disarm them or failure to pay five hundred thousand pounds will mean the ship with the 1200 passengers and crew will go boom.

If you enjoy end-to-end suspense and action, this movie will deliver. It is a definite PG. The worst part is one minor story that the captain is seeing a married woman. Other than that, I would unconditionally recommend this movie.

BOOK REVIEW - "JUNGLE FIRE" BY DANA MENTINK

 Why did a soldier open fire on the bus that furlough-bound missionary Nina Truman was riding on? Who is the mysterious green eyed woman urging her to run instead of helping her fellow victims? And why is Shaw Wilder so reluctant to donate him and his bomb sniffing dog to help her get to safety?

I have read several of Dana Mentink's Love Inspired Suspense K-9 novels, but this is the first full length novel I've read by her. It is as action packed as I expected it to be, as well as several unexpected plot twists. 

Nina and Shaw are compelling leads in the story, as well as other interesting characters that you're not sure if you should trust or not.

I highly recommend this story.

THE FAMILY THAT SINGS TOGETHER...

Clockwise from upper left: "Worship and Service Hymnal;" "The Baptist Hymnal (1991);" "Songs for the Church;" "Praise! Our Songs and Hymns;" "Hymns of Grace;" "Gospel Hymns Nos. 1-6 Complete."

In 1997, Becky and I were listening to Elizabeth Elliott on the radio, and she mentioned singing hymns together as a family. We took her up on it and have been singing hymns together since then.

Several people suggest that couples and families pray together, and maybe read the Bible or a devotional. Singing is not as common, I'm guessing. But this is an enjoyable part of our life. As you can see, we have a nice little collection of hymnals, and that is not complete. 

Our go-to is the "Worship and Service Hymnal." When my parents divorced and I moved to Skull Valley where my grandparents were, this was the first hymnal that made an impression, mainly by having several "Amens" on the back inside cover. This came out in '61, old enough to miss including songs like "Victory in Jesus" and "How Great Thou Art." (It also lacked "Be Thou My Vision.")

I was there from February '69 to the fall of '90, when we moved to Prescott. In June, '71, I moved in with my Dad who remarried in Cottonwood, Arizona. We went to Verde Baptist Church, where I glanced at the back of the hymnal and saw the familiar Amens. We used that hymnal until '77  when we replaced it with the Baptist Hymnal 1975. 

In August '78, I started attending Southwestern College. During chapel hour, I picked up the hymnal. Yep. The Worship and Service Hymnal. 

What's interesting is that when we started, there were songs Becky was familiar with in growing up with Church of Christ hymnals, such as "Songs of the Church" (upper right hand corner) that I was unfamiliar with, like "O To Be Like Thee" and "My Jesus, As Thou Wilt," hiding in the hymnal I grew up with.

Two things happened. One is we got more hymnals. The other is some of the songs that we didn't have in "Worship and Service Hymnal." There are are three hymnals that we added to our singing time roster, though the new songs were limited.

First, there is "Praise! Our Songs and Hymns, which we used while members of Hunter Road Bible Church. It had some new hymns, and a lot of songs from John W. Peterson. In '74, I joined the camp choir which did a contata called "Jesus is Calling," and when we performed, we were conducted by Mr. Peterson himself. So with this hymnal I got to learn Peterson songs like "Come, Holy Spirit," "Springs of Living Water," "Heaven Came Down," and "Surely Goodness and Mercy." It also had "Victory in Jesus," "Be Thou My Vision," and "How Great Thou Art."

Second is the 1991 Baptist Hymnal. That had a great collection of Christmas songs (though it didn't include "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen," as well as a number of black spirituals like "Were You There?" and some contemporary songs like Maranatha Praise choruses (e.g."Seek Ye First," "Open Our Eyes, Lord) and tunes like "Shine, Jesus, Shine" and Twila Paris' classic "We Will Glorify." That hymnal had old songs I missed out on like "Brethren We Have Come To Worship," and songs by other writers like B. B. McKinney such as "Have Faith in God," which Becky and I regularly sing.

