Leap Over a Wall

I first read Leap Over a Wall ten years ago. This was the first book I read straight through. I have re-read it twice since, and has become one of my favorite all-time books. In this book Eugene Peterson reflects on the life of David, uncovering how everyday Christians are spiritual.
Dr. Peterson shares 20 stories from the life of David on how he related to other people in his life - Jonathan, Samuel, Abigail, Mephibosheth, among others - his reactions to places and times in his life - Jerusalem, the Brook Besor, Ziklag - as well as David's lament.
We know more about the life of David than of any other person in Scripture. Dr. Peterson submits that in hearing the David story, we can better know what it means to live this human life, and live it well. He writes,

"Primarily and mostly they [stories of David's life] tell us that it means dealing with God. It means dealing with a lot of other things as well: danger and parents and enemies and friends and lovers and children and wives and pride and humiliation and rejection and siblings and sickness and death and sexuality and justice and fear and peace - to say nothing of diapers and faxes and breakfast and traffic jams and clogged drainpipes and bounced checks. But always, at the forefront and in the background of circumstances, events, and people, it's God. It's always God with whom we have to do."

In hearing the story of the life of David, we can learn how to center our lives around God more. David shows us spirituality for everyday - as John Piper puts it, how to drink orange juice to the glory of God. David is not the ideal way to live. We should not strive to live as he did - we would probably end up in prison if we did - but we should strive to learn how to bring God into our everyday happenings as he did.
I always liked David. I find him to have been a very passionate person. Whatever he did, it seems he did it with all of himself. He never committed only half-way. Too often, I find myself trying to be safe as opposed to passionate. I'll commit to what makes sense, generally. David wasn't like that. He lived like he meant it. And he was a man after God's own heart. Do the two things go together? I am not sure. But they may.

The Organic God

The Organic God is part autobiography, part theology and all enjoyable. Margaret Feinberg walks readers through the various stages of her life in her telling about ten attributes of God. Her desire was to get to the root of God, to strip away any pretense, remove any unhealthy filters and see God for who he truly is, naturally. How does she come to this vision of God? Through the Scriptures.
Ms. Feinberg had felt flat in her spiritual life, disconnected from God. "I was tired of hearing what everyone else said about God. I wanted to know him for myself." She figured the best place to start was the Bible and started going through the entire NT and portions of the OT filling dozens of notebooks with her thoughts. This book is the outgrowth of those notebooks.
This book is quite readable, surprisingly deep for the easy conversational style with which she writes and one that I would recommend to any who wish to get closer to their God.
My favorite chapter was the one on the beauty of God - Breathtakingly Beautiful. Ms. Feinberg says that there is something intrinsic about us that is drawn to beauty. And God is more beautiful than anything else ever. The question she asks is a great one to think about-
What do you love about Jesus?

Night

My parents and sister just returned from a vacation in Germany. They visited Dachau, one of the many concentration camps during the Holocaust. My sister picked up a copy of Night and read it on the plane ride back. It was a book that I had wanted to read (Tim Stafford mentions it in his book, Surprised by Jesus, which I recently read), and since I went to Christian school, I had never read many of the classics which are standard in public school.
So I picked it up yesterday and tore through it. Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize for this book & it is well deserving. This is a tragic story of this young Jewish boy and his struggle for survival after his town was raided and all the Jews were evacuated to Auschwitz, and later to Buchenwald. It is a heart-breaking story and one filled with lost hope and pleas to God.
I visited Dachau when I was 13 on a mission trip I took with Royal Servants. Even cleaned up it was terrible. Bodies piled upon bodies, conditions you would not wish on any animal.
I have absolutely no idea of how I would react in a situation like that, or how I would respond after the fact. Mr. Wiesel lost hope in the situation and gained hatred after the fact. These are both very natural, almost expected reactions. One would be more astonished at the absence of these reactions.
Which is why Jesus is such a compelling person. The duration may not have been as long as the Holocaust, but Jesus prayed for those who mistreated him and unimaginably forgave them. Forgiveness is a lost spiritual discipline in our day and age. Jesus spoke about forgiving others because we have been forgiven much (Matthew 18.21-35). It would be near impossible to forgive someone, if you haven't yet realized what you have been forgiven of.
Another thing that struck me we the quick dissipation of hope. Again, I have not been remotely in this sort of situation, and cannot say how I would react (I would hope more like Paul and Silas in prison, than Mr. Wiesel, but probably somewhere in between). Last night, I lead my small group through 1 Timothy. We are discussing finances, but I was struck by Paul's words, "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy". We can put our hope fully in Jesus. He has & he always will prove himself trustworthy. I encouraged them, as I will you, to look back on your life & count the instances in which Jesus has been faithful and one worthy of your hope.

