What I'm Reading - Shadows In The Jungle: The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines In World War II

Shadows In The Jungle: The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines In World War II

Currently reading this book that I bought off Books-A-Million's markdown table.

There's so much of even our recent History that we don't ever learn in the classroom. I took a WW2 course at Mercer with 8 people in it - all except me were military. The professor pushed us hard and we did several papers on obscure battles and campaigns. But even though my father fought in this area - New Guinea, Biak Island, Mindanao - I knew very little about this campaign and nothing about the group in this book.

It's well written and well researched and as easy to read as anything Clancy or Griffin has written. The accounts of action are raw and real. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to fill in the blanks between Bataan and "I have returned."

Sometimes You Need A Break

During the week I read so much pertaining to the topics and texts that I'm working on that every now and then I pick up a book that has nothing to do with religions or the contextual setting of the texts. Most of the time that means a book by Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, or a history book, but recently  I picked up Sean's copy of Eisenhorn, which is a fleshing out of a character in the Warhammer 40K game.

Well written and the characters are well developed. I am not a sci-fi fan and I'm certainly not a gamer, but I can see this book and these characters translating not just to a franchise, but to the big screen. Really good action adventure paperback. Might have to try the game too. :)

Green by Ted Dekker

Just finished reading "Green" by Ted Dekker. Having never read any of his works, I was coming in cold at the tail end of his "Circle" series. The other books in the series are best sellers, I just don't read that much fiction anymore. But Thomas Nelson offered to send me a copy if I would read and review it. So here I am.

The book wasn't easy for me to wrap my head around. The premise involves a man who jumps between two worlds, and the action that follows him affects each profoundly. In the world most like ours, there are conspiracies, tangled relationships, scientific terrors and anguished decisions. In the other world, there's a clearer thread running through it all - God is at work.

I have to admit that dashing back and forth between Bladerunner and World of Warcraft was off-putting. Also would say that the present day world action didn't really hold my interest at all. The world of the horde, elamites, and albinos was far more engaging and the characters more fully developed. In fact at one point I was going to give up. But the characters began to engage more with the Big Story metaphor and I went back in.

Sacrifice, Redemption, Evil, Good - they resonate in this book, especially as it comes to the exciting pre-conclusion. I choose that word instead of conclusion because this book is actually written as both sequel and prequel - it completes the "Circle". So, would I recommend it? Well, if it can keep me and finally draw me in it would probably provide hours of enjoyment for a real fiction aficionado.

Book Review: Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart

Click on the book to be taken to Amazon.com

Fiction isn't what I read most often. And when I do, it's usually authors like Tom Clancy, Dale Brown, or the like.

It's been a long long time since I read anything with knights in it, and longer since I read a book intended for young adults.

But the publisher was good enough to send me a review copy of "Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart", written by Chuck Black, and it's summer. Kids are out of school, and if I could find something good for them to read, it would be a help. So here we are.

The first thing I noticed was that Chuck Black used to fly F-16s. Then I noticed that this was book 3 in a series "The Knights of Arrethtrae". I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to come in late to a TV show, movie, or series of books. I'd like for example to see what the TV show "Lost" is all about, but never having watched it, I'd have to get the DVD collections staring with season one and work my way through them to today.

But this was a great book!

It blew away all the preconceived notions I had about it and the genre and I just enjoyed reading it. From the first few pages, I was hooked. Black not only weaves good vs evil through the narrative, but he creates characters that you care about. Their quest becomes yours.

Pick it up. Shoot, buy the whole series and start reading book 1. :)

Book Review: "Eyes Wide Open" Jud Wilhite

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and having followed Jud Wilhite's work at Central Christian church in Las Vegas for a while now, was eager to dive in and see what the author had for us there. I was not disappointed, in fact I used the book as a general outline and partial source for a series of messages on approaching God, Our Identity, and Change with our eyes wide open. It worked very well.

The book is laid out in those three divisions, with individual chapters within each. As a storytelling pastor, I was especially interested in the stories that his ministry in Vegas had generated. The book was filled with instances of God's grace. Some celebrity names that popped up in the book - Evel Knievel, and "Dog the Bounty Hunter". But it's the stories of raw love and grace that really moved me.

This is a book that you could give to a new Christian, or to someone who's been a little jaded by the "Christianity" they have seen in the past, and walk away confident that if they read it, they will see the heart of God on display in real life.

The idea in "Eyes Wide Open" is to discover who God is, who you are in His radical love and grace, and find the path through this messed up world that following Jesus wholeheartedly supplies. Read it. Give it away.

