These reviews keep coming hot and heavy because I finished three books over the course of two days. One only took two days, one took a month, and one took almost 4 months. [The last one purposely took that long so I could digest it a few pages at a time, this will make more sense when the Book 14 review is up]
This one, All the Place to Go: How will you know? by John Ortberg took a month, As it was published this year I have decided to use it as V. A book published this year, I know I can get really creative sometimes. This was not my first brush with Mr. Ortberg's writing, nor will it be the last, I currently own another of his books that I am very much looking forward to reading at some point in the future, but I have to say that this one was at times a real slug fest. There were times when I breezed through sections, loving what I was reading. There were times when I was scratching my head about some of his conclusions. There were times that I was shaking my head at the ridiculousness of some of his pastor jokes. And, for the sake of honesty, there were times when I merely skimmed sections of the last two chapters because I just wanted to be done with the book.
I am not an official book reviewer, so my negative comments about a book isn't really going to change how many people read a book, To that end I will not dwell on them much, other than to say that at times Mr. Ortberg believes that God only has a general care about the choices we make while at other times God is the one who closes each door or forces us to go through one door or another. It seemed like he wanted it both ways, freedom of choice and a God in complete control, it is my contention that you can have either one or the other, but if you can believe both and not go crazy, be my guest. In addition Ortberg uses Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Places You'll Go! as a jumping off point for this book, peppering in a few rhymes from time to time, and while it is an interesting device, I don't believe it was the best idea. If I had to guess I would say that the book may have started off as a sermon series, and the rhymes may have worked a lot better orally than they do on paper.
As far as the good there are two thoughts that I want to focus on for the rest of our time together. First was Ortberg's rather brilliant point about the church that Jesus gives the "great" commission to, Ortberg points out that it is a group of 11, not 12. 12 being a direct reference to the 12 tribes of Israel, a sort of new Israel that Jesus has formed, a number of completeness, of wholeness, of readiness. 11 on the other hand is less than, it is not ready, it is not whole, it is not complete. The church that Jesus sends out to change the world is a church that is unequal to the task, which ultimately means they must rely on each other and rely on God in order to begin to accomplish the task.
The second thing I loved about this book was a 3 page section on God using us in circumstance that we care about. In other words God equips us to deal with things that we already have a heart for. You hate modern day slavery? Perhaps God is calling you to work to end it. You have many issues with unequal pay? Perhaps God is asking you to speak up. Ortberg titles the section "What's your problem?" and at base if we understand the things that make our blood boil we may already know where God is wanting us to affect change. I have read whole books about this one topic, Bill Hybels The Power of a Whisper comes to mind, that have taken a lot more space to explain what Ortberg does in three pages, and I give him kudos for that.
As I said, there were good things and bad things about this book. Would I recommend it? I'm not sure. If it sounds good to you maybe just get it from the library, like I did.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
Friday, June 19, 2015
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 12
We went to the public library the other day. We did this partly to officially log Henry's time reading with the Children's department, and by Henry's time I mean the time that Mary and I have read to Henry, which adds up pretty quickly if you count each time we read the same book again and again and again. We also went to check out the monthly book sale that the Friends of the Library runs on the third floor of the library. I left Henry with Mary and went to look for books that would interest me, I found a couple and then Mary gave me Henry so she could look and showed me a book about Everest that she thought I might want.
Why would she suggest a Book on Everest?
This might be as good a place as any to explain why I would possibly want a book about Everest. Well, I suppose that story start 6 years ago with the purchase of the newest novel [at the time] written by Jeffrey Archer. I am not sure if Archer's name will show up again on this particular quest, but he is arguably my favorite author, right up there with Stephen King and Rob Bell [the fact that those three names are at the top of my list is a prime example of my wide variety of tastes]. The book was Paths of Glory and it was a novelization of possibly the first people to ever reach the top of Everest, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine nearly 30 years before Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay. I was instantly taken in by the story Archer wove.
From Paths of Glory I began a ride on the Everest train, watching documentaries, tv shows on Discovery and reading books. For a fleeting moment in time I dreamed of actually attempting to climb Everest, a particularly foolhardy thought considering I have absolutely no experience climbing mountains and my most intense physical fitness is chasing my son down when he doesn't want a diaper change. With the help of rational thought I gave up the idea of climbing Everest, but it is still a fascination of mine, there are currently two movies in production about Everest, one about Mallory and Irvine and I cannot wait to see them.
Anyway, back to the plot...
