52 for 52: Breaking Rules

I'm still going down the road of reading more in 2016. But I've not been great at keeping one of my key rules... "One book at a time." Here's a list of books I'm reading right now, for various groups or reasons I'm swamped half way through each of these...

  • Shop Class As Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
    One of my classmates at Wheaton College handed me this book, making it eligible for this year's list. It's all about a modern day philosopher who gave up the white collar world as a Washington Think Tank member to run a bike shop. And how working with your hands is good for the soul. Extremely helpful for Bethel's Ecclesiastes series.
     
  • 7 Men by Eric Metaxis
    A look at seven men in modern history whose faith was instrumental in them changing the world.
     
  • Practical Wisdom for Pastors by Curtis C. Thomas
    This is a highly practical book that's been leading part of our team in great discussions on what it takes to be a faithful and fruitful pastor.
     
  • The New Testament In Antiquity by Burge, Cohick, and Green
    This is one of the textbooks for the NT 2 course I've just finished. Fantastic resource for those looking to understand ancient cultural contexts and biblical connections. 
     
  • The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era by James Jeffers
    Another textbook in the above class. Super technical. Doubtful I'll finish this one. 
     
  • Simplicity in Preaching by J.C. Ryle
    A short standard that's withstood the test of time.

Looking forward to finishing these soon and still going. 

Why the next President will save America

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Let me be completely upfront about one thing… I'm happily entertained by Donald Trump. Like everyone else in the world, I’ve been intrigued with him. For me, it started at a family hangout months ago when someone made a joke about him that was met with resounding, “Hey, wait a minute, he’s the only one with the guts to say what everyone else is thinking!” And I was confused. People like Donald Trump. 

And I’m reminded: American politics are surprising and crazy. 

Here are three thoughts to keep us sane during this primary and election season...

The next President will save America.

Hyperbole? Consider the situation... we’re coming off eight years of a very different type of President, with a nation of millennials who don’t know who they are or what it takes to earn what we have, producing a national identity-crisis. Strong leadership is the only way forward. And the next President will have the opportunity like Washington and FDR to set the broken bones of our country straight. The only hope we have is a President that will tackle immigration, health care, education, foreign policy, a broken tax code, etc. But he (or she) will do it. They will save America.

The next President won’t save America.

OK, to be honest, as I’m growing older and having watched a few of these election cycles come and go, then evaluated the Presidencies that follow these elections, the more I’m convinced that it doesn’t matter who is in the White House... big corporate spenders and lobbyists will have their way. All the more, we’re a nation of immigrants who work hard and want to succeed, and we’ll do so in spite of who is in the oval office. I used to think the President was powerful. Now I realize he’s just the guy who has to deal with the problems, and hope something gets done. So no matter who we elect, one thing’s for certain, we’re sending someone to a dismal island where they’ll age in stress and fatigue, burdened by the idea of progress.

The next President can’t save America.

This is the truth. While I love America and our political system of democracy, I don’t look to the person in the Oval Office as my identity or my true leader. I look to him (or her) as simply my President. The one who has been imperfectly chosen by us imperfect citizens through an imperfect system to run an imperfect country trying to "form a more perfect union.” And while every term or two, the name on the desk might change, I’m reminded that the guy I’ve already placed my trust in is ruling already from a higher office with more wisdom and a whole heck of a lot more power than anything found on this earth. So no matter what happens in Washington, my guy’s already sworn in as the King. 

So here’s to a season of being informed voters. And here’s to a season of not being swept up in the false emotionalism of politics where we lose our minds.  

Michael Hyatt on Reading Real Books

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One of my very few, but very ambitious goals for this year is to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Michael Hyatt recently posted about why he switched from ebooks to physical books. He writes, 

“My goal for 2015 was to read twenty-six books. I ended up only finishing twelve. Worse, I actually bought 106 new books.”
— Michael Hyatt

Not only was it the format of the book (digital or physical) changed his consistency in reading, but also the fact that it’s hard to ignore books that actually take up space on your nightstand, or your desk, and not just live within an app. 

As I’m going through this journey to do so much reading, one of the expected, yet still surprising revelations is that I still read for my degree and I read for my job more than I read for myself. I still find myself struggling to make more margin in my life to read, even though I’m accomplishing the goal I set out to accomplish. Some things are just too important, I guess.  

But bottom line, I think I agree with Michael, and I have a few on the nightstand right now. Sometimes I think they're mocking me.