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Best Books of 2018

12/31/2018

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It’s that time of year again. Time to put together a best of 2018 book list. This year was particularly hard to choose, but there were a few selections that rose to the top. Here are my humble selections.

Best Religious Book: Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray. This book was first published in 1895 and you can tell. And I mean that in the best way possible. It seems to me that writers from The 19th century wrote in a way that was clear and devoid of fluff. Maybe they didn’t have as much distractions as we have and maybe they didn’t have the pressures of modern publishers breathing down their neck, but Andrew Murray’s book is clear, compelling, and to the point. If you’re looking for a book to challenge you, and make you investigate those things you are holding onto a little too closely, this book is for you.

Best Non-Fiction book: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. A fascinating look into death row and the men, women, and adolescents who are on it. Not everyone will come away agreeing with everything said in the book, and that’s OK. But this book is an insightful look into one man’s work, the lives he’s changed, and the lives that have changed him. If you are looking for a book which will challenge your assumptions and provide you a view you may not naturally have been exposed to, this is the book for you.

Best Fiction Book: Raintree County by Ross Lockbridge jr. I had heard some people call this book “the greatest underrated American novel of all time“. I don’t know if I would quite go that far, but would definitely categorize it as a epic novel of love, tragedy, and triumph. If you’re looking for a long, deep, in-depth, Odyssey type novel, this is for you.

Best Historical Book: John Adams by David McCullough. This is another older book (I guess that was a theme for me this year, not reading many newly published books), But if you are interested in historical books you can’t do much better than a David McCulloch book. By the end of this work you feel as if you are a personal friend of John Adams. If you love historical biographies, this book is for you.

Best Book of 2018: Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. This book grabbed my attention from the very first page to the last page. I can’t remember the last time I read the conclusion to a book and could feel my heart racing in my chest. This book does a fabulous job of providing historical context that’s informative and enlightening while carrying you along the plot of the story to its climax. You will learn, you will laugh, you will cheer, and you will find yourself a little more likely to try the rowing machine at your local gym. If you enjoy historical literature that reads like a novel, this book is for you.

​what are some of your favorite books of 2018?
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Lament For A Son by Nicholas Wolterstorff

7/11/2018

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“But we all suffer. For we all prize and love; and in this present existence of ours, prizing and loving yield suffering. Love in our world is suffering love. Some do not suffer much, though, for they do not love much. Suffering is for the loving. This, said Jesus, is the command of the Holy One: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." In commanding us to love, God invites us to suffer.”
-Lament for a Son

Nicholas Wolterstorff received the phone call every parent fears. "Mr. Wolterstorff I must give you some bad new..." At 25 years old, Nicholas’s son Eric had died in a mountain climbing accident. Wolterstorff poetic recounting of the grief, loss, love, regret, thankfulness, and faith in the aftermath of his sons death is an emotional and vivid look into a parents worst nightmare. Lament for a son is comprised of a collection of thoughts and recollections about his son life and death. Its a honest look at a man's heart during one of the hardest moments of his life. During times of tragedy some people experience their grief by remaining quiet, Mr. Wolterstorff needed to speak. Lament for a Son is the result of his speaking.

What I liked about this book was that Wolterstorff does not try to answer all the questions his sons death poses. Some questions are answered, others are partially or unsatisfactorily answered, and some are just contemplated and left hanging in limbo. This seems right. Who could come to a definitive conclusions on every questions that arises from such tragedy? And does the answer always provide the solution one is looking for? Maybe there is goodness in the lament, the cry of sorrow and grief. Wolterstorff captures this beautifully when he says:

“Rather often I am asked whether the grief remains as intense as when I wrote. The answer is, No. The wound is no longer raw. But it has not disappeared. That is as it should be. If he was worth loving, he is worth grieving over. Grief is existential testimony to the worth of the one loved. That worth abides. So I own my grief. I do not try to put it behind me, to get over it, to forget it… Every lament is a love-song.”

If you are looking for a book that is going to take you step-by-step on how to deal with grief this book is not the right book for you. Instead, if you would like to sit and experience a fathers grief, hear his pain, see a man work through tragedy and understand how his faith underpins his journey; then this is the book for you.