The last of the hymnals we regularly use was not pictured above. It is called "Songs Christians Sing Vol. 2", and was basicly a smaller version of the Church of Christ's "Songs of the Church." Becky was familiar with a lot of songs, but three caught my eye because they were written by hymn writers I knew but were not in any of our other hymnals - "I'm Not Ashamed To Own My Lord" by Isaac Watts, "More Holiness Give Me" by Phillip Bliss, and "Give Me The Bible" by Priscilla Owens, the lyrics writer who also wrote the more familiar "We Have Heard The Joyful Sound" (aka "Jesus Saves!) and "We Have An Anchor."

There are other hymnals I'd like to mention which are in our collection. These are: 

• "Inspiring Hymns," used during my first year at Cactus Baptist Church, my first year at Southwestern. It introduced me to a little known but much convicting "He Was Not Willing" (which is why I kept it). It introduced me to another of my favorite hymns, "And Can It Be That I Should Gain," though I later learned this version butchered it, using only 3 of the 5 verses, and dropped the 5th and 6th lines of two of the three verses it kept. Ugh!
• "Trinity Hymnal," which Becky picked up from a Reformed Church while she spent a month at a journalism institute put on by World Magazine. That's one hymnal I want to learn more of.
• "Gospel Hymnal Nos. 1-6 Complete" is probably the oldest in our collection, dating to the late 1800s and early 1900s. A lot of these songs were from the Dwight L. Moody days, including writers like Phillip Bliss, Ira Sankey, and my favorite hymn music writer, James McGranahan, who chose to use his musics to bring the  lost to Christ rather than getting into Opera.
• "Hymns for the Family of God" is one I'm including though we gave it away. This hymnal has a large number of Gaither songs.
• "Hymns of Grace" is the hymnal used by Grace Community Church, where the late Dr. John MacArthur was pastor. The book is large but it actually has fewer hymns than some of the others. One thing that struck me: I will mention four hymn writers, who combined wrote 80 songs. I'll start with Fanny Crosby, often considered the best known hymn writer. Only 6 songs of hers were included. Two of my favorites, Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley fared what seems reasonable, with 18 and 16 songs respectively, totaling... 40 songs? Who wrote the other 40 songs? Keith and Kristyn Getty (with Stuart Townsend). It included 10 of 12 songs from an album I enjoyed, omitting... of course, my two favorites.!

Hope I've challenged you. Of course, a lot of churches are no longer using hymnals (including the one I'm currently attending). Many of my readers might be more used to overheads and learning new songs on the radio. But I find this habit a blessing, and hope I've encouraged some to try this idea out.

 

OF MOST READ AUTHORS AND LOOKING AHEAD TO MY FAVORITES LISTS AT THE END OF THE YEAR

Favorite novels, each representing a different author. Not all the authors mentioned below are repre-sented here, nor are all the authors of above books mentioned below. List of titles and authors below.

 It's been a couple of years since I updated my list of most read fiction authors. Well, I found the list I started two years ago (which is one reason I didn't update it), so I'll do that.Allow me, though, to mention one of my favorite lists and how it's progressing. I'm speaking of my favorite songs list, which was the top 15 (in my opinion) the first year I did it ('22), and 20 each the following three years. Both last year and now this year, I have been setting aside new songs I like, and then trim it down. As of this moment, do you know how many songs are on that list? 22. So it will be a fun challenge putting it together. (BTW, I mentioned that I'm going to start cutting off the entries the beginning of December.)

Back to the novels. I currently have 36 authors on that list, and there's a few that I haven't tracked yet. But in the past two years, you know how many I have read books by? Twelve. True, I may have read multiple books by some authors - one jumped up nine spots, for example. But several seem to have hit a spot and stayed there. 

One factor is that I read a lot of Love Inspired Suspense, or more accurately, a few of the authors. This includes the multi-author K-9 series, so there's a group of authors who are basically guaranteed moving up a spot each year. One author, though, who moved up for the first time... oh, you'll hear about it soon. 

I'm debating raising the minimum on the lists from 5 to 10. Currently, I have 26 authors that have passed the 5 mark. But I only have 10 over 10, so I'll keep up what I'm doing. (In perspective, ten years ago, there were only 9 that hit the minimum of 5 and 5 of those had at least 10.) If there's much movement, I might raise it next year. We'll see.

One last comment. You may have noticed that I seem to read more women writers than men. True. Out of the 36 writers on my list, the ladies outnumber the gentlemen by 2 to 1 (24 compared to 12). But I learned in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Christian Fiction" by Ron Benrey that the vast majority of writers and readers of Christian Fiction are female.  

