I've been doing a ton of reading lately in between my prep for Bible study, work, and trying to keep up with my friends. Sometimes when I list all of the stuff that I do I am astounded that I have time to sleep. But I've even been sleeping better, so I'm doing everything at reasonable hours.

Since the beginning of March, I have read George Barna's Revolution, finished up Mike Yankoski's Under the Overpass, read Anthony Bloom's Beginning to Pray, and am almost done with Chloe Breyer's The Close and then will start Shane Claiborne's The Irresistable Revolution.

Revolution was one of those books that was good to read, but didn't really do much for me. It was from a more conservative perspective than my own, and talked about how Christianity is going to have to change for it to stop dying.

Under the Overpass was good but there was a lot I wasn't too happy about. Two college guys decided to travel around the country for 6 months to experience life being homeless. In the intro, the guy that wrote it explained that life on the streets was tough, and filled with colorful language and dicey situations. He had to leave this stuff out because it was a "Christian" book and his publisher wouldn't allow it. One thing I've learned about ministry with homeless people here in ABQ is that life isn't easy any way you shake it. Reality can be rough, but it is reality. I almost felt like the book couldn't really explain the difficulty because he had to leave out dicey situations. I'd love to see a reprint of the book under a different publisher that actually got into the nitty gritty pieces of life on the streets. A lot of people have told me that this book changed their life and understanding of homelessness. I say that you can't really change your life and understanding of homelessness unless you have friends who have been there or are there yourself. That is something I have come to truly appreciate in my time here, and not something I think I would understand from reading a book.

Beginning to Pray is a book that I think everyone should read. It moves prayer from being a spiritual discipline to being a way of life. I'm blown away by the whole concept and plan on reading the book again in about a month and see how I've changed since then. If you haven't read it and want to be more serious in your prayer life, read it. If you are baffled by prayer, read it. If you think that you are the best at prayer ever, read it. Basically... read it.

The Close was a free book, I got to hear the author speak when I was at Princeton at the beginning of the month. It is about life the first year of seminary and the struggles that one goes through. In a lot of ways, the struggles are similar to some of those I've already faced when I changed my major and when I decided to run off and go be a missionary. The book is good, but probably won't be one that I make people read. It isn't about deep theological ideas which is good, it is more about life and what goes on in life as far as being someone who is called to ministry goes.

I'm excited and scared to read The Irresistable Revolution. Mainly because everyone that I know that has read it has walked away changed. And I'm not talking an easy change, I'm talking about radical shift change. Hopefully that will be how I will come out of it as well, but asking for change is sometimes a scary feat.

So... if you read this, what is one book you can recommend that I read? Or two or three... I've got time.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 at 12:07 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.