Every lament is a love-song
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Abandoned Faith: Why Millennials Are Walking Away and How you Can Lead Them Home

4/16/2018

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It's no secret that millennials are currently not engaging in church membership, but the issue runs deeper than that. There is also a mass exodus among millennials occurring out of the church in general. Many books have been written addressing this particular topic and dissecting the various reasons why this is occurring, and Abandoning Faith tackles this topic while giving us a fresh perspective. Alex McFarland and Jason Jimenez write this book with the parents of those millennials in mind. They focus on helping the parents get into the millennial mindset, strategies for mending and strengthening relationship with their millennial child, and tools for laying down foundational truths.

My kids are little and I am not the target audience of this book, however, I still found it insightful and interesting. One particular part that stood out to me was the responses from millennials about why they did not seem attracted to their parents faith. One of the more honest answers from the millennials was their parents example of what a Christian is. Millennials identified that while their parents were going to church, they did not seem to actually believe what they said they did. They would talk the talk, but never walk the walk. They would drag the whole family to church on Sunday, and yet Monday through Saturday things were different. I completely agree! Its total hypocrisy and it should drive the millennials away. Good for them for sniffing it out. However, we don't assess truth based on how people do or don't act. But the point is well taken, and the mirror needs to be constantly held to my own face.


If you have a millennial child who has walked away from their faith, this book might be helpful for you. In the very least, it maybe encouraging to know that others are going through similar situations as yourself.

I received this book as a compliment of Tyndale House Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation aside from a free copy of this book for my review in the opinions are strictly my own.
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Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

2/20/2018

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“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
- Atticus Finch To Kill A Mockingbird

Just Mercy follows the story of Walter McMillian’s wrongfully conviction for the murder of Ronda Morrison, at a dry cleaners, in Monroeville, Alabama. Walter possesses seemingly overwhelming evidence to prove his innocence, including being able to provide multiple witnesses to his whereabouts when the murder took place. In fact the only real evidence connecting him to the case is the consistently contradicting testimony of a career criminal named Ralph Myers. The trial last only a day and a half and Walter is found guilty. He spends the next 6 years of his life on Alabama’s death row. Attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, take Walters case and spends the next 3 years navigating the Alabama court of apeal before Walters convention was overturned. But its not that simple.  Mr. Stevenson fights an uphill battle encountering road block after road block, and it is these road blocks in the judicial system that is the bed rock of Just Mercy. This book isn’t just about one man and his wrongful conviction. The book brings to life those who make up the population on death row.  This includes the mentally ill, adolescent children, the poor, minorities, and the innocent.  In Just Mercy, Mr, Stevenson takes a topic and puts a face to it. 

I think it would be a mistake to allow this book to be boiled down to just an argument over capital punishment. Don’t get me wrong, the book is certainly about capital punishment and raises many issues concerning this topic. But that is not the only thing the book is about. I found the book to be compelling in addressing the human condition.  On one hand the book was about a person  fighting a seemingly unwinnable battle. It is about moving forward with what you believe is right despite the high probability of loosing, But you  move forward anyway.  The parallels to Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird are striking. The book is also about human compassion, forgiveness, hatred, indifference, patience, perseverance, and love.  Through the various characters  we encounter people who embody all aspects of the human experience. It is in the connection with these different experiences, that brings value to this book. What I don't think the book is about is letting people "off the hook" or "turning a blind eye" to a situation.  I don’t believe a single person who might be a supporter of this book would state that justices should not be served for crimes committed. Of course proper justice should be executed for crimes committed. Hopefully that is the foundation of our judicial system. What I think Mr. Stevenson is trying to point out is that injustice committed in the pursuit of justice is just as big of a tradgedy as justice never being served for a crime in the first place. If a crime is committed and justice is not served to the one who committed it, that’s a tragedy. But it is just as tragic for an injustice to be committed in the name of justice. It’s one of the lessons we teach our youngest kids: two wrongs don’t make a right. Not all situations are easy and clear cut. Every situation will  be different as to how proper justice is to be served.  But we must put every effort into making sure proper justice is served.  And this is hard, its tricky, it takes effort and sacrifice. That’s what Atticus Finch was talking about. It’s not courageous to tackle the easy things. It’s courageous to tackle the hard things, the things that are seemingly impossible.  If we care about justice, true justice, then we take on the hard situations.


