Hey all/you few out there. I got a bit bored of blogging. So I stopped. Now I'm trying again. This kind of feels like some kind of mechanical weekend DIY project, that is being slowly worked on in one's spare time: grand ideas and desgins, then hitting initial difficulties, interjected with occasional spurts of progress before everything breaking down again and a hitting brick wall. I probably don't have to explain, you hopefully get what I mean. I don't think I can describe what is goin on in my head as well as the great CS Lewis can, whose autobiography I recently picked up for some 'light reading'. That man is clever. We should read more books like he did in his youth, which I do not doubt result made him the writer he was. I have 'plans' to blog about my thoughts on it. In the mean time, read it for yourself (Surprised By Joy; CS Lewis). Not just Christian-y books, but anything and everything. I listened to a sermon by Jerry Root on him, and one of his points, and something which is often stressed in seminars and talks, is the importance of being 'normal' and getting alongside people, befriending them and sharing the answers we have found to our mutual questions in the person of Jesus Christ, which is what JR points to one of the factors in making Lewis such a good and successful Christian 'apologist'. We, I, need to do more 'normal' things, not dismiss my interests as timewasting, but use them and develop them so that I may be an interesting person and be able to connect with people personally, and not be shut in my Christian bubble, which I am still as I write this, reluctant to pop.
But I digress from the more mundane purpose of this blog post, aimed at getting back on the blogging wagon. Though now my digression highlights just how I am not exactly fulfilling what I've set out to do! I still am excited about it though, and hopefully it is step in the right direction.
Recently I was in Scotland where my grandparents live/lived -my Grandpa Keith William Murray Sinclair paassing away 22nd Dec 2007 (He has 'to be with Christ, which is far better' as his epitaph, which I would hope would be something as accuratey said of me as we can confidently look back on his life and who he was knowing he meant it)- and found that the many shelves of books that I had wondered what on earth were, turned out to be great books Christian books, many of which are/were on my increasingly long list to buy. In particular, one book I had just heard John Piper give a talk on -Lessons from the Life of John G. Paton- which I strongly recommend you have a listen to, I found on the shelf! What joy! Really, I was very happy indeed, as you might well be if you listen to the talk and like me conclude you MUST read his story for yourself.
So, I wanted to list today all the books I found, and have now been given/taken, as no-one else wants them amongst my cousins, and destined for obscurity now WKMS has 'gone to be with Christ...' and added to my own growing 'library'. So why not list them on here? You reading are welcome to borrow any of these. Except the John G. Paton one, I want to read that as soon as possible! Did I mention he came from the other side of the town where my grandparents live? Yes, yes he did! How cool is that...well, it is to me!
Recommend or warn me as you see fit...
Here goes:
Keeping In Step With The Spirit; JI Packer
The Abolition of Man; CS Lewis
Broadcast Talks (the orginal!); CS Lewis
Screwtape Proposes A Toast and Other Peices; CS Lewis INCLUDING 'THE WEIGHT OF GLORY SERMON'! Again, oh joy. I have been looking for this after so many people have hailed it as a great essay/sermon. Sorry, outburst over.... :)
Our Ultimate Refuge; Oswald Chambers
Abraham, Friend of God (or The Obedience of Faith); FB Meyer
God's Fool; George N. Paterson
Christian Counter-Culture; John Stott
A Commentary On Genesis; John Calvin
The Message of Acts; John Stott x2
The Message of Galatians; John Stott x2
The Message of 2 Timothy; John Stott
The Message of Romans; John Stott
The Message of Jeremiah; Derek Kinder
The Message of Daniel; Ronald S. Wallace
The Message of Hosea; Derek Kinder
The Message of Genesis 12-50; Joyce G. Baldwin
The Daily Study Bible: Deuteronomy; David F. Payne
The Daily Study Bible: Psalms, Vol. 1&2; GAF Knight
Tyndale OT Commentaries, Ezra & Nehemiah; Derek Kinder
Tyndale OT Commentaries, Judges & Ruth; AE Cundall & Leon Morris
Tyndale NT Commentaries, Romans; FF Bruce
Hebrews for Everyone; Tom Wright
1 Kings - 2 Chronicles; Howard Marshall
Philippians; Geoffrey B. Wilson
The Message; Eugene H. Peterson
Proverbs; Eugene H. Peterson
Moody Without Sankey; JC Pollock
The Journal of John Wesley; Moody Press
John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides, An Autobiography
Sirs, Be Of Good Cheer; Mrs Howard Taylor
George Muller of Bristol; Dr AT Pierson
Jungle Pilot, The Life & Witness of Nate Saint; RT Hitt
Biography of James Hudson Taylor; Dr & Mrs Taylor
John Calvin; THL Parker
See you in 20 years when I've read the good ones...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
dude thats not a blog, thats a list :P
ReplyDelete"Keep in Step with the Spirit" by Packer: love it! It's fairly intense at points and should be tackled a chapter at a time, with a Bible handy to look up the references, but I've found it very profitable. Really set the tone of my thinking about the Christian life and seeking to live in a way that brings glory to God. It's almost a "pneumatic ethics", but I don't think Packer would have liked/used the word "ethics" for life in the Spirit.
ReplyDelete