Ted Dekker: The Slumber of Christianity: Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth
Wow - I really enjoyed this book. I read Dekker's "Tea with Hezbollah" and was drawn to his writing style, but in the mood for non-fiction, I found this to be his only other non-fiction book and bought it. I'm glad I did. Ted challenges us to open the eyes of our hearts to the hope of glory and makes a strong case that heaven is the call and desire of every follower of Christ. Great stuff and a good read! (****)
Jay Mohr: No Wonder My Parents Drank: Tales from a Stand-Up Dad
Jay Mohr can be hilarious, and this book was no disappointment. It is NOT for you if you have problems with cussing and crude language -- Jay drops it in left and right. But it's an entertaining read if you can get past that part.
Ted Dekker & Carl Medearis: Tea with Hezbollah: Sitting at the Enemies Table Our Journey Through the Middle East
More a travelogue than a political or religious book, this book is an engaging story that follows the travels of a writer and a Middle East adventurer through personal conversations with some of the people of influence in the Middle Eastern Muslim culture. Lots of history to provide context, and it leaves you with some challenging questions. (****)
David Platt: Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
This was a challenging read, making a call to look at your life in light of Scripture and try to measure whether you're really following Christ's call to serve him or simply following the idol of the American dream. Definitely worth a read! (****)
Mark Batterson: Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity
Goes back to the basics, pursuing an understanding of what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Batterson correlates the "primal" concepts of compassion, wonder, curiosity and energy and studies, in a practical way, what it means to pursue God at your most basic level. (****)
David Allen: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
I find it humorous how hard a time I've had finishing this book. It's a serious chore, but it's got great information. I'm finally about 3/4 of the way through and I just need to finish it.
Larry Osborne: Ten Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe
I got this book from the publisher, and its title and table of contents intrigue me. I haven't gotten around to it yet.
Tim Keel: Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor, and Chaos (emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith)
I like Tim Keel. He's a good guy, and if God hadn't sent us on a detour, Tim would have likely ended up my pastor. But God had other plans. I want to read this book simply because it's so Tim, and I feel I have much I could learn from him.
Neil Strauss: Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life
I really enjoyed this book. I heard Neil Strauss on the radio talking about this book, and I decided I had to find a copy. It's a short course on everything you should consider if you want to be prepared for the apocalypse, the world as we know it to end, or the zombies to attack. It's great stuff with short, readable chapters that you give resources to go dig deeper if you want. High on my list of books for guys to read. (****)
Robert Jeffress: Clutter-Free Christianity: What God Really Desires for You
I read this after receiving it from the publisher. It's not bad. It's a challenge to get beyond legalism and into the character of God. It challenges you to move beyond to-do lists for God and realize He just wants you. (***)
Chantel Hobbs: Never Say Diet: Make Five Decisions and Break the Fat Habit for Good
This book challenged me and inspired me to finally get serious about losing my gut. It's very practical, and I'm glad I read it. (***)
Marshall Goldsmith: What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
It's in my pile, thanks to @darrenpatrick
Mark Driscoll: Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods (Re:Lit: Vintage Jesus)
Haven't read this yet but have a copy on my pile
Gary L. Thomas: The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of God Every Day of Your Life
WOW! I would recommend this book for a small group, Sunday School class, or even an entire church. It it as core study of what the God-empowered life is really all about, calling Christians to not be the people who are against things in a moralistic way but more the people who are about things in a Spirit-led life. Great stuff with some solid source materials. (*****)
Dave Tomlinson: The Post-Evangelical
I've never made it through this book, and I must. The concepts its lays out are challenging and very true to life, even in my own life. It captures a demographic shift in the evangelical church that must be acknowledged and dealt with openly.