Okay, now with the list. I debated started at the top, because there are more suprises at the bottom, but I'll make it a countdown nontheless. So, you ready?

Tied for 22nd, 5 novels read: Maggie Black, Valarie Hansen, Dana Mentink, Frank Peretti, and Amy Wallace. The last two mentioned have been there a while, but Dana joined this group last year and Maggie and Valarie this year.

Tied for 17th, 6 novels read: Jackie Castle, Julianna Deering, Sandra Orchard, Ellery Queen, and Laura Scott. Laura is new to this spot, the others have been there awhile.

Tied for 14th, 7 novels read: John Otte, Janet Sketchley, and Jill Williamson. All these haven't moved.

Tied for 11th, 8 novels read: Sharon Dunn, Stephen King, and Terri Reed. This summer will mark the 40th year since I've read any King. 

10th, 11 novels read: Ian Fleming. The last Fleming novel I read was probably in '76 or so, until last year when I read "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." 

9th, 13 novels read: James Blish. I read a couple of his short stories a couple of years ago, but no new complete books, which consists of the first Star Trek novel and 12 collections of TOS novelizations.

Tied for 7th, 14 novels read: Kerry Nietz and Randy Singer. This tie will be broken this year.

Tied for 5th, 15 novels read: Allistair MacLean and Jessica Patch. MacLean, Blish, and Singer have all been in this 13-15 territory, with MacLean being the first to hit 15 in 2017. 

In 4th place with 19 novels read is Jodie Bailey. I discovered her in 2019, and she's been racing up the list.

3rd place? Nancy Mehl, with 21 novels read. 

And in 1st place? Agatha Christie, with 23 novels read. She has been towards the top for decades, hitting first place around 2011, where she sat at the pinnacle...

Except she's currently in a tie for 1st place. Dame Agatha is sharing the spot with another mystery author: Donna Fletcher Crow has reached the same goal. Now the question is if Donna's going to continue being at the top, or if I'll go on a Christie reading binge, as has happened a few times in my life.

Let me close by giving you the list of the novels on my shelf above, left to write:

• "The Clocks" by Agatha Christie. 
• "Where Eagles Dare" by Allistair MacLean. 
• "Ransomed Dreams" by Amy Wallace.
• "An Unholy Communion" by Donna Fletcher Crow.
• "Missing Mabel" by Nancy Mehl.
• "Undercover Colorado Conspiracy" by Jodie Bailey.
• "Dangerous Obsession" by Jessica R. Patch.
• "The Judge" (formerly titled "The Cross-Examination of Oliver Finney") by Randy Singer.
• "Judge" by R. J. Larson (pen-name for Kacy Barnett-Gramckow)
• "Amish Vampires in Space" by Kerry Nietz.
• "Numb" by John Otte (pronounced Ah-tee).
• "The Methuselah Project" by Rick Barry.
• "Daughter of Light" by Morgan L. Busse (pronounced Bus-see).
• "Ablaze" by Jackie Castle.
• "Burn" by J.M. Hackman.
• "The New Recruit" by Jill Williamson.
• "Heaven's Prey" by Janet Sketchley.
• "Big Bluff" by Jackie Zack.
• "Seeking the Truth" by Terri Reed..
• "Wilderness Defender" by Maggie K. Black. 

You know, I might do a series of my favorite authors, and maybe follow that with my favorite musicians. If I'm really bored, I might go to favorite actors/actresses, favorite athletes, and favorite politicians... okay, I won't go that far.

A TALE OF TWO HALFTIMES AND WHY I'M WATCHING NEITHER

🏈🏈🏈 

Ladies and gentlemen, tonight is the Superbowl, and you have two choices for the halftime show. You can watch the official program, featuring Bad Bunny, offensive to many Christians. Or you can watch the one put on by Turning Point, the organization founded by Charlie Kirk, hosted by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. 

Which am I watching? Uh, I already answered the question in my title. Neither one. 

But why?