What I'm Reading - "The Reason For God"

From It's Like Herding Cats - A pastor's life

Halfway through the book, and I am impressed with Tim Keller's thoughtful and accessible way of tackling the most common objections to and doubts about the Christian faith. I can completely understand why in the midst of secular Manhattan, Redeemer Presbyterian is growing.

I'll write a comprehensive review when I finish, but I'll tell you that this book is worth reading and recommending.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Finished the book over a 24 hour period and started reading it again immediately for greater comprehension. That doesn't mean that it is "thick", like say "Mere Christianity", where the reader would benefit greatly from a slow read spaced by reflection.

It means I want every last drop of insight.

There are some books that start out slow and you have to be patient until the author hits his stride. The Shack was like that.

Crazy Love begins with a serious look at the theology that provides foundation for Chan's life. As such, if you aren't careful, you might write the book off as another dry doctrinal treatise.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Read this book.

It will open you to how God works in the lives of people who are obsessed with pleasing Him.

It will dangle the prospect that you too might be His instrument for Kingdom change.

If you are already at work along that trail, it will remind you why and give you a cool drink of encouragement.

And for some, and I'd count myself in this group, it will serve as confirmation that those goals, passions, and deepest desires that God has laid on your heart are not hallucinations. Others like Francis Chan are on the same journey, following the same tracks our Master has left for us.

It's a good crazy - this Crazy Love.

Book Review: Same Kind of Different As Me

One of the greatest legacies my Mother left to me was a love of books and reading. It has served me well down through the years in every pursuit. As a pastor, I read a lot for understanding of the Bible text. But as part of my education - my human education, I read all sorts of books - deliberately.

My love, my wife also shares my love for books and sometimes passes hers along. "Same Kind of Difference As Me" is one of those.

If you are wondering if the love of Christ can make a difference - read this true story of how that love - expressed through a courageous woman, her art dealer millionaire husband, and an illiterate sharecropper changes everyone it touches and affects a city.

One of the best books I have read in a long time. Read it.

Just Finished - "The Blue Parakeet"

Scot McKnight has given us another important book in his latest "The Blue Parakeet." He has called the Church to remembrance that the Bible is more. That the "Greatest Story" was revealed to us through men and women of faith who saw themselves as participants in that story.

There is a lot here to agree with for me, and some overreaching (IMO)to consider as well.

Still, I would recommend this book to anyone who truly wants to grapple with how we should read the Bible today.

The Bible and Today - How do we read it?

Interesting book from Scot McKnight, one of the more accessible of today's theologians. McKnight has a way of approaching thorny subjects with such grace that though you may hold to different opinions, you leave thinking "what a great guy."

McKnight's task here is to give us a new lens to see the Bible through. So far, I agree and disagree. More later.

Of Books I Got for Christmas

Just began reading the first two of 2009. I wish I could say how many I read last year, but I don't really read for records. I love books. So I'll read pretty much anything that might interest me along with books that might help me grow.

The first is this book about someone I was raised to hate with a passion - and not just about him, but about what he did to my native state that still had people growling when I was a little boy. I once preached in a church where the people were still upset that Sherman's men quartered their horses in the sanctuary and fed their horses from their pews.



The second book, The Blue Parakeet, is by Scot McKnight. I really enjoyed his earlier book "The Jesus Creed" and so I am expecting great things from this one as well. Scot's a fine scholar with a badly needed irenic outlook on things that divide the Church.

This Kind of War

"The function of soldiers is to fight, and if need be, to die" - this is the lesson, beautifully and humanly described here, of Korea, the American Army's heart-breaking introduction to the brush-fire war.

I was casting about for something to read after I finished "Lee, the Last Years", and found this book sitting on Sean's shelf. If there is a better military history writer from the point of view of a layman and casual history buff, I don't know him.

This really is a very special book with all the insight as well as the pathos of war. There are so many lessons unlearned, or should I say - learned at the beginning of every war - that are shown here. The humanity of the American solider is front and center as well, and the futility that so often marks his use.

Highly, highly recommended.

Great Book I Am Reading

"Lee - The Last Years" written by Charles Bracelen Flood deals with the years defeated Confederate General Robert E. Lee lived post Civil War.

What makes it special are the glimpses into the personal thoughts and life of Lee, a very private man. This warrior beloved by his fellows and respected by his foes morphed into a man of peace who as much as anyone alive at the time sowed reconciliation among his beloved South.

