Against Nothingness

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  - Jesus,  John 10:10 Many times have I reflected on these words. Many times have I heard them, and their theme, expounded upon. It seems you can't read a "christian living" book (what a term for a sub-genre... oh, how I could rant here...), or one of its modern cognates, without at least a word, more likely a chapter, to say nothing of entire books, on this subject. I suppose this reflects the fact that we all desire 'life to the full.' We mostly don't know what it is we are asking for, but we are very sure we want it.  Where I begin to despair is when these authors, or speakers (let us not forget the faults of preachers and pastors, of which I am one, in this same subject!), having spoken of the promise, and our desire for it, turn to what we should do. I picture that lonely pilgrim Christian, standing in the fields, looking this way and that yet not moving, for he knew not w

"This doctrine of equality is essential to conversation; so much may be admitted by anyone who knows what conversation is. Once arguing at a table in a tavern the most famous man on earth would wish to be obscure, so that his brilliant remarks might blaze like the stars on the background of his obscurity. To anything worth calling a man nothing can be conceived more cold or cheerless than to be king of your company." - G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong With the World I am not the most famous, nor brilliant, of men, but I have to say that I completely agree with Chesterton. It is an occasion for utmost satisfaction when, in the company of those who do not know me (read: most people), that very fact makes the truth shine all the brighter.  I think about this in terms of ministry and am put in mind of John the Baptist's words: "He must become greater; I must become less." I desire for people to take note of my sermons because they are true and good and po

James C. Wilhoit, Leland Ryken. Effective Bible Teaching. 2nd Edition. Baker Academic, 2012. The bible is not an entirely easy book, to say the least. Much of it is odd, difficult, and strange. So, how does one go about effectively understanding and communicating Scripture? This is precisely what Wilhoit and Ryken seek to aid the reader in doing. They do this in three parts: what is effective teaching? How do we teach the bible? and how do we understand the bible we teach? In basic outline, this is a combination instruction manual which gives you the basics of inductive bible study as well as principles for biblical interpretation. What you will find here is a sound book. It is not presented in a particularly stirring way; much of it is quite dry. It is also quite true. It is a good place to start. I will still be recommending How to Read the Bible for All it's Worth to those who want to read scripture well. It's not that Effective Bible Teaching  is wrong, or even

I do not know where it is writ that I must bow to feeling, but often my own melancholy sends me off and reeling.  I start my day, or come to church, in no mood for joy or celebration And soon enough I find myself encased with irritation.  Yes, those dark clouds quite easily set the pace and smother out the light, But I thank the Lord that he has given me a tool to set me right.  David sat amidst the sheep, composing songs of glory And within them he placed all feelings, hope to pain to worry.  Now I find, to my delight, that upon their reading My feelings bow to His and my darkness starts receding.  Once again light sets the tone and I do remember That God is king and leads the way though my sins still linger.  Now the worship, or the day, can be a place of peace, As I seek out God Almighty and let my strivings cease.   I do not know where it is writ that I must bow to feeling, but the Psalms clearly declare the only way of healing: "O come , l

Mark A. Noll. Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity (3rd Edition). Baker Academic, 2012. 356 pgs.  How do you compress two thousand years of religious history into one textbook? Many have tried and I have, unfortunately, suffered through their attempts (thanks to seminary). You could do a poor overview of as much as possible, cramming in dates and details until the student's head explodes. You could attempt to do justice to major themes while covertly focusing all attention on your favorite moment or person (Martin Luther anyone?). Personally, I don't think there is a good solution. But, if I had to pick one, I would choose Turning Points .  In this book Noll delves deeply into thirteen turning points in Christian history. Obviously there is some subjectivity in which points one chooses (in the introduction Noll lists ten options he considered but left out, just to give us an idea of how complex this process is) but despite this the appro

IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sine

Shawn Lovejoy. The Measure of Our Success: An Impassioned Plea to Pastors . Baker Books, 2012. 184 pgs.  In this plea Shawn Lovejoy takes aim at the all to common problem of pastoral burnout and failure. In his own words: "Why are so many pastors and ministry leaders falling? Why are they so vulnerable? Why are they so unfulfilled? Lonely? Insecure? Discouraged? Depressed? Burned out? Why are so many not seeing the fruit they hoped to see? What is wrong with pastors?"  The answer? Many pastors are aiming at the wrong thing. Pastors seek to do great things for God instead of being a great man with God. Pastors seek numbers instead of fruit, busy-ness instead of wholeness, approval instead of holiness, and fame instead of faithfulness. Chasing the wrong things kills us.  It is a sad thing that this book needed to be written, but I do believe it did. The real message, condensed in the way I would want to say it to other pastors, is quite simple: You are not Jesus!