Surprised by Jesus

A couple of weeks ago, I was impressed by Mark Driscoll's Confessions of a Reformission Rev & his obvious love for Jesus. I have been looking for good books on Jesus (to supplement the gospels) and have found a very good one in Surprised by Jesus. This book surveys Jesus' life and teaching from a perspective of what is really in the gospels, not just our sentiment of Jesus.
Tim Stafford writes for Christianity Today and also has a great book on raising a family called Never Mind the Joneses. In this book he delves into the person and teaching of Jesus and discovers not only unusual but "surprising" things about Jesus which we have either glanced over or dismiss in our readings as a church.
Mr. Stafford writes, "the 'everybody knows' version of Jesus too easily carries an individualistic, consumer-oriented appeal. In the extreme, we preach a a gospel that is all about me - my personal growth, my spiritual experiences with Jesus as my best friend." I must admit, this has sadly been my own experience.
Mr. Stafford brings in Jesus' Jewishness and meanings which his listeners would have gathered from his teaching as well as implications of Jewishness for Jesus. For instance, why did Jesus get baptized? He had no sin to symbolically wash away. Even John says that he should be the one being baptized by Jesus. Mr. Stafford looks at why Jesus would have done this as well as the importance for him to do so.
Another chapter looks at the warnings which Jesus gives (the "woe to you"'s). Something I had never noticed before, which Mr. Stafford points out, is that Jesus saves his warnings for groups of people already in "the family of believers", not the lost. But in those warnings, he doesn't use names, or point specific people out, he lumps them together. Mr. Stafford sees this as an example set, and one to be done with caution (since none of us have the vision of Jesus).
This was a very eye-opening book about Jesus & I very much enjoyed reading it. Look in the next few weeks for an interview I will be doing with Mr. Stafford about this book.

a long way gone

A couple weeks ago, I stopped in my local Starbucks to get coffee before I came to work & noticed a display of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier as I waited in line. I picked it up and looked it over & on an impulse bought it with my drink. My barista said that she just put the display up and thought too that the book looked interesting. She asked me to let her know how it was when I finished.
The book was very engaging. The author, Ishmael Beah, is the same age as my wife & now lives in New York City. He tells his story of growing up in Sierra Leone & the war that drove him from his village, separated him from his family & eventually sucked him into fighting. The story is one of hope, but is filled with the trials (putting it mildly) he goes through.
The book is quite hopeful, but makes me very upset that this kind of injustice is allowed to occur. Although the war has ended in Sierra Leone, much of the same thing is going on (and has been for a long while) in the Sudan.

Luckily, there are things that we can do as individuals. There are many NGO's which help in these situations. UNICEF was one of the organizations which eventually rescued and rehabilitated Mr. Beah & has many ways to get involved. SaveDarfur.org offers a number of ways to get involved in the current struggle in the Sudan. The Invisible Children is a movement that tells the story of child soldiers & is doing great work for this cause.

The Real Mary

In The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus, Dr. Scot McKnight takes a close look at who Mary was & why she is important. McKnight looks at her life, her words & her action & portrays her as a real girl, a real mother, a real person. McKnight claims that the real story of Mary has never been told – her story has been skewed by theological controversy, among other things.
Often in Protestant circles, Mary is looked at as a Catholic icon, or, more often than not, not even thought about. McKnight believes that the story of who Mary truly was is important, if for no other reason, because she always leads us to Jesus.
Dr. McKnight spends the first two-thirds of the book looking in-depth at all the biblical records of Mary, speaking significantly to her Magnificat. Dr. McKnight describes her, among other things, as a woman of sorrow, of danger, of justice, & a woman of influence. In these descriptors, Dr. McKnight fleshes out a portrait of Mary many evangelicals have not seen before.

One adjective I never would have applied to Mary is that of revolutionary. However, Dr. McKnight, in reading the Magnificat, labels her as such. Dr. McKnight mentions Lynne Hybels book, Nice Girls Don’t Change the World (reviewed earlier), & puts Mary solidly in that camp as not a “nice” girl (If “nice” means meak & mild & mind-your-own-business). Mary, in her Magnificat, takes on heads of state & challenges mindsets. I would never have labeled her as such, mainly because I hadn’t thought much about her, for one, & second, because I did think of her as a “nice” girl. Dr. McKnight also doesn’t like how Mary has been typically represented somber-faced & emotionless. Mary was a passionate, vibrant woman.

The last third of the book, Dr. McKnight attempts to reconcile the differences between Catholics & Protestants. Dr. McKnight views each of the main Catholic teachings regarding Mary & interacts with them from a Protestant viewpoint. I found this section quite helpful to know exactly what Catholic Mariology truly is. I have heard all sorts of crazy things & was glad to see what Catholic thought on Mary really is.

Last, Dr. McKnight suggests a Protestant day for Mary, one in which we celebrate Mary & the important role she has played in our faith. An interesting idea, for sure, & one I would like to explore thought on more. In an interview I conducted with Dr. McKnight, I asked him to round out his vision for that.
Overall, a fascinating read & also quite a provocative one. I would highly recommend this book. You can pick up a copy here for 20% off.

