11/30/2009

Touching Wonder



Recapturing the Awe of Christmas
John Blase
2009
David C. Cook
Non Fiction/Religion/Holidays/Christmas


Reviewed by Cindy Loven


A small, nearly pocket sized book, nothing special to distinguish it from the outside as anything spectacular, UNTIL, you open it and begin reading. John Blase, has brought us the Christmas story, told in a way I have never heard or read before.


Speaking/writing in the third person, he brings us the point of view of each of the individuals involved in the Christmas story, from Gabriel the angel, to the Shepherds in the field. From Zachariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, even the point of view of an angel singing in the angelic host.


Written with poetic beauty and simplicity, this book stirred my heart. A short simple book, a mere 122 pages long, but lovely artwork graces the pages, words of life flowed from the author. A well deserved 5 star rating. A book to be savored over and over again each year, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Saviour. $ 12.99 US


This book was provided for review purposes only, and no cash or payment of any type was received for this review.


You are invited to visit uReadBooks.com to listen to this new Christmas audio special!













uReadBooks presents:



Touching Wonder -
A Christmas Radio Special









Does it seem like you have heard the Christmas story a few too many times for it to still hold the wonder that it once had? With his instant classic, Touching Wonder, author John Blase breathes new life into the story of the Nativity. Just in time for the holiday season, uReadBooks.com presents a half hour Christmas special featuring excerpts from this new book.











About the book:



Little children understand how amazing the Nativity story is. But, sometimes, as we become men and women, we put away the childlike with the childish. The result? We lose something vital—the wonder of it all. When author John Blase went looking for the lost wonder of Christmas, he went back to the place he’d last seen it—the stories from Luke 1-2. What he found fills the pages of his new book, Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas (David C Cook, September 2009), with flesh and bone and dust and night and a baby’s cry; the intimate union of human and divine—the Incarnation.







By boldly imagining the first two chapters of the gospel of Luke, writer, editor, and former pastor John Blase has created an instant classic for Christmastime. In a tale that reads like a novel parallel parked by the record of Scripture, Blase beckons those who could use a little wonder in their lives to step onto the stage of history and witness the long awaited coming of the Messiah. With Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible translation as his backdrop, Blase adds his own voice and commentary to the historic events, exploring the renowned drama from an array of viewpoints.







In Touching Wonder, readers will meet a cast of unruly unlikelies—a frightened teenaged girl, a worried carpenter, a collection of senior citizens, a disillusioned young shepherd, even an angel or two—moving toward the realization that the little one just born is the One. This imaginative retelling of the grand miracle will leave readers wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and heart-full. The Lord is come!







In this lovely and distinctive book to be read…and re-read…and pondered in the heart, young and old will recapture the wonder of the Christmas story by seeing through the eyes of those who lived it. The book’s graceful design and Amanda Jolman’s beautiful line drawings combine to make this a thoughtful Christmas gift as well as a wonder that families will treasure for years to come.






Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas



by John Blase



David C Cook/September 2009



http://www.davidccook.com/





To listen to or download the program, visit www.ureadbooks.com/touchingwonder.

























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