what are you reading?

Here’s what I’ve been reading lately:

1) Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will OR How to Make a Decision without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, Etc. by Kevin DeYoung

I finished this about a 2 months ago and thought it was great.  What a breath of fresh air to the frivolous, often ridiculous ways we try to figure out our future before it happens.

2) Middlemarch by George Eliot

I’ve always loved Eliot’s Adam Bede and never took the time to read Middlemarch.  I’m glad I did.  She has an insight into the workings of the mind and heart of her characters that is enlightening and convicting to the reader who identifies with them.  Plus, it was the first book I read on my iPhone via Kindle and just finished.  Very handy.

3) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

I just started this and am only a few chapters in, also being read on my iphone.  So far, it has all the charming markings of an Austen novel.  It was her first book, published after many of her other works.

4) Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell

Sowell is one of my favorite minds on politics and culture.  I’ve just started this book and it examines the influence of intellectuals on society and the often disastrous effects thereof.  Thanks, Tom, for surprising me with it!

5) Home Comforts : The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson

I pulled this one off my bookshelf a month ago and got sucked into re-reading quite a bit.  I use it as reference book and disagree largely with her take on why it’s important to keep house, but nonetheless, you will not find a more thorough book covering every aspect of home management.

6) A Sweet & Bitter Providence: Sex, Race and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper

I loved this look at Ruth, Naomi and Boaz.  The book of Ruth has long been a favorite for me and Pastor John offers his usual poignant understanding of the big picture in relation to this story.  Reading it made me love God’s designs more.

7) The Liars’ Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr

I was assigned to read this in college and did a half-read, half-skim.  I was prompted to remember it when Tim Challies reviewed it a while back.  I’m about a quarter in so far and find it riveting and very gritty.  I probably wouldn’t recommend it.

8) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This book was a gift and I completed it a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed.  It is a book of fictional letters written just after WWII.  The style is enchanting and the content is sober without being sober.

What are you reading?

*Note: The Bible is the most important reading we can do each day.  I hope that’s understood.  I use our church’s Bible reading plan, in case you were curious.  The reading listed here is my “escape” or nighttime reading.

news and reviews 4/6/09

Adam Lambert favored to win Idol

I’ll say this.  I’m a Kris fan.  I can’t remember his last name at the moment, but you know the guy who plays guitar and has a crooked mouth when he hits the big notes?  I like his arrangements and think he’s very talented (plays piano and guitar).  Lambert weirds me out a bit with the makeup, nail polish and stuck-out tongue.  Can’t deny his talent.  But Kris is more my speed.  

Facebook draws 200m people with social gaming 

Anybody participate in facebook games?  Apparently texas hold’em and an interactive pet “game” are ranked the highest.  I must admit I don’t like them.  (Not a moral judgment).  Just think they’re annoying and a waste of time for me.  This social gaming is said to have a much bigger draw than other online gaming because you’re playing with people you actually know instead of strangers.  This ring true for anyone?

Tony Blair set to be President of the EU?

Wouldn’t that just torque Gordan Brown beyond words?  But it looks like Brown is ready to along with it.  He apparently recognizes the importance of having a Brit in that seat.  Country first I guess.  Or is it EU first?  I’m confused now.  

Run Away Banks, Run Away!

Tim Geithner reserves the right to oust bank execs from banks requiring exceptional help from the gov’t.  I think he also said that some banks are too big and important to allow to fail.  So what if a bank refuses gov’t help, but is one of those deemed “too big to fail”?  Does the gov’t “help” them against their wishes?  Then oust whoever they want?  

If I were a bank exec, I would, in the words of Monty Python, “Run away, run away!”

A Nuclear Irony

Tomasky points out the jolting irony that on the day Pres. Obama delivers a speech in Prague about a post-nuclear world, North Korea launches a rocket soaring over Japan, that may have the potential to send a nuclear warhead to Alaska.  He goes on to remind us that places like North Korea, Iran, and many others don’t care who our president is.  To them Obama isn’t “change,” he’s just an American (read: enemy).

