I’ve been talking with people about reading and book studies and bible studies some of the week. In discussion, it was determined that I’ve got a thirst for knowledge that needs quenching. Why was this determined? I think it has something to do with the fact that I have 52 subscriptions in my bloglines… ok so that could be a bit overboard but I promise that not all of them write every day, and I don’t just sit around waiting for new posts to show up. I read everything from open source emergent theology discussions to exceedingly conservative theological posts to the mundane musings of many of my friends. The point is, I love reading anything and everything.

So once again, where am I going with this… I was thinking today how much I really like books that use Scripture as a basis for understanding rather than to prove a point. For example... take Purpose Driven Life… you’ve got these chapters that have ideas and then conveniently Warren finds scripture that fits his point. For this reason, I don’t resonate with the book. It seems like Warren just sort of decided on some things and then found scripture to support his point. I don’t doubt his ability to touch lives, I just know he didn’t touch mine and I feel no more purpose driven than I did before I read the book a few years back. I definitely think that books should work the other way around, working to lift of Scripture in new ways and using Scripture as a basis for understanding. For that I would definitely recommend anything by Erwin McManus. I was loaned The Barbarian Way from Billy and Tara and I must say that book was a fresh breath into my theological quests for understanding where I am right now and how I relate to God, Jesus, and ultimately scripture. In any case, I’ve got this desire, this innate need to know more and more. To discuss more and more. To find out what it is this is all about. I guess as I’m searching for more and more of who I am, I am drawn to look at life as a whole. To see it in different lights and to be enriched by every experience I have. I guess that is why I’m enjoying being part of things that normally would terrify me. My desire to know God more fully fuels my quest, and I am energized and revitalized by works that get to the heart of the matter….ultimately I want to be fully connected to what it is that God calls us to do. What God wants us to respond to and what we need to act on.

I found this quote on a friend’s webpage today, and though I haven’t read this Donald Miller book I bet I’d like it just like Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What:

“I think we are supposed to stand in deserts and marvel at how the sun rises. I think we are supposed to sleep in meadows and watch stars dart across space and time. I think we are supposed to love our friends and introduce people to the story, to the peaceful, calming why of life. I think life is spirituality.”- Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller

In the words of The Perks of Being a Wallflower… “I feel infinite.”

(Just to bring up the number of books referenced in this post… I bought The Last Word and the Word after That by Brian Mclaren and The Carpenter and the Unbuilder: Stories for the Spiritual Quest by David M. Griebner today. I’m getting close to having used up all of my gift cards from Christmas but still have some to go…)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 6:13 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.