book review vol. twelve

I came across this book at a Dallas area Half Price Books I visited with a friend. I had no intentions of leaving the store having made a purchase, but upon thumbing through this book I thought it worthy of my $6.47. At first, second, and possibly third glance, I wasn't sure how to go about thinking of this book. Was it a joke? Was it serious? The cover and certain charts (including the "Common Handraising Postures" chart) made it seem as if it were a sarcastic book, but the content of much of the body seemed too right on to be a joke.

Well it turns out that A Field Guide to Evangelicals & their Habitat is in fact a satirical look at, well, evangelicals. The author, Joel Kilpatrick, creator of Lark News, is said to "attend church regularly for personal fulfillment and new material." Well having completed the book it is evident that this man does indeed attend church and has a knack for picking up on the humorous nuances that occur across the nation in churches residing under the "evangelical" umbrella, ella, ella.

So after reading this book, not only will you have laughed a lot (assuming you're one who can poke fun at things that are typically taboo to laugh at), but you will also have learned:

- What evangelicals believe
- How to identify an evangelical on the field
- How to plan and execute a field trip to an evangelical church
- How to talk and act like an evangelical without being one
- Evangelical habits overseas
- How to decorate like an evangelical
- and much more.

Some recurring themes you'll come across in this book is the fact that evangelicals love homeschooling, eating, and voting Republican. Meanwhile, they hate bars, R-rated movies, and CNN.

Though I did laugh throughout the entirety of this book (less in the "Evangelical Mating Habits" chapter), about half way through I started to question how fruitful it is to go into this much detail poking fun at the quirkiness of the current status of the church in America. Though I doubt anyone reads the book this way, a beneficial way to look at it would be to realize that, though it is a satire, this book does justice to how the non-believing world sees believers. Upon realizing that, if we could strive to be less lame, that, I think, would be fruitful.

I'll leave you with a few quotes from the book:

[On how missionaries make a living]
"Long-term missionaries spend every third year traveling the US... they also dress in the perceived traditional clothing from their country of service, playing to Americans' mistaken belief that Third World residents dress in colorful handcrafted garb... missionaries know that if they showed up to preach in an old *NSync T-shirt and ill-fitting swim trunks, nobody would give them a dime"

[On decorating like an evangelical]
"On the wall immediately visible when you walk in, hang a framed cross-stitch or embroidery that reads, 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, Joshua 3'. There is simply no substitute for this particular piece if you wish to maintain a convincing evangelical design"

[On greeting evangelicals]
"...offer a standard greeting, coupled with a phrase like 'God is good' or 'Praise God' or 'What a blessing'. Give a warm handshake, perhaps pulled into a brief hug if the person is of the same gender."

[On bars, nightclubs, and poolhalls] (Bold added)
"You will not find evangelicals in places that encourage drunkenness, fornication, dancing, or fighting with pool cues. The only time they might duck into such a place is to hang a poster for a Christian concert or a notice about an alcohol recovery program at their church. Evangelicals don't want to make the mistake Jesus made in hanging around society's lowlifes and becoming known as winebibbers and drunkards -- a reputation that put a major crimp in his earthy ministry."

book review vol. eleven

I bought this book after it was brought to my attention with a high recommendation from Allen Duty. You may recall the title from the review on the Duty's blog. Well now I've completed the book and it's my turn to give my two cents.

There is no question that at this point in history, the scientists, environmentalists, conservationists and preservationists have successfully informed the public of the deteriorating state of our world to the point that it is now very chic to be (or at least to appear) green. Some people are legitimately doing it, others fake it - not unlike claiming the name of Christ. Matthew Sleeth and his family are doing it. This gives him credibility in writing a book on the topic.

One of the biggest points that Sleeth gets across in this book is the fact that a part of obeying certain well-known commands from scripture (i.e. "Love your neighbor") includes living in such a way that minimally impacts the environment, both for the benefit of future generations and those living in today's third world countries. He teaches that our motivation for living green ought to be love, which comes from the Lord. That's true, and it's something that I'm sure a lot of people need to hear.

