What’s Your Point of View? You Don’t Want to Miss Our Book Club Meeting Next Monday, 1/27! (…with fascinating discussion of Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s Book.)
Friends! Load up your car with friends next Monday night, January 27th, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. and join us for what promises to be a super fun-in-every-way night. Branches Book Club, at Middletown United Methodist Church will be discussing a new book by Elisabeth Hasselbeck called Point of View: A Fresh Look at Work, Faith, and Freedom.
I learned a lot about a lot of topics, most of which I had no clue regarding Elisabeth’s life and career. I knew she’d been a contestant on Survivor in 2001 and soon afterwards got a chair as a co-host on The View. But who knew she was a walk-on for the softball team at Boston College? Or a shoe designer? Throw in three young children and a husband that played in the NFL and she’s spinning multiple plates!
Before we dive in, let’s hear from some of Elisabeth’s endorsers:
Roma Downey says, “…Elisabeth’s book carries a powerful message that reprioritizes the great truth: He calls, He equips, He never leaves.”
Lysa TerKeurst says, “In a world that sometimes begs us to do the total opposite, Point of View is a great resource that will help us process having a godly perspective.”
Candace Cameron Bure is who took Elisabeth’s place on The View when her contract wasn’t renewed. As God would orchestrate, they became dear friends. Candace wrote the Foreword to this book. I love how she ends it: “God changes our point of view when we understand just how blurry our vision really is without Him.”
Each and every chapter offers beautiful reminders that our Sovereign Lord is in charge. The lengths to which He went for Elisabeth are astonishing. Elisabeth offers us many metaphors also in each chapter sprinkled with pertinent Scripture to lean on. She dubs her friends “spiritual optometrists who have helped me look at something differently or more closely and pointed my eyes to a different point of view.”
I also never made the connection that the same year Elisabeth was on Survivor, our very own Rodger Bingham, a/k/a “Kentucky Joe” was too. He and Elisabeth were on the same team. She says they quickly developed a father/daughter type of relationship. While each participant was allowed their own, personal “survival item,” Elisabeth chose a crafty headdress she made from a collection of scarves that were important to her.
Kentucky Joe’s survival item was his Bible! He often taught Elisabeth from the Bible and they bookended their days with prayer and Scripture. She shares, “Every night and morning we prayed, beginning with praising God and thanking Him, praying for our families back home, and asking for safety in the long, uncertain days that lay ahead of us.”
Numerous lessons Elisabeth shares will bless you and strengthen your faith. She says, “Rodger pointed my eyes, through our alliance in heart, to reliance on faith.”
Leading up to the Australian Outback where they’d be for Survivor, (noting 9 out of the world’s 10 most deadly snakes are found in the Outback), Elisabeth and other potential contestants had a series of tests to take. (I’d have thrown in the towel long before I ever got started.) I found myself shaking my head a lot, saying, “No way!”
Elisabeth’s ten years on The View were anything but easy. Having a Biblical worldview and discussing “Hot Topics” usually got her in the hot seat and highly criticized, however, she held her ground. She attributes a large part of her strength and stamina to putting on the FULL ARMOR OF GOD every morning. She says, “I prepared my heart each morning with the armor of God because I knew each day would have its challenges.”
Ephesians 6:10-18 spells out the full armor of God for us:
“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
Some fun parts of the book include Elisabeth’s sweet relationship she had with the one and only Barbara Walters. Interviews with major celebrities and opportunities to dinners at the White House, etc. were frequent. Not all of them went swimmingly. Don’t miss these!
When she learned her contract on The View wasn’t being renewed, she decided to stay as long as possible and daily recited, Psalm 3:3,
We readers also benefit from the many lessons Elisabeth learned along the way such as “how to leave a job well.” She also shows us how not to take a new job at the expense of your little ones. Her vulnerability on how she crashed and burned with Fox is eye-opening and impressive she has the guts to share this with us. She realized, “it was time for my family to get the best of me, not the rest of me.”
We look forward to a lively discussion and more lessons we can all take home from our book club meeting this coming Monday. Our theme is “All American,” so plan to bring a snack related to that if time allows. Be thinking of some friends you can bring and please join us next Monday night, January 27th, from 6:30-8:00 p.m.!!! Middletown United Methodist is at 11902 Old Shelbyville Road, in Louisville, 40243.
RSVP to Nancy Tinnell at (502)245-8839.
We look forward to seeing you!
‘Til next time!
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