Reasons not to watch Bad Bunny? Well, his performance might be offensive to Christians as a whole, but what else is new? After all, we're living in the post-wardrobe-malfunction era. And was picking Madonna as the headliner for Superbowl XLI in Indianapolis a serious attempt to avoid offending people? The reality is that NFL is part of the world (see Matthew 18:6-7; 1 John 2:15-17; 5:19), and the world is acting like you'd expect the world to act. And I have no interest in seeing the world acting like I'd expect the world to act. 

There are two reasons why Turning Point has an alternate half-time show. One is Bad Bunny's selection, the other is, to be honest, Charlie Kirk's death. If Kirk had not been assassinated, there wouldn't be an alternate half-time show. There may have been, as there has been in the past, a Christian program meant to be evangelistic to be shown at church SB parties (I believe it was Campus Crusade for Christ - aka CRU - who did that). But that usually was the local church's initiative with a motive not to compete with the world but to take an opportunity to share the Gospel. I'd be surprised if Kirk, had he still been here, would have put this on.

Which leads me to reasons not to watch the alternative. While the Gospel was preached loud and clear at Kirk's memorial service, is that the purpose of this half-time show? Or is it an organization giving the local church an opportunity to compete with the world? Christian singer and pastor Steve Camp is not at all thrilled, especially with the involvement of TBN (I nicknamed it the Twitty Broadcasting Network, partly because it teaches doctrines I consider a little off, and partly because it's where Conway Twiity's Twitty City used to be). This might be simply a Christian snack food, but will it draw the lost to the Savior or equip the saints for the work of the ministry? Or is it entertainment for a break from spiritual warfare?

So which of the above reasons is my motivation for watching neither? Well, how about none of the above?

I wasn't offended by the 2007 half-time show with Madonna because I wasn't watching Indy's beloved Colts coached by one of my heroes, Tony Dungy (who was born exactly 4 years before me). What was I doing instead? Working on the computer, and then calling it a night. I might have stayed up to see the final minutes and if the Colts won (they did), then to hear what Dungy would say when he had the mike. This year - and most years - I'll just treat the night as if it's nothing special, and wait till I get up to find out who won and then get back to my normal life.

BOOK REVIEW - "LETHAL REUNION (COLD CASE)" BY LACEY BAKER

 

How did the person who murdered Halle Jefferson's twin sister get her cell phone number? What is hidden in a 15 year old time capsule that someone would kill for? Can Sheriff Kyle Brisco - Halle's boyfriend in high school - keep her safe?

"Lethal Reunion: Cold Case", fittingly set in a snow covered Maryland small town, is the first story I read by Lacey Baker, and it's a good one. There are different mysteries, and some very interesting characters as well. 

If you want something to read when it's below 32 degrees - either Farenheit (0 degrees Celcius) or Celcius (90 degrees Farenheit), I would recommend this book.

BOOK REVIEW - "EVERY CHILD EVERY NATION EVERY DAY" BY ROBERT J. MORGAN WITH REESE R. KAUFFMAN

 "Every Child Every Nation Every Day" is the story of Child Evangelism Fellowship (afterward referred to as CEF), introducing us to the founder of the ministry and the person who served as President from 1990 to 2022 (this book was published in 2015), as well as CEF's work around the world.

This volume is divided into four parts. "Jesse Overholtzer and the Message of Child Evangelism Fellowship" gives a  short biography of CEF's founder, from childhood to serving as a minister to being convicted that children are as capable of believing in Christ as an adult. It follows the founding of CEF and how the ministry expanded through the U.S.A. and the rest of the world. The final chapter in this section gives a recap of the ministry from Overholtzer's death in 1955 till 1990.

"Reese Kauffman and the Mission of Child Evangelism Fellowship" tells of Kauffman's early life, focusing on his spiritual and career growth, and his 4+ decade ministry with CEF, from being in a local chapter to being President over 30 years. Among the things it mentions is their goal to have CEF ministry in every country by its 80th anniversary in 2017. As of the book's writing, there were 13 countries left, and it's been down to one since at least 2018.

Part three is "Jesus Christ and the Miracle of Child Evangelism Fellowship, with chapters on Child Evangelism in the Bible, Child Evangelism in the home, and how to lead a child (or adult) to Christ. This is followed by "Biblical Convictions and the Ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship," we see how this ministry is empowered by leadership, giving, prayer, and enthusiasm. Finally, the last chapter deals with the importance of reaching children through a pair of anecdotes.

