So, it’s only appropriate that I read A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars by Jonathan Merritt this past week. It’s actually not officially released until today, but Amazon shipped my copy early. I’m glad as I’ve looked forward to reading it. I’m tired of answering the question in the title of this blog post when I tell people I’m not a Republican.

For the record, no, I did not vote for Obama and will not likely to in November. Totally beside the point.

The author and I are of a generation that’s fed up with the political antics of the generations ahead of us, particular those in the Church. Why would the comment “Obama hates America” made by student in my elementary class be followed by nods from several of the other students? These are kids who have been raised to praise God and country (a Republican-led one, preferably).

The book starts and ends appropriately on reflecting on the legacy of Jerry Falwell. As a Liberty grad, it was something that Jonathan had to address. I have a hardtime swallowing the Falwell message, but I can’t say what I would have thought if I had come-of-age in the 1970s or 80s.

For the first half off the book, I did little but nod. Jonathan paints a picture of non-partisan views I’ve come to embrace alongside many in the Church in my generation.

The second-half of the book make it worth the read. Jonathan addresses a more loving response to those with same-sex attraction and issues of homosexuality in chapter 6. The next chapter, “Give Me the Songs of a Nation” is a chapter I wish anyone who doesn’t understand the political shift of Bible-believing Millenials would read. We aren’t rejection traditional evangelical battles like abortion and gay marriage; we just have come to recognize the need for faith to influence all of our political views.

I kinda wish the book ended there. For me, I agreed with so much up to that point that I didn’t find it challenging. I wish I could say the same for the last couple of chapters, but if I’m honest I have to admit I don’t put hands and feet to my beliefs as much as I should.

As a German minister serving the medically-needy in India said, “Christians in America and Germany forget that it is not what you think or how much power you have or how you vote that changes the world. It’s your hands that do the changing.” (p. 142)

That is exactly what I needed to read. I hope you’ll pick up this book and be challenged, too.

Surprised by Grace

In Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels, Tullian Tchividjian (yeah, I don’t know how to say that either) presents the book of Jonah. Yes, that’s all this book is about.

I say that’s “all” but that’s not really true. Ultimately, the book is about the Gospel or “God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels” as the subtitle indicates. In Jonah, we see that God doesn’t give up on the idolatrous nations…but neither does he give up on his wandering prophet.

I’ve always enjoyed the story of Jonah. Jonah comes across as so dense…he just didn’t get God’s plan. And really, I like Jonah because I identify with him. It’s just always easier to see someone else’s flaws than my own. I love how Tchividjian points out that there is a good chance the author of the book is Jonah himself. If so, we know that he must have finally gotten at some point. Otherwise, it would have been full of excuses!

I think one of my favorite things about this book is that Tchividjian is he draws on representations of Jonah in art. There’s a whole section of pictures, all referred to and discussed in the text. In this visual culture, I think that’s very important. Besides, it’s refreshing given the traditional discounting of the fine arts in evangelicalism. I think he handles them in an appropriate, balanced way, using the images to draw attention to particular aspects of the story or Jonah’s character.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, regardless of whether or not they’re familiar with the book of Jonah. It would serve as both a good introduction as well as a good reminder.

Now I need to get my hands on more of Tchividjian’s books!

I read Pure because I read a tweet from someone who was recommending it to people who like Hunger Games. I’m always up for a good dystopian novel, so I checked it out.

Aside: I should clarify that Pure is NOT dystopian but post-apocalyptical. Perhaps the distinction doesn’t matter to anyone else, but it would bug me if someone read this and didn’t realize I recognize the distinction. As far as the two similar genres go, I tend to like dystopian better, probably because it’s closely related to science fiction.

Anyway. I didn’t really like Pure, though it’s hard to pin point why. I didn’t despise it, and it’s not particularly poorly written.

I think what bugged me the most about this book is just the images of the deformities: most of the characters have objects or other people or creatures fused to their bodies. I had a hard time with this. I don’ t think we’re supposed to be comfortable with it, but I found it difficult to read because of these images.

And now, when I hear the beating of birds’ wings, I shutter.

A Million Suns by Beth Revis ♥♥♥♥♥

Just finished this last night. I just couldn’t put it down. Thankfully, it only kept me up 20 minutes past my bedtime.

This is the 2nd book in a trilogy (and now I have almost a year to wait for the final book). I liked the first, but it wasn’t necessarily a book that I’d be raving about. Well, this one might have brought the whole series up to ‘raving’ status.

You can read more about Across the Universe here. Please ignore the cover…I can’t stand kissing/passionate embraces on the cover. This is not a romance series, but science fiction of a dystopian bent.

What I so enjoyed about this second book was that the author was able to pull out more surprises, after a fairly surprising first book. Even a few things that I anticipated worked out differently than I thought. Even more interesting, it makes you think about what it means to truly live.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher ♥♥♥♥

I had heard about this book some time back and finally got to it during the Readathon. It was a good choice, as it’s a fast-paced read. It is the story of a teenage girl who commits suicide and leaves behind tapes detailing the people in her life and their actions that led her to the decision she made.

