Renew

I love books. I'm always reading a couple (or three or four) at a time. As I look back on what I read in 2010, most of the books were written by dead people. Here's the best of what I read that was actually published last year (with one exception). In stead of a simple list of 10 books, I'm recommending the "best" of 10 categories. 1. Best Book - To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davidson Hunter If you, like John Mayer, are 'waiting for the world to change,' if you are finally waking up to the reality that (most) things cannot be solved by political means, if you have given up on your beauty pageant dream for a better world, you really need to read this book. Hands down the best book of 2010. 2. Best Children's Book - Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink by Victoria Kann My 3-year-old has the original Pinkalicious book memorized (really she can recite it word-for-word. Did I ment...

I must have said (or heard) "Happy New Year!" a hundred times over the weekend. But how do you have one of those? Success at work, a happy wife, well-behaved kids, a run on the beach, a few more margaritas? Where does true happiness come from? The great English Puritan John Owen helps answer the question about our happiness, ironically enough, by stating what brings sorrow to God's heart. "The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him, is …" How would you complete that sentence? Owen said: "The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him, is not to believe that he loves you." John Owen continues: Many saints have no greater burden in their lives than that their hearts do not constantly delight and rejoice in God. There is still in them a resistance to walking close with God … So do this: set your thoughts on the eternal love of the Father and see ...