A Few Good Reads

“Tips for Reading Better While Retaining More”
A constant struggle for those of us who like to read is making time to read more and remembering what we have read. Trevin Wax offers some suggestions in this post which should lead to more and more effective reading. “It’s not possible to retain everything an author says, although multiple readings can aid you in retaining the book’s main thrust. Your goal is to get the author’s main point, and then to look for additional points that make you think.”

“Your Child Is Your Neighbor”
All parents need to read this important post from Jen Wilkin at The Gospel Coalition. I’ve noted before the Bible seems to have a lack of marriage “advice.” The Bible does have a lot to say about being a good neighbor and if applied to marriage it transforms the way we treat our spouse. Jen reminds us this is also true about our children. They are people and they are our neighbors. “Recognizing my children as my neighbors has impacted the way I discipline them, the way I speak to them, the way I speak about them to others. It has required me to acknowledge how quick I am to treat those closest to me in ways I would never treat a friend or a co-worker. It has helped make my children objects of my compassion instead of my contempt. I am better able to celebrate their successes without taking credit for them, and to grieve their failures without seeing them as glaring evidence that I’m a terrible parent. Recognizing my children as my neighbors has freed me up to enjoy them as people rather than to resent them as laundry-generating, food-ingesting, mess-making, fit-throwing financial obligations.”

“Love is Not a Verb“
I’m not sure how often I have heard this phrase used in the last ten years. Nicolas MacDonald at Scribble Preach has some great thoughts on the command to love and what kind of verb “love” actually is. “The point is, love is a verb, sure. But it’s an impossible verb. It’s the kind of verb that pulls us out of our Western enlightenment secularistic bubbles into the country of the supernatural. It’s not as easy as mechanical servitude – it’s whole-hearted affection for others, flowing from our whole-hearted affection for God. It’s as difficult as feeding the 5,000 on a loaf of wonderbread, as a camel passing through a needle’s eye (picture it), as the paralyzed getting up to walk.”

“How I Quit Caffeine and Became a Better Man”
Many of us would not know how to function without caffeine. Brett McKay successfully kicked the habit and shares his tips and benefits in this post. “I had a pretty bad headache my first day without any caffeine, but I got through it with some aspirin. After that it was pretty much smooth sailing. I thought I would be dragging throughout the day and that I would have little or no focus, but the complete opposite occurred. I actually felt like I had more energy and better, steadier attention.”

The Compelling Community
At the recommendation of several pastor friends I have started working my way through this insightful book on the church and church life by Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop. They emphasize what makes a church truly effective in contrast to our modern obsession with numbers and nickels. “God’s people are called to a togetherness and commitment that transcends all natural boundaries—whether ethnic, generational, or economic. But such a community can be enjoyed only when it relies on the power of God in the gospel.”

The Bully Pulpit
This year I have been reading several books on the life of Theodore Roosevelt. Someone recommended this Pulitzer Prize winning look at the life of Roosevelt, William Taft, and the rise of investigative journalism. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s work on the lives of these fascinating men and women involved in progressive reforms in the early 1900’s captured me for over a week and a half. She scoured letters, magazines articles, and other biographies in this incredible work. It will take you a long time to read, but it is well worth it. (I purchased the Kindle version with the added audio narration by Edward Herrmann. This was half the price of the Audible version. Herrmann’s masterful narration made for enjoyable listening.)