Unions Ensure the Death of the Newspaper

I’m not saddened by the death of the newspaper.  I don’t read them.  I get all my news online.  And I’m not nostalgic about them, because I’m too young.  So, it’s easy for me to scratch my head when I read articles like this.  Unions won’t make concessions with newspaper companies and thereby ensure their complete collapse.  As has already happened all over the country.  Papers, like the Boston Globe, are being totally subsidized in order to pay the union employees.  But rather than cut all the superfluous staff and run the paper on a shoestring with minimal employees, they will shut the whole thing down.  

I suppose it’s going to happen eventually anyway, the unions unwillingness to cooperate just ensure it and speed it up.  I say, go read the Drudge Report.

news and reviews 3/21

Oversight Leads to Envy 

No one needs incentive to sin.  It comes naturally.  Yet, it seems that we are being given plenty of envy incentive nowadays with the oversight of executive pay for banks and wall street firms.  As the gov’t increases “oversight” and makes sure to trumpet and disdain the amount of money execs make, the message is not all that subtle.  We should be mad at execs for being wealthy.  We deserve what they have.  We want more of what isn’t ours.  We’re coveters.  

In this environment envy has become a virtue instead of a vice. 

YouTube Diplomacy?

During the campaign many of us were outraged when Sen. Obama said he would talk to our enemies, including Iran, without preconditions.  I’m not sure whether sending them a video-message qualifies as that, but it seems Iran is less than enthusiastic about talking with us.  Their response to President Obama was something along the lines of, “Call us once you’ve rewritten the American Foreign Policy, then we might consider talking with you.”  

Not only are they spitting in our “out-stretched hand,” they fist remains firmly clenched as they redouble their nuclear efforts.

Baby Born on Flight to New Zealand, Left in Bathroom

“We are relieved to have been informed that both mother and child are reunited..” said the airline.  Does this seem strange to anyone else?  Mother gives birth secretly in airport bathroom.  Mother puts alive baby in waste bin receptacle.  Mother leaves baby and is later spotted in line for immigration.  Now mother is reunited with the baby she threw away?  The word “relieved” is not my first inclination.  More like “scared.”  What will she do with the baby this time?

Christian Book Awards

I was pleased with two of the winners of the Christian Book Awards.  Although, frankly, I put zero stock in such things.  The ESV Study Bible won its category and Spectacular Sins by Pastor John (Piper) did as well.  I just got the ESV Study Bible for my b-day; I’m liking it quite a bit.  I’ve been using the online version during the month of March, because it’s free.  

And Spectacular Sins is probably in my top 5 of Pastor John’s books.  

Undo that ‘Send’!

Phew!  Ever accidently hit ‘send’ on an email that wasn’t ready?  Or maybe hastily written something not-so-nice that you at once wish you could take back?  Well, google’s got your back with their new “undo send” feature.  

I don’t know how google does all the stuff they do, so I will say it now: they totally freak me out.  I think they know more about me than I do.  If ever a one world order comes about I’ve no doubt it will be called “Google World.”  I wonder what they do with all those emails that get “undo send”-ed?  

Keep them for blackmail I’ll bet.

guests aren’t strangers… for long

It occurs to me that many more people read this blog than comment on it.  In fact, most of the people who read it don’t comment. 

This is completely fine.  Some of you don’t wish to comment and I don’t want you to feel pressured to do so.  But, some of you may be hesitating for other reasons that I’d like to put to rest, such as:

1) You don’t feel you have anything earth-shattering or new to offer.  I disagree.  I think you do.  It may be small, it may seem insignificant, but it’s not, not to me.  A simple “yes, right on!” or “no way, lady,” will do.

2) We’ve never met.  You think commenting is only for people acquainted with me.  Nope, this is a public blog and I hope for people that I’ve never met to comment.  It energizes and encourages me.  If it helps, think of yourself as a guest here. You already know something about me.  I’d enjoy knowing something about you. 

3) We are loosely affiliated or you know of me or this blog through someone else and think it would be weird to comment.  Nope, you can just tell me our connection.  I’m happy to hear from you.

