Decision Points by George W. Bush

I start writing this knowing I can never do justice to what the book contains. For me the lines that best summarize the book, and the presidency of George W. Bush, are those following...

"Freedom is not an American value; it is a universal value. Freedom cannot be imposed; it must be chosen. And when people are given a choice, they choose freedom."

Like the Karl Rove autobiography, one of the things I most appreciated in reading this book was the complete openness in what he had to say. Love him or hate him, experiencing the events of those life-altering eight years from the perspective of the man making the decisions helps the reader to understand them in fresh way.

I truly believe that President Bush was motivated in his decision making by the ideal of freedom. He strove to protect it here in the United States and believed that its absence in other parts of the world was a threat to America. It was tyranny and oppression that allowed the growth and spread of terrorism and the best way to fight tyranny and oppression is with liberty.

President Bush was not a perfect man or a perfect president. He made mistakes. He owns his mistakes. To me, this is one of the things that makes him a good man. Despite what many in the media attempted to portray, he always acted with a sense of vision and purpose. He refused to act until issues had a sense of clarity. He did what thought was best for the nation. You may agree with him or disagree with him, but I find it  difficult to doubt his sincerity.

I could write so much more, but if you are going to spend time reading....you might as well just read the book!

Amy Carmichael: Rescuer of Precious Gems by Janet & Geoff Benge

One of the books we previously studied in our Sunday School class spent a lot of time looking at women who have made an impact for Christ in the world. It was great to read how these women sacrificed and worked to change the world, so when I came across some biographies at a discount bookstore in Ohio I decided to share them with the girls. For the past few months we have taken 10-15 minutes of each class to read through the biography of Amy Carmichael.

In today's self-centered world the idea of someone walking away from everything they have ever known to move around the globe and work with children that others literally do not want to touch is a foreign one. Recently, we have been studying imperialism at school. Frequently in the study of history, Christians are seen in a negative light because the spread of "European civility" and sharing ones faith in Christ are linked together by historians. In reality it was often Christians like Amy Carmichael who worked to make life better for those suffering, those everyone else overlooked.