An Autobiography

A few years back, for reasons I can't remember, I rented & watched Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi. I was fascinated. It is an amazing movie, one that I cannot recommend enough. It is a overview of his life & gives a basic understanding of Mr. Gandhi's thought.
I wanted to learn more after watching the movie, so I went to a bookstore & picked up An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with the Truth. It is a thick book. It is over 500 pages & that delayed me jumping in for a few weeks. Once I did start, I did get a little bogged down. He begins with telling the story of his family before his birth & then spends a good deal of time on his early childhood. I ended up putting the book down for months before I returned to it.
I must admit, the thing that brought me back to the book is the war in Iraq. I am very much so interested in peace & how others live peacefully. I picked the book back up with the drive & determination of finding out the story behind the movie as well as to form my ideas about peaceful living.

I had since bought the DVD of Mr. Attenborough's film & at this time showed it to my wife. She too was entraced. I must admit that I was a little disappointed with the book as a whole. This is mainly because of the expectations I brought into the reading. What Mr. Gandhi's purpose for the writing of the book was to document his "experiments with the truth."
These experiments ranged from eating habits to sexual habits to living habits. It is less a comprehensive narrative than it is a series of reflections on his life. The development of Mr. Gandhi's thought is spread out throughout his lifetime (as any serious thought should be) & is written as such.
Although a bit difficult to read, it is well worth the time & struggle. Also available for those interested in delving further is The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, & Ideas, as well as Non-Violent Resistance.

All are available at NextStep Resources for 20% off the list price.


Category: Biography

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.

Biographies are one of my favorite genres of books. You get to learn about a real person, struggles they went through, how (or if) they overcame them & most times get inspired to find your own outlet to change the world or at least your little part of it.
This is very much so the case with The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. While not an autobiography in the traditional sense, it is edited by someone handpicked for the job. Clayborne Carson interweaves notes, sermons, speeches, & personal testimony of Dr. King seamlessly & if you didn't know that Dr. King didn't just sit down & write it, you would never guess.
One of the highlights in this book for me is the presentation of many of Dr. King's sermons & letters. The full text of his Letter from Birmingham Jail is included as well as his famous I Have a Dream speech. Even better is the context regarding those & other writings & speeches.
Dr. King takes the reader through many of the rallies & marches he led, into the minds of the leaders of the movement & the development of his thought - especially for the philosophy of non-violent resistance.
I have to say that this philosophy has taken hold of me. Non-violent resistance, I believe is the "philosophy" which Jesus taught (for further discussion on this see Richard Hayes treatment in The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics, chapter 14, Violence in Defence of Justice - fantastic), & it was also the philosophy which Gandhi held to in staving off the British in South Africa & India.
This encapsulation of Dr. King's work & life really shows you the man - both publicly & privately. It is a fascinating read & shows you the heart of the civil rights movement in America. Definitely worthwhile.

You can pick this book up for 20% off the list price here.

Category: Biography

Jack's Life

I love C.S. Lewis. (Actually, I am fairly confident everyone I have ever spoken with regarding Mr. Lewis respects him & holds him in high esteem). So I was excited to pick up his stepson's (Douglas Gresham) biography about him. It is a good read. Mr. Gresham weaves it together like a story. However, it seems more like a story for children. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but some of the language was quite elementary. There were bits of Lewis' life I really hoped would be brought to greater clarity. Mr. Gresham glossed over Lewis' conversion, briefly touched on the relationship with his (Mr. Gresham's) mother & flew by his books.

I have read other biography's of Lewis (A.N. WIlson's most notably) & was hopeful to get at the heart of the real Lewis, but was taken on a fly-by of his life from 30,000 feet. (A good fly-by, but a fly-by none-the-less).

Gresham is a gifted writer, as his mother & stepfather were & hopefully other works (including a more detailed biography) are forthcoming. This is an excellent book for someone wanting to get the life of Lewis in a nutshell & use it perhaps as a launching pad for further study.

On a somewhat seperate vein, I was very disappointed with the publisher. The editing was atrocious. It seemed like they did not even bother to look at a proofed copy. I would be embarrassed if I were Mr. Gresham & had that poor of a job done to my publication. Good book...HORRIBLE editing.


See more here.

The Man Comes Around

A little while ago I went to see the film Walk the Line. It is the story of Johnny Cash & June Carter & their early years. I highly recommend seeing his film. It is quite acurate & very compelling. After seeing the film, I was interested in the "rest of the story". I have been a subscriber to Relevant Magazine for a couple years now & they had been advertising their publication of the Spiritual Journey of Johnny Cash.

This book was entralling. It shows the grace of God working throughout the life of this man. Mr. Cash felt that the Lord was constantly pursuing him & wouldn't let him out of His sight. It was evident that that was the case in reading Mr. Cash's story. God is as relentless as a preditor looking for a prey when it comes to His children. He refuses to let His people go.

The great thing I came away with after reading this book is that regardless of how we mess up - to whatever degree & how frequently - God loves us & will always accept us back.

It is a very quick read & not one of too much depth into Mr. Cash's life. It is a good basic overview of Cash's life & perfect if you don't wish to get into all the dirt of his life. One for a more in depth study would be Steve Turner's The Man Called Cash.

To purchase The Man Comes Around: The Spiritual Journey of Johnny Cash for 20% off, click here.