4) You disagree with what I’m saying and everyone else who’s commenting seems to agree.  Don’t worry, I am excited to hear differing view-points to sharpen me and make me think.  I only ask that we refrain from name-calling and respect the Bible as the final authority.  I think vigorous debate can be highly beneficial.

5) You’re worried that someone will recognize your name or are uncertain about the safety of cyberspace.  Um, I don’t have an answer for that one… it seems fine to me?  Sorry, that’s probably not very reassuring.  

If you’re here, you probably enjoy the blogosphere.  So do I.  It’s OK to join in the conversation (or not).  It takes courage to write a comment.  I don’t take commenters for granted.  It means a lot that someone would take the time to respond to something I’ve written.  Often enough, the comments are more insightful than the original post!

So, dear courageous reader, known and unknown, come on out and say hi!  You are certainly a guest and maybe a stranger, but you can put an end to the stranger thing now.  

Men, women, moms, singles, marrieds, and crazies (you know who you are) all welcome.

have you heard the good news?

If you have spent any time at this blog, I hope you’ve noticed something.  I hope you’ve noticed an inescapable theme woven through and shaping all my thinking and writing.  The theme is the Gospel.

I have opinions about many things, and I can say with certainty that many of them are flawed.  Sometimes our opinions are a reflection of ourselves, they’re subjective and based on subjective life circumstances.  But there are times when our “opinions” are really beliefs, beliefs based on a reality.  

I think that what I believe about God and His Son, Jesus, and the Bible is one of the latter things.  It is a belief based on a fact, a reality, a truth.  

If I said I believe Lincoln was the President during the Civil War and gave the Gettysburg address and was assassinated while watching the opera, that belief would be true.  It is based on actual events that happened.  

I believe the Bible to have the same sort of historical factual information, and much much more.

Here are the nuts and bolts of what I believe:

God made the earth and Adam and Eve.  They lived in harmony with God, until they sinned.  After they sinned they were separated from God and they and the earth became cursed as a result of their evil.  

The sin problem plagued every human from then on.  It has been life’s biggest, most serious problem.  Their sin, and ours, is against a holy and perfect God who cannot tolerate it and must send sinners to eternal punishment.

For hundreds of years, God’s people, Israel, tried to make peace with God by sacrificing animals to atone for their sin.  God was gracious in forbearing with these less than perfect sacrifices.  

Prophets like Isaiah foretold the coming of a man, called the Messiah, who would save the people from their sins.  And that this Savior would save more than just Israel, but would be for all peoples.  He would be the perfect sacrifice needed to bring peace with God and overcome sin and death.  He would, in fact, be God incarnate.

This God-man, the Messiah, named Jesus, was born of a virgin Mary, he was begotten of God the Father, and He lived a perfect life.  He loved everyone perfectly and was good and just and all the things we might try to be, but fail.  

Eventually He was hanged on a cross.  This was the will of His Father.  It was part of a plan that the Father had to bring reconciliation between Himself and sinful people.  The same sinful people that crucified Christ, would now have the opportunity for peace with God through the very death they enacted.  Jesus was crushed for our iniquity.  

And after He was murdered on our behalf, He rose from the dead after three days, thereby defeating death forever.  

When He rose from the dead, He was seen by many witnesses and even ate a meal with His disciples.  Then God took Him up to heaven.  

This all happened over 2000 years ago.  You can read about it in the Bible.  The Bible is God’s Word.  This means that what is written in the Bible is not simply an historical account (although it is that too), but God’s very words to us, that He inspired mere humans to write.  Everything in it is True and for the benefit of sinful people to come to God and know God and glorify God.  

For me, this is good news.  

This is life-changing news.  It is Life for my dead heart. It is Light for my dark mind.  It is Bread for my hungry soul.  It is the Way, when all ways were shut.  It is the Good Shepherd, when all had gone astray.  It is the Truth, when lies were closing in.  

Does this sound like good news to you?  

