Life Here and There

Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership by Tim Irwin is one of the most frightening books I’ve ever read… and if you’re in leadership, you should buy it and be frightened by it as well!

Irwin does a masterful job of presenting a comprehensive take on the subject of failure. Irwin lays the groundwork by speaking of the qualities that prevent derailment that should be a part of every leader’s life. Thomas Nelson’s description of the book puts it this way…

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It’s been a while since I’ve done an article in the “great books series” but I thought I’d write one today after thumbing through a couple on my shelf on the subject of grace. Grace is a tough subject in terms of Christian theology because godly men and great scholars disagree on the intricacies of how we’re to live under it. Here are five books on the subject of grace, which actually offer some diversity of opinion…

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Just wanted to pass along to any readers interested in Christian resources, books, conferences, discipleship materials, etc. – DiscipleGuide (the Church resource arm of the BMA of America) now has a Facebook fan page and they’re offering a discount to anyone who becomes a fan. You can check out the deals they’re offering by clicking this link.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0 (none)

Amazon’s Kindle Wireless Reading Device (aff) has just dropped in price today from $299 to $259! Why is that cool? Because with a Kindle, you can read books anywhere. I’ve seen people sitting in cars in the school car rider line, in waiting rooms, and driving down the interstate (kidding) reading their Kindles. Why don’t I have one? Because I use the Kindle iphone app, which is free. I’ve bought a few books though.

Other companies are releasing competing devices, but the Kindle may be the king of the market for a short time. Personally, I still love the feel of a nice hardback book – the older, the better – unless my wife is shopping. Then the iphone is nice!

I’m not a NASCAR fan, but my friend Rick Lemons is, and he’s written a book that I was just given by a friend. It’s simply called The Race. I’ve skimmed it and like what I see so far as Rick compares the Christian life to a NASCAR race. I’ll write more on it later, but wanted to pass along the suggestion/promotion.

I’m returning to my great books series with a list of some of my favorite concise commentaries on the whole Bible. These are resources I highly recommend to people looking for a somewhat brief (but still thorough) explanation of virtually every passage of Scripture in the Bible.

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I’m attempting to begin a new habit – once per week I’d like to pass on a list of five great books on some subject. I’ll try to keep it up until I run out of subjects or books I’ve read. I’ll be passing on suggestions concerning subjects such as the Holy Spirit, the Church, Leadership, Theology, etc. and even a few study Bibles.

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Once you spit something out, you can’t take it back. We see this principle demonstrated all the time in the media. A leader or celebrity says something insensitive and suddenly heads roll. Jesus said our words are an indicator of our heart, and the Proverbs tell us that you can’t recover words once you’ve thrown them out there. So choose wisely what you’re about to say.

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I’m an avid reader, online and off. I love great blogs and I love good books even more. I may never own a Kindle because I still like to open a book with a spine. There’s a problem with reading though – it takes time, and there are way to many books and articles to read to be wasting so much time reading. What’s the solution? Speed reading.

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Matthew Paul Turner, who maintains a blog called Jesus Needs New PR, has written a wonderful book about his experience growing up in a strict, fundamentalist Christian home. In the end, Matthew is a worshipper in the genuine sense of one weak and feeble human being grasping at a God who loves him, but his journey there seems much like an obstacle course crowded with all the legalistic teachings of a generation of Christianity gone mad.

I identified heavily with the atmosphere Turner describes. As a Pastor, I’ve gone through a few phases in which I struggled with defining righteousness in external terms. In the zeal and passion of my earliest days of preaching, I sometimes unfairly judged other believers on the bases of outward practices, styles, and personal preferences. God has matured me since then and I now hunger for a truly authentic faith. I also hunger for an atmosphere under my own leadership where guys like Matthew can worship without fear.

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