However, I came into this book already believing that it is our duty as believers (not to mention humans) to live modestly, and even sustainably. Though this book did open my eyes to a few areas where I could reduce my impact on the environment, most of what he taught I either already knew or could have figured out without too much thought. Now that isn't to say I'm practicing it, so it's good for me to hear, but still, it was less practical than I'd hoped.

I was also pretty disappointed with most of Sleeth's references to scripture and how he used them to make the point he was making. I found the majority of his arguments far from convincing. To say that you are experiencing "the peace that surpasses all understanding" because you were gardening with your wife just like God created you to... come on, that's weak. And I'm pro-gardening and certainly pro-wife.

In his defense, Sleeth did have a nice little collection of pages there in the appendices that were a lot more practical than the 200 pages that precede them. Unfortunately I found even those to be lacking. The theme of what he taught was to pick the appliance that used the least energy when purchasing new ones, and to make sure to turn things off when they aren't being used.

So thank you Allen for the book recommendation, I appreciate your thinking of me. But to my readers: I don't recommend this book to you unless you truly feel at a loss as to where you stand on environmental stewardship. If you find yourself unsure of what our role as believers is, then by all means pick up the book. I'll let you borrow mine. If you think you've got a pretty good grip on how we ought to treat our world, and what motivates us to act that way, you don't need to read this book. What you do need to do is check out the Supercinski's blog, where they're doing a series on getting greener. I do recommend this, and I strongly believe it will not be a waste of your time.

book review vol. ten

Remember my two cool friends who started their own t-shirt co.? One of those sweet girls, upon hearing me express my feelings about my current life situation, recommended and later loaned me this book, for which I am thankful indeed.

Twentysomething: Surviving and Thriving in the Real World by Margaret Feinberg.

As I was reading through this book I really appreciated how Feinberg put into words a lot of the things that have been going through my head the past year or so. Some of the issues addressed I've since come to terms with, others I haven't yet, and others still I never wrestled with in the first place. She offered nothing profound, but because she wrote this book at the tail end of her twenteysomething years, the issues were still fresh on her mind and she was able to clearly express them. However, after presenting various issues that any given twentysomething deals with (adjusting to work-life, looking for community, desiring marriage or being married, paying bills) I was mostly unimpressed with how she then failed to teach on them, firmly backing her opinions with the Word.

Don't get me wrong, there were Word references and a lot of things she said were pretty fruitful, but I finished the book thinking, "There needs to be an awesome book about this very topic, and this is not it." Still though, I think this is a valuable book to read soon after graduating from college because if nothing else, it solidifies in the mind of the reader that it is entirely okay for you to be thinking the things you think. You aren't alone in this new stage of life. Lots of other people are going through it too.

So all in all, not a bad book, and until I find a better one, this'll be my recommendation to all the new graduates who come to me seeking wisdom... all zero of them. Thanks Nat-town for the loan. Much appreciated.

book review vol. nine

This book is somewhat of a classic, especially among those Americans who love the outdoors. I'd heard about it back in college from some climber friends, and I recently borrowed a copy from a friend who had to read it back in high school.

I could give you a summary of the book, but it cannot be put any better than Krakauer himself said it:

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Jonhson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter...

One thing that quickly appealed to me as I learned more about Chris McCandless was the fact that he lived out his convictions, and he had plenty of them to be sure. He was, as many college graduates are, extremely opinionated. The difference between him and his peers was that he acted out on what he believed, a decision that ultimately cost him his life.

Also interesting to me as I read the book were the similarities I see in myself and McCandless. Noticing those similarities (the specifics of which I'll spare you) caused me to think not so much about how I long to go travel and find myself and live off the land (not sure I'd fare too well), but more about how fascinating it is to me that youth tend to be so idealistic and passionate while older people tend to be much more subdued and tolerant of things they may not like. I realize that between college and retirement there are a series of events that will drastically change ones perspective, but I hate to think that someday I will no longer be passionate about things in which I place so much value now.