I found this book inspiring and encouraging, and I highly recommend it.

BOOK REVIEW - "COLD CASE TARGET" (BOOK 2 OF TEXAS CRIME SCENE CLEANERS) BY JESSICA R. PATCH

 Who was murdering widows whose husbands died in accidents, and why? Can private investigator keep Sissy Spencer, his ex-girlfriend, from being the next victim, or at least earn the respect of Sissy's brother Stone?

Can you judge a book by its cover? Sometimes. "Cold Case Target," book two of the Texas Crime Scene Cleaners by Jessica Patch is an example. There are few covers as exciting as this one (Jodie Bailey's "Undercover Colorado Ambush" is another). The plot is just as twisted and unpredictable as the garden maze pictured.

Patch's characters often stand out, easy to enjoy and fall in love with, whether they be main characters or supporting cast. However, some of her villains can give you the creeps, and this is an example of this as well.

This is the second book in this series, as I mentioned above. Can you enjoy this book without feeling lost or spoiling the previous story? I believe so, though it's easier to keep up if you have read the first one, "Crime Scene Conspiracy," which introduces you to the Stone family. I do recommend this book.

BOOK REVIEW - "GHOST JACKET: COVENANT OF LIGHT AND SHADOW" BY JOHN DOWNING CROW

Is there a meaning to the terrifying nightmares 14 year old Asher is having? Is it a coincidence that his father has been in the hospital in a five year coma and Asher and his mom were in a car accident? Does this jacket he's been given have anything to do with it?

"Ghost Jacket" is a fascinating Young Adult fantasy by John Downing Crow. The subtitle is "Covenant of Light and Shadow;" I'm guessing that "Ghost Jacket is the first in a series. 

I enjoyed Asher's interactions with his buddies and the girl he has a crush on. It has a great theme of Spiritual Warfare in it. The plot is very engaging, with me wondering what will happen next.

I received a copy of this book for my unbiased opinion. 

 

FAVORITES LISTS, AND THE SONGS I LISTENED TO MOST ON SPOTIFY - TWO DIFFERENT VIEWS!

David Pataconi (with the red hair) and friends at Kingdom Come Festival, June 21, 2025. The singer at the moment is Monica Soe, who is Pataconi's co-laborer in TheoTerran.

Yes, I had recently posted my favorite songs, fiction, and non-fiction for 2025. It is interesting to compare my list with what Spotify calls my top songs of the year. I'll share why later, but let me start with some thoughts.

I'll go ahead and mention - there were songs I was excited to hear last year, like "Atonement" by I Am The Pendragon, "Enough" by TheoTerran, "Resistance" by Divine Martyr. None of those made the Spotify list, but the reason was simple - they came out at the end of the year and competed with songs out for at least six months. A related issue - I usually have a book I didn't read till the end of the year, and I don't get to reviewing it until after I list it as a favorite! 

So I'll start by telling you what I'm going to do: I'll make December 1st the cut-off, and put December's in with the new year. I did think of that this year, but Divine Martyr didn't release "Resistance" until December 19th, and I wanted to allow them to get a song on the list before the year ended. It was a little crazy. 

But now, what about my Spotify list? Well, it depends on if you're talking about the Spotify list on my computer, which is my long-time and typical usage, or if it is the one I have on my cell phone, a recent development, which is predominately used for listening to worship songs on the list, though I do listen to contemporary songs I'm trying to decide if they make my year's end favorites list.

I chuckle when I see my Spotify's "Top songs" list, because there are many I don't remember or thought I listened to that much. (I'm speaking of the computer list, not the worship driven phone list.) For example, I look at the artists that had the most on the list (three had 4, one had 5). I could correctly guess on the four songs of one artist, but the others I could only guess two each. 

Let me start with the worship list. By the way, 91 of the songs on that list were hymns, choruses, and other worship tunes. 46 of the 58 artists on the list had one song on that list. Another 9 had a pair. Matt Redman had 3, Keith and Kristin Getty and Chris Tomlin had 4 each, and Twila Paris and 2nd Chapter of Acts both had 5. Sovereign Grace had 7, and there were 10 Maranatha music Praise choruses. Top 10 on that list?

