Learning & Growth

Think Ahead (book review)

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Books aren’t like movies. Some movies you can watch over and over (at the top of my list, Moneyball). There are few books I’ve read that I thought to myself, “I would read this over and over.” Actually, outside of The Bible, I’ve only said that about a couple of books.

ALERT: Craig Groeschel‘s latest book Think Ahead makes the list.

What constitutes a book being re-readable? Well, compare that to the benefits of regular exercise. You do it because it’s good for you-you need it to improve your quality of life.

There you go. I believe there are books worth reading more than once because they improve quality of life. That’s the top criteria.

Similarly like regular exercise, there are books that reading it once isn’t enough. Going to the gym only on January 1st annually isn’t enough. There must be multiple visits. Only once doesn’t cut it. Some books have the level of content that you know when you read it, “I’m going to need this again down the road.”

To be honest, the big idea of Think Ahead comes pretty naturally to me. That idea is the power of pre-deciding. In his epilogue, Groeschel says this about that power:

  • Pre-deciding reduces the number of decisions to make.
  • Pre-deciding reduces the fear of deciding wrong.
  • Pre-deciding prevents emotion from taking over.

Whether pre-deciding is a natural way of living for you or not, here’s the deal: no one is perfect. Decision-making can become overwhelming in unforeseen circumstances. Some decisions are harder than others urging paralyzing fear. In either of these scenarios, emotions can lead us astray.

After one read in 2024, I’m pretty sure Think Ahead deserves a second read. And if it is going to improve my life quality, I guess I’m pre-deciding-Think Ahead is on the list to read for 2025.

2024 Library

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For a seventh year I have followed a self-developed reading strategy with the objective to read broader. The goal: read books falling under diverse headings. This strategy is still working for me, another rich year of reading.

For the curious, here is the library of 19 books including avenue of reading:

  • A Trip Around the Sun by Mark Batterson and Richard Foth (hoopla)
  • Against Empathy by Paul Bloom (hoopla)
  • And There Was Light by Jacques Lusseyran (hoopla audio)…most thought-provoking book on the list
  • Attached to God by Krispin Mayfield (hoopla)…my favorite book on the list
  • Awe by Paul David Tripp (hoopla)…9th annual read
  • The Complete Guide to the Prayers of Jesus by Janet Holm McHenry (hard copy)…most compelling book on the list
  • Creation Regained by Albert M. Wolters (hoopla)
  • From the Mouth of Dogs by B.J. Hollars (hard copy)…most engaging book on the list
  • Greetings from Duluth by B.J. Hollars (hoopla)
  • Humble Inquiry by Edgar Schein (hoopla)
  • The Last Exchange by Charles Martin (hoopla)
  • Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen (hoopla)
  • The Pleasure of His Company by Dutch Sheets (hard copy)
  • Sacred Scars by Michelle Bengtson (hoopla)
  • Say All the Unspoken Things by John Sowers (hard copy)…the best big idea book on the list
  • The Shift by Colby Martin (hoopla)
  • Think Ahead by Craig Groeschel (hoopla)…most helpful book on the list, under consideration as an annual read
  • Unclobbered by Colby Martin (hoopla)
  • What Aging Men Want by John C. Robinson (hoopla)…most practical book on the list

NOTE: If you’re not familiar with hoopla, check it out: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

Photo by Maël BALLAND on Unsplash

And There Was Light (book review)

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Last year I came across Jacques Lusseyran’s story by reading a collection of his essays. Before I left on my Christmas road trip last week while looking for an audio book to listen to, I was thrilled to find Lusseyran’s memoir, And There Was Light. What a story to listen to during this season of the year!

In my 2024 Library posting that you’ll find tomorrow, I’ve called this book the most thought-provoking book I read this year. Here are five reasons:

  • Lusseyran convinces you he can see light despite being blind
  • Lusseyran and his young friends lead a significant Nazi resistance in France
  • Lusseyran shows you the power of words, both spoken and written
  • Lusseyran reminds you of the strength of the human spirit whose foundation is faith in God
  • Lusseyran proves odds can be broken

There are so many quotes worth noting from this memoir. That’s one downfall to listening to it-unable to highlight them. However, I’d encourage you to listen to it rather than read it. Andre Gregory’s narration draws you into the world of a blind child who grows into a hero, a choice he made so all would be drawn to the light.

If you are a lover of history, check out this book.

If you enjoy World War II stories, check out this book.

If you are clueless like I was about the French resistance, check out this book.

If you wish to better understand the world of the blind, check out this book.

If you wish to shine light into the dark, check out this book.

Sealing Hope for ’25

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Recently gave my Kindle away. Just lying around, it was time to give it a new home.

