Book Recommendations

I love to read. I can't read all the books I want to because of school right now, but I try to read as much as I can. If we are followers of Jesus, then we're disciples, and a disciple is a student. We're not just students for a season, we're lifelong students. And students are lifelong readers. So I encourage you to read books as often as you can, and read about subjects that you don't necessarily always agree with.

So without any further ado, here are some of the books I read in 2008 and I recommend to you. I read other books, but they aren't worth your time.

(In no particular order)

Axiom by Bill Hybels
In a pit with a lion on a snowy day by Mark Batterson
Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson
Walking with God by John Eldgridge
It by Craig Groeshel
This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley
The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson
Reversed Thunder by Eugene Peterson
Living the Resurrection by Eugene Peterson
In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero
The Living Church by John Stott
Prayer by Philip Yancey
The Great Omission by Dallas Willard
Experiential Worship by Bob Rognlien
The Worshippping Artist by Rory Noland
Ancient Future Worship by Robert Webber
Blended Worship by Robert Webber
Revelation's Rapsody by Bob Lowery
His Story, Our Response by Dinelle Frankland
The Shack by William Young
Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron

Joy

There is a rare and out of print Christmas cd that you have to have in your collection. It is titled
Joy and is recorded by Bebo Norman, Ed Cash and Levi Allen. This was put out in 1997 and is now hard to find. You can download the album from itunes, but good luck finding a cd.

Go out and get this album today. This is the best Christmas album I have ever listened to, and I've gotten a lot of my friends hooked on it too.

This is a collection of eclectic music, all with the foundation of acoustic guitars. Enjoy!

Advent

Most of the time, as the Christmas season approaches, our schedules fill up rapidly with parties, shopping outings and other festivities to celebrate the holidays. Unfortunately, most of us lose focus as to the real meaning of the season. We do not do this maliciously, we just get busy, and other things become our priority.

Each year as Christmas draws near, we hear the word Advent used. However, if you’re like me, you’ve never quite understood what the word fully meant, or how to observe the Advent season. So this year I created a Daily Advent Devotional. The link is below:

Advent Daily Devotional

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Advent has been celebrated since the year 400, and marks the beginning of the Christmas season. The word “Advent” means arrival or coming in Latin, and represents the approach of Christ’s birth (and fulfillment of the prophecies about that event); and the awaiting of Christ’s second coming. It is composed of the four Sundays before Christmas Day, starting on November 30th.

The theme of readings and teachings during Advent is often to prepare for the second coming while commemorating the first coming of Christ at Christmas. These readings direct our thoughts to the first coming of Jesus Christ as Savior, and to his second coming as Judge.

In Max Lucado’s book God Came Near, there is a short story titled “The Arrival”. It takes us through the environment of what it might have been like at the time of Christ’s birth, and shows how people weren’t intentionally neglecting the coming of the Messiah, they just weren’t preparing themselves for the arrival, and they missed it. Lucado then brings the story to the 21st century and closes the story with this powerful line, “Those who missed His majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking. Little has changed in the last two thousand years has it?”

Lucado’s words sting because we too have missed the real meaning of Christmas, and turned to secular materialism instead. I believe the remedy to recapturing the meaning of Christmas is by preparing ourselves daily and returning to the rich tradition of the church and observing Advent for the four weeks before Christmas in our churches.

I pray this will help enrich your Christmas season this year, and help prepare your heart for the arrival of our Messiah, Jesus Christ.