I think there are 2 major things to take away from a book like this:

1. Our words/actions/inactions affect others more than we think

2. We are responsible for our own choices.

I could imagine using this book as a discussion starter with a teenager about issues such as suicide and interpersonal relationships.

In this book, over a 100 scientist and other intellectuals answer the question, “What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit?” The answers vary wildly and by-and-large are interesting and helpful.

I found it interesting that most people picked an idea outside of their expertise. That makes sense though: these are ideas from other branches of science that they found useful to their own studies and lives.

As one might expect of a book that includes Richard Dawkins, the anti-God bias in the book can, at times, be quite strong. I still think that there are plenty of things that can be learned from a book like this.

Another nit-picky thing is that this book is that it’s obvious that it’s a gathering of a large number of different people’s writings. While John Brockman does a good job of organizing them so that similar concepts appear together, some of the same facts and anecdotes show up several different times. This comes off as a bit disjointed.

If you’re someone who dabbles in science as I do, I would recommend this book. It’s not difficult to understand: it’s written for “everybody,” after all.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of  This Will Make You Smarter in exchange for this review.

Total Church: a Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community is a book about what the church should look like. Not a building or a program, but intentional relationships within a community of believers that is God-focused and outward-oriented.

The authors do not claim to be experts and openly admit that they fall short. They also don’t want a bunch of churches to look just like theirs. But they do want a lot of churches to look differently than they do now.

To be brief, a church should look, feel, and act more like a family and less like a country club. Church members should seek to serve, not be served. A church should be reaching out to those around them, not seeking to insulate themselves from the world. As they seek to grow closer to God, they should also be growing closer to each other.

I believe that the ideas of church as put forth in this book are very appealing to my generation, the Millennials.* We desire authentic relationships without pretension or cumbersome rituals. So many of those my age see church as completely irrelevant to their life, and I must admit that in many cases, I agree.

The concepts in this book are very hard to implement in most churches today because they’re large and there is usually a strict clergy/laymen distinction. I’m thankful to be a part of a church that, while a good size, seeks to grow small, by encouraging small groups to be the basis of our church family. Also, authority and responsibilities are not distributed on the basis of where you get a paycheck.

We’re not perfect, but I’m thankful that we’re trying. There’s a natural desire within a sinner to not let anyone else get close, and we have to fight against that. I have to fight against that. This book has encourages me to pursue deep relationships with those in my small group and to be proactive in building relationships with the hurting people around me.

I highly recommend this book.

*Note: I don’t give this appeal to Millennials as the reason to adopt the ideas of the book, but as a support that the ideas found here are also an answer to the shrinking church phenomenon.

Listened to this in January, but still wanted to include it here. I love how thorough Friedman is in his writing (perhaps too thorough given the weight of his books!) and appreciate his passion.

While I remain skeptical of human-caused global warming, there is no doubt in my mind that actions that we take are harmful to the earth that God has given us stewardship over. Friedman spends a good bit of time painting a picture of a day he hopes to be not too far in the future where we’re much more earth-conscious in our decision making and the idea excites me. Still working out what all that means for me.

Unlike Friedman, however, I don’t find the answer in more government regulation, or at least not federal government regulation. I think there are more steps that we can do as responsible consumers and local citizens that can collectively make a larger impact.

Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo ♥

Yeah, I only read this because a couple of my Sunday school girls have read it and I wanted to talk more specifically about it. I had already read Tim Challies’s review, so I knew what to expect.

Still, I was surprised at how poorly written it was. If someone is going to read this book and suddenly believe in heaven, I just don’t get it. As Tim said, “If you struggle believing what the Bible says, but learn to find security in the testimony of a toddler, well, I feel sorry for you.”

All I found in this book was a child who was describing a very pop-culture version of heaven (people with wings, rainbow colors, Jesus as a white dude, stunning to behold) and a father trying to ascribe Bible verses to the statements of his child.

Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow ♥♥♥

I don’t usually read books written by sports figures. Actually, this very well might be the first. But given all the talk about Tebow, I thought it would be a good idea to get his take on everything.

One thing that particularly struck me about Tebow is just how hard he’s had to work to get where he is. That’s what he offers any team that he plays for. He’s the real deal, truly seeking to live out his faith in Christ in his day to day.

I must admit that I skimmed page after page of commentary on his various games. I respect Tebow as a person, but that doesn’t mean that I enjoy reading about his football exploits as a Gator.

I’m glad I did.

This is really the perfect time for me to read this book, before I got my first paycheck at the new job. It’s much easier to start on a new budget than to try to change a budget mid-course.

Overall, this book wasn’t terribly different from Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover which I greatly appreciated and recommend. Still, it’s good to read a book like this every once in a while to help keep your finances on track.

One thing that Mary Hunt does well is her “Freedom Account” concept. Similar to the envelope method, but I think it’s more intuitive and workable…it clicked for me, whereas the envelope method didn’t quite work for me.

The idea of the freedom account is opening another checking account and setting up subaccounts within it through your own recordkeeping (I use Excel, but a notebook would work, too). These subaccounts are for things that are either more-than-monthly expenses (things that you only pay every 3 months or every year, for example) or irregular (like car repair expenses).

