I've long struggled with the place reading has in my life. I've decided to control my reading this year, instead of letting it control me. You can take a peek at my reading list by joining me at Out of the Ordinary.
I checked out your book list - you seem very organized and determined in your schedule! Good for you! Sometimes I get so frustrated with myself that I can't seem to make it through many non-fiction books, either because they're dry, or so full of deep theology that they make my head spin! If you could recommend three "entry-level" titles, what would they be?
Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul Tripp even though I'm early in it, it's fabulous!), 9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever, and Humble Orthodoxy by Joshua Harris.
Two women stand behind us in line. I judge they are perhaps 10 years my senior, but it's hard to tell. I inwardly cringe as one bursts into a litany of complaints and coarse language. The other can hardly stop talking about who she's tweeting and snap chatting while we wait. One as salty as a sailor, the other as giddy as a schoolgirl. I see myself in these women. A complainer who makes those around her miserable. A foolish woman too mesmerized by social media to be a friend to someone standing right beside her. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Lisa's friend passes away. A woman I've never met, but will one day. Her example to Lisa became an example to me. While she is just beginning to understand what it means to worship God fully, her family and friends mourn a life ended too soon. I consider the woman I long to be. A woman who, in Lisa's words , "...believes the good news of the gospel to be true; she believes it, she needs it, she banks her life on it." ...
“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh?" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?" "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. "I just wanted to be sure of you.” ~A.A. Milne I've known him exactly half of my life. Soon, life with him will overtake life without him. Truth be told, it's hard to remember when he wasn't here. Those years are dim images dusty with cobwebs and time. The older I become, the further they fade away. Today marks 21 years of cleaving to each other, of adhering firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly ( source ). Our marriage is marked by God's indelible grace and His unending goodness. As I contemplate these decades together, I'm thankful for: ~laughing together ~crying together ~worshipping together ~loving together ~grieving together ~working together ~traveling together ~cooking together ~eating together ~walking together ~parenting together ~growing older together ~praying toge...
Increasingly, we are living our lives in the public forum. Hand-written letters to friends were exchanged for emails, which were exchanged for text messages, which have now been exchanged for tweets and notes on a Facebook wall for all the world to see. Secrets among friends, it seems, no longer exist. Meaningful friendships themselves may soon be a thing of the past. Social media has allowed us to collect "followers" and "friends" like trinkets on a charm bracelet. We are compelled to share intimate details of our lives with complete strangers, yet we are ashamed to ask those closest to us to pray as we wrestle against sin. We foster, as Carl Trueman writes , an "intimacy of strangers which is such a part of celebrity culture - for example, the faux-chumminess of all those tweeted exchanges and retweets, lives lived as soap operas mediated by the internet..." We brand ourselves with carefully crafted personas, afraid the true person cowering behind t...
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I think I would recommend:
Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul Tripp even though I'm early in it, it's fabulous!), 9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever, and Humble Orthodoxy by Joshua Harris.
Let me know if you choose to read any of them.