Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Books I'm reading right now

Renovation of the heart in Daily Practice
Dallas Willard & Jan Johnson

It's gives a short devotional thought about the nature of the spiritual life and then provides some 'experiments' you can choose to do that day. Today I read how 'loving' is different from 'acting loving'. I did one of their exercises and imagined Jesus doing the loving action of blessing the children. I imagined his face as he did it and the effect it had on those children. It was comforting and renewing.

Three Cups of Tea
Greg Mortenson and David Oliver

Tells the story of one man's passion and vision for building schools (and then vocational centres, infrastructure and clinics) in the remotest villages of Northern Pakistan. The descriptions of the mountainscape brings back the incredible scenery and grandeur we experienced on our family holidays and I have a few giggles at his accounts of the frustrations of getting things done in Pakistan. A worthy story though, especially if you're interested in the area. Greg Mortenson was an MK from Tanzania. I wouldn't call him Christian now, but it's interesting discussion material about his approach to Islam, and the evangelism potential of what he's doing.

Three Dollars
Elliot Perlman

Don't like this. It's a novel, but I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to be about (apart from one man's fleeting glimpses of his childhood love 'Amanda' throughout his life.) It has won lots of awards, but it doesn't grab me. I'm reading it for Book Club, and perhaps am finding a small amount of rebellion coming out of me because of my obligation to it. The words I would use to describe it are: pretentious, convoluted, self-indulgent.

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