Indelible Ink - Scott Larsen (ed.)

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Category: non-fiction Acquired: recommended by the nice library lady at Smokey Point Community Church. Read: March 2008 Briefly: Twenty-two Christian speakers, authors and assorted luminaries discuss the books that have had a profound effect on their life and thinking.

Comments: as I was reading Yancey's book about his 13 unlikely mentors, Brenda mentioned that it sounded similar to a book she had just added to the SPCC library. It is, in fact, although the chapters are much shorter, and comprise 22 different writing styles. Those styles range from Ken Taylor's easy-reading (naturally) autobiographical narrative, to J.I. Packer's expository essay on the nuances of Calvinism (whew). But, if you find yourself unable to relate to a chapter, no big deal - you just skip ahead to the next.

You'll recognize many of the contributors - Joni Eareckson Tada, Chuck Colson, Michael Card, Jill Briscoe, Luis Palau, Josh McDowell, etc. - and their chapters will make them seem just a bit more personable than they might come across in their more formal writing and speaking. That's nice. You'll have your favorite chapters, too - mine was Larry Crabb's review (of a book I had never heard of).

Know what I liked best? It was seeing which books and authors kept showing up in list after list (did I mention that this book's final chapter summarizes the lists of another 130 people?) In fact, I even went back to tabulate a few statistics in that regard, just to figure out what I should be adding to my own wish list.

• Most-mentioned book - tied between the following, with a dozen mentions apiece:
  - Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
  - My Utmost for His Highest - J. Oswald Chambers.
  
• Most-referenced author:
  -C.S. Lewis (23 times). Next nearest was 10!
  
• Other frequently mentioned authors/books:
  - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship
  - J.I. Packer - Knowing God
  - A.W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God, Knowledge of the Holy
  - Philip Yancey - various, but especially "The Jesus I Never Knew"
  - Francis Schaeffer - various
  - Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment
  - John Calvin - Institutes of the Christian Religion
  
• Book least-expected to be described as having had "a profound influence on my life and thinking": Anne of Green Gables
  

The Life You've Always Wanted - John Ortberg

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Category: non-fiction Acquired: Purchased for Life Group study. Read: Jan - Feb 2008 Briefly: subtitled "Spiritual disciplines for ordinary people".

Comments: I saw this book a few years back on one of our pastors' bookshelves, browsed it and thought it looked interesting. As a result, I was glad when our weekly Life Group chose to take the six-week series based on it. And take it we did - read the text, watched the DVD, did the workbook, discussed the questions and generally earned our merit badges.

It's a decent book on a topic for which there's generally no shortage of books. It's neither the best nor the worst, and offered some useful insights on the classic spiritual disciplines (prayer, scripture reading, meditation, fasting and so on).

I did appreciate Ortberg's very first chapter, in which he made it clear that the pursuit of discipline is not about earning God's favor, but is in fact very pragmatic - it's a means to an end. At the end of the day, it's not about how many items we've checked off our spiritual "to-do" list, but rather whether we've increased our love of God and those around us. The disciplines have value to the extent that they help us accomplish this.

While you may find the book profitable, you might want to skip the study guide entirely. Not only does it proceed out of sequence with the textbook, it just lacked depth on a lot of key points. It was nice that it led us to look up supporting scriptures, but there were some strange cases where it tried to force-fit a passage to a topic it was simply never meant to address. (I'm sorry, the story of Balaam and his donkey is not about learning to seek God's will).

Study guide aside, give this book a solid B, and read it when you get time. Or better yet, try a classic like Richard Foster's "A Celebration of Discipline".