The times they were a changin' when I went through school in Macon Georgia. Very rapidly the advance of civil rights put paid to some of the promises the civil war made to people of color. But with those advances, some of the lessons from that war were lost. One of those lessons was how to lose with grace, dignity, and integrity.

Lee exemplified the good Christian man for generations of young men of the South. His humility was the stuff of legend, and this book gave me even more examples of how this man tried to live out his faith.

I was surprised to learn just how innovative he was as the president of what was then Washington College (obviously now Washington and Lee University). He was an early proponent of the elective system, and an enthusiastic supporter of students learning Spanish and studying the countries of Latin America.

By no means is the book void of areas where Lee fell short. His relationship with his daughters and the effect his possessiveness had on their lives is explored.

Still, reading the book gives you again an understanding of why his men would put their lives on the line for him again and again and again.

How Would Jesus Vote?

I finished the book this afternoon, and come here to recommend it to anyone who would like a cogent and well written guide to the issues that American Christians are grappling with today. Like all of Dr Kennedy's books that I have read over the years, it is very well researched, and laid out in a manageable and accessible style.

The book is divided into three parts:

Part one - Jesus and Politics
Part two - The Issues
Part three - Final Thoughts

In part one, the author makes the case of Christian social engagement in the public square, hearkening back to NT days and racing forward to the present day.

Part two presents a list of the hot button issues of our day along with a reasoned and thoughtful understanding of what the Bible says and how that should be reflected in our everyday lives, not just at the ballot box.

Part three sums it all up with again a look back and a look ahead.

As a pastor, the book caused me to want to be far more effective in helping people live within a biblical worldview. It spurred me to present some upcoming messages on Christian social responsibility.

I'd recommend it to anyone who is seeking to understand a Christian's duty as a citizen.

This Just In for Review

Just arrived via Franklin, our postal carrier.

I'll be reading this tonight and writing a review of it for Waterbook Press.

Very timely.

If you'd like to get a copy, it's available at Amazon.

Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson

Click here to go to Amazon to purchase a copy.

There are very few books I can say that I will always have around somewhere in my library or where I know I can find it. Few books rise to that level for me. There are a lot of books that are helpful, some that are inspiring, and occasionally one comes across that is all three. Wild Goose Chase is all that.

Batterson takes the reader into a whirlwind of self examination from the point of view of a Christianity that is not safe, but to paraphrase C.S. Lewis - but it is good. He deconstructs what many people see Christianity is - a train station you wait at on your way to heaven - an exposes a risk filled, passion driven, raw and adventure filled life.

Other writers have gone there, Erwin McManus' "Chasing Daylight" for example. But while I found McManus' prose to be difficult at times, Batterson is accessible. This is not a book for pastors to hoard, but one that can plant Holy Spirit seeds of another way of living in hearts of any believer willing to read and listen.

Mark has also created a website Chasethegoose.com where visitors can learn more and get information on how to find a set of life goals that would honor God and give them the life worth living. Excerpts of the book are also available. Tell me what you like about the book and its message. I'll randomize the comments and award one of the commenters a copy of Wild Goose Chase.

Highly recommended for personal reflection, for small group use, or as the basis of a sermon series. "Wild Goose Chase" gets five cats. :)

Eat the Fish, Spit Out the Bones

I wrapped up the "Big Idea" last night, and like a lot of the books I've read over the years, there were areas to make you think "yeah, that makes sense" and other areas where you thought you might have to pass.

The jump the shark moment for me, where the book started going downhill was when they were talking about putting on each week's "Big Idea" and had to get down to "nuts and bolts" of "can we do this."

When they asked "can we afford live camels", I checked out.

For me, that's like Nero flooding the coliseum to stage naval battles because he got bored the the same old same old. If that's what it takes to move a crowd in "big church" then count me out.

So what I took away from the book was - move farther out front in sermon planning so you can have time to work the creative into the mix more effectively. Focus on one theme that people will walk out both understanding what it is, but with a means of applying it to life. And something that might not even have been intended - pastoral and staff relationships matter. You don't just need to work together. You need to love and trust each other and be genuine friends.

So on to the next book.

Book Review - Looking For God by Nancy Ortberg

I was handed this book with the highest recommendation - Bunny loved it. I've been a fan of that guy Nancy Ortberg hangs around with, her husband John, for years, so that had me expecting a lot going in. I was not disappointed.

Nancy Ortberg can tell a story with the best of them. Her glimpses into her personal walk with Jesus and the way her faith walked through them were great. She ranged from triumph to tragedy.

What would she want the reader to know?

