Amazon has enabled a lending feature for some books (publishers decide whether to allow it or not) on the Amazon Kindle. This means that if you buys a book you can share it with a friend, just as if it were a real book (obviously, you can’t both [...]]]>

Amazon has enabled a lending feature for some books (publishers decide whether to allow it or not) on the Amazon Kindle. This means that if you buys a book you can share it with a friend, just as if it were a real book (obviously, you can’t both read it at the same time). We are seeing a seismic shift in the way reading occurs and ereaders like the Kindle are the future. Offering a lending scenario overcomes one of the largest remaining drawbacks to ereaders.

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Today I spent 1.5 hours in one of my favorite places in the world – a library – specifically my alma mater and employer’s library – Philadelphia Biblical University. I went in just to pick up a few books on worship for my sermon on Sunday but then [...]]]>

Today I spent 1.5 hours in one of my favorite places in the world – a library – specifically my alma mater and employer’s library – Philadelphia Biblical University. I went in just to pick up a few books on worship for my sermon on Sunday but then walked the aisles of books, finally leaving with two bags packed with books.

One of the books I picked up is Jeffrey H. Boyd’s Being Sick Well: Joyful Living Despite Chronic Illness. Why would I be interested in such a volume? Two reasons. First, I’ve suffered from both Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Major Depressive Episodes for as long as I have memories of my existence. Secondly, I work with a church (Calvary Community Church) where a large percentage of our congregation is amongst the “ageing” – many of whom suffer from a number of chronic conditions – arthritis, cancer, bad joints, and so on. It seemed this volume would be applicable to my life personally as well as to my life corporately – that is, how I interact with others.

I haven’t made it far, I’m still threading through the introduction – but I wanted to share a few quotes that struck me and highlight the steps Boyd will further illuminate throughout the volume as being part of “Joyful Living.”

At the start of the Introduction Boyd shares concerning his first wife’s severe and chronic illnesses, concluding, “…Pat’s medical disasters were not her main experience in life. The diseases were often quiet and well behaved. There were long periods of normal life.” (pg. 7) What a beautiful picture! This resonated within my heart. While the episodes of OCD and depression feel as if they are all that exists when I am in them, the truth is that there is more to life. Tonight as I held Charity in my arms before she left for a bible study or now as a little kitten rests upon my legs – these are moments of joy and grace.

Boyd then comments on the prevalence of chronic conditions: “At least 45 percent of all Americans have a chronic condition, accounting for 78 percent of the healthcare budget.” (pg. In other words, one out of every two individuals! It appears that the second half of his introduction will discuss the reasons for these high percentages.

Another soul healing statement comes on pg. 9, “I do not mean to say that joy is always within the reach of sick people. Job in the Bible finds no joy until God rescues him from his skin disease and other catastrophes…Some people who suffer on this earth will find happiness only in heaven, after they die.” Too often we are expected to be so happy and smiling in the midst of our suffering, yet Boyd acknowledges that sometimes, for some people there is no relief this side of eternity.

Reading this book I figured I’d draw general principles, not specific instances – because who thinks of mental illnesses as a chronic illness? But Boyd again surprises and delights me when he writes, “My own chronic illness has been major depression. I inherited it from my father, who had it worse than I. My tendency toward gloom and pessimism has waxed and waned since childhood. It is insidious.” (pg. 10) The author is both aware of and familiar with mental ailments as a form of chronic illness! Something which I am still coming to grips with in my own life (intellectually I acknowledge, practically – I sometimes deny it).

The brief overview of steps which Boyd will address for “Joyful Living” are:

• Build up your relationships, create a solid social network.
• Decide what priorities really matter to you and focus on them.
• Don’t spend all your time thinking about and bemoaning your illness.
• Use mental willpower to keep a positive attitude even when things aren’t great.
• Avoid disasters in your life.
• Use humor, even if it is “gallows humor” to lighten the load for yourself and others.
• Take each day individually – don’t be overwhelmed by thinking about the rest of your life.
• Exercise as much as you can (grrr).
• Use the spiritual resources available to you to cope – medical research indicates that spiritual beliefs are a great source of strength in illness.
• Say the Eastern Orthodox Jesus Prayer.
• Go to church and be involved in your church community.
• Be involved in changing the world – if there is no cure for you, help there be a cure for others.
• Take charge of your health needs. You be your main advocate and organizer when it comes to healthcare.
• Take your medications religiously.
• Keep up hope that a cure will be invented.
• Stay busy, don’t allow yourself to withdraw from life.
• If you are a caregiver, take pride in your work.
• Enjoy the small blessings of life in spit of the illness.
• Don’t pay attention to those who abandon you because of your illness.
• Use your suffering as a means to help others –  Fanny Crosbey, though blind, wrote 9,000 hymns!

