“You are the same
today as you will be in 5 years except for two things, the people you meet and
the book you read” Charles “T” Jones.
I had just completed my last book (Radical by David Platt) for the year
2013. Below is the complete list for the year. To all of you wise women and men
who recommended the books for me, my heart is filled with gratitude and my mind
is filled with possibilities. Several friends have deeply encouraged me with
their integrity. I sense the reality of God when I am with them. The challenge
of reading 1 book a month that began in 2009 became habit and a moment that
look forward to doing daily. As Richard De Bury succinctly put “These (books)
are the masters who instruct us without rods and ferules, without hard words
and anger, without clothes or money. If you approach them, they are not asleep,
if you mistake them, they never grumble; if you are ignorant, they cannot laugh
at you.” The title that I was drawn to takes me to places of hope through pain
and loss. The year has been one of deep and profound loss with the passing of
my mom as the family were still grieving the loss of my brother, but I am
discovering that this is a journey, and along the way I am finding deep joy in
depending on Christ for the guidance and comfort only He can provides as he
produces the fruit of the gospel in my life. As I continue to walk this path, I am keeping
these things in mind:
- Don’t allow the confusing
part of life(life can be wonderfully confusing if you are a disciple of
Christ) rob you of the confidence in the truth of Christianity. Cling to
what you know is true. There is a Loving God, He loves us, He sent His Son
to die for our sins, He’s promised to never leave you, and one day He’ll
return to make everything right.
- Don’t allow your drive
toward personal wealth, peace and success stop you from demonstrating LOVE
for people. Ralph Waldo Emerson says “most of the shadows of this life are
caused by too many of us standing in our own sunshine.” We need to
challenge ourselves to follow that abiding sense of responsibility to
others, particularly in the acknowledgement of what we have received in
life here in America. There are more than a billion people live in
desperate poverty, lacking food, water, clothing, and shelter. Spend our
resource on something that is gospel centered.
- Don’t let disappointment
part of life rob you of your laughter.
God has placed this capacity in us to allow us to distance
ourselves from events only he has control over. Laughter gave us
perspective and allow us to move on.
- Don’t let disappointment
prevent you from enjoying what is enjoyable about life. Daily, take
inventory of your and count your blessing-freedom, choices, family,
electricity, jobs etc. Be grateful for the good things your family and
friend do for you. Let their imperfection and flaws fill you with hope
what is to come.
- Any good deed can be
closely examined and shown to be less than perfect, but do good anyway. If
we wait for perfect motivation before we do anything, we’ll end up doing
nothing. Saying yes late is better than saying no at all.
- “Our life is a journey,
and in the end, each of us will be judged by our standard of life, not by
our standard of living, by our measure of giving, not by our measure of
wealth, by our simple goodness, not by our seeming greatness”. As Jim
Elliot said “He is no fool to give what he cannot keep, to gain what he
cannot lose.”
2013 Reading List.
January “The
five people you meet in heaven” by Mitch Albom.
February “The
Oprhaned Adult” by Alexander Levy
March “The
Body” by Chuck Colson
April “In
The Name Of Jesus” by Henri Nouwen
May “Anything”
by Jennie Allen
June “Applause
of Heaven” by Max Lucado
July “Who
Speaks for God?” by Chuck Colson
August “Fearless”
by Max Lucado
September “In
The Eye of the Storm” by Max Lucado
“Weird”
by Craig Groeschel
October “Who
is this man” by John Ortberg
“Effective
Staffing for Vital Churches” by Bill Easum and Bill Tenny-Brittian
November “Love
Does” by Jeff Geoff
December “Radicals”
by David Platt
