I work in real estate and I also work for a golf ministry. I love working with people and get frustrated when there is too much bureaucracy especially when it comes to paperwork and real estate. I know me, mostly, and I know that I love working with people and helping them. The golf ministry gives me so much pleasure it feels as if I am not really working most of the time. I help with a programme where young golfers get to follow around golf pros during practice round day and have a q and a session with them. This is super fun and kids and their parents really get into it. The organization of something like this can be a bit overwhelming but nearly all the time everyone is very patient and also gracious. I say all this because this book, along with a couple of others I have read recently (StandOut being uber helpful), have solidified for me that it is okay to do what you love and get paid for it as well. We all have skills that we know about but what about the things that we haven’t refined yet.

I have been involved in community events and organization for years now and more recently organize an event in our neighbourhood that is very popular and also great fun. These books helped me to realize (as well as some very helpful and positive feedback from friends) that I should be pursuing a career in event planning and community organization/planning because they are things that I am very good at and also love doing. What a concept. Now many of you are probably thinking ‘well duh’ but we are so conditioned to thinking about the job rather than the joy. I do not expect to earn a fortune and I’m not going to give up my job with FCA Golf because I make a difference in people’s lives and I love doing that. So what’s a person to do? Well this book talks about relationships and using our time wisely as well as getting back to what we know and love. I now am stepping out in faith, literally as well as figuratively, and going for it. Now would I have done this without reading these books? I don’t know as I am pretty impulsive which I know can be very negative but the positive side of that is I am not afraid of new things. In fact I embrace them.

Next year I am presenting at a women’s conference on friendship. This has become a hot topic for me recently. I have previously studied and taught on worldview and church history and find that making history fun helps people to learn about it. Friendship is something that is becoming more difficult for people. We have facebook and thousands of ‘friends’ but no face to face time which we need. There are a great couple of chapters which deal with these topics in the book as well so they helped me with that project too. See, a multi-faceted book.

Suffice it to say, we need to be moving forward in our lives and not stagnate. How do you want to be? The me I want to be is a long way off but I am trying and hope that this book helps you to do the same.

My husband is a huge baseball fan. I, via osmosis, have come to enjoy the game – mostly. OK so I can keep up and read or do a crossword simultaneously. I read biographies occasionally and found that I would probably enjoy this one. I like to hear about people who proclaim their faith and actually do something with their wealth instead of just spending more on sex, drugs and alcohol or whatever floats their boat. Silly me – when there are people hurting in first world countries and we are obsessed with knowing what celebrities are doing I find that a little obnoxious – let alone other places where hurt is rampant.

Anyway I had high hopes for Albert Pujols. Well, he is a great guy. He gives back specifically to two areas and his entire family is involved. I love hearing about this stuff! This is what makes a difference in so many people’s lives. He is really committed to these causes and knows that his gift (of which there is no question) comes from the Lord and that someday he won’t be quite as successful. This is lovely stuff – all of it.

Now the problem for me comes with the extent of the details of what seemed like each and every one of Pujols’ games. The authors seem to do an almost play by play of every game he has ever played in. Oh man. Now I know that a lot of people will enjoy that but just be forewarned. I had a hard time concentrating when I was reading about who was covering what base, the team the St. Louis Cardinals were playing or his college team back in the day. Now it is not confusing as to the timeline just so detailed about every player and play he makes. I wonder if they put every at bat in the book. OK I’m kidding but it certainly felt like it at times throughout the book. I would have appreciated a more in-depth look at some of the lives the Pujols family foundation has helped. It could have included maybe some more individual stories that focus on the people not just the sport.

He sounds like a great guy and he is really doing his part for the kingdom and maybe they didn’t want to name any names as far as the charity is concerned but they could change the names. I loved reading about his wife who is a star (in a Godly sense not Hollywood) and who has helped him along the way as well as probably keeping him grounded. Again not sure how much the family allowed to be ‘picked apart’ by the authors it would just have made them a little more real.