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 enlarge | Authors: Don & Susie Van Ryn, Newell, Colleen & Whitney Cerak
Creator: Mark Tabb
Publisher: Howard Books
Category: Book
List Price: $21.99
Buy New: $8.49
You Save: $13.50 (61%)
New (54) Collectible (2) from $8.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  121 reviews
Sales Rank: 5160
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.7 x 1.3
ISBN: 1416567356
Dewey Decimal Number: 617.4810440922
EAN: 9781416567356
ASIN: 1416567356
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new. Never read. Ships quickly
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| Customer Reviews:
 God is Love April 16, 2008
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
The question that keeps coming up in most of our minds is why God the merciful, preferentially spared the life of Whitney and He deliberately took away all other beautiful people in that ill fated van.
In my own mind it is clear that God may be merciful, but more than that I see Him with full of Grace. It is in His Grace we enjoy the freedom to the full extent, we have full knowledge of both good and evil. Only in full freedom we understand Love. There is no Love without freedom. God cannot grant freedom and at the same time can grant our wishes to stay healthy and alive. He is not in Driver's seat; He wants us to be in Driver's seat. We can enjoy the ride and at the same time we have the responsibility (Loving) to be careful drivers. When accidents do happen because of some sleepy driver of another vehicle, we cannot blame God. For Him all it matters is freedom (Grace). Sorry, some people just die for no reason. I am sure God does not like people dying, perhaps He even cries. He is kind of helpless in this sense, Love that comes out of full freedom is the only thing that matters for Him, because He is LOVE. He put Love before Life.
This beautiful story illustrates the work of God, how the amazing LOVE is the only one that prevails.
 Compelling Story April 15, 2008
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
After seeing this story on Dateline, I was happy that the story had been put in a book. It's amazing to think how these families lives would be changed forever. This story helps put your life in perspective. We need to live our families and learn to enjoy our loved ones, friends, and every moments of our lives.
Bobby Brown Fan
Bobby Brown: The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But...
 A Different Point of View April 14, 2008
304 out of 361 found this review helpful
At the time I am writing this review, I see there are no reviews lower than a "5". For those of you who want a more objective view, or those who want a different point of view from a person who isn't an evangelical Christian, this one is for you.
Like many readers I was mesmerized by this story, first hearing of it when it happened and then more recently when it received more media attention on Dateline, Oprah, and via People magazine coinciding with the publication of the book. How could this have happened? How did the families react? How is Whitney doing? All these questions were answered by the media yet I wanted to know more and was glad to see the book was available for download on my Kindle. The Van Ryns and Ceraks seem like such nice people who are truly living their faith. Even in their grief how they were able to reach out to one another was really amazing. We should all learn from how they handled this tragic situation. That said, I wanted to know more about Whitney's brain injury itself and other than the first five weeks, the TBI portion was really not covered in very much detail.
These families are the epitome of Christian kindness. In a world where evangelical Christians sometimes have a negative connotation, where they say they pray but their actions seem to be full of hypocrisy, these people really do walk the walk and talk the talk. When I see those buttons that say "WWJD" these are the people who definitely I would think of.
However, although well written, the families use so much praise and prayer in their story that they end up alienating the readers who could really benefit from the message. Another sore spot with me was that they did a lot of bragging about the people that evidently became Christians due to this tragedy. Does that make them somehow feel better? The story itself really gets bogged down in all the religion. To some readers this is a positive point, to others like myself who considers themself spiritual rather than religious, this was way overdone. I found myself skimming many parts - making this a very quick read.
For those who are interested in a book detailing more about traumatic brain injury, I highly recommend Where is the Mango Princess by Cathy Crimmins who details her husband's TBI in detail and how it affected her family. I would recommend Mistaken Identity to evangelical Christians who aren't concerned about details of traumatic brain injury itself. I am glad that I didn't pay full price for this book, instead being able to download it on my Kindle. I can see where a person who could easily be put-off by the overtly Christian overtones of this book would send it flying across the room despite the fact that this is a truly amazing story and these are wonderful people who I applaud for being as caring as they were in a time of such tragedy. I think that it doesn't take a Christian to be able to react this way, genuine caring human beings of any faith or no faith at all may have done the same thing.
Just an aside, it will be really interesting to see how many "not helpful" votes I get for this review from people who just don't agree with me because I dared write a negative review on this book, because I dared be anti-Christian when I am truly just trying to be helpful and give people another version in order for them to make an educated decision before spending their hard-earned money on a book.
Amazing story about dealing with obstacles like Bobby Brown: The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But April 14, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I read this whole book in about 5 hours. It was an easy read that kept my interest page after page. I was so emotional hearing how these two families came together to deal with this painful situation. Their faith causes anyone to want to know God more intimately. It was an AMAZING story of Faith, Family, and Strength. The strength of these two families was very inspiring. The book is well written and deserves to be on the best sellers list. Another book that I can't wait to read is Bobby Brown: The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing ButaAfter reading excerpts from the book, it seems like his honesty about all that he has been through will also be an emotional read. I am looking forward to getting the book.
Great book!! April 14, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Even though I read about this story in magazines and saw their interview in People, I loved this book!! I can't imagine what they went through!! But more importantly, both families are such a huge inspiration - they made me want to look at my own life and be a better person.
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