I would strongly recommend Just Mercy not as a means to convince you of anything, or to change your mind on a particular topic.  But as a book that might challenge you, stretch you, cause you to examine, and maybe feel a bit uncomfortable.  It may possibly build some of that courage Atticus Finch is talking about.
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The Gospel is: Defining the Most Important Message in the World by Cole Brown

1/19/2018

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Contemporary Christianity is filled with people and movements calling for a "gospel-centered" approach to Christian life and ministry. We have entire networks of gospel-centered churches pastored by gospel-centered teachers who attended gospel-centered seminaries and have written gospel-centered books on everything from gospel-centered parenting to gospel-centered marriage to gospel-centered media consumption..... but there is one problem: For all of contemporary Christianity's emphasis on being gospel-centered, there is still a lot of confusion about what the gospel we are so centered on actually is."- The Gospel is

The Gospel Is gives an excellent straight forward introduction to what it mean when someone speaks about the Gospel. Brown gives a clear definition of the Gospel and then breaks that definition into 5 small chapters. Each chapter giving a brief explination and application on a part of his gospel definition. Brief is the optimal word here as most people could read this book in under an hour. This book is meant to be an introduction on the topic of what the Gospel is. It just begins to scratch the surface on how the Gospel changes everything and what the Gospel would look like when lived out. That is not trying to disparage the book in any way. I like the book for what it was. A brief, straight forward introduction to what the Gospel actually is. At the end of each chapter there are some nice discussion questions if you want to facilitate conversation with a group or just a friend. If you don't know what it means when someone is talking about the Gospel, or you want to introduce someone to the Gospel, The Gospel is by Cole Brown is a great resource to use.
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Best Books of 2017

12/30/2017

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I have to admit, I am a bit addicted to "best books" list. I have read no less than 20 "Best of" list already and my to-be-read pile for next year has since grown immensely. I compile my own yearly best books list not only to add my own thoughts, but also as a way to reflect on the great literature I have had a pleasure to read over the past year. I relish the chance to reflect on novels that made me smile and laugh, regurgitate the books that challenged me to see a new perspective, and revisit an idea that was constructed in such a fresh way that it inspired me. So maybe this Best Books of 2017 is more for me than you, but then again, maybe you enjoy seeing these list as much as I do. Here is my Best Books of 2017.

Best Religious Book: Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel by Russell Moore. This was the first book I read in 2017 and one of the books I thought often about throughout the year. I Found Dr. Moore's thoughts on the current evangelical culture spot on. This can be a weighty topic, but Moore addressed it graciously, while still speaking boldly. Looking to challenge your thoughts on some topics? This might be the book for you.

Best Non-Fiction Book: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. Evicted follows several families and landlords in Milwaukee, WI through the seemingly endless cycle of evictions for the families and the search for good tenets for the landlords. But the book is about much more than a processes. Its about people and a way of life. What I enjoyed about the book was not if I agreed or disagreed with things, but because it introduced me to something I did not have much experience with. Looking to put yourself in someone else's shoes? This might be the book for you.

Best Fiction Book: Beartown by Fredrik Backman: This novel seemed to have a wide appeal to readers. The story is based around a small towns hockey team, but addresses issues of sexual assault and societal priorities. If you are looking for a novel that will keep you turning the pages as well as keep you up late discussing it over coffee, this is the book for you.

Best Fantasy Book: The Beyond Experience by Michael Reid Jr. Don't let the fantasy category scare you off. This novel is ultimately about love, friendship, and appreciating what you have each day. Two scientist discover a unique side affect of their drug treatment for anxiety and depression....the ability to reconnect with deceased loved ones. Sounds great right? But what if you push the limits too far? Part Romeo and Juliet, Part Grays Anatomy equals one enjoyable read for anyone who wants something out of their comfort zone.

