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Exploring the true identity of God is the goal of writer Carman’s well-constructed guidebook. God is, as the book’s chapters attest, all-powerful, everywhere, all-knowing, and the creator who can aid one in connecting with one’s inner spirit and reaching out to others through the example of his concern for his creation. As God blesses, so too he disciplines. Though one makes one’s own choices, “God determines the consequences.” God is patient and forgiving. All these divine characteristics, Carman continually implies, are ones that human beings can strive to imitate with God’s power for support. To help his creation to love him wholeheartedly, God sent his son, Jesus. Once Jesus departed the earth after his remarkable example and sacrifice, God infused the world with the Holy Spirit. Carman concludes by entreating readers to take all the needed steps to become a devout follower of Jesus and to share his love and comfort with others.
Carman, retired from a career that involved helping people needing a change in their lives, reveals himself to be a serious, studious Christian disciple. Clearly, he has made a deep study of the materials presented here, arraying his themes in an orderly, readily comprehensible manner. Carman avers from the outset that though his book may be interpreted in various ways by readers, his overarching intention is to assist them in understanding what he has come to accept and wishes to share—God’s presence, meaning, intention, and the blessings he can bestow on those who recognize and choose to follow him. He offers a useful list of further references for those seeking or requiring further corroboration. Carman’s book would make a dynamic focus for anyone new to, or enmeshed within, the biblical truths he so intelligently sets forth.