Saturday, October 24, 2009

Reading Part One

I am becoming more and more convinced that Great Leaders are Diligent and Intentional Readers.

This applies both to the Bible and to books, but we can not merely read for the sake of reading. We need to be thoughtful in what we are investing our time into. So, while I enjoy books like the Narnia and LOTR series, as well as getting caught up in a Dan Brown novel (by the way...they are relentlessly fictitious!), these are not life-shaping reads. I will read "thoughtless" books like these on vacation, for a change of pace. (I don't mean thoughtless in that they are poorly written or having good meaning/layers of significance).

I love to read. One of the things that happened at the end of Seminary is that I went into shutdown mode and despised reading for about 3 or 4 months after graduating, but I'm back at it.

Here's what I'm reading right now:
From the Scriptures, I've been going through 1 and 2 Samuel, revisiting David and his process to the throne. I've loved it and have virtually been reading my pastor's commentary on 2 Samuel each chapter I go through.

Today for some vision casting/sermon series ideas, I read all of Ezra and 1 and 2 Timothy as well...Some messages came out loud and clear in both! Hoping to preach through one of these in 2010.

As for books, I am currently reading a book called "Scouting the Divine" by Margaret Feinberg. It is a neat book. She noticed some major thematic imagery in the scriptures and has sought to rediscover the context of these passages, so she spent time with a shepherdess, a farmer, a beekeeper, and a vintner (winemaker)and she does a great job of subtly repainting the scriptures through the lenses of these people. Good book, though it leaves the insights (at least so far) very open ended and forces you to either meditate on them and let them shape you or skim through and pass by.

Next on the dockets for me is three books at once. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (got this book for free at Catalyst, and I'm curious what he has to say.) Seeing God in HD by Mark Moore and then a book on the context of first century adoption to prepare for a sermon at the end of the month.

I also read lots of blogs, hundreds of emails a month, and ESPN's weekly fantasy football update to see who to play and who to bench. haha

What are you reading right now?

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