That God is staggeringly good.

That our experience of that goodness is for our enjoyment, as well
as to reflect to us the nature of a good God that we can fully trust.

That sometimes, counter intuitively, God can be most deeply
experienced and known, during our most difficult times…and He is still
staggeringly good.

Pick it up. You'll be blessed.

Red Letters - Living A Faith That Bleeds

There are moments.

Moments when though everything around you seems dark and gloomy. When though the rain is coming down in sheets, making a summer day seem like December. When the weight of decisions you must make is pressing heavy on your heart.

God speaks.

I wonder if you know what I mean, or if things like that seem like fairy tales, legends, or at least things that happen to other people - not you.

As a follower of Jesus, I'll admit I'm prone to want to be moved. There's something about getting near to Jesus, whether through His words, the lyrics of a song, or even a glimpse of creation's beauty - that causes my heart to prepare for His whisper.

This book did that for me.

Red Letters - Living A Faith That Bleeds Read it at your heart's peril.

Bob Pierce went to China. He saw something that changed his heart forever. He gained an appreciation of just how Jesus wanted him to spend the rest of his life. And he did what would be a curious thing to people who have never been followers of Jesus. He wrote a note to himself in his Bible, so that everyday when he picked it up, he'd be reminded of that moment, when God whispered His name.

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God."

Tom Davis went to Africa - to Russia and saw children dying of HIV/AIDS, saw boys and girls in orphanages with horrible treatment now and no hope in the future. Like Pierce, like Teresa of Calcutta, God gripped his heart so tightly in those hard places, he had to sow his life in God's work among the least of His children.

Tom Davis has written a note - but not just to himself, but to millions of His fellow Christ-followers. The note begins in awe, moves into conviction, through persuasion and ends with a plea. Come. Follow.

The history of what we've been as the Body of Christ runs the gamut from healing salve on the world's wounds to salt in them. And yet most often, we sit on the sidelines, refusing to engage, unwilling to let our hearts... go there.

That's exactly where this book takes you.

But it doesn't leave you there.

The next steps (5 for 50)are laid out for anyone who wants to follow. Not just as Davis has done personally, but in the way that God might lead you.

We can do this. We should do this. Read the book. Embrace the call.

USA Today Article on "The Shack"

After my review of "The Shack" I received a few comments along the lines that the reporter in the article mentions. I thought that the article really helped the reader understand just what the crucible was that produced the book. Take a look and maybe you can at least begin to understand more about the author and where the book comes from.

Again, it is fictional. It is NOT Scripture. But I certainly can understand why it appeals to people, especially hurting ones. The challenge then, to all of us who teach, preach, and write, is to find ways to make THE Story as compelling as the fictional accounts.

Someone once said that Las Vegas has absolutely nothing of value to offer but makes people think it does in an amazingly effective way. The Church has the greatest story ever told and has obscured it more effectively than ever thought possible.

'Shack' opens doors, but critics call book 'scripturally incorrect' - USATODAY.com

Young was born in Canada to missionaries who brought him as an infant to New Guinea to live with the primitive Dani tribe. He says he was subject to the harsh verbal attacks of his unhappy father, and sexual assaults by tribesmen. He went to a missionary boarding school at age 6, he says, and was molested by older students.

He never lost a sense of God, but to Young, God was distant and judgmental. "I learned to survive by becoming a performer/perfectionist," he says.

Even as he roamed the world and eventually wound up in a Bible seminary for the Christian Missionary Alliance, he knew he wasn't meant to be a pastor or missionary. He finally graduated from Western Pacific College in Portland and landed at a Four Square Gospel church, working with collegians.

There he met Kim, who poked holes "in my version of being a perfect performer to earn God's love. You can't perform for God. You can't run. You can't hide. You can adapt, but that won't heal the stuff you've buried deep inside, in your 'shack.' "

Soon after they married, waves of tragedy gouged their life. When he was 25, his 18-year-old brother died in a work accident, Kim's mother died unexpectedly, and his niece, 5 years and one day old, was run over by a cement truck while riding her new birthday bicycle.

Grace seemed nowhere in sight.

Young was 38 and the father of six when his life took a hairpin turn after his adultery. He spent a year in counseling, years more soul-searching, marveling at Kim's steadfast commitment, before he reached wholeness in faith, he says.

He wrote The Shack in 2005, prompted by Kim. She wanted him to open up his heart and his thinking to their children, now ages 14 to 27. The book was meant to be like the box top on a jigsaw puzzle, the picture that shows where all the pieces fit, Young says.