Joseph R. Myers: The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups
This book espouses a view of church, community, and intimacy that many are missing. When I'm in conversations about small groups and community and the struggles many churches have, this book keeps popping up in the conversation. It has some rough spots that you have to get through because it can be slightly tedious in analysis and modeling, but it's a solid read. (*****)
Brennan Manning: The Ragamuffin Gospel
A MUST READ. No, seriously, I truly believe every follower of Jesus should read this book. No other book captures it like Brennan Manning does in this book. If you haven't read it, buy it now. (*****)
Donald Miller: Blue Like Jazz
I haven't read this in a few years, but it captures the challenges of the modern evangelical. It's honest, authentic and worth the time. (****)
Yes! I'm loving Michael Phelps mania. He seems like just an average guy who can swim like no other. Today I found this graphic of what Michael eats to keep going -- apparently he eats 12,000 calories a day, but I've read that to keep things in balance he has to keep his weight under 200 pounds. Amazing stuff!
I really don't get it. There is a great European furor over this Nike ad showing England soccer player Wayne Rooney is what appears to be in a barbaric battle cry warrior stance. Rooney, who has been injured, returned to the team just in time for the World Cup tournament, and this ad was released right about the same time. The red and white are the English team's colors, and it is clearly symbolic of the flag of St. George that is the basis of the English team's uniform. I personally love the ad -- I think it is very emotional and passionate and depicts Nike's "Just Do It" motto in a very eye-catching way.
Nike is on the defense now due to complaints on several levels, including complaints that the image trivializes Christ's crucifixion and is thus anti-Christian, that the image looks back to the Crusades and is thus anti-Muslim, and just other random emotional complaints that the image is "truly horrible", "crass", "offensive", "insensitive", "extremely nasty", "aggressive", "disturbing" and "alarming". The ad is being connected with soccer fan violence this week between English and German fans. The article in the UK's Daily Mail has quotes from a pastor saying that the wet paint looks like blood and brings to mind Christ on the cross and that "this will cause real hurt to people." Oh, please!
Nike says that image and his pose are simply based on Rooney's trademark goal-scoring celebration, and that the red is not meant to be blood at all, but is instead intended to represent the body painting of soccer fans. They say they have received only positive response to the image, but due to all the complaints, they have decided to limit the ad campaign, and despite lots of poster requests, they have decided to not release the image as a poster.
I haven't posted in a couple of days. It's been busy. Right now I'm watching the Red Sox game on mute -- I'm surfing, Amy's working on her seminar for this weekend. Top of the 9th, Red Sox up 3-0 in game 4. If they win this, it will be their first World Series win since 1918, and they will break the Bambino Curse. Wow!
I must say -- I love the iTunes store. Every once in a while, I surf over there, and I'm shocked at what I find that I'm just dying to buy. Today, I picked up some songs off Caedmon's Call's new CD, "Share the Well". In the good old days of Caedmon's Call (and I've been tracking Caedmon's Call since they released their first independent CD long before anyone had heard of them), people were either Derek or Cliff fans, but rarely both. Derek and Cliff had such different styles, and everyone had their favorite. I was a Derek guy -- his rhythm guitar jams and the depth and creativity of his songs were just amazing. So, now that Derek is no longer with the band, I'm not as big on Caedmon's Call. But, sadly, Derek isn't quite as good without the rest of the band either. They were just such a great mix -- sad that Derek left. But, anyway, their new CD is pretty exotic and international and quite a shift from their historical stuff. It's good stuff, so I picked up a few tunes.
Wow -- bottom of the 9th. 3 outs and the Red Sox win the whole shebang.
Bon Jovi has released an exclusive pre-release track -- "Edge of a Broken Heart". I picked it up. For the life of me, I've heard this song somewhere before, and I can't figure out where. According to a Gracenote/CDDB search, they've released the song several times but none of the releases are anything I own. Seems like maybe they released it on the radio or something. But, anyway, it's a great song.
Oh, my gosh!!!!!! The Red Sox just won the World Series!!!!! In 4 games!!!!!! I'm utterly floored. It's always fun to watch rough and tough grown men go utterly bonkers when they when the World Series, especially the coaches.
Finally, I picked up some Chris Rice songs, some of his new greatest hits CD, Short Term Memories. There were also a few missing off that CD that I picked up off his "Run the Earth - Watch the Sky" CD.
Good music. Good baseball. What else can a man ask for?
