Thursday, February 25, 2010

Some good books and good coffee (UPDATED)

It's snowing up in the Smokies today. The view from my window is nothing but snow covered trees and mountains. Beautiful! What's even better is that I'm warm inside our cabin drinking fresh ground coffee. In case you were wondering about the view here you go.





One of my favorite places down here is a discount Christian bookstore. They have some great deals. I scored a few good ones the other day. Here's what I got (I hope to return and find a few more good deals).


I had to hit another bookstore down here and spent a little more money. Actually, I felt a bit like I was stealing these books because I got them for so cheap. Two of them are commentaries, one about studying the bible, and one on discipleship. You would be amazed at how cheap books are at these stores. It's awesome!



Thursday, February 18, 2010

Bible Reading Habits

These go with some questions I asked a couple of weeks ago.

1. How do you go about reading your Bible? Do you read whole books? Small chunks? One verse? What do you do when you read?

2. Do you read in the morning? Afternoon? Evening?

3. Do you read every day? Every other day? A couple times a week? How often are you reading your Bible?

Any thoughts?

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Love & War

What a beautiful Thursday morning. Snow all over. I love it. John and Stasi Eldredge have co-written a new book about marriage. Love and War: Finding The Marriage You’ve Dreamed Of is the book. I haven’t been blown away or had any “Aha! That’s what I’m doing wrong!” moments while reading it (maybe I need to read it again), but my wife sure has liked it. Nevertheless there is a lot of good points and material covered. Like what?

Main points from first half of the book:

- You and your spouse live in a love story that is set in the middle of a very real war.
- Marriage is from God, it is a picture of His love to the world and to help us.
- Your marriage is a perfect storm because we live in a fallen world and we all are affected by sin. Yet, God uses marriage to transform us.
- The greatest gift you can give your spouse is to have a real relationship with God.
- If you have to choose between companionship and eros, go with companionship. It is the bedrock of marriage.
- You have an enemy, and it is not your spouse. The sooner you realize this, the better.
- God has rigged this world for adventure. You have a mission, your spouse has a mission, and your marriage has a mission.

These are just some of the highlights from the first part of the book. All pretty good stuff as you can see. Guys, this might be a good Valentine’s Day gift for your wife. Ladies, this might be a good Valentine’s Day gift for your husband. It's at bookstores and online now. I hope you all have a happy Valentine’s Day!

See ya next Thursday.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Angels (Book Review)

I was originally supposed to post this yesterday, but forgot.

There’s a great book out by David Jeremiah entitled Angels (Who They Are and How They Help…What the Bible Reveals). This is an easy read and I recommend it to any one out there curious about angels and their role. If you happen to have a friend who is asking questions about angles this would be a good book to give them. Be sure of this, there’s a lot of garbage out there right now that incorrectly portrays angels (good and bad), this book will help set people straight. Anyone who has watched the new movie Legion should read this book as quickly as possible.

I like the way the book is broken up and there is even a scripture index in the back if a certain passage comes to mind that can quickly take you to the author’s thoughts/commentary on that particular passage. Here are the chapters of the book in case you are wondering what’s in it:


1. What in the world are angels doing?
2. In the presence of angels – part 1
3. In the presence of angels – part 2
4. The angels and God
5. What angels are
6. When angels appear
7. The angels and us: How much alike?
8. Angels you’ve heard about (and more)
9. The greatest angel
10. Showing us how to worship
11. Showing us how to work
12. Coming to carry me home
13. Hell’s angels
14. The angels and Jesus


Dr. Jeremiah is very conservative in his approach to Genesis 6 and rejects the possibility that angels could have had sex with humans and have created a hybrid-superhero race of people (see Gen 6:4). He does not want to touch this and quickly skimps over it brushing the “sons of God” off as just mortal men. I was kind of bummed and expecting a little more here because 2 Peter and Jude allude to angels doing something really bad before the flood.

Not enough to make me not use this. I will keep this in my library as a handy resource on angels in case I’m ever asked about them. Pick yourself up a copy and you’ll be equipped to answer any questions thrown at you too!

Thursday, February 04, 2010

A couple of questions


After a week of sickness I'm back. That was not fun. Keeping things short and sweet today. Just a couple of questions to throw at you.

- What kind of Bible do you use?

- Why?