Don't Cling

"Do not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.

Behold, I will do something new..." --Isaiah 43:18-19

 

 

I know God's words in this passage are speaking mainly on an epic, grand scale about the future of God's chosen people and the advent of the new covenant of the blood of Christ but I don't think it's twisting the words to bring it down to the "mundane", day to day existence of God's children. Something I [and, I think, others] struggle with is looking back toward how things used to be and wishing we could go back to simpler, easier, seemingly more fun times in our lives. God is telling us not to try and hold on to the past. Don't cling to something in your past and expend all your energy trying to keep your life in that place. It's not worth it. Hold your life with an open hand and keep your eyes open to see what God wants to do with you *now*. I really think this is one of the keys to real, lasting joy in life. Don't let your life become about trying to move things back to how they used to be or simply maintaining the status quo. And for that matter, don't try to manufacture your own ideal circumstances for the future. If you have met Jesus you'll know that what he intends for you is ultimately better than what you intend for yourself anyway. By all means, plan your future and have intentions but don't let it crush you if and when your plans fall apart. This verse says that God is the one who is going to do something new. All your plans are, at best, part of God's plan and the last thing your plans falling apart is is an interruption.

You Are So Loved

Do you know how loved you are??? I haven't yet realized how loved I am but I sometimes catch glimpses of it. There is such a beautiful picture of Christ's love for us in Genesis 29. Jacob has just fled the scene after robbing his brother Esau of the patriarchal blessing given by their father Isaac. He runs to his uncle Laban's home for refuge when he suddenly finds his path crossing the most beautiful woman he has ever laid eyes on, Rachel. He is staggered by her beauty. He promises Laban that he will work for 7 years just to pay the bride price for his beloved so he can marry her. "So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her." Being a shepherd was not easy work. It often involved long days and late nights caring for the flock. Jacob was often out of doors. He constantly had to be on the watch for wolves and bears that threatened his flock. When the female sheep became pregnant, he had to make sure they had the things they needed to give birth safely. He was never off duty. The well-being of that flock of sheep was his entire life focus for 7 years. But it says that this time seemed like only a few days to him. Why? Because he was so excited to marry Rachel. I'm sure he had frustrating days and was frequently exhausted but when he thought about why he was doing this, he really couldn't have cared less about his physical exhaustion. The thought of Rachel kept him going through it all. Jesus told people on more than one occasion that all of scripture was focused on Him. He is the center of all revelation from God. This story is meant to show you how much you are loved. When Jesus came to earth, he came with all of our human weaknesses and issues. The 33 years were anything but a breeze for him. He had to constantly make war against temptation. Real temptation. The thought of returning to the unbroken, intimate fellowship of the Trinity must have seemed SO much more appealing on a lot of days. But you were His reason to keep going. When EVERYTHING was falling apart, He remembered "the joy that was set before Him..." What was He going to have after this ordeal? He was going to have you. You would be His. You are so loved. You have no idea how horrible those 33 years were. Constant rejection. Isolation. Anger. Hostility. Mockery. Unresponsiveness. He doesn't tell you about any of this, though, because He doesn't want you to be pressured by a false motivation into being "a good person". He wants you to rest. He just wants you. The sufferings of Jesus were not God saying "Look what I'm doing for you! You'd better do something REALLY great for me!" There is just love. There is just grace poured out for you. There is just acceptance. And you can't take advantage of it because it doesn't stop! You literally can't take advantage of someone who keeps giving after you've stopped asking. You have no idea the lengths that God went to to claim you for Himself. Back breaking labor. Not to guilt you into better behavior but just to see you rest. That's it.

