what i'm reading now

sorry... i forgot to include what I am currently reading in my previous post. Granted, I could have just edited that post to include this bit of info... but, i didn't. For the past couple of months, since people started declaring for the 2008 presidential election, I have found myself intrigued by one Barak Obama. I have enjoyed listening to him speak when I've seen him on TV, and given the Christian upheaval over his "Muslim" background, I thought he would be a candidate worth checking out and reading for myself. I must say, from what I've read... I kinda like Obama. I'll be honest... I'm more than a one issue voter, which means I don't decide on a person based solely upon his/her position on abortion (this is, it seems to me, what many Christians do). I think violence is violence, whether it be unleashed on an unborn fetus, a Muslim woman living in Iraq or on the environment, and I don't know how much the difference matters to God. So, I have to pull on more than just the one issue. I'm reading Audacity of Hope. I'm only about half way through, but Obama is clearly a great communicator and writer. The book has come across genuinely sincere and very uplifting. The book really doesn't feel forced at all, but very authentic and comfortable. Even in areas where I disagree with him, Obama is still clearly respectful and gracious to those with whom he disagrees. Good stuff!

Books I've read since Christmas

So... I've read several books since Christmas and I thought I would share one or two thoughts about each of them, and maybe a link to their amazon page. As Christmas approached, I was reading Living Like Jesus by Ronald Sider. It was a pretty good book. Granted, seeing as I've read Rich Christians... it all kinda sounded very familiar. Next, I started my first N.T. Wright book, Simply Christian, which was incredibly refreshing. It wasn't so much that Wright said anything that I hadn't heard or thought before, but it was one of those books that reminds you of why you are part of this story. After I finished Simply Christian, I bounced around a couple of books that I didn't finish, waiting on the release of Rob Bell's Sex God. I could have read it much faster than I did, but I just took my time and read only a chapter a day. I'm sure it would be very possible to read it in an evening, or two. If you read and enjoyed Velvet Elvis, then I would recommend that you pick this one up too. Like I said, it is a very quick read, but you may just find yourself thinking about it much longer than you actually read it. I'm actually going to use some of it in our upcoming series at church, "Superman vs. WonderWoman". I'm planning on talking about God, Girls, Guys and Relationships. Mainly, I want to address what it means to be a guy/girl... how we exist in relationships and dispel the myth of the inferior female. So... thats what I've been reading. Enjoy!

are you going to watch it?

Yeah, I'm gonna watch the "Lost Tomb of Jesus" documentary on the Discover Channel tonight. I'll wait to leave my comments after watching it. Part of the turmoil is the whole "tomb" stuff... the claim that Jesus did not, in fact, rise from the dead, which is a big deal, and I don't mean to make it sound trite (sp?). But... really, this isn't "new" news/claims. John warned of such things shortly after Jesus' death and resurrection. The other part, of course, is the marriage to Mary Magdalene stuff. If you know me, then you probably know what I think about that. Its pretty much what I thought about the DaVinci Code stuff... so... we'll talk about it later, after I get to watch it.