These are great ‘reads’!

Subject: THESE are great 'reads'!

These are great ‘reads’!

Philip Yancey is one my favorite writers on spiritual matters. He approaches Christianity with a healthy mindset, and in his books, shows that faith in Christ is as valid for this life as it is crucial to the next. His latest book, What Good is God? is a great read for most everyone. In the face of the world’s suffering—be it war-torn Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya or Africa’s Ivory Coast . . . and in view of the great loss of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami, some people ask, ‘Where is God now?’ (in other words, how could God let this happen?!)

Yancey goes around the world to places and situations where hurting people have every right to ask, ‘What Good is God?’ And then he writes about his encounters, and how in each one, God is anything but absent—anything but irrelevant. Virginia Tech—remember the campus massacre? Mumbai? You know, in 2008, when Pakistani terrorists targeted 10 different sites, senselessly wounding and killing innocent people . . . Yancey just happened to be there when it happened, and recounts not only his experience, but the unbelievable reaction of believers. His message of “Grace Under Fire” at a church just outside of Mumbai, where people squeeze like sardines so they can get a message of hope, is most inspirational, and harkens back to September, 2001, when shaken Americans crowded into churches and synagogues for the same.

Yancey discusses eight other varied settings, and the messages he imparted to folks in each place. I found the book both interesting and provocative, and have given several copies of it away already.

What Good is God? In search of a faith that matters – FaithWords, Hachette Book Group, New York, 2010.

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Any book that hits the bookstands and boasts of someone’s personal story of experiencing Heaven, and then resuming his life in the here and now gets my attention. Heaven is for Real is such a book, but with a twist; it is from a young child’s perspective, published in late 2010.

I am particularly prudent about recommending any book about Heaven because writers can take liberties that are careless, irresponsible, and unscriptural. After all, ‘I went to Heaven and lived to tell about it’ books sell. I am more than wary, I am skeptical. The first thing I check is the publisher; this one – Thomas Nelson, (highly respected); the next thing is the endorsements included in some part of the book, (are they mainstream godly individuals, or are they from people who are on the fringe, or play loose with Scriptural truth?) and then, once I have made the dive and bought the book, as I read, I think, ‘is the person a glory or fame-seeker, or are they retelling something that brings honor to God, and agrees with what Scripture says about Heaven?’

All that to say, I LOVED this book! Readers as young as middle school age, would enjoy it a lot, I’m sure.

The story is retold by the child’s dad as little Colton recalls his heavenlyjourney in informational bytes, many of which I have not read in other books of its kind. (I am not going to tell you here, because I do not want to ruin it for you!) The book jumps off the bookstand with its brilliant yellow cover, and cute little boy looking you in the eyes. Compelling, convincing, sound.

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It was last summer that I wrote about Henri Nouwen’s beautiful book, The Return of the Prodigal Son----did you get it, and read it, and then pass it on? Oh man, it is so rich, as to be life changing!

We----ell, that was the first title in my now-growing Nouwen library! If you know anything about Nouwen’s life, he left academia to move into a community that loved and took care of severely mentally-disabled individuals, founded by Jean Vanier. Nouwen himself became a care-taker in one of Vanier’s communities until his death. So then I had to know more about Vanier . . . besides his oh-so-beautiful French name! I just finished his Essential Writings -- it is like a best-of-the-best sampler, and will expand your mind into greater areas of compassion than you perhaps thought possible.

Vanier’s understanding of community is both vital and enriching, and facilitates an understanding that followers of Christ will never be who they are meant to become unless or until they participate in authentic community. Oh, how I loved this book! As with all of my reading, it too went along with me to the gym, where I put it on the rack of my elliptical trainer, securing it with a big rubber band, highlighter in the cupholder, ready to go. The book inspired and stretched me, and kinda made me want to rub it on me, so that by osmosis, I might be able to fully absorb it.

Three great 'reads' . . . I hope you'll pick up at least one of them---read, think, and grow.

Christine