Andy Darnell’s Mindmap

The first day I cracked open Plan B by Pete Wilson was at the Gwinnett County Courthouse. I had the privilege of doing my civic duty of Jury Duty. There’s another blog post in the works related to my experience. I’ve been a bit behind in updates in recent days. Trying to get caught up.

The lady in the chair next to me was busy reading a copy of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” by Harold Kushner. I remember thinking how interesting it was that here were two books that were similar in scope, yet different in purpose. Let me explain.

Pete Wilson does a fantastic job of telling stories. Each chapter takes a story and weaves it with a story from the Bible. The intentional way that the chapters are written made it so easy to read. Pete’s communication skills as a speaker and pastor were perfectly translated to paper. I felt as if I were sitting in his church experiencing a 3 month sermon series. The takeaways from each chapter were both relevant to the story he was telling and to the Bible story he was teaching.

My biggest takeaway from the entire book is found in Chapter 4. I’ve grown up in the church. I’ve read through the Bible a number of times. I’ve taught through the book of Joshua a couple times in different settings. The courage that Joshua had as a newly appointed leader for the nation of Israel has always been inspiring and something to strive for. Where did that courage come from?

Pete showed me the answer to that “million dollar question” and it has become an aha moment for me. It really is obvious.If you’re like me, as someone who has been exposed to the word of God over and over, you may have missed this too.

Back when Moses was still leading the nation, Moses would meet God at the tent of the meeting. Joshua would tag along. Moses and God would have some good one on one time. Joshua had the opportunity to shadow these sessions. It is the second part of the Exodus 33:11 that I know I have missed, and couldn’t believe that it was in front of me all that time.

The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

To quote from Pete, “Constant contact with the Creator is essential for transformational living. If you want faith enough to live the life God has called you to live, time with God is simply a must. That applies double when you’re facing a Plan B situation.”

Wow. Again, nothing earth shattering. This is wisdom that is all throughout the Bible, but for some reason it really hit home with me.

Pete Wilson has been on my radar for a couple years now. His approach and demeanor seems authentic. His theology is sound. I enjoyed this quote that I read about the book on Tony Morgan’s site. “Plan B is about discovering the hopeful truth that God is most powerfully present even when He seems most apparently absent.” We all have those moments when we feel that our life isn’t turning out the way that it is supposed to be. It is in those moments that we can learn to lean into what God has really in store for us. I plan on passing my book around to others in my immediate circle as it was an easy read, yet very rewarding.

Book Review Bloggers

In the interest of full disclosure let me end by telling you that I am part of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger’s program. I volunteered to read this book and publish a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Thomas Nelson Publishers has created a new series of biographies of folks who have been influential people within the christian family. I had the opportunity to review one of them, so I chose the one book that a)I knew the author and b)I didn’t know much about the author. Does that make any sense?

So… I chose John Bunyan. A while back I was able to read The Pilgrim’s Progress. I knew nothing about it before I dove into page 1 but was immediately sucked into the story of the pilgrim.

As I walk’d through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain
place where was a Den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I
slept, I dreamed a Dream. I dreamed, and behold I saw a Man cloathed with
Rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a Book in
his hand, and a great Burden upon his back. I looked, and saw him open the
Book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and not being
able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying What shall
I do?

Wow. Who writes like that? Who was John Bunyan? These were questions I had as I began reading the biography.

Like most biographies, I found the first part of the book to be rather boring. However, this is probably just a flaw in my appreciation of biographies. We must look at the past to see how the person was shaped. However, for me the meat of the story began in chapter 12 that is titled “A Path That Skirted Madness.” This refers to Bunyan’s conversion experience that was summarized by Andrew Lang. I underlined another sentence that I read a few times to ensure that I read it correctly, “Bunyan was a dissenter whose faith was the result of a desperate and prolonged struggle.” Isn’t that like all of us. We all have this struggle that shapes our faith. For those folks who paint a “pretty” path to Christ and whom have all the answers, I often wonder if they have the answer at all. To me… Faith is a struggle. That is what Faith Is.

One thing that I had NO IDEA about was that Bunyan was in prison for as long as he was. He was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. The persecution that he endured is crazy to imagine in this day and time. Much of it coming from the “religious” people of his day.

The book does a remarkable job of showing the inspiration of several of the characters that the pilgrim encounters during his journey. This was interesting reading to me. It now makes me want to go back and re-read the book now that I have this perspective of what Bunyan was going through at the time and folks that he dealt with.

A friend recently told me that I needed to branch out and read some older books. I agree. I consume a lot of current literature. Nothing is written now that is new is very true. I have to remind myself of this.

While I was able to review this book for free because of the book review bloggers program that Thomas Nelson does, I would easily recommend it. I will probably be looking into purchasing some of the other biographies that are in this series over time. If they are like this book, I know that I will like them. It was easy reading. It kept my attention captive. I was able to retain a lot of the information. I was able to skim back over the book with relative ease as I reminded myself of the main points of each chapter. Very Well Done.

Book Review Bloggers

In the interest of full disclosure let me end by telling you that I am part of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger’s program. I volunteered to read this book and publish a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I finished my first book of 2009 today. (Actually,  I finished Angels and Demons from Dan Brown on New Years day. I had read it several years ago and wanted to read it again before the movie comes out this summer. I’m sure that I’ll have more to say on that later, however, I wonder if there will be as much controversy over this book and movie as there was over The Davinci Code a few years ago.)

The first book that I finished today was “God in the Market Place” by Henry and Richard Blackaby. It is a book that is divided into 6 parts and 45 questions that supposed Fortune 500 exectutives have asked about faith, life, and business. As mentioned in the intro, this book would have been an excellent book to do as a devotional with others. I was a part of a regular men’s Bible study that met on Wednesday mornings. We have taken a long enough break and need to get back to doing it regularly. Note to self, send email to guys to get this started again.

I read it very fast; only pausing on chapters that really ate at me. It is a book filled with scripture references although I did not look up each one. Again on chapters that required more thoughtful time, I marked my place and pulled out my Bible to go a little deeper. 

The chapters that dealt with modeling Christ and time management / service were extremly good. Most important to me is to remember that God considers us in ministry everywhere He has placed us. 

It was a very relevant read for me at the moment. 

What are you reading in this new year?