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Reading Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, SpyAfter 119 pages (of 608), I’m absolutely enthralled with Eric Metaxas’ biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The life of Bonhoeffer is amazing to me (even after only 20% of the book), and Mextaxas is opening my eyes to a world that I just didn’t know about before. One thing that I just can’t get out of mind is the perspective Bonhoeffer has on the world around him as his extensive travels take him literally every where, including the USA in 1930 (post World War I). As a German national, he provides a very unique perspective our this side of the Atlantic, and it has challenged me to think about what it means to be a Christian and live in a specific country at any point in history. It’s a challenging thought as I think about how much living in America shapes my view of the world around me. Even though I strive to see it through a Biblical lens, I often see it through my American one, and that is sometimes hard to swallow. All that to say, I’m excited about the remainder of this story and this man. I hope to learn from his experiences, his insight, and maybe even his death.

If you’re interested in following my progress, I post regular updates on GoodReads.

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Books Christianity

The Pilgrim’s Progress for 95 Cents

I don’t have a Kindle or any e-reader for that matter, but if I did I’d be buying this $0.95 (yes, 95 cents!) copy of The Pilgrim’s Progress. Not sure how long this deal will last, so go get a copy of this wonderful book for cheap.

Buy it here: Amazon.com: The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come eBook: John Bunyan, C. J. Lovik, Mike Wimmer: Kindle Store.

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Goodreads

Goodreads

One of my favorites sites right now is Goodreads. Their “About Us” page describes the service this way:

Goodreads is the largest social network for readers in the world. We have more than 5,200,000 members who have added more than 160,000,000 books to their shelves. A place for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more. Goodreads was launched in December 2006.

I’ve been using it for about a year now and I’m really starting to understand why I like it so much. The above image is data that Goodreads provides me about the books I’ve read over the past few years, with specifics to the amount of pages. In 2010 I read 1047 pages. So far this year I’ve read 861 pages. I can set goals on the number of books I want to read in a year (I’m hoping for 12 this year), and I can update my “current page” any time I want to see progress percentages and other info. You might be thinking this is pretty nerdy, and yes, it is. But the fun part about Goodreads is you can keep track of the books you own, get recommendations on books from friends, and kind of keep yourself accountable to a good reading schedule. I normally use their iPhone app to update my pages when I finish reading for the day and it’s quick and easy. Also, if you’ve never seen my “Bookshelf”, it’s a complete list of my books embedded in to my website that is automatically generated from Goodreads. Go see for yourself. So if you’re a reader (and I hope you are), then definitely check out Goodreads.

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Articles Books Christianity Family Video

Catering to the Kids

“All the world’s a screen”. At least that’s what my prof from college argues page after page in his book Meaning At The Movies. He also writes, “God made us in his image, and we make movies in ours”. So true. Sometimes the reason why movies (or television shows) are so entertaining to us is because it’s like looking in a mirror. We see our lives, emotions, thoughts, feelings played out before us and it’s very attractive and revealing about our own hearts. For more on this idea, pick up a copy of Meaning At The Movies, but in the meantime I wanted to show you this clip from a recent episode of The Middle that Bethany and I watched with great laughter and appreciation as it revealed a little bit about the human heart and parenting. If you’ve never seen this show, it’s about a “middle” class family in “middle” America. It’s a classic family sitcom, but it’s narrated from the viewpoint of the mom Franki (Patricia Heaton) to give us an insight in to her feelings and thoughts about being a mom and having a family in “the middle”. Here’s the clip:

The rest of the episode goes on to show just how the parents “take back their lives” in a pretty amusing fashion. The furniture in the living room is rearranged just the way mom wants it. The dad and mom are high-fiving every time they “take back” another portion of their lives, be it the kind of pizza they order, taking a parent’s night out with friends, not dropping everything to cater to any one of their kids specific/immediate needs, etc. Bethany and I were just laughing in agreement as the parents actually start to rule the home and not let the kids run the place. The kids of course are completely taken back that their parents are now saying “no” and their efforts to plead with the parents to go back to the way things were before simply creates hilarity throughout.

