Tag Archive - books

what you’re reading

February 18, 2011 in freefriday with 0 Comments

Today’s Free Friday poses this question:

What good books/blogs are you reading?

or

What book is wrecking you right now?

My answer would have to be this book:

Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos

(Free for Kindle right now – click that link and download it!)

This book came out of nowhere for me, and hit me in the face… much like the apostle Peter does to Matt’s Imaginary Jesus. Yeah, Peter punches a fake Jesus in the face. Once I read that, I knew it was a book I would enjoy.

As I read through the book, Matt goes through a fictional journey as he realizes there’s so many imaginary Jesus’, and he finds that he has been creating them to fit his own preferences. His Jesus fit him, rather than fitting the Jesus that is found in the Bible.

I don’t want to spoil it too much for you, but several times I was wrecked as I realized I’ve been putting Jesus in my own little box.

And maybe you are too.

So that’s my pick for a book, and it does happen to be free.

What are your picks?

Meditate

December 1, 2009 in personal with 0 Comments

Lately, I’ve been digging into meditating on the Psalms and trying to just focus on one passage of Scripture.  I still read other passages, but every day I’ve been trying to focus on Psalm 1… Verse 2 says why.

1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

So, even before the beginning of the new year and all the resolutions, I’m trying to change.  I want to be able to meditate on the law of the LORD, on his Word, day and night.

That somewhat begs the question though, how do we meditate?

I’m reading some of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Meditating On The Word to find out how…

We’ll see how this goes.

in Christ,

Isaiah

p.s. How do you meditate on His Word?

paper or pixels?

October 8, 2009 in personal with 2 Comments

I haven’t posted for some time, and rather than give you a long list of excuses… I thought I’d just write a new post.

Lately I’ve been reading my paper Bible far more than my electronic versions of the Bible.  There’s just something about paper and the heft of a book, and the feel of underlining a verse in “real” life.  I underline and highlight verses on my electronic versions and it just isn’t the same.

So, my question to you is this:  Do you prefer reading the Bible in paper form, pixel form, or a combination of both?

I’ll admit that I’m both, when I’m laying in bed at night, it is much easier to read on my iPod touch, which doesn’t require a seperate light and physically changing pages…

So… Paper, pixel or both?

in Christ,

Isaiah

books I’ve read lately

August 19, 2009 in personal with 1 Comment

I’ve been reading more lately, so I thought I’d share a couple books that I’ve been reading.

Killing Cockroaches: And Other Scattered Musings on Leadership
by Tony Morgan

Killing CockroachesThis is a great “pick-up” book.  By that I mean pick up and read a chapter or two at a time, not pick-up line book.  This is a book on church leadership after all… Anyway, its all musings from Tony as he talks about his time in the ministry, and previously as a ceo, fighting to keep from killing cockroaches (literally and figuratively).  There are several guest posts that highlight this idea.  Here’s one of my favorite “chapters”:

10 EASY WAYS TO KNOW YOU’RE NOT A LEADER

1. You’re waiting on a bigger staff and more money to accomplish your vision.
2. You think you need to be in charge in order to have influence.
3. You’re content.
4. You tend to foster division instead of generating a helpful dialogue.
5. You think you need to say something to be heard.
6. You find it easier to blame others for your circumstances than to take responsibility for solutions.
7. It’s been some time since you said, “I messed up.”
8. You’re driven by the task instead of the relationships and the vision.
9. Your dreams are so small that people think they can be achieved.
10. No one is following you.

All in all I say its definitely a “Recommended Read”

Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World
by N.D. Wilson

Notes from the Tilt-A-WhirlWow. This book hit me at just the right time, and in just the right places.  I read this book as fast as I could, then began to recommend it to those around me.  I’ll try to explain why I thought it was so good.  In a few pages, N.D. Wilson goes through the seasons as metaphors for life.  All throuhgout the book there are stories of wonder, each weaving in and out of a philosophical concept, even diving into the “problem” of evil.  I really can’t explain it well enough, but I’ll say this:  Read this book.  If you want you can even hit me up in the comments, and if you’re local you can borrow my copy.  This is one of the books that I received free, from following @michaelhyatt on twitter.

What books  have you read lately?

in Christ,

Isaiah

Why I Twitter.

July 30, 2009 in personal with 2 Comments

Yeah, I twitter.  I have since March 2007.  At last count I have 2,988 updates, which means I’ve posted about my life 2,988 times.  Wow…

So I decided to write a little post about why I twitter… here’s a few reasons:

1)  Free stuff

I have received 10 free books (4 “real-life” books and 6 ebooks), tons of free Music and some great deals on Amazon mp3s, just by reading the tweets from people I follow.  Booya.

2)  One place to update what I’m doing

I like updating one place to update multiple sites – I like to be efficient.  For some time you couldn’t update Facebook via text, but I could update Facebook via twitter via text.  So there you go.

3)  It helps my friends and family keep up with what I’m doing.

Sometimes I don’t have time to call or draft an email about what we’ve been doing, but I can twitter.

4)  Limited to 140 characters.

This keeps me from writing ridiculously long posts about my life and making me look like a selfish “its all about me” tool.

Ok, so I better stop there.  I could keep writing, but that’s not the point of this post.  I just want to give you and idea about why I do it.

To find me: www.twitter.com/ihenni

Thanks,

in Christ,

Isaiah