Customer Reviews

One Hundred Tons of Ice and Other Gospel StoriesĀ

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This book is really wonderful, and so well written! In the essay, "Swing Time" Lawrence Wood tells how Fred Astairs clips have been held back from being used to honor Ginger Rogers, but have been sold for use in "Dirt Devil" commercials. Then he ties that observation in to how people who want to profit from the image of Jesus Christ could stand to be introduced to the real Jesus Christ. After relating a very appropriate passage from Ecclesiasticus, he says, "Fame or obscurity, they were all the same to Jesus of Nazareth. He was mindful not of image, but reality..."

Again and again Wood takes an obscure or bizarre story, turns it around in front of us until the Gospel shows through. But these are not the internet-forward type of miracle stories that are to remind us that sometimes miracles happen. Most are stories of everyday occurrences to typical people which show that God is active in these lives.

One story, "A Sticky Situation" tells of a huge molasses spill in Boston in 1919. The story is a great read in itself, the way Wood writes it. But he takes it several levels deeper when he connects it to the lasting consequences of sin in our lives--and the cleansing power of grace.

I couldn't have any higher a recommendation for this book. I am a pastor, but I wouldn't encourage my parishioners to buy it--I want to steal stories from it for years.

I have read this book twice and given it as gifts to several friends who work to make Gospel teachings a model for their everyday lives. There is something here for everyone--joy, sadness, hope. I especially recommend it to those in any profession related to Christian education or the ministry...it should be in every church library.

One Hundred Tons of Ice and Other Gospel Stories is a delightful book of stories. Rev. Wood shares interesting historical information from the mundane and sometimes not so mundane events in the lives of people. He then uses those events to share the Christian faith in a refreshing perspective. I truly enjoyed the book's sense of God being in all things. Rev. Wood has an insightful way of sharing the wonder of God. What "spiritual imagination"!

One Hundred Tons of Ice is a chronicle of one man's growth of faith as he witnesses the events of life and nature with an eye to reality and a heart bent to Heaven. It is an inspiring book that will encourage you to see God at work among us in ways previously unnoticed-- new revelations of old gospel truths. At times it challenges the mind, but unfailingly feeds the soul.

The stories are the real winners in this book--a collection of the personal, the ordinary, the bizarre, and the off-beat. The author tells these true stories in a simple yet alluring way, making the reader salivate for more. And the connections between the stories and the accompanying biblical reflections are unexpected and thought-provoking. But when it comes to the biblical reflections themselves, the author's commentary is mostly flat and unsurprising. I found myself wanting a lot more stories and a lot less of the author's reflections.

I always enjoy reading books that inspire and motivate, especially those that illuminate the gospel beyond the usual scope of a typical Sunday School lesson. I looked forward to reading stories of how the gospel came alive in people's lives or how faith carried folk through tough times.

I must admit, some of the stories here are good analogies for the grace of God and some spiritual truths. The molasses factory tragedy and the almost forgotten story of the horrible Peshtigo fire are examples of great storytelling with inferences of grace and mercy.

Unfortunately, in the first few stories, one gets the impression that the author isn't quite a believer in the idea that one who comes to faith in Christ does so more than emotionally or intellectually. There's a story about a guy who fell through the ice on a pond and barely escaped with his life. The author tells us the fellow says, as a result of that experience, that he owes his life to God, but doesn't quite convince me that the man understands what he is saying. Many people have realized they have been given a second chance in life after a brush with death. I have had a few myself, but the experience did not bring me to faith. It pushed me farther in that direction, maybe, but like many people I simply became a better person, in my own estimation, for a short while. While this is commendable, the gospel tells us we cannot earn our salvation or pay God back for His free gift of grace. Being good in and of ourselves is fine, but is not the gospel.

I almost quit reading the book when the author contemplates, a few stories in, why Jesus was baptized and surmises that Jesus could not have been sinless if he subjected himself to John's baptism. He proposes that Jesus was very much like us in coming to repentance, which is completely heretical thinking in my view. Either Jesus was, as He and His disciples later claimed, the Son of God in the flesh, without sin and a perfect "stand in" for we who are are so much less than perfect, or the whole gospel really is a lie. This statement from a man who should know and believe his Bible, gave me great pause.

That aside (and it is not a small thing), the book does share some good stories that tend to be more on the line of morality tales than gospel stories. Quite obviously the kind of stories that appeal to even the unconverted because they don;t really push the envelope past the idea that God is a good father to all men and grace covers everything. It does, but only for those who truly believe the gospel.

This book may be helpful in provoking some discussions that do not probe too deeply into man's fallen nature. But gospel stories? I don't think I'd categorize these as such.