Book Review: Daydreamers

Full disclosure: The author of Daydreamers (Gary R. Hamilton) is my brother-in-law.

Daydreamers is the first book written by new author Gary R. Hamilton and while there are times in the book where you can tell that it was written by a rookie, those moments do not detract from a very compelling story.

Crime is up on the Caribbean Island of Acia Maj and a local news reporter thinks he has a lead on who is behind the violence. With the support of his family and help from a family member with whom he shares a special gift, David Kennington risks his life (and his family) to save the nation that he loves. And while this may sound like standard fare, a number of small twists (including the mystery behind the daydreams) are enough to make this story slightly different. Plus, Mr. Hamilton’s descriptions of the island and its people work to take you on a journey, holding your attention as if you had stumbled into a mystery while on vacation or even while visiting family.

My only knock on the story is that early on it is hard to tell who the story is really about but that is a minor quibble as things become very clear as the story progresses. I give Mr. Hamilton credit for exploring his characters' gifts in a way that allows them to contribute to the story as opposed to becoming a distraction. This makes for a good read and I recommend it for anyone who likes mystery and drama with a touch of travel to far away places.

Daydreamers by Gary R. Hamilton, Published by Austin Macauley Publishers Copyright 2024

God, Diabetes and Repentance

Receiving a diagnosis of a chronic illness is not an easy pill to swallow and I admit my heart sank a little when I was first diagnosed with diabetes. It’s been almost three years since I received that diagnosis: three years of learning and growing (growing emotionally while losing weight so in a way, shrinking). I’ve still got a lot to learn but the greatest lesson isn’t about my physical health, at least not directly. The greatest lesson I’ve learned since dealing with diabetes is the lesson of repentance.

You see, one of the main contributors to my diabetes was my diet where I lacked discipline. (See also All Things Work for the Good: Even Diabetes) I can trace my diabetes directly to Mega Stuffed Oreos which may have been my personal addiction. According to Nabisco, the serving size for Mega Stuffed Oreos is TWO cookies which brings with it about 180 calories and 17g of added sugars (Based on information from oreo.com). Well…I was eating 5-6 servings in one sitting, easily exceeding the recommended daily amount of sugar and packing in around 1000 empty calories before eating three square meals. Clearly I can only blame myself for my chronic condition and for that gut that kept arriving before I did.

When the doctor called with the bad news, I instantly made a big boast about how I would never again touch a cookie. If eating cookies is a threat to my health, I figured I didn’t want any part of those irresistible little… Well, anyway, as you can imagine saying I wouldn't eat cookies was one thing. Actually following through is another. Plus even after kicking my cookie habit I still found that my glucose levels weren’t always what I wanted. It’s far too easy to replace one bad eating habit with another. Add to that serving sizes that were way out of proportion and, after significant initial success in lowering my A1c, I found myself landing on a plateau.

Daily I have prayed for healing, thanking God for lowering my A1c and helping me keep it at a more acceptable level. But I want an A1c that looks like someone who doesn’t even have diabetes and that is what I am praying for. In response, I believe God is reminding me that I have a part to play. I need to repent of my really bad eating habits: all of them and not just my cookie habit. I believe He will heal me but He is also asking me to change my behavior.

Through my diet and my diagnoses God is teaching me the importance of repentance. Salvation is a free gift, given to all believers by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus paid for our sins with His death on the cross. Through His shed blood we have access to the father and have been given the power to become children of God. There’s nothing we can do to earn salvation nor is there anything we can do to pay God back for our free gift. But the free gift (and the love of our Father) should move us to change how we live. In the presence of our God we should be moved to repentance, giving up our old way of life in exchange for a life of righteousness as we follow our Lord.

I’m changing my diet because I want to live in the healing that God has given me. With the help of His Spirit Who lives in me, I will also change many other areas of my life so that I can live in my new identity as a child of the living God. As a Christian are you being true to your identity?

What Did Matthew Believe About Baby Jesus?

Matthew 1:22-25

After describing what the angel said about baby Jesus, Matthew explains how he believed that the birth of Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the promise given in Isaiah 7:14:

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (NKJV)

Matthew also believed Joseph’s reasons for not putting his wife away and how Joseph obeyed the command that was given to him by the angel. Both Joseph and Matthew knew that this was an angel (a messenger) of the Lord and I suspect they both saw the angel’s words as having the same effect as if God had said them directly Himself. I suspect Mary had the same understanding.

Because Matthew believed this to be the fulfillment of the promise, he also believed that the child born to Mary and Joseph was Immanuel (God with us) whom Matthew would meet in person almost thirty years later. Matthew believed that Jesus was God and that He is our Savior. His description of the early relationship between Mary and Joseph along with the words of the angel serve to reveal these aspects of Jesus’ true nature. Here in a few short verses we have the angel’s point of view, Joseph’s point of view and Matthew’s, with all of them pointing to one conclusion. Jesus is God and He is our savior.