Byron Gudino’s debut book “ A Little Faith,” is written in both English and Spanish. He showcases thirty-seven of his sagas, and although each story is different, they have a common theme: miracles and blessings that were given to him by God.
Gudino is forthcoming about his life, and speaking candidly, he takes readers on his “Faith Journey.” Each story is an authentic recollection of the many roadblocks the author faced that were attributable to atrocities, adversities, hardships, disappointments, suffering, and pain. At the tender age of seventeen, his life was interrupted after the demise of his father. His role as a teenager changed, and he became the breadwinner for a family of seven siblings, as well as his mother during her temporary paralysis and his permanently sight-challenged grandmother.
Jobs were scarce for young teenagers, and he lacked finances often so that it was difficult to provide the family with essentials. Byron grappled with options that failed him, and so he turned to prayer. He soon learned the power of faith when joined with prayer, and his faith deepened.
This book is a page-turner; one “Miracle” after another is written in everyday language with a simple, concise, and clear vocabulary. He wraps up each story neatly with scripture that affects the unveiling of the story powerfully.
In Gudino’s story, “Encouragement to Go to Church, he tells us how he became a practicing believer. For two consecutive weeks, he promised God that he would go to church, but did not fulfill his promise. He went to a party with his friends during the third week, although he promised God to attend church again. That night he struggled, and when he went to walk out the door, everything turned black. He stepped back and repeated his promise to God vigorously. His sight returned, and so did his direction, but again when he headed toward the door and the darkness with the intent to go to the party, fear, and pain met him in his tracks.
He prayed, “LORD, I have a wicked heart. I know I made a promise to You. I’m sorry.” Slowly his sight returned, he grabbed his Bible, went to church, and listened intensely to the message. That night was a turning point in his life. He reflected on Jeremiah 15:16: “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart…” He now builds churches, delivers messages of faith, and feeds the hungry.
There are two dominant settings in this book, Ecuador, where he was born and raised and his journey began, and America, where he moved as a young adult. In each story, his strength and resilience are evident in the deepening of his faith.
It led him onto the road of greatness, where he became a missionary with a mission to establish churches in Ecuador and feed 100 residents per month. He also serves as a certified coach, trainer, and speaker with the John Maxwell Team, the world’s largest Leadership organization in the nation. Further, Guidino showcases his first finalist Speaker award.
“A Little Faith” reveals his passion and desire to bring the readers value, hope, inspiration, and motivation. Both his books and sermons affect the lives of readers and encourage them to make a positive change within themselves and make the world a better place.
I suggest that readers without faith, those who seek faith, as well as those who are building their faith read, “A Little Faith,” as this book is written for all. The book is not only inspiring and uplifting, but I believe it will brighten your day and increase your faith. Just add a little faith…
John Maxwell is a leader, preacher, philanthropist, author, and businessman who studied at the Ohio Christian University (1969), Azusa Pacific University, and Fuller Theological Seminary.
An expert on leadership and personal growth, Maxwell has written hundreds of books that have sold millions of copies combined. No Limits: Blow the Cap off Your Capacity is yet another personal growth book in his repertoire in which he teaches readers how to live an abundant life by valuing themselves and others. In No Limits, Maxwell focuses primarily on leadership and provides a road map outlining a process to expand readers’ personal growth and prosperous living. Maxwell genuinely expects and desires to make this world a better place, noting that he “wro[te] this book specifically to lift you up and to help you increase your capacity” (p.1).
Maxwell’s commitment to enhancing the lives of leaders, professionals, and anyone else seeking prosperity through personal growth is evident. He states, “If you grow in your awareness, develop your abilities, and make the right choices, you can reach your capacity” (p. 2). Maxwell reiterates to his readers that their capacity is far greater than the limitations they place on themselves. Thus, he offers his readers the tools, with instructions on how to apply them in everyday life.
