Over the past few, very hectic weeks, I have been reading God's Mail Volume 3 by Ron Hardin from God's Mail. Sometimes when life gets you running, you just need to take a few minutes each day to focus on God's love.
For this review, I received a physical copy of God's Mail Volume 3 by Ron Hardin. The book contains a collection of poems written by Ron Hardin. The poems contain words of encouragement, instruction, correction, and comfort. The poems offer insight into real world issues and problems. The hope is Christians and non-believers will find some kind of message from God.
The paperback book reminds me of a workbook. The size is comparable to that of a student's workbook. It measures about 8.5 by 11. I personally would like the book more if it was smaller. It would travel a whole lot easier. I could through it in my purse and take it with me as I ran the kids here and there throughout the day
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. Before I opened the book, I thought it would contain pages for journaling because of the size. However after opening the book and briefly thumbing through the pages, I quickly realized I was mistaken. The cover is a glossy card-stock and features a white dove holding a letter with a heart on it. It reminded me of a beach scene for some reason. It looked peaceful and helped set the tone of the book. The contains 96 poems covering a variety of topics. It's 221 pages long. The first half of the book contains a forward, an introduction, and 4 pages of endorsements, 7 pages devoted to the people that wrote the forward, introduction, and endorsements. These pages are followed a brief introduction to the illustrator, a page of acknowledgements, and a brief summary about the author. The amount of pages devoted to all of this seemed a little over the top. Most readers just want to jump in and start reading the poems. I felt these pages should have been in the back of the book. I honestly felt that some of the pages were absolutely unnecessary. It just seemed too cluttered to me. They could have easily skipped the pages about the people doing the endorsements. Maybe it was just me, but I honestly wasn't concerned about who these people were and I skipped right over them.
After I got through all those pages, I finally found the table of contents. Here I was able to see a wonderful list of titles for the poems. I read through the titles to get an idea about what some of the poems would be about....forgiveness, worry, blessings, repentance, gifts, etc.
Each poem has a page before it that contains a few Bible verses to go along with the poem written by Ron. The Bible verses quoted help the reader see the words of God. I think this is especially helpful for readers that are unfamiliar with the Bible. These quotes can help them know what God said and where to find it in the Bible. It can help them find God in their own daily struggles and triumphs.
For the most part, the poems are short and to the point. They are written in every day language making them easy to understand. Many of the poems leave the reader wondering and questioning their own lives. Do we love God enough? Are we trying to be repentant? Are we living the life God wants us to?
I like how the poems help the reader question their own lives. They give the reader food for thought. They help start a deeper look into our own lives. These poems are a great stepping stone to explore more about our own faith and beliefs. They may even help a non-believer finally find God in the world around them.
What I Thought of God's Mail Volume 3
I enjoyed the real life topics of the poems. They dealt with issues all of us will face at one time or another. I love how they were easy to read and understand. The book could easily be read by a young adult or teen. I did enjoy seeing the different versions of the Bible, however I did not notice any Catholic Bibles used. To appeal o all Christians, it would have been nice to include Bible verses from a Catholic Bible too.
As stated above, I felt the book was too large. A smaller, hardback book would be nicer. It would make a very nice gift and I think it would last longer since it would be more durable. I was annoyed with all the extra pages in the front. they were distracting and I honestly felt a few could have been left out. If they wanted to include all of them in the book, they should have been locate at the back of the book. The people who purchase the book are purchasing the book to read the poems. They shouldn't have to search through 10+ pages to find them.
Overall, I think the book was rather nice. It would make a wonderful gift for a new Christian, a teen growing in their faith, or someone struggling with their faith.
Discover more about this collection of poems. Just click the image below and read what some of the other crew members had to say.
Till Next Time,
Monique
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