It all reminded me of a blog I read just this week from Jay Younts of the Shepherd’s Press blog titled “Go to Sleep!”. It’s a critique of a new book that tries to humorously discuss why kids just won’t “go to sleep” and are annoying their tired and frustrated parents. The problem is, as Jay Younts argues, “Children were never intended to be installed as rulers of the universe…“. And often this is exactly what they are in families today, rulers of their own schedules, bed times, toy selection, and the like. But there’s already a ruler of the universe–his name is Jesus. And when children begin to rule their own universe (e.g. parents, household, etc.), and when parents reinforce this sense of dominion in the child it will only frustrate everyone involved. That’s why we need the Gospel. Without the Gospel, Jesus doesn’t rule in our hearts and stake the claim He rightfully owns (paid for by His shed blood) in our homes, children, and families. What we end up with is a war for authority of which each little battle is often won by the children who finally win the war.

By the end of the episode both parents finally “give in” to one of their child’s needs and basically go back to their old ways. The furniture is rearranged to the way it was, the parents drop everything to meet their children’s needs, etc. Honestly, they needed balance in their approach, but it’s still sad that they couldn’t stay committed to ruling their home as the authority in the kid’s lives. In the final scene, Franki (the mom) goes outside to get the mail and another mom with a toddler in a stroller are walking by. The child is obviously not happy about something and you hear the other mom saying “What is it honey? Whatever you need I’ll get it for you.” Franki quickly approaches the mom and says, “Don’t do it! Don’t give him everything he wants!” It was a last ditch effort to keep her dream alive of helping another mom change her ways before it’s too late! The concerned mom just gives Franki an odd look, helps her child, and keeps walking down the sidewalk. As Franki stands there watching them walk away we hear her say “She won’t listen”, as if to say “It’s a lost cause. In the end, the kids win. Parents lose.” You’re right, Franki. If parents keep letting their kids rule the universe, it’ll be a lost cause to try and rule your home. It’s only when parents see that their children were designed for authority and limits that blessing will come.

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Books Christianity Personal Shaycam.com

Stop Dating Your Book Covers

*UPDATE: Joshua Harris was kind enough to read and link to my post today on his own blog. He’s a very humble man and he’s written some clarifying words on why he’s the “P. Diddy of Christian writers”. Here’s a link to his post.

I own two Joshua Harris books: Not Even a Hint and Stop Dating the Church. One of them is out on loan to someone, and the other I have two hard cover copies of just so I can give one away sometime. Both books are excellent in their subject matter and I regularly recommend them to people. And for that matter, both have great titles and great covers…or at least they used to.

Not Even a Hint is a book on sexual lust. It’s probably one of the best books on the topic both for the Biblical view it presents, and for it’s balance in handling a sensitive subject matter. I will often recommend it to young people, especially the college students I work with because it was in my own college life that I read it for the first time. Unfortunately a few years back I called the local Christian bookstore to find a copy for someone and they had no idea what I was talking about. I said, “I know it’s by Joshua Harris, and I know it’s called Not Even a Hint. I’m looking at my own copy right now”. The nice clerk responded, “Yeah, I don’t see it. Are you sure it’s still in print?” “It’s gotta be there!”, I said. She could probably tell I was annoyed. “The only thing on that subject I see is a book called Sex Is Not the Problem (Lust Is)“, she explained. My jaw dropped. Are you serious? I mean, I get the point, but that’s part of the problem. What college student is going to get comfy at their local Starbucks with that title staring everyone else in the face and basically exposing their own struggle to the entire room? Not a single one I know, that’s for sure.

Bethany informed me tonight that Josh Harris was re-releasing my other favorite book of his Stop Dating the Church under the new title Why Church Matters. Boring. Sounds like a theology book title, and is pretty generic to boot. But it’s not just the title he’s changing, look at that cover (below)! Did we just go back to the early 90’s? Is this some kind of joke? This is hands down (no pun intended) the best book on local church purpose and involvement and now they’re going to lose their audience (which I believe is a younger audience) to the hands of wonder. The font is old, the yellow line is out of place, and the hands…oh, the hands.

Now you might be thinking, “oh come on Shay, don’t judge a book by it’s cover–it’s an age old adage.” I know, I know, and for the most part I agree. It’s just I don’t have time to double check that the book I’m recommending my lust filled, church hating friend has the same title it did when I read it last week. I think Joshua Harris and his marketing team need to stop having second thoughts about each one of their covers and titles. Stop dating your book covers and commit already!

