Cramming Two Months' Worth of Study Into 52 Weeks: Books I Read in 2025, Vol. XVIII

 

EXPERIENCING THE HEART OF JESUS FOR 52 WEEKS: A Year-Long Bible Study
Max Lucado

Jesus' name is familiar and his story is universal, but few of us could really call him a close friend. Just as over time we learn the familiar expressions of our closest friends, so we can come to know the personality of our Savior. This book is about really knowing him. In this study, Max Lucado invites you to step closer to Jesus.

I started this workbook in January, aiming to complete one of its 52 chapters each week as designed—and for the first time in a long time, I actually met that goal! I suppose I was successful partly because the "work" part of each week consisted of 6-8 content-oriented questions about two short Scripture passages...certainly not a week's worth of reading or contemplation. (When I say "content-oriented," I mean that the questions asked to follow up each reading had very little to do with considering how the truth I had just read might influence my attitudes and behaviors, and an awful lot to do with testing whether I actually read the verses, e.g., Having read a statement about Jesus similar to "I have come that you may have life and have it to the full," the workbook would then ask, "What did Jesus say he came to accomplish?").

In terms of a good collection of Lucado stories and analogies, I give it 5 stars. In terms of a Bible study resource, 2.5. There is more Scripture in Beloved's 9-week study, Blue Tassels, than in this 52-week "study."

First Line: When I was young, we used to take our family vacations in Colorado.

Page 56 / Line 5: We come to Christ as is  -  or we cannot come to him at all.

A Good Line from Somewhere in the Middle: We say our prayers as casually as we would order a burger at the drive-through: "I'll have one solved problem and two blessings, cut the hassles, please."

Last Line: What especially stands out to you about what you have learned?

A Good Read that Needs to be Proofread: Books I Read in 2025, Vol. XVII

 

THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE: A Brit in the FBI Thriller
Catherine Coulter and J. T. Ellison

FBI Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine are the government's Covert Eyes  -  leading a top-notch handpicked team of agents to tackle crimes and criminals both international and deadly. But their first case threatens their fledgling team when the enigmatic and dangerous thief known as the Fox calls from Venice asking for help.

Fourth in the series, this adventure brings back a villain from the first book: the aforementioned "Fox." It's a quick-moving story, and I was three-quarters of the way through it before I knew it. On an unrelated note, I just about had a cardiac incident when I read the following un-proofread "sentence" on page 350: Ajax tooks her hand, squezed her fingers."

First Line: The light was dying, and so was Da Vinci.

Page 56 / Line 5: They took up nearly all the wall space, and he sat in the center in front of them at his solitary command post, his comfortable chair on wheels so he could easily scoot across to any of the screens he wished.

A Good Line from Somewhere in the Middle: Ten minutes later, Cassandra sat at her cypress desk, shining with the rubbed-in oil the housekeepers used that smelled of sweet oranges. [I will leave it up to you to decide whether it was Cassandra or her desk that was shining!]

Last Line: And she nodded at his small son.

Roth Christmas Epistle 2025

The Year That Was

January  -  Curtis turned 38.  *  Debbie spoke at a church-wide Ladies’ Birthday Party for Valley Christian Church.

February  -  Thomas turned 11.  *. Debbie spent 3 1/2 days in San Luis Potosí, Mexico getting Casa de Ninos ready for its new house parents and children.  *  Dewey got to see Anawynn in “SpongeBob the Musical.”  *  We thoroughly enjoyed the movie, The Unbreakable Boy.  *  On the 23rd, Shonda turned 42 and Kelly Jo turned 36.

March  -  Ivy June turned 5.  *  Enjoyed a meal with nephew-in-law Raju during his overnight stop in the Twin Cities. (Raju is a flight attendant.)

April  -  Anawynn turned 12.  *  Debbie was interviewed (mostly about her book Blue Tassels) by national women's speakers advocate, Marnie Swedberg.  *  Dewey preached at Valley Christian Church on the 6th.  *  Debbie spoke to almost 200 ladies at Hosanna Church.

May  -  Curtis & Abbey said hello to Shepherd Arlo Roth, born 10:18 AM, May 23, 9lbs, 9 oz, 21.25 inches. We welcome Goober to the clan!  *  Dewey preached again at VCC on the 25th.