Best Historical Book: Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural by Ronald C. White Jr. I am a sucker for Lincoln books, but this book exceeded all my expectations. When we think of great Lincoln's speeches we always gravitate towards The Gettysburg Address, and rightly so. However, After reading this book I have to agree that Lincolns greatest speech was the Second Inaugural Address. Mr. White does a fabulous job of pulling in Lincoln's personally letters from several years prior to his address to show how the idea of reconciliation for the nation was not a new idea for Lincoln, nor a political strategy. It was something he actually believed. If you love history in any sense, this is the book for you.

Best Biography or Memoir: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance. I loved the introduction of this book when Vance confesses that writing a memoir at 31 years of age is quite odd. But Vance has a very unique story. One that I found fascinating. Vance comes from a lower income blue collar factory working area in Ohio and Kentucky, is a self proclaimed "hillbilly" with an alcoholic mother, and eventually graduates from Yale Law. That is quite the story worthy of a memoir at 31. Hillbilly elegy gives you insight into the struggles and triumph of an individual and a culture. If you want to be educated and inspired, this is the book for you.

Best Book of 2017: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amar Towles. To be honest, this was an easy decision for me. I loved everything about this novel. The writing was superb, the character development was extraordinary, and the plot never seemed to lag. Towles crafts a masterpiece about a Russian aristocrat who is under house arrest at the famous Metropol Hotel in Moscow. The novel, like a fine wine, aged gently and has an after taste that will leave you reaching for the novel again soon. The novel just requires of you to give it time. You need to let it swirl around the glass and sit on your tongue for a moment. You need to let it breath. You have to be Ok with nuance and subtlety. If you can do that this will quickly become one of your all time favorites. Looking for a modern American Classic? This book is for you.

What are some of your favorite books of 2017? I would love to hear what you enjoyed reading this past year. Leave a comment below!
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A Gentlemen in Moscow by Amor Towles

10/16/2017

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"Ignatov: Alexander Ilyich Rostov, talking into full account your own testimony, we can only assume that the clear-eyed spirit who wrote the poem Where Is it Now? has succumbed irrevocably to the corruption of his class-and now poses a threat to the very ideals he once espoused. On that basis, our inclination would be to have you taken from this chamber and put against the wall. But there are those within the senior ranks of the Party who count you among the heroes of the prerevolutionary cause. Thus, it is the opinion of the committee that you should be returned to that hotel of which you are so fond. But make no mistake: should you every set foot outside of the Metropol again, you will be shot."

With those words Count Rostov was a prisoner. The Count’s prison, however, would not be cold, dark, and lonely, but warm, bright, and a constant shuffling of people. That’s because the Count is on house arrest at the Metropol Hotel in the heart of Moscow. Beginning in 1922 and continuing on for the next several decades, the Count experiences life along side the hotel staff as well the various guest that come and go. Life for the Count revolves around dinning at the hotels lavish restaurants, leisurely paging through classic literature, and engaging in small talk at the hotel bar; nightcap in hand. By all reasonable standards, the Count is making the most of his house arrest. But as life has a way of doing, the Count begins to encounter interruptions to those daily routines. First a forced change in living accommodations. Then a young, attractive, up and coming actress checks into the hotel. An inquisitive little girl looking for a friend joins him for lunch. Slowly this aristocratic Count's life starts to take on a new shape. With the Count as the conduit, The Gentlemen in Moscow teach us above love, friendship, fatherhood, loyalty, patriotism, sacrifice, and servanthood during some of the most important decades of Russian history.

I have always loved the Russian novels of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. I loved the length, depth, imagery, and complexity of those novels. Some describe these type of novels as slow, meticulous, and too extensive, but that is why I love them. They have the flavor of something that taken dedication and effort. The Gentlemen in Moscow is a modern day novel that fills the shoes of its Russian predecessors. So, I think it’s obvious I absolutely loved this novel. Towles is a master of language and his descriptions naturally draw you into each scene. Towels writing creates living breathing scenes, inviting you in, while allowing you to remain anonymous. I could pull on numerous different threads Towels creates during this novel, but the one that I love the most was the motif of servanthood. Throughout the novel, the Count transitions from the one being served to the one doing the serving. This is typically described as a "fall from grace", but the Count embodies how to "gracefully fall". In the Count, we see that dignity and worth are not found in whom is being served, but that dignity and worth are initiated by the individual and the intentional positive outlook on life, despite which side of service line you are on.

