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Books… BOOKS… BOOKS!!!!
Over the last few years I have engaged a bit more with Southern writers. Those from the South who write about other things, and then Southern writers who write about the South. Lately I have taken in Pat Conroy and Greg Iles. They write honestly, but I have really loved the lyrical way they write. There is a beauty to…
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Interesting reading
I have been hitting some articles and essays over the past few weeks and wanted to pass along the fun, the challenging, and the insane. First, some Mark Twain quotes:
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Building character
There are some practices we can install into our lives that build deep character. It’s beyond the quick dopamine hits we get from short videos or quick hits on social media. This is the deeper work we need to rebuild in our lives. A few years ago, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist, Angela Duckworth, got a bit more specific. She…
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Top Ten Books of My Reading Year
Some quick notes from ten books I enjoyed or were impacted by in 2024. This doesn’t have any particular order.
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The bass note of our lives
I am working my way through Leif Enger’s newest book, I Cheerfully Refuse. Enger writes beautifully and captures a slow pace I enjoy at times when reading novels. (I am not good at reading fiction so unless there is a race against a bomb going off or the main character is about to be the next victim, I’m not good…
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The unshakable kingdom
We fear the apocalypse. We fear “decline” as Americans. We fear “losing our culture.” In general, we fear endings. Somehow we want to live in the dream of always upward in a world that always has the same result: all empires fade.
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The city of God
I have been working my way slowly through Christopher Watkins book, Biblical Critical Theory. It is a brilliant work and one I can’t simply “dive into.” It’s been an incredibly slow walk… and I’m not even halfway through.
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Jesus and the Powers, Part 8
The final chapters in the book, Jesus and the Powers, are a struggle for me. Chapter 7 is the struggle. Chapter 8 is the summary. The fact of the matter, for Wright and Bird, is that government of some form is necessary. I can’t disagree. For all the shouting people do about corrupt government (on the “right” or the “left”),…
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Jesus and the Powers, Part 7
There are governments to resist. We wrestle with the need to submit to a point and then how to resist when there are violations of conscience and crossing allegiances, but then there is a need to understand there are things to resist. The how is tricky, and it takes the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This isn’t about…
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Jesus and the Power, Part 5
What will you do with your life? The world needs kingdom-minded Christians now more than ever. This is from p. 89 of Jesus and the Powers, and it is a great question I have carried with me for over 30 years. Where does the Spirit want to have me active in the work of the Kingdom in this world? What…
Category: Reading
