more will be revealed

Today’s turning out to be a good day. : ) I was talking with Dave Lynden in his office a little while ago and I noticed a book written by Jacques Ellul on his bookshelf. Of all the people I know, Dave is the biggest reader. He’ll admit that he starts more than he finishes, but even still his reading appetite is huge. When I saw he had a book by Ellul, I immediately asked if he had any others. I was turned on to Jacques Ellul maybe two years ago and have found his writings to be more influential in my life than probably any other author (outside of the Bible). Ellul was a French theologian who, as another has written,

attempted to integrate sociology and theology in order to explain what it means to be “in the world, but not of the world.”

The Presence of the Kingdom is considered by many to be the necessary primer for all of Ellul study. I have read two other works by Ellul: Christianity and Anarchy as well as Money and Power. I also read a devotional based on Ellul’s writings each morning. Even though I have only read a small portion of his writings, as I mentioned earlier I still count him as being quite influential. And that is why I’m so excited to read this book!

If you would like a brief synopsis of Ellul’s life and thought, I recommend going here. I believe reading that summary alone will challenge you and prompt you to further investigate Ellul’s writings.

Last night I went to “An Evening with Donald Miller” at Cedarville University. The night turned out to be not what I expected, though it was definitely an engaging hour and a half. It turned out that Don was there to read some of his writings and answer some questions. I expected Don to speak a la Catalyst 2005. I was wrong.

I have to start off my saying that Don Miller is hilarious! He is so incredibly witty, and he speaks just like he writes. He in no way takes himself very seriously, and had me laughing so much as I often asked myself “Did he just say that?” Since this was a book reading and by show of hands, no one in the room had ever really been to a book reading, Don shared some personal stories about book readings in Portland and why they do them and how he tried to impress a girl by taking her to one but it totally ended up backfiring as the author, unbeknownst to Don, was a lesbian writer of erotic poetry. Thankfully, Don writes about the Christian life, so we were all safe.

He began by reading a comedy piece written for the Burnside Writers Collective, an organization for writers in the Portland area he helped start. The paper is titled “Tolkien Was No Hobbit!” and you can read it here. In it, Don decides to mimic the style of James Frey by writing a book called “A Billion Little Pieces” in order to show how literary styles are changing. And he relates this back to the Bible and the styles that are woven throughout it. The point he makes about the Bible in this essay will challenge you and the way you view the Bible. Don has alot to say about the way we look at God and His Word and suggested that maybe we don’t have it exactly right. I’m leavin’ for Memphis soon so I don’t have time to get into all that he talked about after reading that article or in the Q & A time. Maybe I will try to recap that as well as share my thoughts later this weekend.

Mark promised we’d stop by a famous Memphis eatery while we’re down there, so I’m lookin’ forward to some real Southern BBQ and sweet tea! And hopefully I’ll be able to connect with some old friends down there as well. Should be good!

I saw a post last week on how to make your very own secret hollow book, and ever since I’ve been wanted one for myself! I mean, how cool would it be to have something like this?

I’m going to make one…not that I have any contraband to hide! However, this would’ve been useful back in the day when I was a wanna-be hacker. I could’ve kept my “black disk” that had all my hacking progz in the book. This was when back in the day where a university almost kicked me out and had me arrested for hacking. That, of course, is another story for another time. : ) Want to make your own? Here’s the post:

How to Make a Secret Hollow Book

I’ve decided to share my reading list broken down into different categories: books I’m currently reading, books I think people need to read, as well as books I plan on reading.
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