Good morning and happy Monday, my friends!
I
worked so hard all summer to read, read, read, read, read in preparation for
school beginning, and now that it has begun, my reading looks much
different. I still wanted to write this post this month, because these monthly
recaps are how I’m keeping track of my reading. But I will warn you at
the start of today’s that it will look a little different!
The
first book I read this month was The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor by John Piper and D.A. Carson. I can pretty much guarantee you that
unless you are in school, this won’t be high on your reading list. 😊
The content of this book actually started out as a conversation between these
two gentlemen, and then it was transcribed and turned into a book. It’s not a
very long book, and it did have some quotable lines in it, but it’s definitely
a school-oriented book. Piper and Carson spend their time talking about (as you
might imagine from the title) pastors turned scholars and scholars turned
pastors and how and why the two are intertwined.
***
The
second book I read was most definitely a school book: From Topic to Thesis: A Guide to Theological Research by Michael Kibbe. If you’re planning
to go to grad school for anything ministry-related, this is a good resource. If
you’re looking for a cozy, autumn, Friday-night read, you might look elsewhere.
😊
***
After
thirteen weeks of study, I finished Nehemiah and the Holy Spirit’s Work of Restoration by Darlene Schacht. I learned SO MUCH about the book of Nehemiah
from this Bible study and loved it so much that I am introducing my Growth
Group at church to it! (We are studying her book on Ezra first, and then we’ll
move into this one.)
I had
never spent much time camping out in the book of Nehemiah and found this study
rich – both in learning the history of this time in the Bible and also in
relating the lessons to my present day life. As always, I love Darlene’s
studies because they are not fluffy, but they are also not time-intensive.
***
Finally,
this month, I just finished reading Inside Out by Dr. Larry Crabb. This
is a book I have to read for my current course in seminary, but it isn’t a textbook.
It’s a “regular” read that I wish I had so much more time to sit with. As you
know, I love a book I can hold in my hands, but this one was available to me as
a free ebook on the software I use for school, so I’m reading it on there. I do
see the value in getting this book in a hard copy so I can live in it,
underline in it, make notes in it, and use it again and again in ministry.
For
now, though, I have to read quickly so I can move ahead with my assignments. So
for today, I’m giving you my quick thoughts on it. I hope to one day really
marinate in this book and offer deeper thoughts.
Larry
Crabb writes about how we tend to just change our behavior without allowing God
to really search and change the deep places of our hearts. It’s a scary thing
to really dive deep and allow God to uncover the root issues that cause hurt in
life, but if we want to live in the full freedom of Christ, that’s exactly what
we need to do. (This is also exactly what the class I’m taking is about, so
this is an exercise I’m doing.)
He wrote
this book several years ago, it did well, and he revised it, which is the
version I’m reading. I notice he does still have some “older” scenarios in his
writing, but the premise is still so valuable and I appreciate what he has to
say.
If you’re
willing to challenge yourself to change and grow from the inside out, this is a
challenging but helpful guide to doing just that!
These
were my reads for this month. I read snippets of other books, but for full, book-length
reads, this was it for me!
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