My good friend, Coy Thorp, has tagged me to participate in an ongoing blog network called the "One Book Meme."
So here goes:
1.) One book that changed your life: Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard Foster.
This book was given to me as a gift of the Bible faculty at Harding University at my graduation. It has shaped and formed my understanding in a life-altering way of what true spiritual maturity means in daily life.
2.) One book you've read more than once: Moneyball by Michael Lewis.
Since buying this book in 2004, I have read it once every baseball season. The insights into Billy Beane's revolutionary ways of scouting and development are gripping for baseball fans.
3.) One book you would want on a deserted island: The Bible.
Why? Well, remember the age-old argument of the guy stranded on a deserted island who doesn't know whether or not he should be baptized. Will he have a chance in the judgment day? Well, I would want a Bible to tell me what God expects from me so I wouldn't be the hypothetical guy on the deserted island whose eternal destiny hangs in the balance!
4.) One book that made you laugh: The Home to Harmony Series by Philip Gulley.
Gulley is a Quaker minister who writes a fictional story of a church meeting in the small town of Harmony, Indiana. The characters are so real and the situations so hilariously life-like that it is a pure joy to read.
5.) One book that made you cry: Build the Fort Today by Jim Kern.
I was first introduced to Jim Kern when serving on the Jessieville School Board and heard him speak at an Arkansas School Boards Association workshop. Kern's stories grip the heart and stir the emotions unlike much I have ever read.
6.) One book that you wish had been written: Trusting God by Joseph.
Everytime I read Genesis 37-50, I am blown away by Joseph's absolute confident trust in the guidance of God in his life. I so wish a journal of Joseph's capturing his faith walk had been written to chronicle his daily life and faith in the face of so many difficult circumstances.
7.) One book that you wish had never been written: The Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
8.) One book that you are currently reading: East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
I know it is an epic novel, but good grief, when does it ever end? Steinbeck's work is great but it is a long, lengthy read.
9.) One book that you've been meaning to read: The New Testament and the People of God by N.T. Wright.
Wright is one of my favorite New Testament scholars and this book has sat on my bookshelf for over a year. It is at the top of my "to read" list for 2008.
10.) Now tag five people.
Okay, now I get to tag five people to share. I choose to tag Allan Stanglin, Jimmy Mitchell, Rick Northen, Megan Clanton and Nick Perez.
P.S. Hey Todd Lewis, last I knew, you had no blog of your own but I would be very interested as to how you would reply to these questions. If you would, email me your book list.