At any rate, Chris McCandless was never given much of an opportunity to have his perspective on life change, at least not in the way of which I just spoke. He learned from everything around him, and his actions always seemed to put him in situations that strenthened his passionate, idealistic tendencies. It would be interesting to know, had McCandless survived the Alaskan bush, how he would view the world today, 15 years later. Of course, had he survived, we would know nothing of his post-college story, thus, learning how he viewed life wouldn't be that facsinating.

Anyway, great book, extremely well researched and well written. Exciting, thought-provoking... I recommend it.

book review vol. eight

I can say with absolute certainty that the sum of the time it took me to write this review and the time it takes you to read it will be less than the amount of time it took me to find the picture that greeted you when you opened my blog. I wasn't happy (and I'm still not) that the cover you're seeing is different from the one I saw all those hours I spent inside this book. Nevertheless, the words inside are the same, and they are some good words indeed.

I love Philip Yancey. I always put him on my list of people I'd like to have lunch with. Philip, if you're reading this, I'm free whenever you are. Anyway, this book is called "Disappointment with G-d: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud" and it was perhaps the most appropriate book for me to have read during this season of my life which can adequately be described as either disappointing or dissatisfactory.

Yancey explores in a encouragingly honest fashion the three questions he claims, correctly, that people don't ask aloud. Is G-d silent? Is G-d unfair? Is G-d hidden? I'm not going to tell you what he has to say about each of those questions, but if it sounds like something you've perhaps asked yourself at some point in your life, then this book is certainly worth your time... especially since it's only 5.99 on Amazon. And if you'd like to see the cover of the book as I saw it, you can just click that link at any time. I didn't want to use the picture with the "Search Inside (TM)" atop it. You understand, right?

A huge chunk of the book is dedicated to study and exploration of the book of Job. Not a bad choice when it comes to discussing disappointment huh? So I suppose I also recommend this book to people who haven't yet fully reconciled the events of Job and made them mesh nicely with their theology.

So again, another not-very-reviewy book review. I think I'll recommend this book to all my friends who graduate from college and a year later find themselves pretty unhappy with where they've ended up. Thanks Jon for such an awesome C-mas present. You know me.

book review vol. seven

I've known for a while that I enjoy learning, but until recently I thought I only enjoyed learning about certain things, things that I found pertinent to my life and the lives of those for whom I care. Then I read Freakonomics and realized that my limited set of information that I strive to know more about may not be so limited.

I'm sure you probably wouldn't roll into a bookstore and pick out a book that looked like the one pictured above. Well I did and after reading the intro and the first chapter (a pre-purchase routine I regularly rehearse), I knew I wanted every ounce of information this book had to offer. It was like reading a textbook, only good. I've never read a book like this before, and when I'm in charge of this nation's education programs, I'm going to require teachers to teach out of books like this. Kids would undoubtedly enjoy school more. No question in my mind. Why is that? Let me tell you.

The authors of this book have a gift. They know how to present potentially boring data in a very exciting way. For example, their blog is interesting, where as mine, for the most part, isn't. This discrepancy in interesting-ness can be accounted for in two areas: One, they're freakishly smart; Two, they present information well.

The book is mostly based on the research of Steven Levitt, who is basically like Brad Pitt in economists circles. He's won tons of young economist awards and he's well on his way to winning a Nobel Prize (according to an economics professor I sold shoes to yesterday). During his career as an economist, Levitt has simply asked tons of unconventional questions and found very interesting ties between variables that most people would never notice.

If I had to draw a picture that best represents the book, it would be a sledge hammer crashing down on the words, "Conventional Wisdom." If that doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will. Levitt explores things like why parents don't feel safe when their kids play at a house whose owners keep a gun, while they fail to think twice about having their kids play at a house with a swimming pool, which is in fact, statistically, significantly more dangerous. Stuff like that is interesting, no?

