From the Recent Reading List (Part II)

I've had the good fortune to read many great books since my last post of this kind, but here are five that I found super helpful/inspiring/thought-provoking and would highly recommend:

The Gift of Being Yourself by David Benner. Far from limiting who we are, following Jesus actually allows to become more and more fully who we were meant to be. Every page of this book taught me something about who God made me to be.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. Some of the advice in here is embarrassingly simple, but it has made me a lot more stress-free and a whole lot more productive, as advertised!

Love is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community by Andrew Marin. In a time when the divide between the gay and evangelical communities grows tragically wider, this is THE book for anyone who cares (and as people who want all students to know Jesus, we do!). The beautiful thing is that Marin doesn't just talk about bridging the gap--he lives it!

The Other Boston Busing Story by Susan Eaton. First-hand accounts of Boston children who attended schools in the more affluent suburbs. A helpful perspective on what it's like for people live as minorities, as well as the gap between the higher education world of Boston and many of the people who actually grow up here.

The Reason for God by Tim Keller. I've never encountered such concise, clear, and readable outlines for why the Christian faith makes sense in light of some of the most pressing questions and objections of our day. A super book for both skeptics and believers alike!

This Stuff is Really True!

I meant to post this weeks ago, but at our area's Fall Conference in mid-October, I had a moment of joy and wonder. I was standing in the back of the room as a throng of 200 students sang worship songs. We were singing a familiar chorus that I'd sung hundreds of times before, "People of every nation and tongue... we worship you."

As we sang, I looked up, and directly in front of me was a student born in Egpyt, next to a Nigerian student, next to a Vietnamese student, next to a White American, next to a Korean American, next to a Hindu (who would decide to follow Jesus later that night), next to sisters from a Muslim background. And that was just the row right in front of me!

The previous hundreds of times I'd sung that chorus had always felt like it described hope for some future reality, but I was brought to tears that night as I sang of people from every nation worshiping God and it described the present reality before my eyes.

I guess Jesus wasn't kidding when he said that the kingdom of heaven is AT HAND!