Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A Vision for the world

This is a book I would have never picked up if it hadn't been for the fact that I received it through the Blogging for Books program of Waterbrook Multnomah publishing. I had heard little things about the book Radical. Nothing bad, but nothing amazing either. I mean if you look at a book and its cover is modern looking and it has a one word title, its probably going to be marketing toward a crowd that I'm not a part of. Right? Wrong. I just finished reading Radical Together by David Platt about unleashing the church to do the will of God, and Wow...that's all I really have to say. This book isn't just about unleashing Gods people to do Gods work in their corner of the world. Its about equiping people to do the work of God all over the world. If you have ever had the pulling in your stomach for missions, this book will make you be on the field right now. At least it did for me. I was encouraged to look around me and see the natural ministries that God has blessed me with. The book really makes you want to open your eyes to the opportunities that you have where you are right now.


As I was reading this book, I was expectantly waiting to turn the page and find something that made this author one of "those guys." Except he taught to sacrifice church growth if that's not God's will for your church. He instructed to evaluate if your amazing programs were the best choice for furthering the gospel. He talked about how we don't always have to find "just the right person" for this or that ministry and reminded his readers that God can use the weak things of this world.


You can (and i highly recommend that you do) purchase a copy of this book here.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Fresh Brewed Life

My morning quiet time usually consists of my Bible, journal, whatever I'm reading at the time and a nice hot-ish cup of coffee. I curl up on our "new to us" couches and spend however long I have talking to God, reading his word, writing to Him and then reading whatever book I'm reading through. All the while drinking my Berres Bros. CinnaNut Island with cream and sugar. Imagine how perfectly a book called Fresh-Brewed Life fit into the equation. Im still not quite sure how i felt about the book. There are parts I agreed with and parts I didn't so much. I feel like this book hits an issue I have blogged about before in that our society needs to know what true love is before we can expect them to understand what Christ has to offer us. I do not agree with certain statements that downplayed the importance of the question of eternal residence by replacing it with a question of our temporal response to realizing His eternal love. Though the second question is important, perhaps the second most important question, next to the first, it pales in comparison.

Overall the book was well written to include anecdotes and journaling prompts that I found to be very helpful. The book is very much directed at married women, so there were parts I skimmed fairly quickly that were not meant for me at the stage of life I'm currently in. While the book didn't "blow me away," I am by no means sad or disappointed with it.