When I was looking through the library I had built on it before deactivating it, there was one book that I knew I’d want to find a way to keep. GOOD NEWS: It’s on Hoopla!

If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, this book will most likely sound familiar. Why? Because since 2016 I’ve read it every year. I just finished the ’24 reading. It may be the last time I hold to an annual commitment to read it. No doubt, I glean relevant takeaways each time I read it. And, interestingly, with each reading, I also observe personal growth based on the lens of my reading and my responses.

Paul David Tripp’s Awe is the book. This reading, chapters 7, 10, and 13 received the most highlights. Chapter 10, “Worldview,” is always a great reminder of how to look at current circumstances:

Your idea of God will never be either accurate or stable if you’ve arrived at it by trying to figure out what he is doing in the situations in your life…when you wear the glasses of Isaiah 40 you can understand yourself, others, meaning and purpose, right and wrong, identity, morality history, and the future properly.

Chapter 13, “Work,” I’ve blogged about before. What stood out today was Tripp’s many references to rest, which is my word for 2025.

Success is not about accruing power but about resting in God’s power…Awe of God teaches me that, by grace, my life of work can now be an expression of rest and not worry.

Chapter 7, “Complaint,” is consistently corrective, which oddly can be encouraging. The meat of the chapter discusses five questions that Tripp says steal or seal our hope; Tripp believes we answer these questions every day:

  • Is God good?
  • Will God do what he promised?
  • Is God in control?
  • Does God have the needed power?
  • Does God care about me?

I encourage you to sit with these questions this week. They may renew your awe for what’s happened in ’24. They may seal your hope for what’s going to happen in ’25.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Making Sure Not to Forget

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Caught another intriguing episode of Everything Happens. The title: Living with the End in Mind. Kate’s guest: Dr. Kathryn Mannix, palliative care physician and cognitive behavioral therapist.

One story Dr. Mannix relayed towards the end of the conversation was a detailed account of a cancer patient, a mother expressing deep worry about what her death would mean for her children. In a very specific notion of what it would mean for her daughter to be motherless, she said “they’ll be nobody to tell her about periods.”

These types of worries and thoughts became their work. One tool they devised to deal with them was by keeping a worry book.

This is another really great technique. So every time her thought monster gave her another thing to worry about, instead of worrying about it, because worry is our way of making sure we don’t forget to deal with something. If you get a little worry book, you just write it down and say “okay, gotcha, thanks. Bye. You can go now because I’ve captured it.” And next time I have worry time, which is my appointment with myself once a week to sit down and look at my list of things that I mustn’t forget to worry about. Sometimes when you look at the list, you can see three of them that actually, I was obviously having a really bad day that day because they are just not worth worrying about. Just cross those ones right out. And that still leaves me with a few. So which couple shall I tackle today? And so it moves us from being at the mercy of all difficult thoughts. To being the person who’s choosing when and how to think about those difficult thoughts.

How did you like that definition of worry: our way of making sure we don’t forget to deal with something?

I relate. Not that I keep a book, but I’ve found that choosing when and how to think about difficult thoughts is freeing. And dare I say holy.

Why holy? It seems to align with a portion of the Sermon on Mount found in Matthew. Here’s the portion I’m thinking about:

25 “I tell you, do not worry. Don’t worry about your life and what you will eat or drink. And don’t worry about your body and what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than eating? Aren’t there more important things for the body than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air. They don’t plant or gather crops. They don’t put away crops in storerooms. But your Father who is in heaven feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? 27 Can you add even one hour to your life by worrying?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the wild flowers grow. They don’t work or make clothing. 29 But here is what I tell you. Not even Solomon in all his royal robes was dressed like one of these flowers. 30 If that is how God dresses the wild grass, won’t he dress you even better? Your faith is so small! After all, the grass is here only today. Tomorrow it is thrown into the fire. 31 So don’t worry. Don’t say, ‘What will we eat?’ Or, ‘What will we drink?’ Or, ‘What will we wear?’ 32 People who are ungodly run after all those things. Your Father who is in heaven knows that you need them. 33 But put God’s kingdom first. Do what he wants you to do. Then all those things will also be given to you.

I’m not suggesting it would be appropriate, even empathetic, to quote these verses to someone pondering their death. What I am saying is the principal of kingdom living that says, “God knows what I need. He knows what everyone in my life needs right now. And my not being here won’t change that. It’s hard to keep that thought first. But it’s possible. And the thoughts that keep me from doing that need to be captured. When I do that and the more I do that, God is free to give me what I need right now, and free to give those I’m worried about what they need now…and the next day…and the next day… and the next day…“

If you find yourself in a place where God isn’t free to give you what you need, maybe a worry book would be a great gift to yourself for Christmas or the New Year…so you don’t forget to deal with something…so God can.