I would highly recommend this novel for anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort. If you want a microwaveable dinner, this is not for you. If you have the patience to allow this novel to marinate and stew, you will be rewarded with a meal that would rival the Boyarsky.

(The soup in the picture above was a traditional Russian cabbage (shchi) and was very delicious!)
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Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

2/27/2017

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J.D. Vance is a hillbilly. At least that's how he would refer to himself. It's an odd description of oneself since hillbillies usually do not conjure up admiring images in most American minds. Typically, some combination of the Beverly Hillbillies and the banjo playing child from Deliverance flashes in our mind. While some truths maybe be lined in those hillbilly characterizations, they are certainly not an exhaustive representation.

Hillbilly Elegy is the memoir of J.D. Vance. J.D. is a product of the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky and the Ohio Rust Belt. J.D.'s Grandparents (Mamaw and Papa) left the mountains of Kentucky for Southern Ohio, after World War II, in search for a better life. In a lot of ways they found it, in many ways they didn't.

J.D. grew up with his mom and a revolving door or male companions she cycled through. After his biological father left the family when he was young, J.D. was constantly saddled with the feeling of if not when the next male figure would make his exit. Between the constant emotional wrestling from living with his abusive and drug addicted mother, and the shuffling of men in his life, stability is not something J.D. was well aquatinted with. If that was not enough of an obstacle to overcome, J.D. found himself caught in a downward spiral of two worlds. He was influenced by the hillbilly culture that was formed in the "holler", and now was trying to survive in a postindustrial Midwestern town. His hillbilly culture taught him that screaming, fighting, and running away was an acceptable avenue for conflict resolution. You upheld your families honor with brutal violence. You spoke of hard work, God, and patriotism even if you didn't always display those virtues or see that lived out around you. He learned firsthand that addiction and failed marriages are a common occurrence. In his postindustrial Ohio town he learned that chasing your dreams is meant for other people, other towns. He learned that the outlook for kids like him is bleak, and nothing around him indicates otherwise. Pessimism is not just and outlook, but a way of life. Yet from those life lessons and circumstances, J.D. Vance graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. From a place where dreams were not just crushed, but dreams were never even had, J.D. Vance dream was realized. To get knocked down and still get up is commendable, but to pull yourself up and out of, when every statistic and circumstance is pulling you back down, that's a miracle. That’s the story of J.D. Vance.


Memoirs are quite possibly my favorite genre of book, so I am kind of a memoir snob. In addition to that, I have heard nothing but praise for this book. I was ready to be disappointed. I couldn't have been more pointed (that's the opposite of disappointed right?). Hillbilly Elegy is a wonderfully written and insightful book. While this is the story of a particular person, Vance does a wonderful job of using his and his family’s experience, to paint a picture of Southern Appalachian sub-culture. Of course, this won’t represent everyone, but provided a perspective into a culture I had little experience with. Vance's ability to provide insight came of particular interest to me in the light of our last Presidential election. Again, that is not to say his experience and perception represents all and can explain a broad and complex issue, but it was insightful to say the least. I was also impressed with Vance's ability to walk the cliffs edge of describing his experiences, but also periodically interjecting his thoughts and assessments on particular issues, especially now that he is on the other side of the experience. While I can appreciate letting the details speak for themselves and allowing the reader to come to their own conclusions, I am also always curious on the author’s analysis of the situation. They have lived an experience that I haven't, and I am reading not only for the story, but for their thoughts as well. Hillbilly Elegy is a prime example of how one can tell a story and give an opinion simultaneously.

One of the conclusions Vance presented, that I appriciated, is the way we (society) typically take an either or approach to problems. Let’s take poverty as an example. Historically, liberals will conclude that this particular problem is due to oppressive societal factors (i.e. it’s out of the persons control), while conservatives will conclude that the issue is due to personal choices and lack of personal responsibility (i.e. it’s all due to the personal choices). Yet, it’s absurd to think a problem like poverty is singularly an "either" society "or" personal choice issue. The possibility that it could be both gets lost in the desire to be right. Of course it can, and probably most often is, due to both factors! The percentage of each factor will likely fluctuate from situation to situation, but the quicker we can realize that both issues needs to be addressed, the faster we can actually effect change. It's possible to promote social equality and personal responsibility in the same breath.