Review of My Imaginary Jesus

11. My Imaginary Jesus (Matt Mikalatos)

Pleasure: 7/10 Stars
Utility: 7/10 Stars

Relevant magazine described this book as "Monty Python meets C.S. Lewis" and I've got to say that's a very apt description. It's been a while since I really laughed out loud at a book so I was quite surprised to find parts of this one busting my gut. Powerfully honest, humble and challenging, this book is an allegorical description of the author's struggle after realizing that he was following a Jesus that he had largely made up based on popular culture, ancient religious thought and his own personal impressions about who Jesus really was. The story follows his efforts to find out just what beliefs he was holding about Jesus that had absolutely no grounding in reality, destroy them and find out in the process who the historical, real-life Jesus was and what he actually did 2,000 years ago. The basic conclusion of the book is that every single one of us has radically flawed notions about who Jesus is and the most important quest a person can ever go on is to find out what false beliefs they have about the identity of Christ and get to the bottom of the issue. The story is told as the main character (Matt himself, the author) physically interacts with many, many different fake Jesuses. There's "My imaginary Jesus" (the Jesus that the author feels most comfortable with and can relate best to), legalist Jesus, libertine Jesus, diet Jesus(who promises long, happy life if his diet rules are followed), Buddhist Jesus, vegan Jesus, Portland Jesus (the author lives in Portland), Magic 8 Ball Jesus (who speaks nothing but the vague answers of the Magic 8 Ball), macho Jesus, homosexual-rights Jesus, repressive anti-gay Jesus, Perpetually Angry Jesus, and on and on and on! Just when the author thinks he's found the REAL Jesus someone points out a radically flawed mistake showing him to be just another imposter. Throughout the pages, the author relates a deeply personal, excruciatingly painful crisis in his life and one of the plot threads is him coming to terms with how the real Jesus can both be loving and all-powerful with suffering in the world.

Refreshingly honest, side-splittingly hilarious and deeply personal, My Imaginary Jesus will challenge your assumptions about who Jesus is and how well you truly know him. One thing's for sure, I don't know him as well as I thought I did! Certain parts of the book reminded me that he really is not a tame lion... He is good, but never tame.

Review of The Scarlet Pimpernel

10. The Scarlet Pimpernel (Baroness Emma Orczy)

Pleasure: 9/10 Stars
Utility: 0/10 Stars

This book is the only one in the mystery genre where I saw the movie first but was still really surprised by the book. The central figure of this novel is the origin of such greats as Zorro and Batman; the clever, mysterious stranger who has made it his life goal to aid people in need.

Set during the French revolution of the 1790s, The Scarlet Pimpernel is a figure shrouded in mystery. The only known facts about him are that he is an Englishman and that he possesses an almost supernatural ability to evade capture. This man is the head of a small band of nineteen Englishmen who (for sheer sport) rescue aristocrats right under the noses of the French republican government from Madame Guillotine. The story, however, follows Marguerite St. Just nee Blakeney, a pillar of the French society who married an Englishman thought to be the greatest fool in England. The plot follows Marguerite's interactions with one M. Chauvelin, an accredited agent of the French republican government. Chauvelin obtains evidence that Marguerite's brother, an employee in the French government, is involved with the Scarlet Pimpernel's operations. He uses this evidence to blackmail Marguerite into finding out the identity of the bane of the republic. I won't ruin the ending for you. You should seriously read this one!

The style is easily readable and the pace moves quickly so you don't get bogged down in extended dialogues or philosophical meditations. I promise that if you read this one, it'll blow your mind! Pick it up today!

Review of Good Omens

9. Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)

Pleasure: 5/10 Stars
Utility: 0/10 Stars

My low-ish rating of this book probably says a lot more about my personality type and reading preferences than the quality of the writing. I'm very much a "meat and potatoes" type reader. I'm sure that if I saw Good Omens as a movie, I'd have laughed a lot but when it comes to reading I usually choose material that leads to "Aha!" moments, serious thoughts or tears. That said, there were a few things that elicited a chuckle. For those of you who haven't ever read this one, here's a brief synopsis:

Aziraphale (an angel) and Crowley (a demon), both corporeal beings, have been on opposing sides of the cosmic struggle since the Garden of Eden. But over the course of the previous several millennia, they've really settled into earthly life and enjoy living in our world. When the apocalypse comes about, both of them determine to try working together to thwart the "ineffable" divine plan. The only problem is that the Antichrist (a 10-year-old boy named Adam) has been misplaced and they're having to figure out where he is and stop him before the world comes to an end.

The plot is a bit more complex and nuanced than that but that's essentially what the story is about. Along the way, we meet the 4 bikers of the apocalypse, the head of an army of witchfinders and his lone soldier, a witch and several other zany characters.