Photo by Freddy Castro on Unsplash

Piano Lessons on Humility

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Bored between football and hockey late this afternoon, my surfing led me to a documentary mid-air. It being about a piano, I paused and didn’t move the channel.

Piano to Zanskar is an award-winning British documentary film which tells the story of Desmond O’Keeffe, also known as Mr Gentle, a 65-year old piano tuner who embarks on an impossible mission.

Facing his future in retirement, “sitting in deck chairs and eating lemon drizzle cake”, Desmond decides instead to take on the most challenging and perilous delivery of his four decade career: transporting a 100 year-old, 80 kilo, Broadwood and Sons upright piano, from bustling London to the remote heart of the Indian Himalayas. 

Setting off from his busy workshop in Camden Town, and enlisting the help of two young and eager apprentices, Desmond’s ambitious destination is a primary school in Lingshed, Zanskar. At 14,000 feet above sea level, it is one of the most isolated settlements in the world. 

At 56 years of age, I continue to receive lessons on humility; they come faster and deeper. Watching this film, I faced several realities of extraordinary privilege my life has afforded that I must stop taking for granted.

  • Grew up in a home with a piano. (As of 2015, one in 3,788 U.S. families owned a piano. That statistic for the world isn’t known.)
  • Received piano lessons at various levels.
  • Earned a degree in music education.
  • Taught piano for seven years.
  • Started a piano competition in the early 90’s, now known as The Greater Jacksonville Federation Piano Competition, that continues today.
  • Have played for thousands of church worshippers in America, Belarus, and Jordan.

God has used pianos to heal me, to touch others, and to lift his name high.

For His sake, may the humility lessons continue.

Discovering Who You Really Are

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Wednesday I asked a pastor a theological question worded something like this: “There’s two views on this topic. Which one do you take?”

I’ve experienced two reactions to this question: “How much time do you have” or “Really? That’s what we’re doing right now?” His rolled eyes didn’t match his answer.

I see a tension between both of those. So I see both of them in Scripture, and sometimes I just have to say you can’t answer that tension… I think we need to just to leave that tension there than trying to answer it, because Scripture doesn’t answer the tension.

“That tension can’t be answered. Just leave it there.”

His response was worded unlike any other. Even if pastors acknowledge the tension and would like to avoid it, no one has expressed their view like this. Bottom line: it’s okay to not have the answer. It’s actually better for peace and rest to not force one for any reason.

Continuing to chew on his answer I find it refreshing, particularly when applied to other tensions society revels over debating and dividing over. Millions of dollars and minutes are wasted over tensions that just need to be left alone.

The pastor’s reply modeled this beatitude: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.” In his paraphrase The Message, Eugene Peterson wrote “that’s when you discover who you really are and your place in God’s family.”

Here’s to resting in our place in God’s family!

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Eternal Fences

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I’ve had fences on my mind. Apparently, they have permanent residence and need to be managed.

This is my way of understanding a season I’ve recently emerged from, a season I always seem to have a foot in. I call it the what’s next season.  That question keeps a firm grip on my brain, if I let it. And that’s where the fences come in.

Sometimes I recognize it; sometimes I don’t. The temptation to look over the fence. The temptation isn’t necessarily about looking for greener grass. It’s more like, “What’s over there? If it looks good, should I find a way over there? Should I be looking for a gate? Looking at the field I’m in, there’s probably a better one on the other side of part of this fence, right? I just got to keep looking. Seek and find.”

While chewing on these questions this week during a prayer moment, a connection was made that made me say, “Well that’s interesting.” The connection was to a verse from Ecclesiastes, a book containing a look at forever fences. Here’s that verse:

He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, without the possibility that mankind will find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. -Ecclesiastes 3:11 NASB

Oddly, my mind relaxed. The connection: Because eternity is placed in my heart, I am always going to be tempted to look over the fence. And I’m not alone in that. Every human asks, “What’s next? Is this it? There’s got to be more, right?” We ask it in different ways, seek the answers from different sources, but we ask the same questions.

The lessons that seem to be on repeat during a what’s next season are 1) Embrace Now and 2) Balance Anticipation. As I thought about these lessons, another uplifting passage came to mind. It’s from an equally encouraging chapter, this time from the New Testament. Hebrews 11 contains a roster of fellow fence gawkers who are described as sharing another top of mind focus. Check out verses 13-16:

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They didn’t receive the things God had promised. They only saw them and welcomed them from a long way off. They openly said that they were outsiders and strangers on earth. 14 People who say things like that show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 What if they had been thinking of the country they had left? Then they could have returned to it. 16 Instead, they longed for a better country. They wanted a heavenly one. So God is pleased when they call him their God. In fact, he has prepared a city for them.

