Read for 2012

Happy New Years!

Since 2010, I have been keeping track of the books I have been reading. My goal is to slowly increase my reading count over time. This year, I have read a total of 41 books. I intend to increase that total for 2013. Anything with a star, I found particularly enjoyable and worth the read. Some theology books I had to read for school... which means I may not agree with everything that was written. It would be best to ask me if you want advice on what to read. In terms of categories: leisure is for fun; laymen refers to books that are aimed towards general consumption; pastoral is for leadership stuff; academic requires more effort on the part of the reader.

Finally, this is for me to keep track of what I have read. I'll get around to updating that book list for solid recommendations.

Read for 2012

Leisure
Suzanne Collins - Hunger Games I, II, and III.
Koushun Takami - Battle Royale.
Nick Metcaiffe - The Pool Bible.
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Jeff Lindsay - Dexter Darkly Dreaming
Jeff Lindsay - Dexter by Design
Martin Nemko - How to do Life.
Arnold Dallimore - George Whitefield Vol. 2.*

Laymen
D. A.  Carson - The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God.*
Mack Stiles - The Marks of the Messenger.*
David Steele - The Five Points of Calvinism.*
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Letters from Prison.
Carolyn Mahaney - Feminine Appeal.
Michael Goheen - A Light to the Nations.
Michael Frost/Alan Hirsch - The Shaping of Things to Come.
Matt Chandler - The Explicit Gospel.
Michael Jenkins - The Next Christendom.
Henry Bettenson - Documents of the Christian Church.
Michael E. Wittmer - Heaven is a Place on Earth.
Tony Reinke - Lit.*
Graeme Goldsworthy - According to Plan.
Greg Dutcher - Killing Calvinism.
Joel R. Beeke - Taking Hold of God.
Craig Bartholomew/Michael Goheen - The Drama of Scripture.*

Pastoral/Leadership
Bryan Chapell - Using Illustrations to Preach With Power.*
John Piper/D. A. Carson - The Pastor as Scholar, The Scholar as Pastor.
Dave Harvey - Am I Called?
Ruth Haley Barton - Strengthening Leadership of the Soul.
Bill Hybels - Courageous Leadership.

Academic
Scott Hafemann - Biblical Theology.*
Scott Hafemann - Central Themes in Biblical Theology.
John Piper - The Justification of God.**
Robert A. Peterson/Michael D. Williams - Why I am not an Arminian.
Wayne Grudem - Systematic Theology.*
Daniel Block - Commentary on Judges.
Thomas E. Schmidt - Straight and Narrow?: Compassion and Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate.*
Joe Trull/James Carter - Ministerial Ethics.
William Struthers - Wired for Intimacy.
Glen Stassen/David Gushee - Kingdom Ethics.

Meteor Showers

It was a good night to watch the meteor shower tonight. Two of them together: Geminid and 3200 Phaeton. There is nothing like watching the stars with some friends and chatting about different things. Conversations are punctuated by the random appearance of a shooting star blazing across the night sky.

One conversation stood out in particular as A* and I drove home.

"I always thought you and X would have been good together."
"Yeah, me too."
"How come nothing ever came out of it?"
"I screwed up. One of the biggest mistakes of my life."
"Don't say that. How do you know that's true?"
"It is."

And long digressions into that sort of stuff. Things best not to repeat. Nice to get those things off one's chest... I suppose.

George Whitefield

If you have the opportunity, you should read the 2 volume work on George Whitefield by Arnold Dallimore. It is the definitive resource on Whitefield, taking 30 years to complete.

On Whitefield, Charles Wesley wrote...

Though long by following multitudes admired,
No party for himself he e’er desired;
His one desire, to make the Saviour known,
To magnify the name of Christ alone;
If others strove who should the greatest be,
No lover of pre-eminence was he,
Nor envied those his Lord vouchsafed to bless,
But joy’d in theirs, as in his own success,
His friends in honour to himself preferr’d,
And least of all in his own eyes appear’d. 

The Journal of Charles Wesley, Vol. 2, p 428.

Perhaps, one day I will write a longer post worthy of the name Whitefield. But, a question we can take away is this. What will friends say of us and the race that we have run? Would they say that our ONE desire was to make the Saviour known? To magnify the name of Christ alone?

Mandate

So I had the blessing of spending the day with a dear brother in Christ, Allan... I can offer him up praise here, because I highly doubt he will ever read this blog. It is always an encouragement to chat with him and discuss theological stuff with him. I am blessed to call him my friend. I have not seen him for a number of months... but it is always easy to re-connect with him. Oddly enough, we always seem to be working through the same things, whether theologically or in our character.

