Archive for Book Reviews

Primal by Mark Batterson: Book Review

// December 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Book Reviews

I’m a big fan of Mark Batterson. Whether in book, blog or sermon form, I have a tremendous respect for what Mark has to say. Mark’s new book, Primal, is a call to refocus and get back to the basics of Christianity, to “love the your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

I need to go back through the book to fully appreciate, but on first read the part that stuck out to me the most was the call to marvel at the beauty and complexity of God’s creation. Batterson says the soul of Christianity is primal wonder and the mind of Christianity is primal curiosity. What a perfect pair. Primal curiosity leads us to explore and learn about the universe we live in, a universe which is so far beyond our comprehension that that we can’t help but be left in wonder and awe.

The reality is that as we get older many of us stop learning and experiencing new things. We get comfortable and cautious. The things that once inspired wonder grow dull. We lose the childlike curiosity and wonder that made life so exciting and we take for granted all the small and enormous miracles that are around us every day. What was the last time you thanked God for breathing, sight, or hearing? I have no idea how this computer in front of me works and as long as it is working I don’t particularly worry about it. But computers, cell phones, TVs, if you didn’t grow up with them, think back to the first time you used one. Think for a second about all the different processes in your body that are occurring right now to allow you to read this. It is overwhelming. I can’t comprehend everything that is going on between my eyes and brain to allow me to read and process this.

So learn something new today. Slow down and appreciate the wonders and miracles around you that you have stopped noticing. Thank God for all the things you take for granted. Delight in God’s creation. Allow your curiosity and wonder to grow your love and appreciation of God. Then wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.

This book is definitely worth reading. It will challenge you and Mark’s own wonder and curiousity are on display on every page.

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The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley

// April 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Book Reviews

The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

Follow your own path
Image by :::Ðerek::: via Flickr

The fundamental premise of “The Principle of the Path” couldn’t be simpler. If you are at Point A and want to get to Point B, you actions and choices must point down the path to Point B. It does not matter where you “intend” to get. All the matters is the direction you are actually moving in. However, the book is also incredibly insightful. Most of us acknowledge this principle in geography but rarely apply it to other areas of our lives. We fail to hold ourselves accountable and truly evaluate whether our individual choices and actions are moving us in the direction of our goal because we fail to acknowledge that all of our choices are connected. As you read the book, you will find yourself saying, “Well, that’s obvious!” But when you think about the lives of people you know, the disconnect between their desires and decisions will become readily apparent and hopefully once you see that, you will be willing to turn that same lense on yourself and honestly evaluate your own life.

The beauty of this book is in its simplicity, its ability to challenge us to stop and think about our choices and actions and whether they really sync up with truths we would call obvious. “The Principle of the Path” is a fabulous book and definitely worth the read, but it is only as useful as your own willingness to be honest and apply these simple principles to your life.

This book was reviewed as part of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers program.

Stealing my book review format from Tony Morgan. here are some things that caught my attention:

  • “Direction – not intention – determines our destination.”
  • “It really doesn’t matter where I intended to be; the path I take determines my ultimate destination… I always end up where the road I’ve chosen takes me.”
  • “You make decisions today as if it is isolated from tomorrow.”
  • “One never accomplishes the will of God by breaking the law of God, violating the principles of God, or ignoring the wisdom of God”
  • “Divine direction begins with unconditional submission.”
  • “As a parent, I would rather have imperfect children who love me and (at times) need me than perfect ones who feel no emotional connection with me at all.” <This hits close to home>
  • “We don’t wake up every morning with a burning desire to know what’s true, what’s right, what’s honorable. We are on a happiness quest. We want to be -as in feel- happy. And our quest for hapiness often trumps our appreciation for and pursuit of what’s true.“In all your ways means in your dating ways, your marriage ways, your entertainment ways, your morality ways, your education, your professional ways, your financial ways.” <Re: Proverbs 3:6>
  • “They’ve come to believe the popular notion that as long as their intentions are good, as long as their hearts are in the right place, as long as they do their best and try their hardest, it doesn’t really matter which path they take. They believe somehow they will end up in a good place.”
  • “The herd assumption is when you assume that since everybody you know is doing something the same way, it must be all right.”
  • “Successful people know what they don’t know and they are quick to go to people who do know.”
  • “We’ve all heard experience is the best teacher. But the truth is about the only thing most of us learn from experience is what to expect when we repeat the same bad decisions.”
  • “If you’re like some of my Catholic friends, you go to confession, dump out all the of your sin in a confessional booth, get absolved, and then the next week you feel free to pick up where you left off.”
  • “When it dawns on us that the undesirable but ever-so-predictable outcome of our choices is bearing down on us, we move into victim mode.”
  • “He expected to be the exception to the rule.”

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Free Books – Book Review Bloggers

// April 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Book Reviews

If anybody is interested in getting free books to read, check out this website http://brb.thomasnelson.com/. You choose a book from their selection. They send it to you. You agree to read it and post a review on your blog and on a amazon-like site. You do that and they send you another book. I got my first book this weekend. Andy Stanley’s The Principal of the Path. Started it this morning. Excited to read it after being at Buckhead Church and hearing his message this weekend.

Update – This book is rocking my world right now and I love it. The steps we choose not our intentions will lead us to our destination.

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