"I could never mix in the common murmur of that rising generation against monogamy, because no restriction on sex seemed as odd and unexpected as sex itself. To be allowed, like Endymion, to make love to the moon and then to complain that Jupiter kept his own moons in a harem seemed to me (bred on fairy tales like Endymion's) a vulgar anti-climax. Keeping to one woman is a small price for so much as seeing one woman. To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once. It was incommensurate with the terrible excitement of which one was talking. It showed, not an exaggerated sensibility to sex, but a curious insensibility to it. A man is a fool who complains that he cannot enter Eden by five gates at once. Polygamy is a lack of the realization of sex; it is like a man plucking five pears in mere absence of mind. The aesthetes touched the last insane limits of language in their eulogy on lovely things. The thistledown made them weep;

"Humility was largely meant as a restraint upon the arrogance and infinity of the appetites of man. He was always outstripping his mercies with his own newly invented needs. His very power of enjoyment destroyed half his joys. By asking for pleasure, he lost his chief pleasures; for the chief pleasure is surprise. Hence it became evident that if a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small. Even the haughty visions, the tall cities, and the toppling pinnacles are the creations of humility. Giants that tread down forests like grass are the creations of humility. Towers that vanish upwards above the loneliest start the creations of humility. For towers are not tall unless we look up at them; and giants are not giants unless they are larger than we. All this gigantesque imagination, which is, perhaps, the mightiest of the pleasures of man, is at bottom entirely humble. It is impossible without humility to enjoy anything - even pride.  But what we suff

The Lesson of the Moth I was talking to a moth the other evening he was trying to break into an electric light bulb and fry himself on the wires why do you fellows pull this stunt I asked him because it is the conventional thing for moths or why if that had been an uncovered candle instead of an electric light bulb you would now be a small unsightly cinder have you no sense plenty of it he answered but at times we get tired of using it we get bored with the routine and crave beauty  and excitement fire is beautiful and we know that if we get too close it will kill us  but what does that matter it is better to be happy for a moment and be burned up with beauty than to live a long time and be bored all the while  so we wad all our life up into one little roll and then we shoot the roll that is what life is for it is better to be a part of beauty for one instant and then cease to exist than to exist forever

Alexander Solzhenitsyn. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich . Signet, 1972. 142 pgs.  I don't know how I made it this long without reading Solzhenitsyn. Somehow. Earlier this year a good friend  pointed me to his  Nobel prize speech , which is well worth reading. That same friend  then lent me this book, which I finally got around to reading. In summary this book is one day in the life of a man sentenced to ten years in a Siberian labor camp.  The book opens as Ivan wakes up and, being slower than normal, is called forward by a guard to receive his punishment. Ivan experiences a minor victory in that his punishment is merely to mop the guardroom floor. Barely 10 pages into the book and the (no doubt realistic) picture Solzhenitsyn paints of a Siberian labor camp is bleak. No matter how Ivan felt, I was struck again and again by just how terrible this all was. His victories were small highlights which lit the extent of tragedy to my eyes.. As I neared the end of the

War and Nookd  - funny and scary Of Flying Cars  - a long but very interesting look at where we stand now in terms of technology, economics, bureaucracy, and politics. When are we going to grow up? The Juvenilization of American Christianity  - more than enough to think about here. Please RT   - "soon, if not yet already, it will seem pretentious, elitist, and old-fashioned to write anything, anywhere, with patience and care." Happyism: The Creepy New Economics of Pleasure   - thoughtful and hilarious. Thoughts on Penal Substitution - very good The Trouble with Atheists: A Defence of Faith - So good, I want to read the book :) Impatience as Digital Virtue  - great questions to consider! The New Furby Review: Absolute Horror - Made me laugh out loud and made me think. 

I am a Christian. I am a pastor. I have often experienced the awkward moment in the conversation after someone I have just met asks me what I do for a living... and I answer. Most of the time this is followed by a long pause while the other person visibly tries to sort out what to say next. Have they cursed in our exchange so far? Should this bother them? Do you have a bone to pick with religion, faith, or Christianity? Should they pick it with me? Am I judging them? Should they adjust their behavior accordingly? And on and on.  There are many objections to Christianity and to faith. Once and a while they come out. More often than not the awkward pause is followed by an embarrassing fizzle as the conversation grinds to a halt.  I am keenly aware of the point Francis Spufford makes , that the most painful message about Christianity our society gives us that we are embarrassing. This makes sense. I am caught in the embarrassing predicament described well by Simon Tugwell: &qu

Back at the beginning of August this was me: I'm so excited to be blogging again! Lots to do and good times ahead! Then I woke up today and realized it was September already: September already? I hardly blogged at all! Yeah... a month gone in the twinkling of an eye. And all of 2 blog posts to show for it. What can I say? I've been busy! So, I make no promises about September, but I still live in hope. Maybe you do to, or maybe you've given up on this blog. Don't worry, I understand.  Until next time... :) 