Today was especially odd.... we kept on ordering the same thing....

Lunch was at Denny's... we both feasted on a Country Fried Steak, Hash Browns, and Brown Toast with coffee. When the separate bills arrived, we both paid with fifties. (We be ballin' yo)

For afternoon tea, we both ordered Passion Tea Lemonades at Starbucks... (The acronym spells PTL... clearly the most Christ-like of all the beverages).

[We caught a movie before dinner. Do not see "The Watch", it is very adult-like and inappropriate.]

For dinner, Allan ordered a "Wild Crunch"... Upon realization I might order the exact same thing again... I ordered two pounds of wings instead.

In conclusion, great minds think a-like.... lesser minds also.

Bye!

Real

"If you look at our disappointments, you'll see what you love. When the bottom falls out, you'll learn stuff about what you love that you never knew before. It won't always be pretty. You'll learn what you believe. You'll learn what you really believe, when the bottom falls out. When the crushing disappointments come. And you'll learn where you really rest, where you'll really find your fulfilment and satisfaction and security. You'll find what your real treasure is, when the disappointments come."

- Ligon Duncan, T4G 2012 in "The Underestimated God"

Depressed

Not gonna lie, pretty depressed.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.
Matt 16:24-26

I read this in my devotions this morning. To be honest, I did not feel like reading Scripture today, that is how sin is. It robs you of your joy, and then it requires a lot more effort to come before God. And I'm not speaking only of personal sin, but the far-reaching consequences of your sin in the lives of other believers.

And again, these issues point me to the question. 

"What am I doing?"

It seems like signing on for pastoral ministry is just begging for suffering. They are the men that are the most pitiful in the world. To be honest, I do not know if I have the stomach for it.

On Shepherding

It is hard to shepherd souls. It is hard to combat intricate moral evil. It is hard to help people walk through pain and anguish. Gregory the Great called it the "art of arts" in his great treatise on pastoral care. He thought the task of guiding souls far more difficult than the tasks performed by a mere medical doctor. Think about that. The body is relatively accessible. It is often explicable by cause-and-effect reasoning and treatable by medication or surgery. But "the more delicate art deals with what is unseen", the irrational madness in our hearts (Jer 17:9; Eccl 9:3). When you consider the challenge, how is it that most churchly counseling seems slapdash, pat answer, and quick fix? A good M.D. spends a lifetime in acquiring case-wise acumen. A mature psychotherapist pursues continuing education. Can a pastor be content with one-size-fits-all boilerplate? Kyrie eleison. People are not served when the Christian life is portrayed as if some easy answer will do - a pet doctrine, religious strategy, involvement in a program, spiritual experience - and presto!, case solved. Again, hear Gregory’s words:

One and the same exhortation is not suited
to all, because they are not compassed
by the same quality of character.... In
exhorting individuals great exertion is
required to be of service to each individual’s
particular needs.

A pastor’s work is the art of arts.

Journal of Biblical Counseling, 26:1 "The Pastor as Counselor" David Powlison

Reading update

As of last night, books read for 2012 has reached a total of TEN. Still a good bunch more to do, but this looks like a summer which I can get a lot of reading done.

In other news, remember the girl I lent Joe Boot to? She has a very good grasp of presuppositions now. Pretty happy that she retained it.

Pluggin' Away

Going to Seminary is expensive. On top of that, finding a scholarship can be really difficult. That's why I was so excited to find this Seminary Scholarship website today. Not only are they giving away a $1,000.00 scholarship and a digital theological library, all I had to do to apply was watch a short video and answer a few questions! It took less than 15 minutes. What is best of all is that if you're in seminary and apply for the Seminary Scholarship, and put my name as the person who referred you, if you win the scholarship, so do I! We could both get a $1,000.00 scholarship and digital theological library. So, do us both a favor and go apply for the Seminary Scholarship today.

Pretty much for Vince. :D

Small Encouragement

Procrastinating on 15 page paper due tomorrow.

Just a small thought that I do not want to forget over the course of time. I lent a book to a Christian sister last week, so that she could get a grasp of presuppositions (Joe Boot - Why I Still Believe). She came up to me this week and had a very good question on the birth of Jesus and how Athiests will argue that Jesus was in two places at once (Egypt in Matthew; the Temple in Luke). We talked for a little while, and she brought up that she was not done my book yet and would have to hold on to it a little longer. That's no issue for me, as I have books lent out to friends reaching the two year mark. :|

In any case, she's a fast reader. So it was a surprise to me for such a short book to offer difficulty. She stated her reason: "I'm not done taking notes." It did not hit me at that moment, but as I reflect upon it now... I am encouraged.

Anyways, back to work.