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Books Christianity Reviews

Book Review: Letters From A Father To His Sons In College

Letters from a father to his sons in college. By Samuel Miller.Letters from a father to his sons in college. By Samuel Miller. by Michigan Historical Reprint Series
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Written in 1843 and published almost ten years later, these letters from a genuine, loving father are just as important today as they were in the time they were written. Samuel Miller touches on every facet of a young man’s college life while giving his own counsel and guidance as one with experience and knowledge of this important time of life. His instruction is well said and well thought out and I enjoyed his honesty and his thoroughness.

For college students, this book will be a vault of treasures on how to conduct themselves, even in today’s world. There is nothing here that I believe is only for the time it was written, rather many things of which students should take to heart and apply to their lives. He writes like a father to all students, and it would be great for students to listen to him as they would their own fathers.

I would encourage every parent of a college student (or future college student) to take the time to read these letters. They will help guide and direct the thought process of parents and give wisdom to you for your own children. Though my own son is only 8-months old, I hope that I can take to heart these principles and gleam from the wisdom of a father that was much further ahead than me.

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Books Reviews

Book Review: Meaning At The Movies

Meaning at the Movies: Becoming a Discerning ViewerMeaning at the Movies: Becoming a Discerning Viewer by Grant Horner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All the world’s a screen” – at least that’s how Prof Horner sees it, and I’m starting to agree with him.

Prof Horner’s work here revels both his love for film and for God’s Word and how to balance the two. As an English professor, film guru, and a student of theology, Prof Horner is the right man to speak to this very important Christian question of what do we do with film?

This book will challenge any film lover, parent, student, and Christian to actually use discernment when watching movies, and not just view them for entertainment only. His purpose is not to tell you what movies to watch, but show you how to watch them. Additionally, his goal is teach us how to see ourselves in movies, and then compare that with how God designed us to live as revealed in the Bible.

For Christians, Meaning At The Movies should be added to your “to-read” list and pushed to the top. It will create a conversation in your home, work, or church that will surely help us all use our time to the glory of God, even when we’re holding a bag of popcorn and enjoying a movie together.

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Input

Literally every book I got for Christmas (2010). 2011 is shaping up to be the year of “input” (and if you don’t get that reference, go watch Short Circuit). I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to try and read all of them this year. That would basically be one book a month and a few them are in the 500 page range. If I can resolve to read twenty minutes a day, I think I could it–the real question is do I want to? The verdict is still out on that. Either way you can expect reviews on everything I read.

All the books listed from the top of the stack to the bottom (in the above photo):

1. Worldliness by C.J. Mahaney
2. Whatever Happened to Worship by A.W. Tozer
3. Dedication and Leadership by Douglas Hyde
4. Letters From a Father to His Sons in College by Samuel Miller
5. The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein
6. Why We Love The Church by Kevin Deyoung and Ted Kluck
7. How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer
8. Gospel-Powered Parenting by William P. Farley
9. The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
10. Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky
11. The Apostles’ Doctrine of the Atonement by George Smeaton
*12. Style and the Man by Alan Flusser

*not pictured

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Articles Books Christianity

Free Resources You Should Download

I forget sometimes things I’ve come across or read that I want to share with people, but today I remembered a fantastic resource that you need to be aware of. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) has a great, updated website with some wonderful resources for Christians. Specifically they have put together digital booklets for free download which I highly recommend. Though I haven’t read them all, I have read the “From Boy To Man: The Marks of Manhood” and thought it was a very helpful resource on the topic of Biblical manhood. Obviously I have a vested interest in the topic as a man myself and with a son that is quickly growing, but I’m sure the other topics (counseling, modesty, homosexuality, and pastoral ministry) would be of interest to you.

You can download all of the booklets for free by visiting “Southern Resources” or by clicking the specific links below (all links are direct to the PDFs):

From Boy to Man: The Marks of Manhood
Counseling and the Authority of Christ
Homosexuality and the Bible
Modeling Modesty
The Pastor as Theologian

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Books Personal Shaycam.com

Amusing Ourselves to Death

Though many have already read this 25 year old book, I just recently finished Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death “. I need to write a full review of this book sometime, but for now I’m going to leave you with this cartoon a friend forwarded me this week. I can’t stop talking about this book–it has opened my eyes to a lot of different culture influences. This cartoon does a great job of summarizing some of Neil’s larger points as he compared the philosophies of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell.

(via Recombinant Records – cartoons by Stuart McMillen)