THE FOURTH FISHERMAN

Thursday, August 16, 2012

THE FOURTH FISHERMAN

How Three Mexican Fishermen Who Came Back

From The Dead Changed My Life And Saved My Marriage

By Joe Kissack

OVERVIEW: In The Fourth Fisherman Joe Kissack thoughtfully with candor and humor weaves together the incredible true voyage of fishermen adrift in the sea and his own life's journey as a man lost in the world.

It was the subject of headlines around the world: Three Mexican fishermen in a small open boat without any supplies, drifting for more than nine months and 5,500 miles across the Pacific Ocean. Through blistering sun and threatening storms, they battle starvation, dehydration, hopelessness, and death. Their lifeline? An unwavering faith and a tattered Bible.

Thousands of miles away, Joe Kissack, a successful Hollywood executive, personified the American dream. He enjoyed the trappings of the good life: a mini mansion, sports cars, and limousines. He had it made. Yet the intense pressure of his driven and high-powered career sends him into a downward spiral, driving him deep into suicidal depression,addictions, and alienation from his family. His lifelines? A friend and a Bible on the table between them.

AUTHOR: Joe Kissack is a speaker, author, screenwriter, film and television executive, publisher, and entrepreneur. His job descriptions cover a wide spectrum, from working on a farm and cleaning out refrigerated beef trucks to serving as a senior executive for Sony Pictures. His speaking engagements also vary, as he provides inspiration for charities, churches, and business conferences. Joe lives in Atlanta with Carmen, his wife of more than twenty-five years, and their two daughters.

MY REVIEW: This is an amazing book. One of the most interesting I have read this year. And I have read and reviewed several interesting and challenging books this year: Hell A Final Word, A Woman Called, Coming Apart and others. My interest in these books tell me that I am, now more than ever before, interested in books that answer questions about serious subjects. Subjects like, is God really there when we are lost at sea? Will he really help save us? What is hell like? What can women do in the church? What is the state of America, and today I started a new book about miracles―another topic I have a great interest in.

For me, the most impressive quote from the fishermen lost at sea for more than months is, "We each came to a moment of brokenness―what we found there was God. And he was enough."  That's wonderful and uplifting. I agree with New York Times best-selling author Lee Strobel who said, "You'll be inspired by this passionate tale of intertwined lives, touched by the author's unvarnished honesty, and challenged to trust God in fresh ways."

Think about: men in a small boat with no food or drinking water adrift for over nine months. There were five of them who started out but two of them died. How in the world did these men survive? They had their faith and a Bible!

Joe Kissack? Well his story is a kind of miracle too. You need to read this book!

(This book was provide to me free for this review by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group.)

A LOVE STORY (WITH RECIPES)

Friday, August 03, 2012

MY BERLIN KITCHEN

A LOVE STORY (WITH RECIPES)

LUISA WEISS, Creator of THE WEDNESDAY CHEF, an award winning food blog is a splendid writer.

  When My Berlin Kitchen--A Love Story (With Recipes) was offered as a free book with no obligation for review, at first I wasn't interested. I like love stories as much as most men. No, I like love stories more than most men. But the fact that it was a love story with recipes seemed strange to me. But it also made me curious. So, I said to myself, "What the heck. You read everything else. Why not this." So I did!

I like this book a lot. I really like it! Luisa writes the way I would like to write. I became interested in her, her love affair with New York City, Berlin and life in general.

What about her recipes? Well, I find most of them "strange" and different from what I am use to. But in a funny kind of way, I found them interesting. 

What I like most about the book is her writing style, her love story and her descriptions of New York City, Berlin and the people who live in those places.

I did check out her blog and I can't wait to make (or Charlotte to make) a recipe I found there---Banana, Coconut Bread.

Luisa Weiss was born in West Berlin and spent her childhood between Berlin and Boston. She started The Wednesday Chef, an award winning food blog, in 2005, when she decided to cook her way through the stash of recipes she had been collecting over the years. She has worked as a cookbook editor in Paris and New York and now lives in Berlin with her husband, Max.

Again, this is not a book I had to review but one I wanted to share with you. I think you will like it.

LIVING LARGE MY FRIEND

GOLDEN RULES FOR LIVING RIGHT

1. If you open it, close it.

2.If you turn it on, turn it off.

3.If you unlock it, lock it up.

4.If you break it, admit it.

5.If you can't fix it, call in someone who can.

6.If you borrow it, return it.

7.If you value it, take care of it.

8.If you make a mess, clean it up.

9.If you move it, put it back.

10.If it belongs to someone else and you want to use it, get permission.

11.If you don't know how to operate it, leave it alone.

12. If it's none of your business, don't ask questions.

13.If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

14. If it will brighten someone's day---say it!

I REMEMBER WHEN THERE WAS NO CHICK-FIL-A

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Marriage? It's when a man and a woman decide to live together and vow to be faithful to one another for life.

Everybody I knew believed that. That is until about 1963. In my mind, the change came around the time President Kennedy was assassinated---November 21, 1963 to be exact.

Today our young people would look back to 1963 and say there wasn't much going on compared to now.

Most major cities had only four channels (CBS, NBC, ABC, and a nonprofit station of some sort) at most. 

Popular music consisted of a single Top 40 list, with rock, country, folk, and a fair number of Fifties-style ballads lumped together.

People drove cars made in the united States. Foreign cars from Europe were expensive and rare. Cars from Japan had just been introduced in 1963, but had not been greeted with enthusiasm.

The typical American city of 1963 had appallingly little choice in things to eat. In a large city, you would be able to find a few restaurants serving Americanized Chinese food, a few Italian restaurants serving spaghetti and pizza, and a few restaurants with a French name. Sushi? Raw fish? Are you kidding?

No Chick-fil-A.

Marriage was nearly universal and divorce was rare across all races. 

"It was taken for granted that television programs were supposed to validate the standards that were commonly accepted as part of "the American way of life"---a phrase that was still in common use in 1963."

Yes, I'm saying that things have changed. Many for the better. But not all. 

The definition of marriage is one of those things that hasn't changed but some want it to.

A man named Dan Cathy just simply voiced his opinion that he didn't think it should be changed.

All hell broke loose! 

But Mr. Cathy didn't change his mind. And neither did millions of others who rose up to support him.

Today and from now on, millions will eat at Chick-fil-A restaurants to take a stand for truth.

Chick-fil-A is now a name heard around the world!