Category: Books

I have seen the news reports about Rex and his amazing ability with the piano. Getting to read the story about him helps me see his accomplishments as even more miraculous.

The book is about the heartaches and victories that Rex’s mom experienced while trying to raise and train Rex up to this point in his life. He was born with a growth in his brain that caused blindness and autism. At 2 years old he was given a piano keyboard that became the magical door to open his mind to the outside world. He has grown to be a musical savant.

That is the part of the story I already knew. What I did not know about was the struggles that Rex’s mom had to endure to deal with his limitations on a practical level as a single mom. Also about the battles she faced just getting him into school and keeping him there.

As someone who has worked with the Deaf I have seen these same types of conflicts play out in the lives of many parents. There is always the feeling that, as a parent, you might have done something different to change the outcome. Or that you should have done more (or less) along the way to help, protect, guide or encourage your child in their development.

Ms. Lewis is careful to praise good teachers and scold bad ones. Some of the stories she tells in the book remind me of what took place in the early days of special education where the special ed teachers were not properly trained for the individual need, but were just teachers pulled from the standard classrooms to fill a position. However, this is not a story of a boy growing up blind in the 1950s, it is a story of a boy who is currently in the system. Some of these stories happened within the last couple of years.

The writing seemed a little flowery at the front of the book. It took me about 60 pages to “get into” the story. I don’t know if the writing got better or that I was finally drawn into the emotion of what was taking place, but it was certainly easier to read. By the time I hit half way through the book I had trouble putting it down.

This book is published by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a Christian publishing house. I expect that their books would have a clear religious bent. I finished the book wondering whether Rex’s mom really has a relationship with Christ, or just found psychological comfort in going to church.

It is a good book if you are looking for an emotional story. I feel like I know Rex in a small way. I am very excited about following him as he grows up.

Rex, Thomas Nelson, 2008, 242 pages.

This book was written by my friend Jeff Amsbaugh. It is not an old book, but I was a bit surprised that I did not know about it. It really is a great book on a Biblical philosophy of missions. Dr. Amsbaugh uses the book of Philippians to build this philosophy. In fact the book could be read as a commentary on Philippians.

The book is written for pastors and churches so that they can know how to choose which missionaries and ministries they will support with their missions money. It is also an excellent book for missionaries to read about what churches expect of them.

Dr. Amsbaugh used a questionaire to petition information from mission board directors. These questions revolved around how missionaries should do their work and present their ministries. While there was good consensus on all the questions there was one area in which I found myself in disagreement with his conclusions. And I was not the only one. The book was published in 2002. I am curious to talk with him and see if his position has changed since then.

He discussed topics such as the missionary’s prayer life, his relationship with pastors and others on the field as well as the missionary’s vision, separation and commitment. The one issue in which I disagreed had to do with contentment. In a nutshell he wrote that missionaries should be content with a low socio-economic standard to be able to reach the nationals. While I agree the missionary should be content if that is what it takes to do the work, but it has been my experience that the missionary is expected to live at least a little better than the national. That does not mean that he should live in a mansion with 10 servants while the people around him starve and die from poverty. The consensus of those answering the questions agreed that the missionary did not have to live in poverty to reach the nationals.

That one issue aside, I think this is one of the best books I have read on the subject. I would like to have a copy of this book handy to pass out to missionaries along the way. There is so much a missionary can learn about what a pastor expects from those they support.

Dr. Amsbaugh is a gracious preacher. He has a way of making people feel comfortable in his presence even though he is a busy man in a large ministry. If you live in, or visit, the Columbus, Georgia area, I invite you to visit his church.

I was not able to find any on-line sources for the book. He probably just sells them directly from the church office. You can contact them through their website (WARNING: it works almost exclusively in IE).

Keeping the Mission in the Missionary, Jeff Amsbaugh, 2002, self-published, 230 pages.