The Purpose of Adoption

I am reading Reclaiming Adoption Dan Cruver, John Piper, Scotty Smith, Richard D. Phillips.  


Here's a great quote that explains clearly and succinctly the purpose of adoption:


As we will see later in this book, the ultimate purpose of adoption by Christians, therefore, is not to give orphans parents, as important as that is.  It is to place them in a Christian home so that they might be positioned to receive the gospel so that within that family the world might witness a representation of God taking in and genuinely loving the helpless, the hopeless and the despised.

Kindle Lending Club - Borrow and Lend Kindle Books for Free - Kindle Lending Club - Borrow and Lend Kindle Books for Free.

I have Kindle on my laptop and on my Iphone. I've often wished for a way to borrow books from other Kindle users, similar to Barnes and Noble's Nook. Tonight I read a blog post about the new Kindle Lending Club....take a look! I think it has potentiality...........

Kindle Lending Club - Borrow and Lend Kindle Books for Free - Kindle Lending Club - Borrow and Lend Kindle Books for Free.

I Read Dead People | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

Love this post by Skye Jethani. Particularly like the lines:

"But if they're not dead, I like them to be pretty close. I can usually trust that they're not going to waste what time they have left on this earth writing sappy Hallmark card sentimental Evangelical fluff."

I Read Dead People | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

The Most Influential Books for Reformed Evangelicals – Kevin DeYoung

Kevin DeYoung posts a list from his commenters to his blog, of the books that have influenced them the most. The list is interesting, his commentary on the list even more so.

The Most Influential Books for Reformed Evangelicals – Kevin DeYoung

Bookcrossing.com: A site like Geocaching--but for books!

I just came upon what looks to be a very cool tracking site.
It operates much like Geocaching, except for instead of hunting for treasures, one can hunt for books.  If I am correct, instead of throwing away books they no longer wish to keep, book owners can place their book somewhere to be "found" by another person.  The cool part is the tracking---you can see where in the world your book goes!  Very, very cool.

Bookcrossing.com

If Reading Makes you Smart...... (Brian Regan)

What Good is God? by Philip Yancey

I am a fan of Philip precisely because he is willing to ask the hard questions; he asks the questions that I so often find running through my own mind. In his latest work, Yancey poses the question "What Good is God?" He then seeks the answer through reviewing a wide sample of trips he has taken in the past few years. His eclectic gathering of stories from such a wide variety of places lends credo to the answer to the question. From prostitutes to college students, to South Africans, addicts and other populations, his interview style and his openness about his own doubts and assurances about God give the reader much to think about. Thank you, Mr. Yancey, for once again being transparent with your own soul, so that your readers are more apt to be transparent with their souls before God.

The World's Best Bookstores | Spot Cool Stuff: Travel

Love Bookstores. I think a really awesome trip would be to plan to visit each of these bookstores....

The World's Best Bookstores | Spot Cool Stuff: Travel

(Warning: This Post is Strictly for Book Nerds)---List of 5 Book Recommendation Sites

Today at LifeHacker, they listed their top 5 websites for getting book recommendations.  All of us book geeks can relate--we finish a book, we have another 20 on our bedside table waiting to be read, and yet we still want to find the perfect book to read next.

Click Here to go to the LifeHacker site and read their review.  I personally use both Shelfari and Good Reads, as two of my 5 places where I track the books I read and the books I want to read.  Told you, only for the nerdiest, geeky book people!

Eight Easy Ways to Misread the Classics – Justin Taylor

I so very much like reading classics. I have long had this lofty goal, to somehow read through an entire list of classics that I have created---a very nerdy spreadsheet containing not just adult classic literature, but young adult and children's classic literature as well. I enjoy them. I like the challenge they present, the ideas they explore. I like that the push the boundaries of my mind to think beyond what modern literature presents. I find modern literature stifling, I find classics freeing. That said, I am completely intrigued by Justin Taylor's post on Eight Ways to Misread Classics. You can find his thought-provoking list (that features several excellent quotes from my adopted Uncle C.S. Lewis) at the following link:

Eight Easy Ways to Misread the Classics – Justin Taylor

Savvy Shopper - dailypress.com

Two More Days of School. We can do this, we can do this.

The Daily Press offers some links to some free activities for kids to keep them occupied. I intend to take Bethany, my resident nerd, to sign up for the summer reading programs at the bookstores. Immediately.

Savvy Shopper - dailypress.com: "http://weblogs.dailypress.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/19771"

John Adams and the importance of books and writing

Excellent writing on the importance and value of reading and writing, based off of thoughts in David McCullough's biogarphy of John Adams.

Essay below is written by Tim Challis, who regularly blogs HERE

Reading and Writing with John Adams

by Tim

Earlier today I was looking through some notes I took on David McCullough’s great biography of John Adams. I found there a few quotes from Adams about his love of reading. He was an avid reader who had a very substantial library—far more the exception than the rule in his day. Here is how he spoke of how reading ranked in his life in terms of priority.

I want to see my children every day. I want to see my grass and blossoms and corn … But above all, except the wife and children, I want to see my books.

As with Adams, my books are among my greatest pleasure and when I find I do not have time to read, I miss it a lot. There is pleasure to be found both in the books and in the experience of reading them. A day without a book is just not quite the same as a day with at least an hour or two spent reading.
Adams also said this about the way he did his best thinking:

The only way to compose myself and collect my thoughts is to set down at my table, place my diary before me, and take my pen into my hand. This apparatus takes off my attention from other objects. Pen, ink, and paper and a sitting posture are great helps to attention and thinking.

I, too, find that I can get very little thinking done, and cannot hold my attention for long, if I do not do my thinking with the assistance of pen, ink and paper (or the digital equivalent—a word processor and a keyboard). I love reading, I love writing and, like Adams, I love words. So I suppose one of the reasons I enjoy reading about Adams is that I feel a real affinity with him on that level

What is the Value of Reading a large amount of material, if one is frustrated by their lack of retention?

There is much value.

And C.J. Mahaney, in his post HERE gives some of the best answers to that question.  He also quotes John Piper, a quote that I recently also shared here on this blog in an earlier post.

One must always push themselves to read, understanding that the effort may only produce one new idea, one new insight into scripture, one new thought about leadership.  But who is to say that that one "gem" is not going to be a catalyst for great impact and chance in one's life and those around him?

N.T. Wright, C.S. Lewis, Tullian Tchividjian

Admittedly I have yet to read any of N.T. Wright's books.  However I do find the dialogue between Wright, John Piper and Tim Keller to be very though-provoking.  I need to read something by Wright, so I can better understand the points of agreement as well as the points that are questioned between these three theologians.

Wright has a new book out, After You Believe, is reviewed by Michael Horton on the Christianity Today website here.

Another one of his books that has garnered much attention, is Surprised by Hope.  While nothing can compare to C.S. Lewis' autobiography, Surprised by Joy,  (which is still one of the most important books I have ever read in my life), I do wonder if I will find it worthy of Top Shelf placement on my bookshelf, alongside my "Uncle" Lewis and the book I recently finished by Tullian Tchividjian titled Surprised by Grace:  God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels.
  

The Importance of Words and Sentences

In an old message dated July 12, 1981, John Piper said:

“What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this. It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%.”

Where and Why We Buy Our Books | Challies Dot Com

Where and Why We Buy Our Books | Challies Dot Com

Tim Challies shares and discusses the results of a survey that netted 2,222 responses about book purchases.  Fascinating results, well presented with plenty of geeky Pie Charts and Bar Graphs.  Delightfully geeky, I might add.  Some of the results were surprising.  Definitely worth a couple of minutes to look over.