You see why fences have been on mind? It’s actually good stuff. At the end of it, I find myself in excellent company, both in the past and the present. I say the present because these thoughts led me to three songs that I gravitate toward when eternity is on my mind.

So at the close of this month, this week, this Thanksgiving weekend, I encourage you to take 11 minutes, stare at the eternal fence, and listen to these fellow “longers for a better country.”

Photo by Marie Martin on Unsplash

Huddle Up, Planners!

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Hey Planners! Huddle Up!

You’ve been on my mind this week. 2024 has not been kind to you. I feel it with you. In this huddle, let’s acknowledge a few things.

First of all, we’re not alone. We all get it. That trip you had planned for the second week of October turned out to be a totally different trip. And not only that, the work event two weeks prior that had been on the calendar since January had to be cancelled. That event was supposed to help you feel like you weren’t losing your mind due to Debby’s rudeness. Seriously, three’s enough.

Second, whatever happened to the answer to not failing is having a plan. That’s what they tell us. “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” You had a plan to retire in that house. You had a plan to grow your business. You had a plan to provide for generations in your family. You thought it was The Plan. Were you wrong?

Driving home from church this morning I wondered, “What character in the biblical narrative could planners relate to? Someone who probably felt like they were doing everything right, had lived as surrendered as possible, and yet felt like their foundation crumbled.”

I can’t say for certain she was a planner, but the person that made me stop rolling through the profiles was Mary, Jesus’ mother. It’s mind blowing to consider the change of plans she navigated, how many times she felt the earth shake.

  • The pregnancy and marriage phase
  • The parenting phase
  • The empty nest phase
  • The losing a child not once but twice phase

I can’t imagine anything about her life felt normal.

Normal. That’s the word I said to God this morning on my drive to church. Which made me laugh and spew, “Why do I get caught up in expecting normal? Who am I to demand whatever that means?”

Planners, hear this. The security and peace you seek in the black and white of the bullet points of your 5-year-plan isn’t permanent. When it turns into gray or is completely erased, the stark reality of eternity is brought back into focus. And it’s good for us.

Don’t hear me dismiss the emotions of confusion and disappointment and frustration and anger. Those are normal. It’s not recorded; but in her humanity, I imagine Mary walked through all of those too.

Fortunately for her, Jesus was with her. Fortunately for us, just like her when he left her the second time, he doesn’t leave us alone when our plans disintegrate.

Did you hear that? He hasn’t left you. He’s with us in this huddle. And as only he can do, he’s simultaneously elsewhere working on our eternity.

Yes, it’s earthshaking to not see what’s next, to be yanked back into considering eternity. It’s disturbing to feel like you messed up so bad that recovery isn’t possible, that what’s in front of you is all there is. So let me remind you.

He sees it all.

He holds the world.

He is in the rebuilding business.

His plan is in tack.

Here’s what I want to offer you. I’m not going to break this huddle. Instead, I invite you to stay here as long as you need. Sit down if you need to. Lie down even. Put your body in a position that best says, “I’m not going to take another step until you show me which direction. I know because you are big enough to work on the eternal that you have what I need in the present. Your plan is mine. It’s enough. I’m with Mary. No matter how many times the earth quakes and my plans shatter, I am blessed that you know me, see me, stay with me, and let me call you mine.”

Photo by Mark Vihtelic on Unsplash

What? We’ve Been Fasting?

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Chances are, if you grew up in church, you can count on one hand the number of sermons you’ve heard that mentioned fasting. Church folk like their food, right?

Chances are most likely even higher that any mention of fasting didn’t reference Isaiah 58. That’s what crossed my mind this morning when I read it as part of a Thanksgiving-themed devotional plan. Check out verses 6-12.

Isaiah 58:6-12 NIV
[6] “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? [7] Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? [8] Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. [9] Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, [10] and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. [11] The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. [12] Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

If you’ve been involved in anything mentioned in this passage, SURPRISE! You’ve been fasting.

  • Loosing the chains of injustice = FASTING
  • Feeding the hungry = FASTING
  • Sheltering the poor = FASTING
  • Clothing the naked = FASTING
  • Not turning from your family = FASTING
  • Doing away with finger pointing and malicious talk = FASTING

As we’ve watched many of these actions in our community these last few months, we didn’t use the word fasting to describe them. Two words I did hear were light and healing. If you take this passage to be a promise, imagine what’s coming because of the fasting. Not only will this fasting result in literal repairs of walls and restoration of streets and homes, but it will also shine light and nurture healing as God replies to our cries by saying, “Here I Am.”

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