Summer Reading

On May 15th, I had the pleasure of meeting Fred Stewart from the Renewal Fellowship Within the Presbyterian Church in Canada.  During our conversation, he mentioned Timothy Keller and in particular his book, The Reason for God.  On our way to Marineland last Thursday, I decided to drop by Bookoutlet.ca Store in St Catherines.  I picked up two copies of this book (and a whole bunch of other Christian books for myself and others).  It's higher brow reading than I'm used to (I'm not a philosopher and my concept of faith is very straightforward - based upon my own experiences and what's written in the Bible).  It's a great book I have to admit.

On page 29 he gets at the heart of why the Christian God the Father is so loving and compassionate.  It reminds me of how my grade 5 music teacher, Mr Klaudt, described the crucifixion of Jesus during Christmas time and it really moved me (I was an immigrant kid who had no knowledge of Christianity other than a read through of the Good News New Testament and Psalms given to me by the Canadian Bible Society the summer before grade 5 during my citizenship ceremony.  It happened that the Gideons gave me a New Testament/Psalms/Proverbs in that same music room in grade 5.  However, they gave me a King James Version and that's pretty useless for a 10 year old.  On page 40 he notes that observing whether organisations demonise and attack those who violate their boundaries versus treating them with kindness and humility as a litmus test of whether the community is open/caring or narrow/oppressive.  Kind of reminds me of how Trinity Western University's Law School is being ostracised by the media. On page 46 he notes the problem Ken Robinson notes in his work - many people aren't developing their talent and thereby waste their creative powers.  I'm sure I'll discover more nuggets of wisdom as I read through this book.

The Epilogue would make a great confirmation resource.  It summarises what one should do if they decide to become a Christian.  Indeed, this entire book would make a great confirmation resource.  I would summarise the second half of this book as explaining why Deuteronomy 6:5 is the prime focus of a Christian and how the second commandment (Leviticus 19:18) naturally follows.  If God is not truly first in our lives, we can never fully enter into a meaningful relationship with God and are consequently, idolators (family, career, money etc are typical idols).  Keller notes that God's way often seems to not make sense, but if we give God our trust and invest in that relationship, we will reach the full potential I often hear about in Joel Osteen's messages.

And, I continue to follow my 10 chapter a day Bible reading plan.  I've been using the New Living Translation on Bible Gateway.  This reading plan comes from Dodie Osteen's devotional, Choosing Life.  I got two copies of this devotional to give to others last Thursday too.