So there you have it. Go buy Freakonomics (or borrow the Supercinski's). Read it. Have intelligent discussions with your peers (This book will give you no shortage of things to discuss). Read the Levitt's work so you can claim you knew him before he was famous (i.e. before he wins a Nobel Prize). And also listen to Andrew Peterson's Christmas album like I asked you so kindly to do in yesterday's post. If for some reason you can only do one, listen to the music. It's more powerful than the book, unless you were somehow able to read the whole book in 45 minutes, and even then I think the music trumps.

book review vol. six

I came across this trendy looking book while browsing through my friend's bookshelf the other day. I took the liberty of leaving his house with it and reading it over the past few days. Now you guys will reap the benefit of that which you did not sow.

The general idea of this book, written by George Barna, research masta' (yes, masta'), is that there is a growing group of people within American Christianity today who are, quote, "Revolutionaries." (Side note: if you do read this book, you'll never want to hear that trendy word again - save Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution - because he certainly has a way of beating it to the ground.) These are the kind of people who have an unquenchable desire to know Jesus and to better serve Him, and anything that gets in their way of doing that, well it's going to have to go. The "revolutionaries" are passionate about intimate worship, faith-based conversations, intentional spiritual growth, servanthood, resource investment, spiritual friendships, and family faith. One of the things Barna addresses as a hindrance to their sanctification is, ironically, the local church.

As any of you who've ever seen any Barna stats before know, they don't say anything positive about the current state of the American church. That, however, is not a new idea. It shouldn't surprise anybody (especially my generation, which Barna deems the Busters, born 1965 to 1983) that the American church isn't coming close to living up to its full potential. In my opinion, we have written quite enough books about how the church is struggling, while there is a huge void in the area of books (or teachings) that help us fix the problem.

Barna does, to some degree, go beyond stating the problem by offering a solution. It's real novel: follow Jesus. That's what these "revolutionaries" are doing, and as Barna states, many of them are finding that their churches won't fully stand behind their strivings after Him, which sounds terrible, and probably most of us go to churches that would allow it, but I can totally see it being true. Some of these believers, Barna says, will seek to find like-minded "revolutionaries" and start meeting with them in house churches of sorts. I don't have a problem with that, assuming they're still under a Biblical authority. That gets into a whole lot of other stuff that I could certainly go into, but nobody would read because the post would be too long, which for some it may be already.

In closing, this book offers a tangible look at the current state of the church (if you still need that) and presents a view of church that, though Biblical, seems to butt heats with a lot of today's religious leaders. It was challenging, informative, yet I still don't know that I'd recommend it. Scale of 1 to 5: I give it a 3.

book review vol. five

This is the first of my book reviews in which I've attempted to tackle not only a non-Christian book, but a modern day classic in it's own right. That said, I'm getting in deeper than I have any business getting, so do grant me grace.

The Cather in the Rye was recommended to me by a friend Steve Miller many months back. Having absolutely nothing but time on my hands these days, I opted to give it a read, knowing nothing about the book other than that it was a classic of sorts. Now, having read the book, I have learned a whole lot about it.

It was written in the late 40's, early 50's, and it's simply the story of a teen on his journey from being kicked out of prep school to home. The colloquial language used by Salinger is pretty in-your-face if you will, even today, which makes it hard for me to imagine how it was received at the time of publication.

All throughout the book the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, shares his brutally honest thoughts on events and people in which he comes in contact as he goes through his day. I was able to really identify with Holden in a lot of ways (and not at all in others). He, like me, is extremely opinionated, critical, unconventional, and sometimes hypocritical in his thought. He despises the "phoniness" he sees all around him that, as far as he can tell, goes unnoticed by everyone else.

Holden (hopefully unlike me) comes across as very negative, seemingly hating everything. However when you "get to know him" better (if you can do that with a fictional character), you realize that there are plenty of simple pleasures in which he takes great delight. He genuine loves his sister and his late brother. He enjoys the innocence of children, good books, and honesty in any way that it chooses to display itself.

Essentially, Holden is a kid who would normally get written off without second thought by most people, but because he shares his story with us in a very popular book, people are given the chance to look deeper into him as a person than what they see on the surface, which is always a good thing to do.