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Here is another list of volumes currently available for free from Amazon in the Kindle eBook format. You do not have to have a Kindle in order to view/read these ebooks. Amazon has made Kindle software (free) that runs on [...]]]>

Here is another list of volumes currently available for free from Amazon in the Kindle eBook format. You do not have to have a Kindle in order to view/read these ebooks. Amazon has made Kindle software (free) that runs on Windows, the iPhone, Android, and so on.

• Purves, Dale. Brains: How They Work and What that Tells Us About Who We Are.
• Kraus, Harry. Perfect. Zondervan (Fiction).
• Sproul, R.C. Can I Be Sure I’m Saved? (Non-Fiction).
• Templar, Richard. The Rules of Life: A Personal Code for Living a Better, Happier, More Successful Life.
• Blanchard, Ken. Helping People Win at Work.
• Alcorn, Randy. Safely Home. (Fiction)
• Dwight Eisenhower’s Leadership Lessons.
• 15 Successful Communication Lessons.
• Grimes, Nikki. A Girl Named Mister. Zondervan (Fiction).
• John Wooden’s Winning Ways. (Non-Fiction, Business/Leadership)

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One of my favorite books is a slim little volume by George MacDonald entitled Diary of an Old Soul. George MacDonald is one of those fantastic authors who maintains timelessness across the span of time and who speaks to the human condition with unfailing [...]]]>

One of my favorite books is a slim little volume by George MacDonald entitled Diary of an Old Soul. George MacDonald is one of those fantastic authors who maintains timelessness across the span of time and who speaks to the human condition with unfailing contemporaneity. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, MacDonald fell a bit out of favor even with C.S. Lewis constantly pointing back to MacDonald as his inspiration. Its about time MacDonald was rediscovered.

Diary of an Old Soul consists of daily poems – only a few lines long – that George MacDonald wrote chronicling his relationship with God over an entire years time after losing two of his children in the same year to death.

You can pick this small volume up for less than $15 at almost any bookstore – and it is such a light and powerful read – I highly recommend it.

While these books are for the I frequent the top 100 free books section on Amazon and frequently stumble across various books that look worthwhile. I’ve decided to begin listing them here on occasion for anyone who might be interested. You can always download them now and read them later.

While these books are for the Amazon Kindle, software is available for Windows and Macs as well as a number of mobile devices – so you don’t have to have a Kindle to take advantage of these books!

1. R.C. Sproul. A Taste of Heaven: Worship in the Light of Eternity.
2. Geri Scazzero (w/Peter Scazzero). I Quit: Stop Pretending Everything is Fine and Change Your Life. (Zondervan)
3. Jeff Manion. The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions. (Zondervan)
4. Charles Stanley. Listening to God. (Thomas Nelson)
5. Edward H. Hammett. Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People Over 60: Being Church for All Generations. (Chalice Press)
6. Gary Smalley. The DNA of Relationships. (Tyndale House Publishers)

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One of his earliest books was Desiring [...]]]> John Piper is one of the great theological minds of our present day. He is (and has been for quite some time) senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church while also finding significant time to devote to numerous books and articles which form the basis for Desiring God Ministries.

One of his earliest books was Desiring God with the provocative subtitle of “meditations of a christian hedonist.” For those not familiar with the word – a hedonist is someone who pursues pleasure – as such the title seems antithetical to how many Christians (and non-Christians) perceive the Christian faith. Yet within the pages of this book one finds not a call to shallow living but a call to deeper living and a vision of a faith that stretches farther and deeper than many of us had previously imagined. Piper is extremely orthodox and conservative (in an evangelical fashion) theologically but his writings push readers to imagine and understand their traditional faith in deeper (not necessarily new) ways.

It took me several years to read John Piper’s Desiring God…and I am a fairly avaricious reader. The first several times I tried I threw the book down in disgust due to Piper’s heavily deterministic, predestinatory, Calvinistic/Augistinian bent, but at last I struggled through and found that he had much worthwhile to say even if his ideas in this one area were disturbing to me. But even from here, it would be another year or two until I finished this hefty volume – not because of its sheer length but because of its content. So many books are filled with fluff essentially regurgitating the same statements in different guises – each page of Piper’s Desiring God is filled with challenging, convicting, uplifting, need-to-think-this-over content…there is no fluff. This means that I would only read a few pages each day – there was just so much to chew on.

