Friday, January 4, 2008

More Recommended Readings

For Christmas I received an audio version of The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. Even though I've read it several times, I was thrilled to obtain it and have already begun reading it again, if listening to books can be termed reading.

When I was young I used to visit the headquarters for Worldwide Evangelization Crusade in Fort Washington, PA. The executive director was an exceedingly wise and humble man named Elwin Palmer. Whenever I visited WEC I would try to spend a little time with Mr. Palmer. (My first goal when visiting was to meet and spend time with Norman Grubb, whose books had powerfully influenced me at that time.) There were some other remarkable people there. They had 1000 missionaries, and did not believe in asking for support but trusting God and prayer to provide all their needs. Anyways, Elwin Palmer said his favorite book was The Great Divorce, which naturally led me to obtain and read it.

Another rare gem is Lewis' The Weight of Glory and Other Essays. The first essay, "The Weight of Glory", about fifteen pages, is worthy of an annual review and has life changing implications. I guarantee you will remember for ever the point he makes in this essay.

As I am often fond of saying, the two greatest influences on our lives are the people we meet and the books we read. Here is a short list of thought provoking or entertaining readings from recent years.

(1) Relativism ~ by Francis Beckwith & Gregory Koukl
(2) The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America ~ by Philip Howard
(3) The Great Divorce ~ by C.S. Lewis
(4) False Presence of the Kingdom ~ by Jacques Ellul
(5) Bias ~ by Bernard Goldberg
(6) Blinded by the Right ~ David Brock
(7) John Adams ~ by David McCullough
(8) The World Is Flat ~ by Thomas Friedman
(9) A Bend in the River ~ V.S. Naipaul
(10) Mere Christianity ~ C.S. Lewis

(Bonus Recommendation) Boogers Are My Beat ~ by Dave Barry

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ed,

Thank you for posting the quotes from the times that you visited the WEC as a young man on the following page:

http://www.cp.duluth.mn.us/~ennyman/seeds06.html

The Lord Jesus had me find them years ago and has sustained me with them ever since. I even have a couple of them posted next to my bedside at home:

"Live in God, not your emotions. I'm an emotional person, too. Live in God. In Him we live and move and have our being; not in our emotions. Live in God." -- Bessie Adams

"The supreme test of faith is waiting, and it yields the supreme reward . . . Waiting, and being content to wait, can be the most difficult thing in Christianity." -- Alfred Ruscoe

Thanks again and God bless.

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