Anne LeGare

My friend Renae Brumbaugh asked me to review her first book, Morning Coffee with James. It was an honor and a delight to do so, and I’d like to share my review here before I post one at Amazon.com. You can pre-order her book there for only $10.39.  If you are fortunate enough to have a 7th grader at Cove Junior High this year, you might find out Renae is your child’s English teacher.  Here’s my review:

Morning Coffee with James is a delightful devotional that doesn’t read like a devotional! Since I do like to read my Bible with a cup of coffee, it fit my quiet time perfectly. The appeal of this book is in its format. Renae presents the book of James in five main chapters: What We Have, What We Do, What We Say, What We Feel, and What We Give.  Within those chapters, Renae provides morsels of truth that go so well with that cup of coffee.

The daily scripture is presented as the “first cup of coffee.” After the first cup, the “cream and sugar” is a self-reflection question, followed by an encouraging prayer. Next there’s the “second cup of coffee,” in which Renae teaches through cross references, to be finished to the “last drop,” which is a pithy quotation to finish that morning’s coffee.

Renae has a conversational style that teaches rather than preaches to the reader. And every few chapters she throws in some interesting coffee facts or recipes that are just fun to know.

I’m so glad Renae chose James as her first in this series, as it is such a good book to curl up and get to know. Maybe her next devotional book will be on “He Brews!”