Simultaneity

October 2, 2006

A Surprise Package

On Friday I received a box from Catalyst. The first box they sent had a Bible and a book with an interesting title by someone I hadn't heard of...but I do plan to read. So, I was very interested in what was in this box - I love books and I love free stuff...and I quite enjoy a surprise.

Opening the box, I found three books (!) all of which I had been wanting to read (in fact, I bought one already). Of the other two that I didn't own, I was very interested in one, and mildly in the other simply because I find Lanny Donoho very interesting...in fact, he remains the top person on my Barbecue list (and has even said he would come).

Lanny's book, God's Blog was a wonderful and easy read. I started Saturday and finished this evening, a rare occurrence in my reading schedule. I'm sure there will be some critics out there, but I loved the book, I loved the weirdness of the format, and I loved that it was written from God's prospective (sort of).

I got something out of most chapters, but will wind up reading the Bubble chapter again and again. This is well worth picking up and reading, even if you are not a believer and have no intention of becoming one. It's not a book designed to force or trick you into belief in God, it's one that will make you think.

I can't honestly say it's the best one I've read this year (Sorry Lanny, you were up against I am not but I know I AM and Velvet Elvis) but it is near the top of the list.

Thank you God for Lanny.

Posted by Jesse at 8:37 PM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2006

Finding the Code

One of the places that sells outreach tools for churches is selling a book called Quest for Da Vinci Code by Josh McDowell. It's a story of 3 college-age people meeting over coffee and discussing the book.

It sells for $1.50 in cases of 36. I'd like to read the book, but I'm not interested in paying $54. If someone's church happens to be handing these out (or selling them), I'd be interested in getting a copy and I'll gladly paypal you for it.

Posted by Jesse at 4:51 PM | Comments (1)

700 Sundays

I decided to vary my reading just a bit and picked up Billy Crystal's autobiography 700 Sundays. It's not that I'm a big Crystal fan; I was actually attracted by the title. He figured 700 Sundays are about the number of Sundays he was able to spend with his father.

I checked it out on Monday and just finished, it's a quick and easy read.It's not so much about him as it is about the people that made him who he is. I was surprised by the number of prominent people in his background, he dropped a lot of names, but not just for the sake of name dropping.

The death of his parents were rather sad notes, but it was an enjoyable glimpse at the inner life of Billy Crystal.

Posted by Jesse at 4:30 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2006

Zambezi and Eden

I tend to have a love/hate relationship with books. I love reading, but I hate the time it takes me to read through a book. I love buying books, but I hate knowing that I'll never read all the books I want to buy. The list could go on.

Every so often a book comes along that I can't put down. To me, that usually means that I'll pick it up here and there and it will be difficult to put down. This time it was different. When I started reading i am not, but i know I AM by Louie Giglio, I read every moment I could, even staying up late into the night on Sunday to finish.

In his book, Louie talks about our attempt to live our lives as if we are the most important, attempting to be the star in our own "one-act" play only to discover at the end that life really wasn't about you after all. He uses great imagery and conversational writing to guide us into an understanding that if God's name is "I AM" then it stands to reason that our name is "i am not."

Many of the passages in the book struck me, but these two (and his appendix titled "Why God is not an egoist") really stood out:

Not so visible, but mch moe dangerous, is the current that still flows out of Eden. And guess what? We're all still in it.[...The] effects of Adam's si still sweep us into the danger zone, that place where sin deceives us and we live as though we are bigger than we truly are.

Call it River Pride, white water that provides a thrill while deluding us into believing that we are in control. Just when we think we're riding the river, we find out the river is in control, hurling us overboard and sucking us under.

Do you see what I am trying to show you here? When someone named I am not decides to live as though his or her name is really I AM, one consequence always follows: death.

Posted by Jesse at 6:35 PM | Comments (0)

What are you reading?

I've had to temporarialy remove the books I'm reading from my sidebar. I tried upgrading the MediaManager plugin and the MTAmazon plugin. Neither are stable versions and the result was losing the ability to pull information from Amazon. I tried rolling back to an older version of MTAmazon, but to no avail.

Posted by Jesse at 2:50 PM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2005

Conspiracies

Just finished Freefall by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. It uses a few of the same characters as IceFire, another book by them that I enjoyed.

This book starts out with a scene from the Johnson administration, then quickly changes to the main plot line which is in the year 2008. The story revolves around the International Space Station and an accident caused during what was meant to be a government cover up. The story is well done and does a good job at taking a stab at the conspiracy theory that we won the space race (or did we?) by sabotage. They also include a new (at least to me) theory about Area 51.

This also marks book number 6 for me this year and makes me wonder if I'll make 10 for the year. If I finish some of the books that I've started without starting new ones it shouldn't be a problem, but that's not likely to be the case.