June  -  The first weekend had us attending The Well Conference for Christian Creatives in Hudsonville, MI. Debbie sang for the assembled masses and they each received a copy of her book, Drenched: Only Hope in the Storm.  *  The 9th was our 46th anniversary!

July  -  Crazy month. Debbie drove to Grand Rapids, MI, to attend Carol Kent's Speak Up Conference, but skipped the final day to be able to see her oldest niece for the first time in 35 years! She then drove down to Fort Wayne, IN, to meet that niece's husband and son and hang out with dear, dear friends from Markle until I flew in on Tuesday to attend Norwell High School Class of 1975's 50th Class Reunion on Saturday. A lot of laughs and too much food all week long.

August  -  Dewey turned 68.  *  Road trip to Wyoming and back that included the wedding of Debbie's great-niece, Shania, and ended up being one of our most fun, spontaneous vacations ever, e.g., a helicopter ride around Mount Rushmore, a day in Yellowstone, the Wyoming State Barbecue Championship & Bluegrass Festival.

September  -  LOTS of birthdays: Ezra Ann 4. Clarence "Clay" 2.  Angel 45. Debbie 67. Maverick 9.  *  Debbie spoke and sang to a group of about 70 ladies at an area-wide retreat in Texas.

October  -  A nice-but-too-short visit in Arkansas with Shonda and her family. Their new house is fairly amazing.  *  Enjoyed the 3rd year of greeting trick-or-treaters as SantaDewey.

November  -  The 1st was the official release date for Dewey's book, The Best of Truth Is.  *  Dewey had a good time with Dustin and Curtis at a 40th anniversary screening of Back to the Future.  *  Shonda was thankful for the end of the government shutdown so she could get back to work.  *  Thanksgiving found us at Curtis’ in-laws, and the following Sunday, Angel and Curtis brought their crews to our place for round two. #TrueConfession: Curtis and Shepherd represented their household solo, as the rest were under the weather.  *  On Black Friday, our only excursion was to the movie theater for Wicked: For Good.

December  -  Jesse turned 14.  *  Debbie celebrated 27 years of cancer-free living.  *  Thanks to Angel's in-laws, we experienced the Hosanna Christmas Concert for the first time. What an impressive display of talent and creativity!  *  The 30th, Debbie had (will have) surgery on her left shoulder to repair the rotator cuff.  *  The Most Wonderful Time of the Year was celebrated with 3/4 of the Rothchilds gathered with their families under our roof (SOME year, Shonda!), an event that makes whenEVER it happens one of the best days of the year for us.

Many warm wishes to you all. May the light that has come into the world (Jesus) illuminate your life and fill you with joy all year long!

On Our Unpresidential President

 

I refuse to lay down and accept all the hurtful, ugly, immoral words and actions of the U.S.A.'s current president.

Say what you can about his policies, it's his character that I cannot condone.

Now, there are plenty of things about his policies and executive orders that anger me to no end, but I recognize the possibility of reasonable people having different opinions about economics, immigration, and EBT cards.

What I cannot comprehend is allowing a pass to someone who treats people with the utmost disrespect while expecting unflinching loyalty. This man talks and behaves like a spoiled preschooler, ignoring the rulings of judges and the intent of the laws of our land.

You wouldn't allow your child to behave this way. Why are you accepting it from a grown man? How can you say, "He's doing what I voted for?"

"Wicked: For Good" Not Too Bad

 

Wicked: For Good (also known as Wicked: Part Two) is a 2025 American musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. The sequel to Wicked (2024), it adapts the second act of the 2003 stage musical by Stephen Schwartz and Holzman, which was loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, a reimagining of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation. (Wikipedia)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Beloved had enjoyed Wicked so much when she saw it with Angel and Kelly Jo, she said, "You've got to see this," and took me as she watched it a second time (a VERY rare occurrence for her to watch a movie she's already seen). Because of that, I bought tickets for us to see For Good as well.

Because it had been a year since I had seen the first part ... and had only seen it once ... we rented it through Fandango at Home and watched it the day before Thanksgiving. Well ... when I say that we watched it, I mean that I watched it while Beloved sat beside me on the couch, paying more attention to her phone and the laundry. Can't really blame her. If seeing the movie twice was a rarity, you can imagine her lack of interest in seeing it a third time.

