Touching Wonder by John Blase (Book Review)

Title: Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas
Author: John Blase
Publisher: David C. Cook

My thoughts: This was a wonderful little book that really made the Christmas season human. It takes the birth of Jesus, as written in Luke 1, 2, and makes it read as if you are right there. You see different perspectives in history ranging from Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, to the shepherds who came the night Jesus was born.

Each chapter starts out with a portion of Luke using The Message version. The author than restates that part of Luke as explained above. He ends the chapter with a prayer, really putting the humanness of today into what we have just read.

I am probably not doing the best job of describing what a wonderful little book this is. Small enough to tuck in your purse, it disguises the weight of the message that it brings - The Lord is come!

About the author: John Blase's work includes Living the Questions and Living the Letters Bible-study series, the Worldviews reference book (TH1NK), Real Life Stuff for Couples, and The Message Children's Bible. A former pastor, John currently edits by day and writes by night. He and his wife, Meredith, have three children and make their home in Colorado.

Touching Wonder
Publisher/Publication Date: David C. Cook, September 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4347-6465-2
127 pages

ARC Arrival: Touching Wonder by John Blase

Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas by John Blase

Publisher: David C. Cook

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, 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. (The B&B Media Group)

About the author: John Blase's work includes Living the Questions and Living the Letters Bible-study series, the Worldviews reference book (TH1NK), Real Life Stuff for Couples, and The Message Children's Bible. A Former pastor, John currently edits by day and writes by night. He and his wife, Meredith, have three children and make their home in Colorado. (The B&B Media Group)

Touching Wonder
Publisher/Publication Date: David C. Cook, Sept 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4347-6465-2
128 pages