1. "All I Have is Christ" - Sovereign Grace Music.
2. "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" - Trace Balin
3. "Truth I'm Standing On" - Worshipwired. (I recently learned Leanne Crawford also does that song.)
4. "You Never Let Go" - Matt Redman
5. "Great is the Lord Almighty" by Dennis Jernigan
6. "Behold Our God" by Sovereign Grace Music
7. "Holy" by David Pataconi
8. "Glorify Thy Name" by Maranatha Music
9. "Morning Comes When You Call" by 2nd Chapter of Acts
10. "All Creatures of our God and King" by Sovereign Grace Music.

Now, to the laptop. This list had 67 artists, 50 of which only had one song. With two songs each were Southbound, Sovereign Grace Music, End of I, Cosmic Cathedral, Autumn Eve, and Trace Balin. The seven artists with three each were XIII Minutes, Tierra Vacia, Divided Me, Devin Williams, Amy Shreve, Hello Luna, and Counter. 

The Band JAREN, Filthy Rags, and Rosalie Hovencraft had four each. The ones by JAREN weren't a surprise, but I could only name two songs I expected for Filthy Rags, Rosalie, or the artist that led the pack with five entries; David Pataconi.

For this list, I'll make it a countdown. Ready?

10. "Holy" by David Pataconi (#8 on my favorites)

9. "Hope Found Hope" by Mad At The World (#15 on my favorites)

8. "Dear Martyr" by Behold the Beloved (#2 on my favorites)

7. "All Aboard" by Rusty Shipp (not on top 20)

6. "More" by Autumn's Descent with Meredith Dunkel of Undefeated (not on top 100)

5. "Hold Your Light Up" by Jenny Colquitt (not on top 20)

4. "Stay" by XIII Minutes (#1 on my favorites).

3. "Cult Leader" by XIII Minutes (not on top 20).

2. "It Wasn't For Nothing" by The Band JAREN (#10 on my favorites list).

And the song that Spotify identified as #1? "Laodicea (Unplugged)" by Tierra Vacia (11 on my favorites).

Yes, there were surprises, but out of the top 10 on Spotify, 9 were NOT a surprise. (I'm not mentioning which one that is - this is my secret. Hint, though - it's not one that made it to the top 20. 

Hope that was interesting. I will say, though - I plan on the phone list to not be as much worship songs as last year, though I'll still be listening to worship in the morning.

BOOK REVIEW - "K-9 RANCH PROTECTION" BY DARLENE L. TURNER

If Police Constable Izzy Tremblay's father died in an accident as everybody but Izzy believes, then why is she threatened if she doesn't stop her investigation? What happened in the three hours of which she has no memory? Can her ex-partner Austin Murray and the K-9s he's training keep her safe in her quest for truth?

Those who are aware of either my love for dogs or how I tend to read a lot of K-9 stories would have 0% surprise to know this title interested me, and it did not disappoint. True, one dog of the group is the top dog in attention given, and happens to be the Malamute on the cover. However, this novel is full of suspense and intrigue. And as you'd expect from the Love Inspired Suspense series, you have an interesting couple wrestling with their past, their fears, and their current mutual attraction.

I recommend this book.

 

2025 TOP TEN FICTION AND TOP TEN NON-FICTION

Promoting a book I enjoyed by a favorite author, as well as promoting one of my favorite bands.

Yes, I usually like posting my favorite lists BEFORE the new year, and I did manage to get my favorite songs list done Monday. Better late than never, in this January 3rd blog I'll be looking at my 20 favorite books, 10 each between fiction and non-fiction. Unlike yesterday, I'll be starting with #1 instead of counting down. And why am I doing both today? Just because I have other blogs for this week.

For those who want to read my review of 19 of these books, I'll be including them on the title. I'm a little behind and still have some reviews to write, including one of the fiction books.

