I just finished J. I. Packer’s 2013 book Weakness Is The Way, a short, four chapter introduction to 2 Corinthians. In that letter, because God perfects his strength through weakness, Paul boasts of his weaknesses, not his strengths. Packer’s book focuses on this idea illustrating it with the need for financial liberality (2 Cor 8-9), and boasting in the weakness of old age (2 Cor 4-5) as we wait in hope for future glory.
Am also reading a delightful book titled, Spurgeon on Spiritual Leadership, by Steve Miller. This book is food for the soul. It is all about Spurgeon’s dependence on God, his liberality, his prayer life, his faith, his heart to serve, etc. I have personally found it encouraging and most quotable, as almost everything Spurgeon writes is. Like Packer’s work this one is short, readable, and easily digestible.
Paul Johnson is a favorite, prolific British historian. He burst on the literary scene in the nineteen eighties with his mammoth study of moral relativism, Modern Times. A few years later Judy gave me his study on priests of modern secular society, Intellectuals. I am now reading his long but fun and enjoyable, A History of The American People. Unlike many today, Johnson has a most positive view of the American project. He is also a first class storyteller, and he uses these gifts to bring American history to life. Can’t recommend this book enough.
A few weeks ago I finished A Gentle Wind, by McMaster and Jacobs, the little known story of the East African Revival which began in the nineteen thirties but didn’t peter out until the nineteen fifties. It took place in Uganda, Rawanda, and surrounding countries. More than anything else the United States needs revival, and books like this encourage faith and hope as we read the amazing stories of what God has accomplished in the past
Last, I just started a best-selling book, published in 2018, titled The Coddling of the American Mind. The authors take the reader into the deep corruption of our university system. If you’ve heard the expressions “trigger warnings,” and “safe spaces,” and wondered what these expressions mean, and why academia is such a mess, this book will provide much-needed light. The first three chapters alone are worth the price of the volume. You might be discouraged, but you won’t be disappointed. The generations born after 1994 are intensely fearful and unable to handle any stress, pressure, or disagreement. The book lays down the reasons, although without the gospel, it contains few ultimate solutions. I highly recommend
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