The book’s organization follows three main sections, including Awareness, Ability, and Choices. With each section and its chapters, Maxwell drives home his theme. The format is straightforward and easy to follow. Moreover, the layout is pleasing to the eye, incorporating a variety of font sizes and styles. He presents the contents as though he is the teacher and the reader is the student. In each chapter, Maxwell succinctly defines a particular capacity, such as attitude, X, or Y. He illustrates each point, weaving together inspirational and motivational anecdotes.
Consider Nick Vujicic, for example, who is a husband, father of two, global speaker, dynamic young evangelist, author, businessman, musician, and actor who, in his spare time, enjoys fishing, painting, and swimming. Vujicic was born without arms and legs. In primary school, his peers tormented him. However, he craved to be like them—with limbs—and begged God to no avail. Vujucic contemplated death despite knowing, without doubt, his family loved him; yet, he saw himself as a burden. Instead, he changed his attitude. Unbeknownst to him, he applied one of Maxwell’s key points: “People who devalue us do not determine our value” (p. 65). He began to question his purpose when he developed an undeniable belief in God. Nick is now UNSTOPPABLE. Vujicic?? Maxwell notes, “If God can use a man without arms and legs to be His hands and feet, then He will certainly use any willing heart!”
By the conclusion of the book, readers will likely appreciate Maxwell’s approach to outlining simple steps for his readers to follow to improve their personal traits and skills to maximize their capacity to enrich their lives further. In short, Maxwell effectively manages to write as if he is there in the room, teaching his individual readers each step of the way.
No Limit is a book packed with the insight to bring clarity, awareness, ability, and choice in each reader’s life, ultimately building leaders. Those seeking to increase their personal and professional accomplishments should read No Limits again and again. One reading is just not enough to devour Maxwell’s knowledge that can have a measurable impact in one’s life.
Lisa Nichols, the author takes the reader on her journey to self-betterment. She illustrates the details of building each emotional muscle: confidence, taking action, fear, faith, and forgiveness. The use and strengthening of these muscles improved both her personal and professional situations, including overcoming unemployment and healing broken relationships. She provides a complete program which describes how to build your own nine emotional muscles. Nichols details the challenges and triumphs she faced through each of the nine steps.
Nichols shares her victories over her challenges in a no-nonsense, in your face writing style. If you are encountering any adversities in your l life, I strongly urge you to read No Matter What. She strategically maps sure-fire nine steps to sharpen your emotional muscles and fulfill the desires in your heart.
A home provides refuge and serves as a fortress. Every individual deserves to have that basic need, a place to call “home.” In Evicted, author, professor, and sociologist Matthew Desmond argues that at home, we can “be ourselves” while everywhere else, we are someone else. At home, we remove our masks and home provides the wellspring of personhood. Desmond argues that at home identity takes root and blossoms. For children, home is a place to imagine, play, and question. For adolescents, the home provides a safe space to retreat and try new things. As we age, we hope to settle into a comfortable home to raise a family or pursue work. When we try to understand ourselves, we often begin by considering the kind of home in which we were raised.”
Desmond proposes the government fund a Universal Housing Voucher which would satisfy housing for the poor and provide profits for the rich. Housing is a basic human need, yet many Americans are living in poverty and experiencing “material hardship,” a sociological term for eviction. In 2008, Desmond began his dissertation research on poverty where he focused on both impoverished individuals and the wealthy. In order to understand the complex relationships, he was observing in the data he identified eviction as a process that bound poverty and profits together in mutual dependence and struggle.
Desmond relocated to Milwaukee’s poorest areas and studied the relationship between the rich and the poor. In his study, he examined eight families and two landlords for one year. His project, the Milwaukee Area Renters Study (MARS) was funded by the MacArthur Foundation. Roughly 1,100 tenants were interviewed in their homes between 2009 and 2011. Desmond found that the government implemented several programs to alleviate eviction but the voucher program appears to be the most effective.
