Read all the things. Learn all the things. Talk about all the things.

It has been a long time since I used this blog to reflect on my devotional reading, and I wonder why. I was reading, mostly. I have some things written in my private journal, but those are mostly not in response to books. In fact, given that I have been working through a very short book by Manning and a longer book by Dekker since May, I think the reason may be that I am not doing a lot of devotional reading. Both books have reflective questions at the end of chapters, and that is amenable to reflective writing, but I haven't taken the time. I'm reading steadily, mostly, but in short spurts. And I'm distracted by prepping for the start of class, responding to student work, creating a schedule that has taken me too long, and planning for the trip to Dallas/Cancun. (What will I wear for the wedding? Am I thin enough to wear a two-piece swimsuit? Hey! I want to do brow micro-blading so I can go in and out of the pool and still look like I have eyebrows.) And that...

The Avenue Goes to War by R.F. Delderfield My rating: 0 of 5 stars One of the things I like about reading physical copies of books is its actual physicality. In the days when I read hard copy books, I choose what to read from the weight of the book, the cover, the synopsis on the back of the book. Now I primarily choose books by their price. Are they on sale? Is the Amazon description of the book intriguing? Of course I have forgotten that description by the time it comes to choosing a book from the list on my Kindle. And then the list is long. It's like going into a library. I have a list of books I want to read, but I've forgotten why I wanted to read them. I also have no idea how long they are when I choose to buy a book. I imagine I could find that information, but that is besides the point. I think I chose this book because of its subject matter, how a neighborhood in England deals with the strain of war. I did not know the book was publ...

The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God by Dallas Willard My rating: 4 of 5 stars This 1998 book by Biola philosophy professor Dallas Willard has become a Christian classic, so I purchased it several years ago and it sat on my shelf until I read a book by John Ortberg who mostly talked about Willard's influence in his life. The book was "meh," but Willard seemed like someone I might like to read. I pulled the dusty tome off my shelf and started the book last April. I am finally finishing. It took me a long time to get through the book for several reasons: 1) the book is big and long and heavy; 2) I have been traveling and did not want to take the book on airplanes; 3) it is deep and I needed to think about the ideas Willard was putting forth in order to hold them and let them speak to me. That is not to say that the book is hard to understand; it's just that the ideas are deep. We can skim over a book on disciple...