Anyhow, if you like the writing of these authors (they've written about 34 books, including several Trek novels) then I suggest that you read Icefire and this one...and maybe even Quicksilver.

Posted by Jesse at 4:35 PM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2005

Memorial Day

This is a typical terrorist meets CIA operative thriller. It was an interesting and harsh look at what may need to be done in the war against terror and why such a hard stance needs to be taken.

I enjoyed the writing and liked the fact that each change of scene brought a new chapter. Of course this meant that the 416 page novel had 94 chapters, but I think that may be ideal in an age where people are used to absorbing short bites of information at a time.

The novel was the most recent release in a serial of Mitch Rapp based books, but I don't know if I'll read the other ones. I enjoyed the story and liked the writing, but I'm just not sure where else the character can go (or come from in the case of earlier books).

Posted by Jesse at 6:06 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2005

Epic: The story God is Telling

I finished reading this a month or two ago and never got around to posting about it.

It was an interesting read, tying together movies and God. In Epic, John Eldredge talks about how we are a part of a larger story and that we can have a better understanding of our lives and the events in our lives when we understand the bigger story that is taking place. He uses movies like Braveheart, Apollo 13, and the Matrix to illuminate scripture passages.

One of the things that I liked best about his writing is how it he discusses how we need Christ and actually talks about hell, and does so in a way that is relevant and understandable. He also talks about why men and women have some of the deep longings that we have, such as wanting to be beautiful or brave.

Epic seems to be a shorter version of some of his other writings, as is often the case of these smaller hard cover books.

Posted by Jesse at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2005

How then, will you live?

If you're not pursuing a dangerous quest with you life, well, then, you don't need a Guide. If you haven't found yourself in the midst of a ferocious war, then you won't need a seasoned Captain. If you've settled in your mind to live as though this is a fairly neutral world and and you are simply trying to live your life as best you can, then you can probably get by with the Christianity of tips and techniques. Maybe. I'll give you about a fifty-fifty chance. But if you intend to live in the Story that God is telling, and if you want the life he offers, then you are going to need more than a handful of principles, however noble they may be. There are too many twists and turns in the road ahead, too many ambushes waiting only God knows where, too much at stake. You cannot possibly prepare yourself for every situation. Narrow is the way, said Jesus. How shall we be sure to find it? We need God intimately, and we need him desperately.

Only by walking with God can we hope to find the path that leads to life. That is what it means to be a disciple. After all - aren't we "followers of Chirst"? Then by all means, let's actually follow him. Not ideas about Him. Not just His principles. Him.

- John Eldredge

Posted by Jesse at 3:48 PM

February 5, 2005

Be Intolerant

In "Be Intolerant," Ryan Dobson takes a look at taking a stand against moral relativism. While I agree that Christian's need to see that our faith and moral relativism don't mix this book doesn't do well with explaining why. His argument comes across as over simplistic and very clicked. It winds up reading like an angry rant.

Moral relativism (what's wrong to me may be right for you) doesn't hold up and Christians need to make sure that they share and speak with love are the two basics of this book and a good starting point but never really gets out of the gate. Unfortunately, the way the argument is presented will only add to the feeling that Christians are a bigoted lot.

Posted by Jesse at 2:18 PM | Comments (1)

January 19, 2005

7 Practice of Effective Ministry

I enjoy having read a book and am usually torn because I like to read, yet I don't like to read. Anyhow, I made my goal last year to read 10 books and I intend to read at least that many this year. My first of the year is "Seven Practices of Effective Ministry" by Stanley, Joiner, and Jones.

I haven't read much by Lane Jones but I do like the writing of the other two authors, they tend to put things in a straight forward and understandable manner and did so in this book as well. 7 practices isn't just another book on ministry, it's a book on organizational improvement; one that can be successfully applied not only to churches but to any organization. It begins with a story of a pastor that decides to go to a baseball game, during which, he learns about the 7 practices from the teams owner. After the story, the book continues and expands on how the practices could work in your setting and why.

I found quite a bit of helpful insight that could apply anywhere and it was hard to pick out just one quote to share, so I decided to go with one toward the back since it's the most recently read:

Billions of dollars are spent every year by organizations in order to [learn about] the same outsiders we are trying to reach. In a number of instances, when we thought we intuitively understood the issues, we found out we were wrong. Again, many of us have been inside so long, we have become deaf o what outsiders say their real needs are. If you are deaf long enough, it affects the way you speak. The reason a lot of churches are not connecting to outsiders is that they just haven't spent enough time learning the right language.

If you are not someone involved in ministry, or even involved in church, I would still recommend checking this one out since it has solid leadership principles that can be used in just about any setting.