Strategies for developing and implementing solutions for the material hardship of eviction changed trajectories as the years progressed. During the Great Depression, a landlord would provide a notice of eviction and your belongings would then be placed on the curb if you did not remove them. In later years, after a notice of eviction, a landlord would provide two options: leave the tenants’ possessions on the curb or place tenants’ possessions in storage.
In an attempt to meet housing needs for low-income families the government began building housing projects. Not long after came to a voucher system allowing low-income families to live in more diverse neighborhoods and buildings. The tenant paid 30% of the rent and the government paid the landlord the remaining 70%. This voucher program was more beneficial than other housing programs and while it did not eliminate evictions, they were reduced. The voucher program has stipulations and strenuous guidelines landlords must follow including inspections and strict deadlines for repairs. Landlords have protested against the program’s strict guidelines.
The government claims the voucher program is unaffordable and will cost trillions of dollars. However, the government spends much more on homeowner tax benefits for affluent families than on housing assistance to poor families. Perhaps funds can be redirected and with a few modifications, like improving the inspection process, incentivizing repairs, and reducing discrimination against families with multiple children, the program can flourish.
Desmond stresses that in order to address evictions the government must step in and solve the housing problem. In order to get the government’s attention, individual must help themselves. Citizens must vote to change the fair housing regulations. It has been reported that individuals of a lower Social Economic Status do not vote. Americans marched and mobilized to have the right to vote. Voting is the method society offers to its citizens to communicate with the government. Voting is powerful and it is a privilege for all Americans. To vote is to change the conditions in society. Politicians listen to those who vote for them, choose to elect the representative to reflect your values, elect officials who care about you and choose policies to invest in one’s needs, such as housing.
“Sherrena Tarver, landlord, inner-city entrepreneur, states, “The ’hood is good. There’s a lot of money there.” Meanwhile, programs for the poor are being cut, and evictions prevail and the landlord’s profits increase.
Evicted, by Matthew Desmond is raw. The unveiling of the lives of these eight families is heartbreaking. These stories are painful to read but necessary to know. I recommend you read this book as the insight gained may change your perspective and help you to develop a greater understanding of poverty in America, and join, Desmond’s quest for a government Universal Voucher program is not only possible but necessary. Vote!
Matthew Desmond is a sociology professor at Princeton University and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Non-Fiction.
***This book is on President Barack Obama’s reading list.
Charlamagne Tha God, the voice of Hip Hop, co-host of Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club, social media, and TV personality. He currently debuts his NY Times bestseller, Black Privilege his outspoken and powerful memoir and self-help book. He outlines eight principles one can use to activate one’s God-given privilege.
Charlamagne chronicles his life and struggles growing up in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, he reflects on his childhood memories. He credits his mother for his prolific thirst for reading; she constantly introduced him to books of diverse genres. His father, on the other hand, doled out street knowledge, instilling in him that there are three essential principles: procrastination, passion, or poison that a man chooses for his direction in life.
As a teen and young adult Charlamagne delved into “poisonous” life-shattering choices that eventually led him to jail, alcohol, and drugs. After years of pain and suffering on a precipitate path, he chose to turn away from the cataclysmic struggles and sought to empower himself using his eight principles.
Charlamagne is a self-proclaimed, “guy that tells the unadulterated truth.” At times his “truth” is expressed without compassion; it sounds just plain brutal, and it stings to one’s core. He takes a hard look at his relationships, encounters, and the self-realization that turned him to change the trajectory of his journey. Instead, he finds redemption through “passion” and purpose. Author, Christian D. Larson quote, “Believe in yourself and all that you are and know that there is something inside of you that is greater than any obstacle.” Charlamagne activated this belief and transformed himself and now he professes, “Whomever, you are you have the power within to create your own opportunity.”
To recognize, accept and activate this God-given power is a privilege; everyone has, and Charlamagne just happens to be Black. Hence the book’s title Black Privilege, “Huh?” what ‘s a black privilege and what does it look like? Triumph over adversity, as he reveals in his 321-page saga. As Les Brown, the motivational speaker says, “not to impress you but to impress upon you,” that you too can be the master of your victory.