So Mary suggested the book and I looked it over and found that it was a modern day equivalent of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, so I obviously decided to get it. For those of you who were unable to grow up reading Choose Your Own Adventure books I am so very very sorry, I am, fortunately, not one of your number and loved them as a kid. The official title of my new book was The Worst-Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure Everest, which is why from here on out I will address it simply as Everest. The book is written by Bill Doyle and David Borgenicht with David Morton, climbing consultant.
[For those keeping track I am using Everest as fulfilling X. A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit]
Being a book aimed at preteens and being in the vein as a Choose Your Own Adventure it was a pretty simple and quick read.The book is officially 203 pages long, with 17 pages of general information about Everest which they suggest reading before you attempt the rest of the book. Being interested in Everest and interested in successfully climbing the mountain [there ate 26 total endings, but only one that leads to ultimate success] I read the 17 pages. And then I successfully made my way through Everest on the first attempt. The information was pretty invaluable to making the trip up safely. All told the successful read took about 70 of the 185 pages of actual story.
This was the first time I can remember actually reaching the official end of a book where the choices are mine, it was very gratifying. Of course I was curious as to what would happen if I made other choices so I reread it several times, choosing the opposite choice and getting injured again and again and dying again and again and surviving to climb another day again and again. My favorite end would have made the story approximately 15 pages when you decide to eat an apple pie, get cramps, and fall and break both wrists.
It was a quick read. It was a fun read. It was most definitely worth the $0.25 that we paid for it.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 11
Upon writing my last post two things happened. First, my friend Scott, upon reading my post, commented that there was a book similar to The Silence of our Friends titled March. Second, my wife and I had a discussion about The Silence of our Friends, race, and particularly about something that I had written in my previous post, "I read this book and think very highly of all of the white people who stood side by side with those who were fighting for the same rights as the majority." No, we didn't discuss its uneven flow of a sentence, there is probably a word or two missing that should be there for grammatical sense, what we talked about was how it often seems that it is the majority that tells the story of the minority and we are not only missing out on the actual story but also lifting up those who fight alongside as opposed to those who are actually a part of the struggle.
Part of me looks up to those who choose to stand alongside those who are fighting for their rights because of the courage they have to do so, especially in light of the cowardice that I so often show by not standing with those who are in the same struggle. But I do understand that those who stand beside have less to lose, they already have what other people are attempting to get. If Civil Rights had failed the whites would have went back to their neighborhoods with the same rights they had at the beginning of the battle, still been accepted in polite society, still went to better schools, sat in the front of buses, and generally not questioned about why they should be allowed to do the things they wanted to do. If Civil Rights had failed African Americans would have went back to their neighborhoods with the same rights they had at the beginning of the battle, accepted only in the company of like skinned individuals, been forced to sit where they were told and when they were told, been forced to go to crumbling schools with little supplies, and generally be questioned anytime they wanted anything from anyone that didn't look like them.
That is a wide gulf, and I am fully aware of it, but it is not my story. I read The Silence of our Friends because I found it on the library shelf and it caught my attention, it told the story of one moment of the battle for Civil Rights mostly from the perspective of a white family and it was informative, but it did not tell the whole story, nor the most important part of the story, hence I went looking for more. Which led me back to Scott's comment about another story.
For my 11th book of the year I read March Book One and March Book Two [Book Three is currently being written and when it arrives on shelves I will also read that] written by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and illustrated by Nate Powell. That last name should sound familiar to those of you who read my previous post as Nate Powell was also the illustrator for The Silence of Our Friends. To those of you versed in politics or the Civil Rights movement the name John Lewis should also be familiar with you having been a key member of the movement, including speaking during the 1963 March on Washington, the same March that included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
[to those of you keeping track I am using March Book One and Book Two to cover "XVI. A book you learned about because of this challenge" on my book list]
The books are told from the perspective of Congressman Lewis retelling his story, from his beginnings on a farm in Alabama through his first brushes with Civil Rights to his rise in the movement, to a family who has come for the inauguration of President Obama.
March Book One spans Congressman Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his introduction to the nonviolence movement, his first meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation beginning with occupying lunch counters, building to a climax on the steps of City Hall. We are shown the love of education that pushed the Congressman to follow his heart as opposed to his father's wishes. We see his eyes being opened to how his people are being treated through the experience of a northern visit with his uncle. We see into his first experiences with the way of Ghandi and Jesus overcoming violence with nonviolence.
March Book Two takes us from the victory in Nashville forward into new battlefields. Congressman Lewis joins the Freedom Riders on a journey into the deep south by bus. We see the Freedom Riders faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment and murder, yet continue the ride with courage. We see Congressman Lewis in prison. We witness George Wallace's "Segregation Forever" speech. We see the behind the scenes workings of the beginning of the "Big Six" [Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer (founder of CORE), A. Phillip Randolph (organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters), Roy Wilkins (executive director of the NAACP), Whitney Young (National Urban League), and John Lewis (president of SNCC)]. Book Two culminates with Congressman Lewis's speech at the 1963 march.