There you go. My first, and quite possibly last, review of a modern day classic.

book review vol. four; part two; section a

If you can remember back all the way to the post before last (thiiiink... or scroll down), I threw out some thoughts about the Emerging Church Movement and told you that I'd give you a little more info soon. Well good news, soon has come. I'm in the delightful process of reading this book shown above, "Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: hard lessons from an emerging missional church." It's a long title with at least three questionable terms. "Reformission" (this isn't a typo) is a word that Driscoll coined and the idea is basically taking the traditional missionary mindset and applying it to the culture in which we live. I find "missional" and "reformission" to be synonymous, and I don't think Driscoll would disagree. The third word that ought to catch your eye is "emerging."

I feel like I've learned more about the Emerging Church Movement from the intro to this book than I did from reading the entire book from McLaren ("A New Kind of Christian" - below). Mark Driscoll says in his book that he used to be closely associated with the emergent church but had to distance himself do to theological differences. He makes a distinction between the emerging church and the emergent church. Note the differences in the suffixes. The emergent movement is technically under the banner of emerging, but seems to be the more theologically liberal sect. In other words, all things emerging (as far as I see it right now) are not bad or false teachings. However, as with any teachings, we must be solid in knowing what we believe so as to discern what is true and what isn't. That said, here is what Driscoll says that helped me a lot. Note: He's kind of sarcastic... be warned. (p. 22, Zondervan, Copyright 2006, other legal stuff...)

"I am particularly concerned, however, with some growing trends among some people: the rejection of Jesus' death on the cross as a penal substitute for our sins; resistance to openly denouncing homosexual acts as sinful; the questioning of a literal eternal torment in hell, which is denial that holds up only until, in an ironic bummer, you die and find yourself in hell; the rejection of God's sovereignty over and knowledge of the future, as if God were a junior-college professor who knows only bits and pieces of trivia; the rejection of biblically defined gender roles, thereby contributing to the 'mantropy' epidemic among young guys now fretting over the best kind of looffah for their skin type and the number of women in the military dying to save their Bed, Bath and Beyond from terrorist attacks; and the rejection of biblical names for God, such as Father, which is essentially apologizing before the unbelieving world for the prayer life of the flamboyantly heterosexual Jesus, who uttered the horrendously politically incorrect 'Our Father' without ever having the decency to apologize for being a misogynist patriarchal meanie."

So there's that. I liked it, I hope you like it. Maybe it will be helpful for you. If nothing else I hope you at least giggled or smiled or something. This has been a very long post. Time for some very long (and numerous?) comments. Go!

book review vol. four

That's right, I finished another book. I actually finished this one a few days ago and am just now getting around to reviewing/ discussing it for you. It's called "A New Kind of Christian" and it's by Brian McLaren who is often labeled as the poster child for the Emergent Church Movement.

What is the Emergent Church Movement you ask? Well I was wondering the same thing. I asked a few people I know who are smarter than me, and they all told me to read what the Emergent Church had to say about themselves so I could form my own opinion. This wasn't the answer I wanted to hear especially when I realized that nearly everything on the internet that is produced by the Emergent Church is very vague and seems to beat around the bush. I did learn in my journey to understand this movement that this book, "A New Kind of Christian" was the one to read to get things figured out. So I gave in, I had to settle for the hard way of learning, actually reading the book.

A lot of people have asked me what I thought about the book, and what I think about the Emergent Church Movement now that I have read the book. I usually tell them something along these lines: First, it must be known that as opposed to a book on theology that would be set up in some sort of organized fashion, this book is written as a novel, the conversation between two believers. So all of the different beliefs of the Emergent Church were cleverly presented in a fictional form. I feel like the entire book was dedicated to presenting ideas that most Biblically-sound evangelicals would blatantly reject, but because said ideas are presented so cleverly, it allows us "moderns" (as opposed to "post-moderns") to chew on the ideas. I wish I could elaborate on some specifics, but I honestly can't remember them very well because of how they were presented. I do know that some of the issues that rubbed me wrong (I think...) were the interpretation of Scripture, doctrine of Hell, and view of other religions.

