A BOOK A WEEK: "You're kidding right?"

A few years ago I heard about a guy who read a book a week. My friend talked about him in almost hushed tones..."That guy is well-read. You can tell it when he speaks. He reads...a book a week!" I remember thinking, "Who has that kind of time? He must be an extreme introvert with lots of margin in his schedule." But this reader was a pastor with lots of responsibilities...more than mine.

I've been a reader, yes. I have more books than the average dude. But I've always considered myself a slow reader. On my ACT, I struggled more with comprehension than almost anything. I've often found myself reading the same paragraph over and over and wondering, "How the heck would anyone read 52 books a year?"

I'm writing this blog entry to encourage the slow readers out there. I don't have speedy comprehension. But a couple of years ago, I discovered the reading challenge by blogger Tim Challies. I took a challenge to read more. I don't know the number...maybe it was 13 books in a year? Then last year, I took the dare to read 52 books in one year. I wasn't sure I could keep up the pace but I surprised myself and just finished my 52nd book yesterday. Here's what I've discovered.

1. Reading more, actually increases the joy of reading. This is the opposite of what I thought would happen. I thought I would collapse at the midpoint from the drudgery. Instead, I find myself actually looking forward to my 2018 reading goals. What Challies' reading challenge did for me was to expand the width and depth of genres in my reading. In the past, it was usually theology, leadership, then maybe a biography or a novel thrown in. The reading challenge has pushed me to read all kinds of literature and renewed the joy of reading for me. I now have a good excuse to read a page-turning novel, for example.

2. Comprehension can improve. I once thought that there are i) smart, great readers, ii) those who are mentally challenged or handicapped, and then iii) there's me.

Instead what I found is that over the course of the year, stretching my mind to read various genres, my comprehension has gotten better. Who knew? (Like a bicep gets stronger with use, maybe there's a reading muscle?)

3. One can read and still have a life. The average book is probably 200 pages. With a goal of reading about 40 pages a day, I can read a book a week and still have time with Jesus in the morning, and keep my other commitments as well. Not saying, I've mastered my calendar. Just saying, it's amazing how much time I must have been wasting, whether with TV or web surfing. I don't know just how, but the time for reading hasn't been as impossible to find as I thought.

So, if you're like me and you think there are super human people who can read and then there's the rest of us, I dare you to challenge that assumption. Join me in 2018 to read more. Start where you are and go from there. Maybe you've never read books. Then don't start with a book a week. Try a book a month for starters. That's about 50 pages a week or 7 pages a day.

If you've already done the book-a-month thing, then join me and take the challenge to read 52 books in one year! Stretch your mind! Challenge the rut you've been! Read something besides what you've always read, whether self-help or historical fiction. I dare you! Then, let's compare notes throughout the year.

Next blog, I'll highlight some of the books that impacted me the most this year.

Happy Reading!

[Check out the 2018 Christian Reading Challenge here. Also, let me know if you've discovered another type of reading challenge that has been helpful.] 

CHRISTMAS: More than words could ever say

So much can be said without words. A rolling of the eyes, a shrug of the shoulders. A hug…a single tear. Sometimes words can even get in the way of the deepest expressions of love. 

The mysteries of Christmas are countless. The virgin birth, the seemingly poor timing, the announcement to shepherds by angels and a puppet king Herod threatened by the birth of one baby among thousands. But here is one more: God says so much with as few words as possible. 

The best friend of Jesus, John the Beloved, tells us that Jesus was the Word before time, the One who spoke at creation. Yet in a manger this same Person is reduced to coos, cries and grunts. Willingly. Not because He had nothing to say, but because of a choice. Because God loved the world, His Son descends from the dominion of the universe to diapers. God the Eternal Word lies in the arms of a teenager…speechless. But oh… how that silence speaks. 

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ²but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (Hebrews 1:1-2)

Regardless of the popular idea that Jesus was born on a silent night that was calm, the world did not lie in stillness. It was chaotic. Political upheaval. Tax reforms and Jews who would not worship Caesar as god, were forced to travel by foot and hoove to their birthplace__to register so the government could know more than you wanted them to know about you. So a very young Momma and a courageous but shaken Dad travel 120 miles to Bethlehem to obey the law. No healthcare, no ambulances, no epidurals. Amid a crowded city with lots of noise, a speechless Savior is born to say so much. 

So think about that today as the kids run, as family quarrels break out over who will be at what house and when. When you watch as loved ones painfully move through pain and babies cry in bassinets, remember this: God became speechless and in that silence He has spoken more than words could ever say. Forever, our world has changed and Eternity will resound for endless eons at the wonder of God speaking into our chaos. Those so-called silent years from 0-30 of a Man named Jesus forever says to you, “I love you. Your Father, God.”