Just Courage

A couple of years ago, I heard Gary Haugen speak at the Leadership Summit and learned about the International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is a human rights agency that works to get justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violent oppression all over the world. I was moved by the presentation and the reminder that God is at work all over the world, using a variety of different means to bring relief and salvation to the poor and oppressed. Sometimes we think God only works through one group of people and in only one way, or that God is most concerned about what we know instead of what we do. Not so!

After the presentation, I bought the book, "Just Courage" by Gay Haugen. If you are looking for a read that will inspire you to be used by God to help and serve people, then you might want to check it out.

Also, check out the IJM web site at http://www.ijm.org/

I love books

The writer Umberto Eco is the owner of a large personal library (containing thirty thousand books), and separates visitors into two categories:
…those who react with "Wow! Signore professore dottore Eco, what a library you have! How many of these books have you read?"
…and the others -- a very small minority -- who get the point that a private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool….

Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an anti-library. (From the introduction to “The Black Swan,” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb)

Indelible Ink, pt. 2

Last night, I read another chapter of Indelible Ink. This chapter was written by Charles Colson, special counsel to President Nixon, who spent time in prison and became a Christian and started Prison Fellowship.

Colson top three books that have shaped his faith are:
"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis (who knows what the C. and the S. stand for?)
"Confessions" and "The City of God" by Augustine of Hippo (also known as St. Augustine)
"How should we then live?" by Francis Schaeffer

I find it very interesting to read about how books impact and shape people's lives. What books have shaped your life? If you haven't developed your own list, maybe you should.

Books

I just picked up a book I am looking forward to starting soon. It's called Indelible Ink. This book was put together by someone who sat down with 22 prominent Christian leaders and asked them which books, other than the Bible, most shaped thier faith.

Some of the leaders in this book include: Joni Aereckson Tada, Charles Colson, Calvin Miller, Michael Card, Dallas Willard, J.I. Packer, Liz Curtis Higgs, John Stott, Josh McDowell, and Larry Crabb. It should be interesting to discover the different avenues God has used to grow these men. My guess is that I will see God in a new way by exploring their experiences with God.