I actually think that this is a pretty good book for people to read, no matter what they think or have heard about the Emergent Church. For one reason it will allow you to base your opinion on what one of the Emergent Church's front men says about the movement (albeit vague). It will also allow you the ability to contemplate some of the questions that the Emergent Church is raising. My wiser friend, Ryan Couch said of the Emergent Church that, "they raise a lot of really good questions, but some of the answers they come up with are [insert hesitant smirk/shoulders raised/head slightly to the right]." I think that's a pretty good way of looking at it.

I'll end this long post in saying that regardless of what your thoughts on the Emergent Church Movement are, please do not be hateful towards people who have differing opinions. It is possible that one of you is right and one of you is wrong. It is also possible that both of your are right or both of you are wrong. Those are the only four possibilities, but the tendency is to be hateful towards people on the "other team," and it is frankly quite disgusting to see and hear Christians hating on each other.

(note: I anxiously await your comments on this post, and stay tuned to another post on the emergent church)

book review vol. three

I know it's hard to believe, but face it kids: I've actually read three entire books in the past month. Those of you who know what a poor reader I am are still re-reading the first sentence of this blog in disbelief, and will continue to do so until they get tired and close their web browser. So, the Velvet Elvis review will be for the rest of you. I read this book because it came highly recommended from a person whose opinions I respect. It was written by Rob Bell who is the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church over there in Michigan. The subtitle of the book is "Repainting Christian Faith" and I think the best way to describe it would be to compare it to the writings of Don Miller. Bell says plenty of things in this book that I don't agree with, but he also says things that are really good. One of my favorites is his discussion on the fact that just because we label something as "Christian" doesn't mean that it is true; and just because something lacks the "Christian" label doesn't mean it is not true. So that's that. Not a bad book, but certainly not my favorite. Go read Irresistible Revolution. It's way better.

note: I'm sorry that my blog has recently become a boring book review blog. I'll get to work on that...

book review vol. two

I just don't really know where to start on this one... I totally just happened to come across this book at Barnes over spring break: it had a nice looking cover, and the word "revolution" was in the title, so it caught my eye. I read the intro and the first chapter in the store that day, and walked out with a copy in my hand (which I paid for). I finished this book today and I've been looking forward to writing about it on this blog to tell the world about this amazing piece of work. I'm sure most of you have heard me talk about it already, but bear with me... maybe you'll still get something here.

The Irresistible Revolution is one of the most powerful books I've read in a long time, and I haven't read many books, so that pretty much makes it one of the best ever according to my limited knowledge. It is written by Shane Claiborne, who is just some guy, and the cool thing is that he knows it. He writes very humbly of different events that Jesus has taken him through, and what he's learned as a result. I've found myself describing the theme of this book as a guy who wrote about how he thinks that Jesus actually meant the things He said, and so the guy does his best to be obedient. Another all encompassing theme is summed up in a statement Shane makes in the first part of the book: "stop complaining about how the church is and start becoming the church that you want to see." (That one is for all you folks who are, for whatever reason, entirely disgusted by the church.)

He talks a lot about loving people who are unloved. People who are poor and homeless get lots of attention in his book (and his life!) as do various relevant issues such as politics and the like. I, as usual, do not feel that I can do this book justice, but I just cannot recommend it highly enough. I was so encouraged, and my eyes were opened a whole lot through reading it. I'm even planning on writing the author a letter, which is a first... so it must be good!

book review vol. one

I woke up today with literally nothing on my agenda (which is a good way to start a day). I did lots of things that will go unmentioned in this post, however one that will receive the attention of the full remainder of this entry is my trip to Barnes and Nobles. I went to the local book seller with the purpose of finding the book pictured above, and reading it in it's entirety. I did just that. This is not the original edition of the book you may have heard of that shares the title; it is a variation on the theme: the visual edition. It is basically a concise and visually compelling version of what I imagine the original book is like. I could go in to great detail about what a great book this is, but suffice it to say that it made me cry right there in the Barnes. I was sitting in a circle of chairs with perfect strangers who were reading books on witchcraft and sex, and I was nonchalantly shedding tears because my God's grace is just so unfair. I think you should take two hours out of your day to visit the local Barnes and read this. Oh, and I took advantage of the book at the store because it costs $15, and I think that's too much.

friday night excitement

I'm sure I haven't fooled anyone into thinking that my life is actually entertaining, and if by some small chance I have, rest assured it isn't. Here I am on another Friday night, alone at my house not doing anything fancy. However, I have no complaints, for I have received a returned phone call (one of the simple pleasures in my life), and I've been lost in an AMAZING book, which is ultimately the reason for this post. What book has me so enthralled in it's content you ask?