Be that as it may, if you have NOT seen Part 1, don't bother watching Part 2. You would be absolutely and irrevocably lost.

For those fans who are wondering, yes, what you've heard about how most of the musical's best songs were in Part 1 is true. There are only a couple in Part 2 that I even recognized. The music in For Good seemed to be more integrated as part of the narrative ... less "we will now pause the story so we can do a song". Some will like that, others will not.

The other noticeable difference between the two films is that For Good gets down to the business of intertwining with the Oz story as we know it from the 1939 film. That made it a bit more satisfying for me (speaking as a former Scarecrow).

Should you see it? If you loved Wicked, Part One, do yourself the favor of seeing the story come to its conclusion. 3.5 out of 5 stars

Current Events Note: MAGAphiles won't necessarily appreciate the whole plotline about the Wizard's anti-animal campaigning...unless they fail to see how it parallels a current political figure's rhetoric about immigrants.

Good Author, Bad Theologian: Books I Read in 2025, Vol. XVI

 

THE LIFE OF OUR LORD: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849
Charles Dickens

In this charming, simple retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, adapted from the Gospel of St. Luke, Dickens hoped to teach his young children about religion and faith. Since he wrote it exclusively for his children, Dickens refused to allow publication. When Dickens died in 1870, the manuscript was left to his sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth. From there it fell to Dickens's son, Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, with the admonition that it should not be published while any child of Dickens lived.

Just before the 1933 holidays, Sir Henry died, leaving his father's manuscript to his wife and children. He also bequeathed to them the right to make the decision to publish. By majority vote, they decided to publish the book in London. In 1934, Simon & Schuster published the first American edition, which became one the year's biggest bestsellers.

I confess I was not aware of the existence of this book until I saw it while browsing the library shelves. I immediately took it home, having great expectations for my reading experience. (See what I did there?) While the general story certainly was Dickensian, there were a few factual errors that went beyond narrative license. For instance: Mr. D. said that Herodias was Herod’s daughter instead of his wife and he had a centurian asking Jesus to raise his dead daughter back to life (while what really happened was the soldier asking Jesus to heal his sick daughter, but then she died while they were on the way there). But the biggest disappointment of all was this line, placed in the mouth of the herald angel speaking to the shepherds: "There is a child born today in the city of Bethlehem near here, who will grow up to be so good that God will love Him as His own Son." Wow...so Jesus earned his spot as God's Son because of how he lived? Sorry, Charlie, but that's just plain wrong. And truth be told, there's an awful lot of works-based salvation scattered throughout the book. Maybe it was an attempt to get his children to behave, but it's bad theology.

First Line: My Dear Children, I am very anxious that you should know something about the History of Jesus Christ.

Page 56 / Line 5: "Hear ye Him!"

A Good Line from Somewhere in the Middle: [Speaking of camels] At all events, they are brought over here, sometimes; and if you would like to see one, I will show you one.

Last Line: And pray God to bless and preserve us all, this night, and forevermore, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Devils Tower & the Sturgis Bike Rally: Books I Read in 2025, Vol. XV

 

AN OBVIOUS FACT: A Longmire Mystery
Craig Johnson

In the twelfth novel in the New York Times bestselling Longmire series, Walt, Henry, and Vic discover much more than they bargained for when they are called in to investigate a hit-and-run accident involving a young motorcyclist near Devils Tower.

I can hardly believe there have been eleven Longmire novels before this one. And yet, counting a collection of short stories and two novellas, this marks the fifteenth time I’ve written about the Wyoming lawman. That alone should testify to how much I enjoy Craig Johnson’s work. If I haven’t convinced anyone to read about Longmire by now, maybe it’s time I stopped trying. Still, Johnson’s vivid descriptions of place, action, and character make his books a non-guilty pleasure I’m always happy to recommend  -  but with a fair warning: while not overflowing with profanity, there’s enough to give it an R rating if filmed word for word. 

First Line: I tried to think how many times I'd kneeled down on asphalt to read the signs, but I knew this was the first time I'd done it in Hulett.

Page 56 / Line 5: "Wow."

A Good Line from Somewhere in the Middle: I swear you’re like this detective for the disenfranchised.

Last Line: She had no resort but to let the shiny chrome molding of the windshield slip from her grasp as we pulled away, and I wasn't tempted to look into the rearview mirror, not even once.