So let me start with the fiction: 

1. "Gazing Into Darkness" (Queen City Heroes Book 1) by Heidi Glick.
2. "Colorado Conspiracy Ambush" by Jodie Bailey.
3. "Rhats Free!" (Muto Chronicles Book 4) by Kerry Nietz.
4. "Double Protection Duty" (Dakota K-9 Unit Book 7) by Sharon Dunn.
5. "Standing Watch" (Dakota K-9 Unit Book 3) by Terri Reed.
6. "Texas Smoke Screen" (Quantico Profilers Book 3) by Jessica Patch.
7. "Big Bluff" (Katy Russell Mystery Book 2) by Jackie Zack. NOTE - I also read books 3 and 4 in this four part series this year. Often, if I have read more than one book in a single author series, I'll just count those books as one. However, while I think all three are good, "Big Bluff" stood out as a favorite. 
8. "Hidden In The Canyon" by Jodie Bailey.
9. "K-9 Ranch Protection" by Darlene L. Turner. 
10. "Tracing Killer Evidence" (Dakota K-9 Unit Book 5) by Jodie Bailey. 

Now, let me leap to non-fiction. Again, I'll update this with links. So here we go.

1. "A Year of Prayer: Appoaching God With an Open Heart Week After Week" by John MacArthur.
2. "Simplify Your Spiritual Life: Spritual Disciplines for the Overwhelmed" by Donald Whitney. Second time I read this book.
3. "Killing Calvinism: How To Destroy a Perfectly Good Theology from the Inside" by Greg Dutcher. And for those who see this title for the first time, it's not anti-Calvinist, but written by a Calvinist for Calvinists.
4. "Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture" and "When Culture Hates You: Persevering for the Common Good as Christians in a Hostile Public Sqare" by Natasha Crain. I read both books this year, but I thought they were close enogugh to each other I'm including both. The first focuses on being a distinct light to the world by our beliefs, our thinking, and our living. The latter gives advice on dealing with those opposing us on worldview issues. I highly recommend both.
5. "The Indomitable Mr. O" by Norman Rohrer: the biography of Jessie Overholtzer, founder of Child Evangelism Fellowship. It also tells how CEF is fulfilling the vision since Overholzer's death.
6. "Transforming The Culture With Truth" by Les Munsil (President of Arizona Christian University, which is my alma mater).
7.  "Fritz and the Midnight Meet-up" by Megan Hill. Yes, this is a children's story book, but I'm including it because it tells a true story. Hill also has written a non-fiction book on the same subject (praying together).
8.  "A Clear and Present Word: The Clarity of Scripture" by Mark Thompson.
9.  "Jacob Arminius: The Man From Oudewater" by Rustin E. Brian. This is one I've read a second time.
10.  "Ask, Seek, Knock," a devotional by Josh Stone. Yes, devotionals make the top and bottom of the non-fiction list.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON 2025, AND HYMNS TO SING ON NEW YEAR'S DAY

From the 1st annual Missions Fair at Northside Baptist Church

Yes, I'm doing my look back at '25 on the first day of '26. Sorry. My original goal was to have my list of favorite books posted on Tuesday, Dec. 30th, this blog done yesterday, and part one of a two part look at '26. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough computer time to keep up with the plan. So the look back is today, the look ahead is now one part and will be tomorrow, and the favorite book lists will be on January 3rd.

This year had several things going on. I judged NCFCA speech and debate contests on-line and at a live location in Fishers, IN, and the year ended judging the first of three on-line tournaments in the '25-'26 cycle. I celebrated my 25th anniversary at MACL/Quest in March. I won the women's Final Four pool by having a perfect final four (meaning I correctly picked the four final teams, the two semi-final, and UConn winning it all). I got to attend my 3rd Kingdom Come Festival. I helped with the 1st Annual Missions Fair at Northside Baptist Church in September.

There are five people who went home to be with the Lord that saddened me. These were Author/Pastor/Lightning Rod John MacArthur, Chuck Girard of Love Song, Author/Pastor Voddie Baucham, Political Activist Charlie Kirk, and novelist Jackie Zack. Of course, Kirk got the most attention. Three weeks after his death, there were a trio of musicial tributes on my Spotify Release Radar. Jackie was the only one I had any interaction with, and in this case it was in on-line writing groups. 

But now, let's move to this year. Or more technically, let's move on to New Year's Day 2026. Becky and I have been singing hymns together since '98, and today, she suggested that we sing "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus" every New Year's Day. I agreed that was a great choice, and suggested my all-time favorite hymn to join it: "I am Resolved." Becky agreed with me. After all, one is looking at great resolutions for any year and the other is looking at Christ's coming.

But what about what lies ahead? Well, I'll save that for tomorrow. Then, I'll have my book reviews on January 3rd.