One critique I did have of the book was his seemingly inconsistent assessment of Christianity. It was not his conclusions on if Christianity was true or not, but his seemingly inconsistent critiquing of how people expressed their faith. Vance was very critical of his father’s legalistic expression on his faith (personally I agreed with Vance). However, he didn't seem to apply the same critique to his Mamaw for her verbal expression of faith in God, but showing no daily discernible signs of how that faith impacted her life. If we are going to be critical of those who profess faith and live it out with an oppressive legalistic expression, we need to apply those same standards to those who profess a faith and yet don't show any signs of it in their daily lives. Both approaches can be hypocritical, but he seemed to take issue with just one.

Hillbilly Elegy lived up to the hype for me. It gave me a lot to think about and provided a perspective into a culture I knew little about. I think this is an excellent read for anyone today. Not because everyone will agree with it, but because it does a wonderful job of providing a perspective, and sometimes perspective does wonders

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Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel By Russell Moore

2/17/2017

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"American Culture is shifting, it seems, into a different era, An era in which religion is not necessarily seen as a social good. Christianity in its historic, apostolic form is increasingly seen as socially awkward at best, as subversive at worst."

In Russell Moore's newest book Onward: Engaging the Culture without loosing the Gospel, he attempts to navigate the apparent tension between Christianity and our current culture. Moore's main objective is to addressed the question of how do we engage with our current culture? To answer that, Moore first identifies two tactics the church has failed in using when engaging the culture.

First, we encounter the strategy that so conforms Christianity to the culture that it loses any distinctive flavor or qualities. The hope in this approach is to shed the "awkwardness" of christianity within the culture. But the problem with this approach is that from the very beginning Christianity has been awkward. The inherent tension of Christianity and the culture it lives in did not find its genesis in the last several decades. The narrow way has always been the narrow way. In fact, a Christianity that has lost its distinctiveness won't be any more appealing to the culture anyway. As Moore says it like this:

"We can not build Christian churches on sub-christian gospel. People who don't want Christianity, won't want an almost-christianity."

The uniqueness, the awkward contrast, of the gospel is what the culture will actually find attractive. The gospel will always stand out.

Second, Moore identifies a strategy of engaging the culture that is a toxic blend of Christianity and Patriotism. It's the strategy that tries to take us back to the days when our country was run on Christian values. Back to the so called good ol' days. This is another attempt to reduce the awkwardness and tension with our culture, but this time, by bring the culture to “us”. I find this strategy being deployed frequently with evangelicalism and it seems to be the driving force behind out recent "culture wars." There are a few problems with this approach. First, when in our history has the country truly embraced the gospel or did we just embrace the comfortable Christian Values (i.e. happy marriage, family, kids who listen, etc)? Moore describes it like this:

​"Christian values were always more popular in American culture than the Christian gospel. That's why one could speak of "God and Country" with great reception in almost era of the nation's history but would create cultural distance as soon as one mentioned "Christ and him crucified." God was always welcome in American culture. He was, after all, the Deity whose job it was to bless America. The God who must be approached through the mediation of the blood of Christ, however, was much more difficult to set to patriotic music or to "Amen" in a prayer at the Rotary Club."

Bring the culture back to these values by force of governmental laws does nothing if that’s the stand alone goal. (by the way, that does not mean we don't use the democratic process to bring about good social change that aligns with the values). Without the Christ centered gospel, these values mean nothing. Its just a religious facade. At times evangelicals can get so caught up in the "culture wars" that we forget that the United States of America culture is not the goal. The Kingdom and those sharing in its inheritance are. Culture changes when people change, not when governmental law changes. Moore articulates it again by saying:

"Our end goal is not a Christian America, either of the made-up past or the hoped-for future. Our goal is the kingdom of Christ, made up of every tribe, tongue, nation, and language."

Just as conforming Christianity to the culture is faulty, so can forcing the culture to conform to Christian values devoid of the gospel, or with a sub-gospel, can be just as disastrous. Moore again says:

"But it would be a tragedy to "get the right president", the "right Congress", and the wrong Christ. That's a very bad trade-off."

