Todd B. Freese » Books

Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia

Todd — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:37:12 +0000

Every once in a while you find a book that speaks to your soul. That seems to hit you right between the eyes with the truth of your life. If we are lucky, we are already living out our lives with the perspective of the eternal, but I suspect most of us are not. We are busy people with busy lives. Jobs, kids, spouses and responsibilites consume our time and our souls.

Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days in Utopia is one of those books. I love golf! I lover everything about it: the grass, the water, the challenge, the fellowship forged on a course, the round and the looking back to see how you could have done better. It has been said life is much like a golf game: sometimes you on a beautifully-manicured fairway and sometimes you are in the weeds, sometimes you bounce through the sand trap and sometimes you get buried in one. This book uses golf to teach us about life.

I grew up playing golf . In fact some of my fondest memories are found on a golf course with my dad. Sadly my dad and I didn’t stay close and those golf outings became just a memory. But the memories are sweet, memories of early mornings and late afternoons with just my dad and me talking about the things of life. It seems to me the only place we were able to really talk was on the golf course.

This book brought me back to the sweet place of my youth where it was just me and dad playing the back nine trying to break 90 for me and 80 for my dad. But it never really mattered to me, the time with him talking about life was what really mattered, all that ever really mattered. I read the book this weekend and thoughts of my life, with my dad and after his passed, came flooding back to me as tears flowed from by eyes I saw how this game I love is much more than a game. It helped me to understand my attraction to it, addicition for it. I need it because I need to know I have purpose and hope.

Do yourself a favor and read this book, rather you golf or not, you will be touched by the simple, yet deep story of the book. Golf is the vehicle for a very important discussion on life and calling. I am rethinking my calling in light of the words and message of this book, I wonder what it might change in me? Can’t wait to find out.

I had the benefit of reading the book on an outing with my wife. As a matter-of-fact we are on a golf outing. I read the book in the shadow of my camper before I played a round of golf and my thoughts drifted back to the book time and time again. I don’t know if the book had a direct affect on my game, but I played better than I have in years. I shot an 82 and 78, incredible scores for me. Read the book and leave a comment, I would love to hear it!

Bill O’Reilly’s Latest Book

Todd — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:42:22 +0000

Pinheads and Patriots by Bill O’Reilly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting read from Bill O’Reilly. He writes the way he talks, I can hear his voice in each and every word. I say this as a compliment. He is not an Obama hater, but not a fan either. It was good for me to read as I am less than an Obama supporter. However, the book seemed a little shallow, like he was writing to write another book. I like Mr. O’Reilly and his show, however I think his books lack the depth his TV show has.

Having said all that, I did enjoy the book and would recommend it to you if politics and current events are of interest to you.

View all my reviews

Good Reads

Todd — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:47:18 +0000

Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul by John Eldredge

A must read for all men and women. This book changed my life and how I look at it!!

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Open Secrets

Todd — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 05:49:31 +0000

Just finished an intersting book on the pastorate in a small Illinois town. The book was recommended to me by my father-in-law, Dan Schiel, and as usual, his recommendation was a good one.

A Lutheran pastor shares all in this kiss and tell book. He had permission to tell the story of how this pastor fresh out of school comes to New Cana with his lofty ideals and a new PhD and finds, as one parishoner tells the new pastor, “This is our church and we will be here long after you are gone”. How true this turns out to be in his three year tenure.

The book is written from the perspective of the pastor, but he is not afraid to admit his mistakes. I loved the book because I have felt the feelings of both pastor and parishoner. It is honest and sometimes hard to read, but honest and earthy. I heartily recommned it to you. Buy it through my book store by clicking here. Happy reading!

Read This Book!

Todd — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:50:03 +0000

If you read one “Christian” book this year do yourself a favor and read this book! Maybe you are confused by the way you are supposed to “act” and “feel” as you are attending church, or maybe you are searching for authenticity and honesty. If so this book will be a refreshing look at the love a true relationship with the God of the universe is all about. The author has a remarkable story that allowed him to write this heartwarming and challenging book.

I commend it to all who are seeking faith in purity. Read it and blog here, I would LOVE to hear what you think. Some have been “challenged” by the way God the Father appeared, were you? Let me know. Peace!

Click the picture above to go The Shack website.

A Great Book

Todd — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:41:40 +0000

I just read this book and I commend it to you. The author describes how he grew up in a fundamental Christian home and lived to tell about it. He does an excellent job of weaving together his life with what the church was doing in his life, or maybe to his life, and how this affected his world view.

I loved his depiction of his pastor, Pastor Nolan. I’m sure his intentions were noble, but the damage done to his charges was severe. A simplistic look a life is not what the Bible calls for, but Pastor Nolan dishes out his own myopic view life from the pulpit, you have to read it to appreciate it. Imagine a young boy riding in the car with his pastor, who is shaving and getting dressed while driving, and given the third degree on the way to church. Mr. Turner is at his best in this scene.

After years of being raised in a “fundamentalist” church Mr. Turner longs for something else. The end of the book is worth the price of admission as Mr. Turner describes his circumstances today, it is refreshing. This is a great read if you may have been raised in the church, but didn’t see how all those rules fit you. Take a couple hundred pages and enjoy the ride. In the end Mr. Turner is all about authenticity and transperancy, check it out!

Religion – Illusion? Or Something Else?

Todd — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:55:49 +0000

I’m reading an interesting book entitled, Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson. It is a book about a preacher during the 1950’s who is in his 70’s and been diagnosed with a heart ailment and his time is short. He married late in life and had a son who is seven years old. He decides to write as many letters to his son as possible so that his son may know the man he was, even after he is gone. It is quite ingenious and enjoyable. The book is set in Iowa, a small town with a pastor of a small church writing the letters.

In the middle of the book, he brings up an interesting proposition: is religion an illusion? Is it an illusion as Freud may have described, or maybe is it real but our participation in is an illusion? Interesting take on the subject, our pastor seems to think the more insidious of the two is the latter. If one is not able to trust their senses, feelings, thoughts and observations then what can you trust. However, in our day and age, we have so many different types of “religion” and even in my own, Christianity, there is wide and divergent thought. So much so that one may have to ask, “What is real”?

And here is the crux of the matter; if we doubt what we know to be, real then we will look for those who seem to know what is real, a person or ideology. We look for that which can be easily explained, understood even if it is being changed and ameliorated so that it barely resembles that which God intended it to look like in the first place.

Religious self-righteousness is described as one of the things that destroys the church and soul of those who practice and are affected by it. How often has this been the case in our churches and homes? I myself have seen it and, I’m sad to say practiced it on occasion. To be so right as to become self-righteous all in the name of our Lord, which of course is the furthest thing from the truth. When we practice self-righteousness, we are not concerned with anyone but ourselves. We determine what is right based on a twisted view of Scripture and experience and thereby become destructive even though our original aim was to build up the body, we in fact tear it down.

And most egregious of all is the damage done to those who are the innocents, those seeking a foothold in the world, looking for truth in which to live their lives and base their decisions. Oh how we do a disservice to them when we become self-righteous.

I agree with our preacher in the book when he says the most damaging thought is not that of Freud or Feuerbach, but of those in our midst who would deny what we know to be real and meaningful. To say to those around them it is not the “right” way to think or feel or do based not on truth, but on a self-righteous overly pious attitude that indeed comes from their own self-doubt.

What do you say? I would love to hear.