Do you sense God’s Holy Spirit beckoning you to taste and see that the Lord is good?  Do you long to cast your burden of sin onto Jesus, gaining for yourself freedom from sin and joy in loving God in this life and forever in heaven?  Do you want to give thanks to God for this gift?  Do you desire to see His name made great, because you now see that He is Great?

I hope you do.  I hope you want to run and find the nearest Bible to learn more about this thing called Christianity.  I hope you decide to find a church that believes the Bible and is depending on Christ for their salvation through faith alone (trusting and believing God), by grace alone (not depending on good works). 

If you want to hear the good news again, in someone else’s words.  Here it is:

Please contact me or a Christian in your life, if you have turned from your sin and are now resting in Christ’s Righteousness.

pro-life reading for the youngest among us

I just read Dr. Suess’s Horton Hears a Who! for the first time last week.  The kids got it for Christmas and it’s one of the Dr. Suess books that I’ve never read.  I was really missing out!  

This now replaces Green Eggs and Ham as my favorite Dr. Suess book.

Most surprising of all, was the amazing pro-life message it offers.  Horton, a large elephant, discovers a voice coming from a speck of dust.  He comes to find out that it’s not just a voice, but a whole town called Whoville that lives on the speck.

So Horton, lovingly and protectively, guards the speck, now lodged on a clover.  Carrying the clover everywhere he goes, his motto repeats, “Because, after all, a person’s  a person, no matter how small.”  

He faces persecution from a kangaroo and a pack of monkeys, who are set on boiling the clover in beezle-nut oil, in order to get Horton to give up his obsession of protecting the clover.  They don’t believe that there are any people on the speck.  They think Horton is crazy and don’t care about the supposed Who’s of Whoville.  

Finally, after Horton as been mauled and beaten, the Who’s of Whoville shout as loud as they can, all together, with even the smallest Who doing their best, and the monkeys and kangaroo hear the Who’s at last.  

The town is saved and the elephant smiles saying, “They’ve proved they ARE persons, no matter how small.  And their whole world was saved by the Smallest of All.”  

The book ends with the conversion of the kangaroo.  He says, “From sun in the summer.  From rain when it’s fall-ish, I’m going to protect them.  No matter how small-ish.”

Some make subjective the issue of aborting babies, saying, “Is this really life?”  But we know that babies in the womb are alive; they certainly aren’t dead.  Or, “Is it viable?”  The time of viability keeps getting younger and younger. Or, “Is it a human?”  Well, it definitely isn’t a monkey or an elephant.  

The question is, will our society protect the smallest among us?  Those who, like the Who’s of Whoville, have no way to protect themselves from the bigger people around them.  

I want to be more like Horton.  Even beaten and mauled, he protected those who could not protect themselves.  He made converts out of people that had boiling beezle-nut oil.  

Horton had guts and love.  We could all use a little more of those.

eats, shoots and leaves

When was the last time you laughed out loud when reading a nonfiction book?

How about a nonfiction book about punctuation?  Lynne Truss’s book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is just that.  A laugh-out-loud book about punctuation.  And, yes, there’s a panda on the cover.  Here’s the joke on which the title is based:

A panda walks into a cafe.  He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

“Why?” asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit.  The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

“I’m a panda,” he says, at the door.  ”Look it up.”

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

“Panda.  Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China.  Eats, shoots and leaves.”

“So punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death,” writes the British Truss.  This, from a woman who was hoping to start a militant wing to the Apostrophe Protection Society (yes, such a society exists).

For any of you who were bothered when the movie Two Weeks Notice was released (not because of any objectionable content) this book is for you.  And if, right now, you’re wondering what the objection to it might be, then this also might be a good book for you (as it is quite educational regarding use of the possessive apostrophe).

Its appeal is surprisingly universal for a subject such as punctuation.  I attribute this to Ms. Truss’s unmatched wit and, what she calls, her “inner stickler.”  Of which I think we all take part to some degree and secretly relish.

I dedicate this post to my friend Amy, who takes the time to properly spell and punctuate her text messages.  Amy, you’re my hero.