I have 8 subaccounts: Car Expenses, Car Insurance, Cell Phone (I pay my phone quarterly to save money), Health, Clothing, Gifts, Christmas, and Travel. I have determined the amount I would need to pay in to each category each month, and then I make that deposit each month.

I have tried something very similar before, but just keeping the money in one of my regular accounts. That became a problem for me, because any time my expenses exceeded that paycheck, I’d just use the money I had already set aside for a future purpose. When that future expense came up, I’d usually have to dip into my savings to cover it, or worse, put it on my credit card.

I don’t agree with everything Mary Hunt says. I don’t think that debit cards are horrible, particularly in this day and age. I don’t get how she would advocate checks but not debit cards. I don’t use my debit card online, but it’s certainly more useful at the grocery store than a check. Also, it’s worth noting that this book was written in 1999, so some of the laws have changed in regards to things like home equity loans and credit cards.

So I’ve decided not to get rid of this book after all. I’ll keep it on my shelf for the next time my budget needs a look in the mirror.

That said, I do have some thoughts about what I’ve been reading. So every few weeks or so (whenever I have three of these), I’m going to compile those post in a “Reviewettes” post. I’ll still occasionally write a full review when a book warrants it, but this will give you a short recap of what I’ve been reading and what I thought about them. I won’t mention every book I read (the full list can be found here, if you’re that curious), but will draw attention to the books that caught my fancy.

With that lovely introduction, here is the first set of reviewettes:

Lit: A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke ♥♥♥♥

As a reader, I enjoy about reading. Nerdy, I know. If you, too, like to read about reading, I would suggest this book. Or if you don’t like reading, I’d also suggest it.

One point that I took away from Lit is the idea that my personal reading helps the corporate body of Christ. I get this: friends are always asking me what I’m reading and what I got out of it. I don’t always have a good answer for them, but I should. I should be able to share with them a gold nugget that I found whenever asked. I’m going to be more intentional about this.

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power and the Only Hope that Matters  by Timothy Keller  ♥♥♥♥♥

I read Keller’s The Prodigal God last fall and was really impressed with his insights. He has some great things to say in Counterfeit Gods as well.

There is just something about Keller’s writing that feels incredibly accessible to non-churchy people, if that makes sense. In Counterfeit Gods he does a great job taking apart some common American idols and comparing them to God, where we can find true hope.

The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene (audio) ♥♥♥

The Hidden Reality is a popular science book about the possibilities of parallel universes. Greene walks the reader through various scientific theories that would support or even require multiple universes. I find this fascinating, but in the end, I really don’t think there are other universes out there. It almost feels like scientists like Greene want there to be other universes because it makes it seem less improbable that intelligent life would develop in their own.

That said, I would not be surprised at all if their were intelligent life forms on other planets within our own universe. Until we meet them (which I find unlikely), nothing can be proven either way.

For the record, this is the first author-read audio book I’ve ever enjoyed.

I know that it has been way too long since I’ve posted a book review here but nothing I’ve been reading lately has provoked me to blog about it. Perhaps Die Young will break the ice for me.

Die Young is all about the importance, difficulty, and benefits of dying to self. Thus the title: Die Young is written to young adults.

I definitely appreciate the message of Die Young as it really doesn’t take a light and fluffy approach to the Gospel. I think we are doing our youth a disservice when we act like becoming a Christian is easy. In one sense it is (we aren’t doing the work), but in another, we ‘re giving everything we have and are back to God. So before we encourage a youth–or anyone–to take the first steps to follow Christ, we need to encourage them to count the costs.

Will this keep people from coming to Christ? Yes and no. We’ll definitely get less numbers to report: less people “walking the aisle.” Yet the ones who do make a decision are more likely to be sincere.

There were a few nit-picky things that I didn’t like about Die Young. The biggest thing was that I thought that their picture of true contentment was short-sighted. The reason why a Christian can be content with little/nothing (Philippians 4:11-13) is because they’re content in God not in what they have or where they are. When we put our eyes on God, everything else truly does grow dim.

I appreciate books like Die Young for going deeper than traditional youth group material. However, I do think that there is a better book out there on the topic, and I’d recommend Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris first.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced reader copy of Die Young in exchange for this review.

I guess it was waiting for a time like this.

While I was in Seattle, I started this book. As I may have implied through my “30 for 30″ talk lately, I’ve been in need of refocus. I feel like I’ve stalled out and been content with the status quo.

This is exactly what I needed to read now.

Whiter Than Snow is nothing new. But it is the important stuff, the Gospel. Tripp uses Psalm 51 as a jumping off point to really dig in deep about sin—and where it comes from—and the only One who can do something about it.

Whiter Than Snow is a series of 52 short devotions designed to be read once a week. Obviously, I didn’t follow that plan, but used it as an intense shot of the Gospel.

So am I geared up to work on my goals? Sure, but that’s not the point. The point is that I’ve fallen on my knees before the God whose mercy and grace I desperately need.

I highly recommend this book, to use as the Lord leads.