Monday, September 15, 2014

What I've been reading - "Work Matters" by Paul Stevens

I am a big proponent of the importance of doing and understanding a good Biblical Theology, meaning, the overall metanarrative of scripture and orienting our own worldview to an alignment with our place within God's story. The Bible gives us many subplots in its pages that are but a part of the grand narrative and it is within these subplots we learn first about God but also see examples of how to live within God's story. In "Work Matters" Stevens takes us through scripture looking at the multitude of examples of people working and how each kind of work has value for faith and life. For most people work is a necessary part of everyday life and for too many work is seen as a distraction or necessary evil taking them away from important spiritual pursuits. As Stevens walks us through character after character he shows how the work they did were truly spiritual pursuits. I think one of my favorite chapters was the one on Ruth where he show the godliness of even subsistence work of barely scaping out a living but faithfully provided for your family. Overall I've found this to be a great look at work and faith and doing you work, whatever it is, to the glory of God. 

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

What I've been reading - "The Wingfeather Saga" by Andrew Peterson

Over the summer I spent much of my reading time lost in Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather saga. This four book series is a great allegory in the vein of Narnia and Middle Earth. The target audience is the youth / young adult market making it an easy read and easy to get lost in. The characters are deep and likeable. I found myself rooting for them to get through and rejoices as they each developed and learned more about themselves and what was truly important. Throughout the series we see the themes of the struggle between good and evil, redemption, sacrifice and the danger of giving in to the lies of being who you think you want to be rather than who you were meant to be. I believe it is important to read widely and to get lost in a good story on a regular basis and this series sure fit the bill. 

Check them out on Amazon