Tag Archive - Reading

My 29 books of 2010

December 31, 2010 in Reading with 7 Comments

Here are the 29 books I read in 2010 with my rating and a brief review of each. My favorite read of the year (besides the Bible) is a tossup between the Naked Gospel and Outliers. My least favorite read of the year goes to Live Sent by Jason Dukes. Here they are in the order I finished them.

The Baseball Fanatic by Louis D. Rubin Jr (3) This is a very light read with baseball quotes from people connected to the game. Good for the coffee table or even a more private reading spot…

The Search for God and Guiness by Stephen Mansfield (4.5) This is a great story about the history of the Guiness family and their surprising influence on Ireland because of their faith. Makes me wish I enjoyed the taste of Guiness. A very engaging story for any history buff.

Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind by Charles Nicholl (3) This is a tough read that I had to push through. I’m intrigued by da Vinci’s life, but this book is fairly dry and pretty long. I’d only recommend this for the bold (or those with a lot of extra time on their hands).

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In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day

December 30, 2010 in Bible, Reading with 6 Comments

In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day - Mark BattersonI recently finished Mark Batterson’s book – In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. We are having him speak at Central for our prayer conference in February so I wanted to read his book before then. The book is based on a seemingly obscure story in the Bible about a guy named Benaiah chasing down a lion (1 Chronicles 11:22-25 and 2 Samuel 23:20-23).

I really enjoyed it. There were two themes in it that I thought he developed well. The first and most dominant theme was the idea that Christianity should involve taking risks. Too often we think of it solely as not doing bad things. Batterson makes the point that doing the right things is more important than not doing the wrong things. Here are a few quotes from the book that are along the lines of following God by taking the risks that He has for us:

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Bible Reading Plan for 2011

December 27, 2010 in Bible, Reading with 22 Comments

Chronological Bible Reading Plan

One of my traditions each year has been to switch Bible versions that I’m reading through. This allows it to stay fresh and keeps me from getting locked into one version. For 2010 I read through the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) and for 2011 I’m going to read through the TNIV (Today’s New International Version). I’d recommend you consider adopting this habit as well.

In addition, I’m going to start another yearly habit of switching up my Bible reading plans. For 2010 I did the Route 66 plan with all of Central. After much consideration and research I have found a new one for 2011. I am very excited to go through the Chronological reading plan. It is the Bible in a year, but not in the order it appears. They put it into the order they think fits best as it happened chronologically.

In case you are totally confused right now, here is a preview of what the first 5 days look like:

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Divine Conspiracy – Ch.9

December 20, 2010 in Jesus, Reading, Spirituality with 5 Comments

The Divine Conspiracy - Dallas WillardChapter 9 of Dallas Willard’s Divine Conspiracy is titled, “A Curriculum for Christlikeness,” and as you might imagine it is a meaty one. This is the chapter that many of the people in our TOAG program from Central are asked to read. This is part of my ongoing series of posts about the book. Here are a few of the big ideas that stood out to me.

“So as Jesus’ current assistants in his ongoing program, one important way of characterizing our work of ‘training disciples to do everything I told you’ is ‘bringing them to actually believe all the things they have already heard.’”

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Divine Conspiracy – Ch.8

December 8, 2010 in Bible, Reading with 12 Comments

Here are a few of my favorite thoughts on Dallas Willard’s Divine Conspiracy for chapter 8. Only two chapters left after this and then I will have blogged through this whole behemoth of a book!

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