Publications

Living by Kingdom Narratives

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good_and_beautiful_god The idea behind James Bryan Smith’s The Good and Beautiful God (InterVarsity Press, 2009) is twofold. First, spiritual growth generally requires intentionality and discipline--hence the "soul training" exercises at the end of each chapter. Second, many Christians struggle with loving and growing in God. A common cause of these struggles is "false narratives," misconceptions about God that we may or may not realize we have, but that make a huge difference in our spirituality. ("God wants me to try harder," "God blesses me when I'm good but punishes me when I'm bad," etc.)

From Unceasing Thinking to Unceasing Prayer

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sunwoods1 Our minds are always active. We analyze, reflect, daydream, or dream. There is not a moment during the day or night when we are not thinking. You might say our thinking is "unceasing." Sometimes we wish that we could stop thinking for a while; that would save us from many worries, guilt feelings, and fears. Our ability to think is our greatest gift, but it is also the source of our greatest pain. Do we have to become victims of our unceasing thoughts? No, we can convert our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer by making our inner monologue into a continuing dialogue with our God, who is the source of all love.

Let's break out of our isolation and realize that Someone who dwells in the center of our beings wants to listen with love to all that occupies and preoccupies our minds.

From Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

The Book of God

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The Bible as a Novel

Walter Wangerin tells the story of the Bible as a novel with God and the Bible characters we know so well engaging in dialog and actions that make it The Greatest Story Every Told.

Priests, kings, prophets, apostles, shepherds, and common people, all have roles with a purpose in the spiritual story of mankind that reach out of the pages of a well known but not always well understood old book in a way that speaks to us today.

The Knowledge of the Holy

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The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer was originally published in 1961 but has become a modern classic treatise about the attributes of God.

knowledge_of_the_holy_tozer Tozer (1897-1963), an evangelical theologian and pastor, helps us understand the nature of God through thoughtful discussion about such topics as: thinking rightly about God, His immutability, God’s Holiness, Devine wisdom, transcendence, justice, and mercy, to name a few.

This short book is divided into 23 chapters; each on a different attribute. Each chapter is short but all ‘meat’, making it a great resource for individual Bible study or small group discussion. It can be found in paperback for a few dollars or downloaded from several free Internet locations. The Knowledge of the Holy is a must study for all Christians.

What Makes A Difference?

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Prayer. Does it make any difference? Is written by Philip Yancey (Zondervan, 2006) in his easy to understand conversational style.

prayer_yancey Yancey explores many of the same questions we all have: Why pray? What should I pray for? How and when should I pray? What difference does it make? Why doesn’t God answer my prayers? Do my prayers actually change God’s mind? Yancy draws on his considerable experience with others to give poignant examples and illustrations for gaining insight into these and many other questions. This book is a candid discussion of prayer for anyone wishing to better understand and deepen their prayer life.