March Book One and Book Two are very much worth your time if you are at all interested in the Civil Rights movement. They are written by a man who was very much a part of the struggle, a man who was beaten and put down, a man who overcame the violence through force of will, a man who rose up not with fists and guns but with words and a conviction that what was promised in our founding documents was an ideal to fight for.
As Soren Kirkegaard said, "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." Is this ever more true than in a story told from the moment an African American man becomes president of a nation that once enslaved his race? The struggle of John Lewis and millions like him moved our country forward, step by step, into a bright today, but today is not the end point, it is not the goal, the struggle continues and we must live it forwards.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
p.s. If you are in Anderson and would like to read these books our public library does contain a physical copy of March Book Two, but March Book One is only available as a digital resource through Indiana Digital Media.
Part of me looks up to those who choose to stand alongside those who are fighting for their rights because of the courage they have to do so, especially in light of the cowardice that I so often show by not standing with those who are in the same struggle. But I do understand that those who stand beside have less to lose, they already have what other people are attempting to get. If Civil Rights had failed the whites would have went back to their neighborhoods with the same rights they had at the beginning of the battle, still been accepted in polite society, still went to better schools, sat in the front of buses, and generally not questioned about why they should be allowed to do the things they wanted to do. If Civil Rights had failed African Americans would have went back to their neighborhoods with the same rights they had at the beginning of the battle, accepted only in the company of like skinned individuals, been forced to sit where they were told and when they were told, been forced to go to crumbling schools with little supplies, and generally be questioned anytime they wanted anything from anyone that didn't look like them.
That is a wide gulf, and I am fully aware of it, but it is not my story. I read The Silence of our Friends because I found it on the library shelf and it caught my attention, it told the story of one moment of the battle for Civil Rights mostly from the perspective of a white family and it was informative, but it did not tell the whole story, nor the most important part of the story, hence I went looking for more. Which led me back to Scott's comment about another story.
For my 11th book of the year I read March Book One and March Book Two [Book Three is currently being written and when it arrives on shelves I will also read that] written by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and illustrated by Nate Powell. That last name should sound familiar to those of you who read my previous post as Nate Powell was also the illustrator for The Silence of Our Friends. To those of you versed in politics or the Civil Rights movement the name John Lewis should also be familiar with you having been a key member of the movement, including speaking during the 1963 March on Washington, the same March that included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
[to those of you keeping track I am using March Book One and Book Two to cover "XVI. A book you learned about because of this challenge" on my book list]
The books are told from the perspective of Congressman Lewis retelling his story, from his beginnings on a farm in Alabama through his first brushes with Civil Rights to his rise in the movement, to a family who has come for the inauguration of President Obama.
March Book One spans Congressman Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his introduction to the nonviolence movement, his first meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation beginning with occupying lunch counters, building to a climax on the steps of City Hall. We are shown the love of education that pushed the Congressman to follow his heart as opposed to his father's wishes. We see his eyes being opened to how his people are being treated through the experience of a northern visit with his uncle. We see into his first experiences with the way of Ghandi and Jesus overcoming violence with nonviolence.
March Book Two takes us from the victory in Nashville forward into new battlefields. Congressman Lewis joins the Freedom Riders on a journey into the deep south by bus. We see the Freedom Riders faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment and murder, yet continue the ride with courage. We see Congressman Lewis in prison. We witness George Wallace's "Segregation Forever" speech. We see the behind the scenes workings of the beginning of the "Big Six" [Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer (founder of CORE), A. Phillip Randolph (organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters), Roy Wilkins (executive director of the NAACP), Whitney Young (National Urban League), and John Lewis (president of SNCC)]. Book Two culminates with Congressman Lewis's speech at the 1963 march.
March Book One and Book Two are very much worth your time if you are at all interested in the Civil Rights movement. They are written by a man who was very much a part of the struggle, a man who was beaten and put down, a man who overcame the violence through force of will, a man who rose up not with fists and guns but with words and a conviction that what was promised in our founding documents was an ideal to fight for.
As Soren Kirkegaard said, "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." Is this ever more true than in a story told from the moment an African American man becomes president of a nation that once enslaved his race? The struggle of John Lewis and millions like him moved our country forward, step by step, into a bright today, but today is not the end point, it is not the goal, the struggle continues and we must live it forwards.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
p.s. If you are in Anderson and would like to read these books our public library does contain a physical copy of March Book Two, but March Book One is only available as a digital resource through Indiana Digital Media.
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