Perhaps it was because the humor was so British and stuffy that I found a lot of the jokes a bit dry for my taste. Among the things that got a genuine laugh out of me was the group of 4 roughnecks who cross paths with the 4 bikers of the apocalypse and receive permission to join them. The four of them spend a long trip coming up with names for themselves. Just as War, Famine, Death and Pestilence are bad things in this world, the four knuckleheads who join up with them try to come up with other things that make life miserable such as "Really Cool People" or "Things Not Working Properly Even After You've Given Them A Good Thumping". Another funny bit came at the beginning when Aziraphale and Crowley, incorrectly believing they are watching over the antichrist, arrange for an extremely virtuous gardener and an extremely demonic nanny to be employed by the boy's parents. The gardener always tells him to love others no matter what horrible things they do to him and always treat others as he himself would want to be treated while the nanny comes up with all sorts of perverse variations of the classic nursery rhymes involving piles of steaming human flesh and raining down the dominion of Satan the great lord. Both urge the boy to listen only to them and pay no attention to the other. As you can imagine, what happens is that you are simply left with an extremely confused boy.

Anyway, please don't let an (overall) mediocre/slightly negative review turn you from reading a book. I am sure that my personality and reading tastes account for about 90-95% of this review. It's an expression of my personality, not the quality of the writing.

Review of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

8. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Eric Metaxas)

Pleasure: 8/10 Stars
Utility: 8/10 Stars

A comprehensive and breathtaking biography of one of the most controversial figures involved in the events surrounding the Second World War, Bonhoeffer was on the long side at close to 550 pages. The writing was of such a quality, though, that, with the exception of a couple of chapters, you didn't notice how much material you were plowing through. And I didn't realize how emotionally invested I had become in the picture of Bonhoeffer that Metaxas had painted until the account of his death. The author painted him in very warm, soft tones through the use of a great deal of personal details and accounts which others gave of this humble man. The picture Metaxas painted was not at all of a stuffed shirted theologian who was overly academic in his approach to life but of a kind-hearted lover of Christ and people. He was not content to relegate doctrine and doctrinal exploration to ivory towers but was a man who was moved by human suffering and had the courage to face off against bullies of all shapes and sizes. You never got the sense that Bonhoeffer let fear control him on any level. His theology really had become the way he saw the world and he was full of real joy no matter what situation he found himself in. The part of this book which I will never forget is found in the last chapter. Bonhoeffer had just preached his last sermon on the Sunday following Easter 1945 to a group of approximately 150 prisoners in Schönberg:

He had hardly finished his last prayer when the door opened and two evil-looking men in civilian clothes came in and said:

"Prisoner Bonhoeffer. Get ready to come with us." Those words "Come with us"-- for all prisoners they had come to mean one thing only-- the scaffold.

We bade him good-bye-- he drew me [Payne Best, a fellow prisoner] aside-- "This is the end," he said. "For me the beginning of life."

At this quote, I could not hold the tears back. Here was a man hours from death and he was not overcome with fear or even sadness but a great deal of matter-of-factness and excitement mixed with courage about him. He had been mastered by Christ and did not doubt to the end. He knew whom he had trusted and really understood that death was nothing to fear.

When I was younger, I used to read stories like this and think "This guy is a *hero*! I want to be more like him!" but the longer I've been a Christian, the more I realize that it's not these humans that are truly the remarkable players in the grand scheme of things, it's their God. How beautiful is Christ to imbue our weak, frail, fickle, human hearts with such courage, joy and peace?! Look through Bonhoeffer and see his God who is beyond imagination!

Review of Between a Rock and a Hard Place

7. Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Aron Ralston)

Pleasure: 3/10 Stars
Utility: 5/10 Stars

This is the first (and I hope last) time I've ever said this: the movie is better than the book. The story of what happened to Ralston in the Horseshoe Canyon of Moab, UT is a fascinating one. But instead of simply relating the events surrounding his amputation he turns the book into an autobiography. And the tone of the writing came across in many places as an extended ego trip. Several times in the first few chapters I found myself thinking "Aron, I really couldn't care less about when you climbed Mount McKinley or when you saw the Grand Canyon for the first time." I'm sure they were significant moments for him but, as he himself says, even photographs failed to capture the experience itself which is only available to those who have actually done it and gone through the pain and exhilaration. I also often felt that so much of the writing was dragged down by unnecessary detail. It reminded me of when, as a child, I was trying to recount a story to my parents that I'd seen in a movie or TV show but instead of giving a general idea of the broad themes, I got bogged down with excess verbiage. Some portions were literally blow by blow explanations of exactly what was happening and I just found myself thinking "Come on! Get on with the story of you cutting your hand off!"