So how should we engage the culture? We engage with a Gospel Mission as our motive. The gospel is unique and will always be awkward in the culture. We engage while remembering Human Dignity as fellow image bearer of God. (I re-read this chapter twice it was so good.) We engage with Convictional Kindness speaking truth in love, with clarity, and seasoned with salt. We engage with a Gospel Counter-Revolution remembering the power of the gospel and that God uses people we least expect. As Moore puts it "the next Billy Graham might be drunk right now." When we have a Kingdom minded mission, treating each person with human dignity, speaking truth in love, and remembering how God uses sinners we can engage the culture effectively without losing our distinctive message.

When I finished this book I let it sit for a few days. I had some initial thoughts and feelings, but I wanted to make sure that I gave myself a few days to simmer on these. Its a heavy subject matter and I did not want to speak off the initial emotions after finishing the book. Now, 2 week removed, I still feel confident in saying that I have not read a book in recent memory that I thought more accurately, logically, and graciously dissects evangelical culture while giving us an outline for engaging culture we live in. The church has a powerful unique gospel message thats relevant and needed, and we can do that without coming off as a curmudgeon. I think this book is timely and is a desperately need message to current evangelicals. As we engage the culture we need to get back to what is ultimately important. Moore again puts it better than I can:

"Once Christianity is no longer seen as part and parcel of patriotism, the church must offer more than "What would Jesus do?" moralism and the "I vote values" populism to which we've grown accustomed."


I hope so, then we will be able to address with the culture the most important question. The question Jesus asked of Peter: "who do you say that I am."

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The Beyond Experience by Michael Reid Jr.

2/6/2017

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What if I told you that you could have one more conversation with a loved one that has passed? What if you no longer had to wonder  "if only?" What if it was possible for you to finally say "I love you" instead of missing your opportunity? What if I told you that you could go to heaven? What would you do? What would you give up? Would you do it? The Beyond Experience by Michael Reid Jr. sets his foundational plot with this premise while weaving together a story about love, redemption, friendship, deception, jealousy, and faith.

Dr. Ethan Lewis has created a groundbreaking treatment for anxiety and depression. With his trusted lab assistant Kyle, they begin researching the effectiveness of their treatment on patients. Dr. Lewis and Kyle push the limits of their treatment and stumble upon an amazing discovery.  Not only are their treatments 100% effective, all patients are describing eerily similar descriptions of what could only be characterized as heaven. Could patients possibly be gaining a momentary glimpse into heaven?  Dr. Lewis, a natural skeptic, is not so sure. Especially for a man who has never experienced the goodness of a so called God shine on him. The death of his fiancée and the beatings he experienced during his childhood are proof of that.  Dr. Lewis and Kyle explore the possibilities of this exciting treatment as they press farther into worlds unknown, each willing to assume the risks for their own selfish reasons.  But this type of power, this type of experience in the wrong hands could be disastrous.  Because of this treatment, Dr. Lewis, Kyle, and their staff will experience love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, curiosity and greed, gain and loss, and the earth and what is beyond.

The Beyond Experience has everything you are looking for in a good novel.  A storyline that grips you from the beginning, relatable and lovable characters, twists and surprises that will keep your fingers anxiously awaiting to turn the next page. The author does an excellent job of immersing you in the world of medicine and medial research without overwhelming you with details and medial jargon.  You are easily swept away by the story and not bogged down by the technical aspect. In fact, don't let the medical suspense/Si-fi/ label scare you away.  This novel is more about love, friendship and redemption with a medical plot as its background.  The skeletal bones of this story capture the basic human questions we all deal with. What is love? What happens when we die?  Why do bad things happen?  This is why The Beyond Experience will appeal to a wide variety of readers.  We all share the same basic experiences in humanity.  

The Beyond Experience is a good combination of Romeo and Juliet plus Grey's Anatomy. When you are finished with this novel you will want to immediately start reading it again. I found myself echoing the words of Bryan McKnight: "and I started back at one." Chapter one that is.
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    I love everything about books. The feel of the page between your fingers, the sound of a book spine cracking, even the smell of an old dust jacket. Looking to share that passion with others.

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