Reading

Back when I was in college my professors constantly told me to make sure I was reading after I got out of school. One of my professors stressed it with the side note, "You're degree will be obsolete within ten years because of how much society is changing, and therefore how the church will need to change to stay relevant." He followed it up with a word of caution, "If I find out you aren't reading I will hunt you down and ring your neck."

I never could figure out how to work reading into my day. I'm not a fast reader, and part of me hates stopping in the middle of a chapter. It was hard because there are times I really get bored with what I'm reading. This happened a lot with my gen eds in college, and since I'm out now and passed everything I can admit that most of the time I didn't read. My last semester I decided that for once I was going to do all of the reading for every class. Then senioritus hit. I think that plan lasted three days.

On top of not being able to find time there was the issue of picking books to read. Out of the millions, maybe billions, of books out there, how do you pick one to focus on. Since my field is God, that narrows down the subject matter and genre pretty well, but still there are hundreds of thousands of books written on theology and related topics. How to you choose?

I wouldn't say that I've solved both of those problems, but I'm working on it. I was taking a leadership class a pastor friend of mine offered last spring/fall, and in one of the books we had to read for class, which I did read (most of it anyway), it said to set aside half an hour of your day, and read for thirty minutes. That gave me so much freedom. Pastors talk about having a reading day, I tried it and I don't know how some guys do it. I couldn't read for a whole day if my life depended on it. But half an hour every day, that's totally doable. I found that due to my inability to stop mid-chapter it often ended up being longer than an hour a day, but I enjoyed it.

As far was what to read, I take a lot of suggestions from people I know and trust. If I find an author I really like, who challenges or encourages me, read most of what they wrote. Stuff I get bored with or have a hard time following I generally stop reading. My pastor friend said in class that we should pray that God helps us lose interest in the books He doesn't want us to focus on.

I also read for pleasure, but this has become a very inconstant thing. I cycle between eleven books, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the seven Chronicles of Narnia books. I think reading for pleasure is important, it allows your mind to escape reality and forces you to use your imagination. Plus in so much fiction you can see things that point to God and the truths of Scripture. I think this gives us a strong argument for God, because everything points back to Him and the story of salvation and new life.

If you've been on my blog before you've probably noticed my list of reading suggestions on the right hand side. These are ones I've read that have helped and challenged me, or the ones I simply enjoy. And the more I read, the more the list grows.

Reading is crucial. When I was a kid my mom and I would read before bed. It's something I look forward to doing with my children. I love books, I love holding them and marking them up. Now that I've learned how to do it consistently, I look forward to my daily reading time, and miss it when I don't get it. My goal is to read, or re-read twenty-four books every year. I believe I'm at six this year, so I need to pick up the pace a little.

The reason I started this post is to talk a little about the book I just finished today, Forgotten God by Francis Chan. It's one of those books that just hits you right in the face. It presents honest truth that is Biblically grounded, about the life that God created us to live. I spent three days going over chapter 6, Forget About His Will For Your Life! The last two chapters of the book have challenged me in so many ways. It's come at a time when I've been discouraged, and feel drained and worn out. If you read my post yesterday I said I feel like I'm getting hit from every direction right now.

But as I've read Forgotten God I've been reminded that God hasn't called me to a life of ease. That God hasn't called me to a life of no problems. God doesn't even promise to tell me where we're going, He just says, "I'll be with you every step of the journey. I'll have your back in every battle. I will never leave you, I will never forsake you."

God has called me to follow Him, and He offers His Holy Spirit to me to strengthen, encourage, and guide me along the way. I need the Holy Spirit. My very life depends on Him. I want my life to reflect Him in everything. No matter what I'm going through I want to reflect the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, that the Holy Spirit wants to fill me with. I want my life to be set apart, and characterized by the Holy Spirit. I want God to fill me with His Spirit so that I can better serve Him, and give Him more glory than ever before.

Reading has helped. Almost everything I've read from Francis Chan has been stuff I've thought before, but in his books I see that I'm not the only one, and that there are others doing it so much better than I am. It's encouraging and humbling. It's challenging and helpful.

If you read only two books this year, let them be Crazy Love and Forgotten God. The message that is given in these is one that the Church desperately needs to hear and apply. At church I'm leading the adults on Sunday night, and the teens on Wednesday night, in a study of these two books, and hoping that they open their hearts to what God is trying to say through them.

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you