One thing I would like to mention is the occasional theme of sensationalism. Aron is definitely a sensationalist and constantly needs to be stretching himself and expanding his horizons and chasing these wild experiences. Thoughts of Madame Bovary kept surfacing in my head and I thought to check out Ralston's page on Wikipedia. My suspicions were immediately confirmed. The poor guy really doesn't have a fun personal life. He's experienced the pain of divorce and, at one point, was arrested for, although never charged with, domestic abuse. The book gives the impression that, in Ralston's mind, every moment not spent chasing sensational experiences in the outdoors is a wasted moment. The following selection stood out as particularly revealing of his outlook on life:

"I thrive on stimulation and action, and aside from the litany of physical duress, my entrapment has brought the additional psychological curse of being unable to fully occupy my mind. I feel engaged at moments, even an hour at a time, but I can't help dwelling on the monotony of this motionlessness. If dehydration and hypothermia don't take me in the next couple of days, boredom may well dull my instincts and quash my will to live. A question haunts me: How weary will I get before suicide seems the only excitement that could relieve the ennui?"

The thought crossed my mind that Ralston will likely never know the joys of being married to one person for decades or of contributing something truly significant to a small community of people. It seems that life for him has largely become about simply living his dreams and doing those things that make him feel as alive as possible. Such an existence, while having a superficial layering of friendships to stave off feelings of isolation, must be a lonely one from time to time. It is in those moments of monotony that simple, mundane joys fill our hearts and we can be happier than we ever thought we could be.

Review of The Call of the Wild

6. The Call of the Wild (Jack London)

Pleasure: 8/10 Stars
Utility: 2/10 Stars

Jack London has created a mythical figure in this book. This is the first of the so-called "classics" that I *really* enjoyed reading. I think most of that can be attributed to the fact that there was a lot more action and less dialogue than previous books. The story follows Buck, a homely mix between a St. Bernard and Scotch Collie, who is a family pet of Judge Miller in central California. One of the judge's employees kidnaps Buck and sells him to pay off his gambling debts. Buck is shipped northward toward the Canadian border where he is trained to be a working dog. The majority of the story follows his difficult journey and his gradual return to the primordial instincts of the wolves. What London does in this story, though, is paint one of the most majestic portraits of an animal that anyone could read. He paints in broad strokes the rich soul of Buck as it transitions from the pampered life he enjoyed on the farm to the brutal wilds of the Canadian wilderness. Through the intense suffering of his journey, Buck takes on new dimensions and experiences greater joys and passions than he ever would have known had he stayed on Judge Miller's farm. By the end of the book, the once pampered family pet becomes the stuff of legends throughout the mining camps of the Yukon and the fear of many Indians who have inadvertently gotten on his wrong side. If you haven't read this book yet, I highly recommend doing so! It's not even very long!

Review of Madame Bovary

5. Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert)

Pleasure: 7/10 Stars
Utility: 6/10

This is a harrowing book. Going into it, I had a good idea of the main theme of the novel (a warning about chasing after sensationalism) but I didn't realize what a stark warning it was. Don't read this book if you're prone to bi-polar disorder! The story opens following the life of Mr. Charles Bovary, a simple minded country doctor who takes great delight in the simple pleasures life has to offer. Eventually, however, he marries Emma (the Madame Bovary of the title), a fickle young woman prone to flights of fancy and idealistic tendencies. The story begins to focus on her and her perpetual dissatisfaction with the mundane, day to day life that is all Charles can offer her. Over the course of the novel she enters a couple of different affairs in an attempt to make her life more interesting. I knew going in that these tendencies must end in a disaster for her but what I did not realize was that she finally destroyed the lives of both her husband and daughter. I saw in this story the sordid tendencies of my own heart and how they wreak havoc not only on my own joy and peace but on the lives of so many others as well. And in Charles I saw a clumsy portrait of Christ. He loves Emma deeply and in his eyes she can do no wrong. It's only at the end of the book that he discovers her affairs and it destroys him. That's why the utility rating is so high. In my mind, this is a story designed to teach one simple lesson: People chase drama because our lives don't live up to a certain ideal that they have for how life is supposed to work. And as we chase it, we don't realize we are bringing destruction down on ourselves, all our friends and family, and (very most importantly) we wound the One who loves us more than words can describe, Jesus.

