A tough but enlightening—and affecting—look at end-of-life matters. . . .
Lois Hoitenga Roelofs. Marv Taking Charge: A Story of Bold Love and Courage. 224p., $16.99, Deep River Books.
Lois Roelofs always knew that Marv, her husband of fifty-five years, had strong convictions. So when he was diagnosed with “very aggressive” small cell lung cancer, with a few weeks to a few months to live, she accepted that he wanted to die on his own terms―refuse chemo, choose quality of life over quantity, and die at home. She tells their story in a mix of personal notes, family and friend emails, and public blog posts written during Marv’s illness and her first months as a widow. At the time, she could find no personal accounts of refusing treatment and living with the resultant uncertainty.
Lois wrote this book to honor her husband Marv’s request to tell the story of their experience when he chose to refuse treatment for a diagnosis of small cell lung cancer. Family, friends, and readers of Lois’s blog in real time confirmed interest in the topic of refusing treatment. She wanted to show her readers that achieving patient autonomy, doing what’s right for them, is possible and, implicitly, to caution readers never to blindly follow medical advice.
Marv Taking Charge will be helpful to those facing a critical decision whether or not to treat a terminal illness. It will help answer questions such as 1) what can happen after the diagnostic visits, 2) when to sign up for hospice, 3) what can be expected from hospice, 4) how to spend the time during the uncertain period when all persons involved are waiting for the worsening of the patient’s illness, and 5) what can happen during the progression of the illness.
The main theme is patient autonomy, having the right to make decisions regarding care.
Lay It Down 
Kerux: 1 Peter
All you can eat (and preach) about 1 Peter. . . .
Timothy E. Miller and Bryan Murawski. 1 Peter: A Commentary for Biblical Preaching and Teaching. Kerux Commentaries. 336p., $32.99, Kregel Academic.
Kerux Commentaries enable pastors and teachers to understand and effectively present the main message in a biblical text.
Each volume uniquely combines the insights of an experienced Bible exegete (trained in interpretation) and a homiletician (trained in preaching). These two authors work together to explain the essential message for the original listeners or readers, unpack its timeless truth, and then provide a contemporary restatement and communication insights for the key biblical concept. Every book is a resource designed and written with the real needs of the pastor and teacher always in sight, providing many ways to creatively express the principal thought in a biblical passage.
Based on the Big Idea preaching model, Kerux enhances the reader’s ability to deliver a message that is biblical, cohesive, and dynamic.
In 1 Peter, Timothy Miller and Bryan Murawski demonstrate how the activity of the triune God provides both encouragement and exhortation to the first-century readers of 1 Peter. The God who created and called believers has both redeemed them and empowered them to stand firm in the face of the world’s rejection. Such theological realities apply also to today’s believers, those elect of God yet exiles in the world. Miller and Murawski infuse textual, canonical, historical, and rhetorical insight to support the preaching preparation of expositors eager to share the relevance of 1 Peter with their congregations.