Whether you are a Christian or not I would recommend John Piper’s Desiring God. He does a great job at laying out an exciting vision of the Christian life.

The first book I read by Ted Dekker was Thr3e, which I enjoyed thoroughly from start to end. But then it felt like Dekker hit a dry spell. I read House which he had co-authored with Frank Peretti[1. Peretti [...]]]>

Cover of Adam

Ted Dekker Generally:

The first book I read by Ted Dekker was Thr3e, which I enjoyed thoroughly from start to end. But then it felt like Dekker hit a dry spell. I read House which he had co-authored with Frank Peretti[1. Peretti is probably my favorite fiction writer, especially in the Christian genre. He, however, also disappointed me first with Monster and then with House.] and it disappointed thoroughly. House seemed to lack real story (as most horror does) and focused on an extremely fragmented narrative.[2. By this I mean the book is told in small segments, swapping back and forth between characters, times, places, etc. This is fine when done in moderation (e.g. one chapter about one character, the next about another), but when it becomes pervasive it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I consider it an artificial method of creating a driving thriller. Instead of real substance one breaks up the story in a way that feels "fast-paced" but if placed in order would simply feel simplistic and dull.]

After that it was Showdown and Saint (The Paradise Series), both of which I found somewhat boring – probably due to the imaginative storyline which felt just a bit too fantastical for my tastes. I picked up Obsessed but never was obsessed with it and haven’t finished it yet (not sure if I will). I’d heard good things about his Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, and White) but have avoided them out of my distaste for The Paradise Novels.

I stopped by the library recently and picked up two of his latest – Skin and Adam. I read Skin first. I was solidly disappointed yet again. I was tempted to just return Adam without even a second glance. I’m not trying to say Dekker’s books where awful – they weren’t – they were okay, good, average. They just weren’t great and I have a reading list a mile long. I decided to give it a try anyways – a few pages, then put it aside. Dekker grabbed me in the first several pages and wouldn’t let me go. Wow! By the end Charity had joined me and we were reading the story together. We both agreed that it was his most mature work to date. In fact, I would consider it a masterpiece in its genre.

Synopsis:

Daniel Clark works for the FBI and is hunting down a mysterious serial killer known only as “Eve” for taking innocent women and murdering them via a lethal biological injection. Clark has been hard on Eve’s trail for a long time and has lost his marriage over his obsession to catch Eve. Now it seems that Clark is finally getting close, but Eve outsmarts him again – shooting him in the head and killing him. Miraculously, Clark is resuscitated, but not without losing his memory of the killer’s face. The key to capturing this devious criminal is locked in his damaged mind.

Okay, so the storyline isn’t perhaps all that different from any number of other crime thrillers, or for that matter many of Dekker’s other stories – but the execution is flawless. Dekker interweaves the current narrative of the serial killer chase with fictitious newspaper articles written after the case describing the evolution of Alex Price (Eve) from a man into a killer.

There are only so many times one can read a crime thriller. They pretty much have the same narrative structure and storyline – bad guy kills people, bad guy gets caught. Flesh it out and you have your story. So how does one separate oneself from the masses? Dekker does it (and rightly so) by asking deeply philosophical (and theological) questions via his narrative[3. He does this in some of his other novels, but generally I have found the execution flawed with the exception of Thr3e and Adam.], specifically, “What is it that causes an individual to become a serial killer? Is one born as such or bred as such? Can a good man become a bad one?” This questions can be asked in a heavy-handed manner that demands a certain pathway be followed and fails to truly explore the questions and accept the unanswered dimensions, but Dekker succeeds in asking these questions in a way that feels real and authentic.

Conclusion:

If you are looking for a thrilling read, Adam is a great place to look. I have read few books that have grabbed me in such a firm way – and that I look back on with deep thoughts. I think the question of the darkest edges of humanity (e.g. serial killers) fascinates us because we believe at some point that it gives us insight into the whole of humanity. We want to understand how we can aberrate so far – we want to find an answer. Dekker encourages us to search our souls for the right answers.[4. This book is not a pure criminal thriller. If you want to get an idea of the secret twist (which makes the story even more frightening) click here, it'll take you to a book referenced in the novel that is tightly intertwined with the plot - but warning - its a spoiler!]