Charlamagne shares eight principles he values that allow him to evolve, grow, and prosper in Black Privilege. For example, his principle, “Put The Weed in the Bag” Huh? Simply says, work before profits.
He expresses his message ” create your own opportunity” to the hip-hop population in the urban community. in a strong passionate fiery tone. His vernacular, profanity, slang and dialect is well suited for this target population.
The title Black Privilege is bound to evoke one’s curiosity. Charlamagne cleverly defines His message: “opportunity comes to those who create it.” One must recognize and access his privilege. He cleverly illustrates his message: “create your opportunity by sharing his own personal saga.
Charlamagne drives the point like an uncle on one’s shoulder whispering the principles to activate triumph over adversity, activating one’s God-given privilege to live a victorious life.
J. California Cooper’s novel, “Life Is Short But Wide,” is a 2009 bestseller about “love.” Cooper cleverly engages readers by showcasing the characters’ searches in their quest for love. Cooper quotes, “Sometimes it’s a struggle to get over self-love first. Sometimes in this struggle for love, we give up or lose everything, and we still don’t achieve love. Some people don’t even recognize real love when it comes without being called or sought.”
Cooper strategically holds the reader spellbound as she intertwines the influences of the family, the friends, and the community in the lives of Herman and Myrine in their search for authentic love. Growing up, true love was displayed and given to them throughout their childhood. As adults, however, they veered into unknown territories.
One day while Herman sat in the classroom staring at Myrine as she passed out pencils and paper to the students, he silently confessed to himself that he loved Myrine and would marry her. The thought lingered in his spirit and began to grow. Herman tried to push the feeling away; he believed their age difference was too wide – more than ten years – and she would never consider him for her husband. Inevitably Herman sought to find his everlasting love elsewhere.
Cooper keeps the reader curious and eagerly turning pages on Herman’s and Myrine’s adventures with prospective partners. The many loops, hoops, and curves the author travels on their love journey explore what it is like to find diversity in love at all ages, stages, and conditions. Readers cannot help but wonder, “Are these two ever going to find real love?”
Herman encounters a twenty-year abusive and loveless relationship which dissolved in divorce. Living alone he ached for love; thus he was easily bamboozled into a relationship with a noncommittal woman. On the other hand, Myrine gave in to her fear of intimacy; she had male friendships and tried to convince herself that was enough to feel authentic love with a man. Herman would always stop in for brief visits between his dates.
Myrine wants “authentic love,” yet she is afraid. Through her parents were an excellent example, they both died too soon; she was a young girl. Their demise devastated her; the pain of heartache and loneliness made her cling to Tante, her only sister, whom she loved dearly. Consequently, the girls accepted their personality differences and agreed on a lifestyle of being true to themselves. Tante relocated and built her life in Europe, and Myrine remained in Wideland. Following Tante’s departure, fear permeated Myrine’s soul; she feared loving brought loss, yet she continued to yearn for “true love.”
From the sidelines, she watched for a decade as her best friend’s relationship blossomed with a man who loved her unconditionally. Needless to say her desire for love increased. Cooper does an amazing job of showcasing the influences of characters and their relationships — the healthy ones (like Juliet and Cloud) – Myrine’s best friend, and the various not-so-healthy ones.
Will these two individuals find a relationship that exhibits a true love and commitment that resembles a river’s everlasting flow?
Love is the essential theme throughout the entire book; however, near the end of the book Cooper inserts a religious conversation about Jehovah’s Witnesses. I paused to understand where and how this contributed to the book’s theme.
“Life Is Short But Not Wide” brings the reader into the livelihood of country folks. Its tale is delightful and will not disappoint readers.
Cooper was the author of seven short story collections and five novels, including “Homemade Love,” which won an American Book Award in 1989.
To enrich and empower spirits and equip readers with the building blocks on which positive change can take place by providing inspirational books, speeches, and articles.