Posted by Jesse at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2004

Miracles

"Miracles come in all sizes. Some big, some small. Sometimes you won't even see 'em till you're well past 'em an' happen to look back one day 'cause you know you up an' missed somethin' in your hurry."
- Josiah Hart in Apocalypse Crucible

Posted by Jesse at 1:40 PM

October 9, 2004

RIP - RIF

The Reading is Fundamental program isn't in trouble as the title implies, indeed, it is sorely needed. While I was at the NYWC, one of the speakers noted, among other sobering statistics that most high school graduates will not read another non-fiction book. That struck me as odd since I've read 6 just this year - not counting textbooks.

As Teri and I talked, we began to wonder what percentage of the population reads 10 or more books each year. While I haven't found the answer to that, here's some statistics that shed some light on the sad problem of America's literacy.

• Only about a third of the nation's public school children read proficiently
• Circulation of English-language papers in the United States has declined 11 percent since 1990.
• One-third of high school graduates never read a book for the rest of their lives.
• Fifty-eight percent of the U.S. adult population never reads a book after high school.
• Forty-two percent of college graduates never read another book.
• Eighty percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
• Seventy percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
• Fifty-seven percent of new books are not read to completion. Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
• Of the people who do read books, 53 percent read fiction, 43 percent nonfiction.
• Of the top 50 books, fiction outsells nonfiction about 60 percent to 40 percent.
• Each day, people in the U.S. spend four hours watching TV, three hours listening to the radio, and 14 minutes reading magazines.

NEA chairman, Dana Gioia, said, 'We have a lot of functionally literate people who are no longer engaged readers. We're seeing an enormous cultural shift from print media to electronic media, and the unintended consequences of that shift.' According to an NEA study, only 57% of adults read any book at all during 2002. While the drop in reading is wide spread, it was marked for adult men, of whom only 38% read any literature.

Of course, none of the statistics answered my question, "What percentage of the population reads at least 10 books a year(a high volume of books)?"
(for children who are encouraged to read by their parents, 63% read more than 10 books a year and 51% of children whose parents leave it up to them)

Posted by Jesse at 12:12 PM

September 19, 2004

Things are not what they seem

In Thr3e, a psychotic stalker terrorizes an innocent victim...or is he really that innocent. Ted Dekker does a great job of keeping the reader guessing right up until the final chapters of the book. He uses a great tale to explore the true nature of man and has some pretty pointed things to say about the people of the church. (See Welcome to the Church in America.)

"I do not understand what I do...It is no longer myself who do it, but it is sin living in me...For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing...I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me...I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin. I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."

From a letter written by Saint Paul to the church in Rome, A.D. 57. Romans 7:15-25

Posted by Jesse at 4:04 PM

September 16, 2004

With all your heart, mind, strength

One of the books that helped me to reach my goal was "The Air I Breath" by Louie Giglio, who is very passionate about worship, the topic of this book.

In his writing, he put into words several things that I have thought, but never been able to put into words:

The primary purpose of the church is worship. At its core, the church exists to glorify God...But even [as we gather together], worship doesn't begin with a group activity. It begins with our individual responses to what God has revealed to us about Himself.

We aren't designed to operate on a weekly worship cycle, but a moment-by-moment connection of personal worship that's as much a part of our lives as the air we breath.

Trust me, church is a lot better when our meetings are filled with people who have been pursuing God for six days before they get there. Church as a "refil" or a "tank-up" is a disaster. Corporate worship works best when we arrive with something to offer God, as opposed to coming only to get something for us.

Most of the book is an inspiration to live a life of worship continually, and why that's more effective then occasionally. Of course, it is difficult, but to be truly set apart the life of a Christian should be a continual act of worship, no matter what we are doing. Of course, this means that we need to better understand that worship is not just singing, praying, and listening to a sermon.

He did a great job of expanding my thoughts about God and His magnitude, and he was at time convicting:

So often in the Psalms we find expressions similar to this on: "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised." When you boil it all down, true worship is simply catching sight of the greatness...of an infinite God.

When God is not greatly praised, it's only because we don't think He's that great of a God. When our worship is small, it's because our concept of God is small. When we offer God little-bitty sacrifices, it's because we've somehow reduced Him in our hearts to a little-bitty God...

As a result, our lives shrivel into insignificance and meaninglessness. We bump along in this mass of humanity, having no real clue what life's all about. We fret. We get depressed. We worry and get bent out of shape. We go down all kinds of dead-end paths as we try to accomplish everything ourselves.

Posted by Jesse at 9:37 AM

August 28, 2004

Achieving the Goal

Back in March I decided that I would set a goal of reading 10 books this year. Tonight I finished the 10th book. In honor of that achievement I've added a new category - books - where I'll review the books that I read. I never thought I would need a category since I didn't think I read enough to warrent reviewing. I'll review the 10 in the upcoming weeks and go from there.

And speaking of achievements, welcome to post number 400.

Posted by Jesse at 10:12 PM