Review of The Total Money Makeover

4. The Total Money Makeover (Dave Ramsey)

Pleasure: 5/10 Stars
Utility: 10/10 Stars

I'm inspired! For the first time in my life I feel like I'm not flying in the blind financially! Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover" provided me with a set of tools that were easy to understand and extremely logical. At the same time, it was not a cold, calculating, purely left-brained manual on how to handle personal finances. Mr. Ramsey seemed very much in touch with the emotional issues that come with handling money and debt and he did not scoff at them. He knew that finances often come with fear, anger, discouragement and confusion. So he interspersed his financial guidance with stories of people who were in a similar situation as I am, put these tools into practice and saw real change come about. In the final chapter, he even made sure to let people know that financial security and wealth are not the end-all-be-all in life and that reforming our money-handling habits should help us to see that money isn't everything. Throughout the book, I thought of another title I'd read on finances entitled "Money, Possessions and Eternity" (Randy Alcorn) and in the last chapter, I was stunned to see Mr. Ramsey mention this book and endorse it as containing good advice. How many financial advisors recommend giving away large sums of money on a regular basis? Not too many! I highly, highly recommend this book to any of my friends and family who have not read it. It's one that I will be returning to multiple times and I progress through this plan.

Review of Jane Eyre

3. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)

Pleasure: 8/10 Stars
Utility: 1/10 Stars

There are books that aid you in the process of living and books that make that process mean something. Jane Eyre is in the latter group. As Glen Holland (the fictional main character in Mr. Holland's Opus) once observed, "...you can cut the arts as much as you want... [but] sooner or later, these kids aren't gonna have anything to read or write about."

I had a hard time reading through this book. There were stretches that were quite boring to me. But the problem does not lie in the book. It's a terrific book. Wonderful! Marvelous! Nuanced! Moving, tearful, horrifying, suspenseful, full of mystery and intrigue! No, the problem does not lie in the book. It's a terrific composition. The problem lies in me. The problem lies in our society. We are a people addicted to instant gratification, brevity and excitement. We are a superficial people. We have largely lost our ability to be patient, to meditate and to consider things of depth. And Jane Eyre requires those 3 things.

The story as a whole is a look at Jane's soul which, though it has encountered very little but pain, suffering,  and horror, has kept its integrity. Jane refuses time and again to compromise her virtues and convictions in order to find acceptance or love. It is this constant refusal to allow herself to be corrupted that makes the ending so wonderfully tearful when she at last is able to be joined to one who loves her. If you read this one, you may need a box of tissues. It'll make you laugh out loud (on rare occasions), think, cry, and be freaked out.

Book Reviews 1 & 2

So in 2014 I am cutting out all movies, TV shows and personal visual entertainment and trying to spend a bit more time reading. In the interests of keeping up my motivation, I'm going to write reviews for each book I read and give 2 ratings out of 10 stars for how much I *personally* enjoyed it and how much I got out of it. Here are the first two:

1. Too Busy Not To Pray (Bill Hybels)
Pleasure: 4/10 Stars
Utility 9/10 Stars

In this exploration of what it looks like to have a prayer life, Mr. Hybels provides a series of tools to incorporate into one's daily routine and answers questions that people typically raise regarding prayer such as prayer's relationship to doubt, suffering and faith. It's a comprehensive introduction to praying and offers some very practical, sound advice on how to have a satisfying prayer life. The reason the pleasure rating is so low is that I have this sinful propensity to see Christianity as merely a system of ideas and concepts. When a book becomes intensely practical, my sinful heart says "Come on, man! Where are the INSIGHTS??? The connections between one idea and another?!" So the low rating says a lot more about me than about the book.

2. The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable (F. F. Bruce)
Pleasure: 6/10 Stars
Utility: 9/10 Stars

In this brief but classic examination of the historicity of the 27 "books" in the New Testament canon, Dr. Bruce lays a bedrock for faith. Each chapter is (relatively) short but addresses a different type of the prose (the gospels, the Pauline epistles, the Petrine epistles, and the Johannine writings), pulls what historicity we can from each section and shows that the New Testament is worthy to be considered as a rigorously compiled record of God's interaction in our world through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. In addition to addressing each kind of prose, Dr. Bruce also looked at some of the most common objections that modern, secular critics raise when confronting Scripture. It was often tersely worded and hard to understand but with some focus and a dictionary/ Wikipedia at hand it was WELL worth the read.

Next up is Jane Eyre...