The Heavenly Man - This book is basically the autobiography of a man named "Brother Yun." He was born and raised in China, became a Christian at age 16 (if my memory is correct) and just lived the craziest life he could for Jesus. He spent a lot of time talking with God, and whatever God told him to do, he'd do. Being that China doesn't take well to Christians doing what God wants them to, Brother Yun went under some astonishing tribulations and witnessed some miraculous works in his life, and a decent portion of these are captured in this book. I also think it's a good read to allow American believers a chance to see that persecution really does still happen, and that the gospel thrives (arguably) more with it than without it. I recommend this book with some thumbs up and everything.

sub-par post

well earlier today I wrote out a quaint but heart-warming post of a slightly different format than the typical posts read on this page. Upon clicking the "publish post" button after finishing my masterpiece of a post, the web browser showed me the dreaded "Page Cannot be Displayed" page... So if this post struggles, blame it on that little laptop down the street.

I'll start with the two main points of the post that got away: books and music. I thought I'd give you a taste of the literature and tunes that have been gracing my eyes and ears here in the Orient. These are also recommendations for those of you who are literate and/or enjoy music. If you really don't care about books or music, or just want to get on to whatever else I have to say, scroll down to "VDSLRJU." And... go!

Books:
- Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller - I'm sure most of you have read this already, I was late to get on the bandwagon because for a long time I wasn't going to read it simply because it was popular. Don't make that mistake. Miller brings up lots of good points, and he thinks further outside the box than I do.

- Radical Reformission by Marc Driscoll - If you want to read this book about how we ought to be effectively sharing the Happy News we know with the scores of people around us who don't know it, you should borrow it from Joey Rigney, his roommates, or myself. This one will make you think about stuff you probably haven't thought about before, but are worth thought.

- Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot - Also one I'm sure most have read. If you haven't, I really think that this story of the life of Jim Elliot as told by his wife (Elisabeth) and his own journals and letters has potential to change your life. This bro did not care at all. He was sold out for JC in a way most would consider radical, but he (and probably the Good Book) would consider simply the call of duty as a bro or sis.

Music:
- Caedmons Call's "Share the Well" - This CD I would say has been the anthem of our trip (if indeed the trip needs an anthem album). The album is a product of the member's of Caedmon's Call's various M trips around the world. Lots of stuff about India, lots of quasi-indigenous sounds with foriegn instruments and lyrics, but a very tasty mix indeed. I plan on buying this one immidiately upon arriving in the States

- LeCrae and the 116 clique albums - just kidding, I haven't listened to these at all on this trip (until right now, as I type I'm listening to clips from the website). I'm really looking forward to my hip hop CD's, and to ordering the new 116 cut. holla.

- Anything by Mae, Copeland, or Emery - rock at it's finest.

- Chinese Pop music - most of this stuff is terrible. Chinese people don't have any other option really, it's either the really old traditional stuff (not bad), the techno (not good), and the pop (no better than in the States, therefore terrible)

VDSLRJU
I don't know what all else to say here. The past few days have been extremely enjoyable, however they haven't been overly eventful. I did successfully spend lots of money on souveniers and gifts for the fam (L.O., you aren't getting shoes... but instead something much tighter). I'm really starting to look forward to coming home and enjoying various luxuries one is able to enjoy in the States. I think that's all I've got to say really. I'm having a hard time focusing with all the smoke, sweat, and skeeters raping me. I'll be home in way less than 1000 hours. Don't loose sleep over me. Cheers.