Dear Trekker,
I have a confession to make this month! I really enjoy most days simply lounging around (when not ministering to Ms. Barbara), doing little, but reading. It’s “a new thing for me,” my Isaiah 43:18-19 experience. The purpose of my reading is to saturate my mind on and in Christ, to think His thoughts, to be motivated by His desires and be guided by His eternal principles of loving and serving God and people. Could one read to a greater purpose? May his Kingdom come on earth (in my life and time) as it is in Heaven! Trekker, remember, we are what we read, see, hear and listen to. This is the foundation of our lives, for good or ill. Be a reader, trekker.
So this month I have some reading suggestions for you. I’ve written in the past concerning “Lectio Divina,” or spiritual reading. It is not only what we need, but how we read. What is being said? What eternal lessons are therein! How do I apply this to my life? Naturally, we should be reading the Scriptures! This is our reading foundation! Currently and for some time now, I read The One Year Bible, arranged in 365 daily readings, so one systematically reads the entire Bible in one year. This is The Living Bible translation, a thought-for-thought translation published by Tyndale House, Wheaton, IL 1985.
I strongly recommend reading the entire Bible through yearly. There are many reading plans which do so. Find one you like. This edition has a daily OT passage, a NT passage, a psalm, and one or two proverbs. Many “saints” recommend such reading as the means to absorb the goodness and power of God and His written word. I concur.
Given the prevalence of the computer staring at us every day, I recommend a good email daily devotional. There are many out there in cyber space! I recommend highly “Daily Heartlight” (www.heartlight.org). Various writers provide the daily commentary.
Here us an excerpt from a recent writing on Mark 2:18-22: “Unlike much of what we have experienced from the religions of our era, Jesus is not calling us to a new variation of an older religion. He is bringing a whole new world – something he calls the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is the center, the foundation and the heart of this new world of faith. As long as Jesus is around we can’t pursue religion as the way to God.” I highly recommend this daily email devotional. Just go to the website and sign up.
I want to recommend three other books:
1. The Serving Leader, a national best seller, has recently (2016) been revised and updated in a 10th anniversary edition. It is a most powerful book. The Serving Leader outlines in riveting narrative the five powerful actions to transform your team, business and community. In a sense, it is the biography of a young man learning from his father basic leadership tools for “thinking of others more highly than yourself” (Phil 2:3, Romans 12:3). The five basic actions are: run to great purpose, upend the pyramid, raise the bar, blaze the trail and build on strength. A book hard to put down and a quick, fast moving read… yet, with point after point to ponder. Trekker, if you are in any kind of leadership position, you need to read this book. The Serving Leader, by Kenneth R. Jennings and John Stahl-Wert. BK Publisher, Inc. Oakland, CA. www.bkconnection.com.
[NOTE: While on leadership, there are copies of my book on Leadership available, Passing the Baton – Reflections on Leadership, 2014. Available for $10, which includes shipping. Drop me an email if you want a copy or copies.]
2) The second book I want to recommend is Sarah Young’s, Jesus Calling, another best seller in recent years, published by Thomas Nelson Publishing, Nashville, TN, 2001. What is so unique about this content is the writer’s perspective. She writes as Jesus speaking to us, a unique style which underscores the dire need for us to see and understand life from the perspective of our Creator and Savior. Here is a recent sampling: “I am nearer than you think, rightly present in all your moments. You are connected to me by love – bonds that nothing can sever. However, you may sometimes feel alone because your union walk with me is invisible. Ask me to open your eyes, so that you can find Me everywhere. The more you are aware of my Presence, the safer you feel. This is not some sort of escape from reality; it is tuning into ultimate reality. I am far more Real than the world you can see, hear and touch. Faith is the confirmation of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.”
3) As I have written previously, pastor, author and Bible translator Eugene H. Peterson has had a huge influence on my life, particularly the last 25 years. Gleanings of his wisdom and knowledge from his prolific writings are continual in his daily reflections, Living the Message, (Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1996). It contains samplings through the calendar year of Peterson’s best. Like Peterson, I, too, want to speak, write, and live my relationship with Jesus. We all can talk a “good game,” can we not, but so often experience very little. Sad indeed!
Here is a Peterson excerpt on the challenging need for listening: “Listening is in short supply in the world today; people aren’t used to being listened to. I know how easy it is to avoid the tough, intense, work of listening by being busy – as when I let a hospital patient know there are ten more people I have to see. (Have to? I’m not indispensable to any of them, and I am here with this one.) Too much of pastoral visitation is punching the clock, assuring people we’re on the job, being busy, earning our pay.” He closes with Proverbs 18:13 from his Message – “Answering before listening is both stupid and rude.”
Trekker, we do need to read for a lot of reasons. But above all, let us take the time to read! From reading, enlightened by His Spirit within, comes understanding of and the power to live the God life, walking in His steps.
Let’s resolve to live what we read, practice what we preach, and listen to learn what to say. Have a good journey, my friend.
Jim Meredith, your trekker friend.