Leonard Sweet, Viral . Waterbrook Press, 2012. 240 pgs.  "The Gospel is nothing without relationship. And no one gets it like the google generation." So begins the copy for Viral by Leonard Sweet. What follows, once you get into the book, is 4 chapters distinguishing the "Google generation" from the "Gutenberg generation." Once Sweet has set up this division, he proceeds to examine Twitter, Google, iPhones, and Facebook and how each of these lends itself to relationship and, thus, the gospel. Sweet concludes by saying that we need to be able to deal with both cultures with love and hospitality.  I have enjoyed some of Sweet's books in the past. I did not enjoy this. The problems with this book are numerous. Sweet acknowledges, in the final pages of his book, that he has "grievously simplified the two cultures" of 'googler' and 'gutenberger.' He is almost right. I would go so far as to say that he has invented the

"The problem is that our technological capability has created a world of physical and social systems that, in the most concrete sense, eliminate the otherness of creation. Those living in industrialized, computerized lands rarely if ever encounter the world as other, but only a hominized world that is precisely constructed according to human reason and will.  ...Society can eliminate otherness by its coercive power, shaping members into smooth conformity; or by its censoring power, suppressing difference in thought or belief or action; or by its segregating power, placing those who are different or deviant into safe compartments.  But a lie is no less a lie because it is often repeated, stated loudly, or written in stone and circuit. The person who experiences electricity only by flipping a switch or monitoring a generator may grow confused about power and who controls what. The person who encounters lightning in an open field is not confused. Bouncing a healthy baby on my k

After an unannounced 1 month + hiatus, I'm back! If your curious, our church planned a missions trip to a closed country involving teaching English, and so I was both super-busy with planning and then out of the country for several weeks. When I got back, I had a bazillion emails to respond to, as well as normal work to do. In the face of these events, this blog suddenly falls even lower than normal on my list of priorities.  But I have books waiting to be reviewed and other things waiting to be said, so I just couldn't stay away forever :)  I hope that makes you happy!

Chapter 5 of "Prayer in Practice," which is entitled 'Feelings in Prayer,' is perhaps the best piece of writing on the subject of emotions in the Christian life that I have read. Tugwell begins by noting just how unreliable feelings are: "I may feel inspired without being inspired; I may feel marvelous... but that may be caused simply by a good dinner and an insensitive conscience. Conversely, I may feel awful, but 'if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart." He points out that in our era of "romantic fundamentalism of experience, which will believe only what I can feel on my pulse" that we must realize that we can be seriously deceived about our own experience. Yet, we cannot fall into unending doubt and so we begin by realizing feelings are not infallible and then getting to know ourselves, our feelings, and the ways in which our feelings may 'misfire', well enough that we can discern when to trust. Tugwell lists

Speaking on meditative, repetitive, prayer: "Of course, it is unlikely that we shall actually find ourselves totally devoid of thoughts! But in this kind of prayer the thoughts simply do not matter. Ignore them, and just get on with saying the prayer. Let them chatter away, accept them in the same way that you can accept any other kind of disturbance, without anxiety, without trying to suppress it, without even latching on to the desire to suppress it or even to the thought 'I am being disturbed'. Just let it be. As likely as not, without any deliberate intention on your part, you will actually find yourself chasing the first thought with a second one, such as 'I must stop this - I'm not supposed to be thinking.' That easily leads to an infinite regression, one thought trying to catch another. there is no need to take any notice of any of them! Thoughts are a bit like spoilt children trying to attract attention to themselves. If you ignore them, refusing to b

Michael John Cusick, Surfing for God: Discovering the Divine Desire Beneath Sexual Struggle.  Thomas Nelson, 2012. 224 pgs.  Pornography is a plague of epidemic proportions among men right now. I seriously doubt I need to share with you any of the statistics. But you should know that it is not the widespread nature of this problem which made me request this book to review. No, two other reasons rose to the fore: 1. I am a youth pastor and so continually walking beside, praying with, and counseling young men who struggle with addictions to pornography. 2. I, myself, went through an addiction to pornography. At the time, the only book people gave me on the subject was Every Young Man's Battle. That was a fine book, in it's own way, but not all that helpful in dealing with sexual addiction in the age of internet abundance. By the grace of God I was set free without a better book on the subject, but that has not kept me from continually watching for such books.  This is o

Top Post from May Life Change - Pretty good considering it went up yesterday. Just some thoughts on 'changing lives.' Three Most Visited Posts in May 1.  We're Sinking   - I like this post :)  2.    Heaven and Hell  - How long will this last? At least it regularly comes in 2nd now.  3.  Life Change  - See above.  Yes, it is now officially June. Can you believe? Me neither... 

Sometimes I wish I could manufacture life change. I day-dream of a formula, or a series of well-timed maneuvers, or a set of input points, and think that it would be nice if you just hit these things hard enough, threw enough energy, or talent, or money in their direction that things would happen. ........................................ You see, I'm a results kind of person. I take great pleasure in seeing the positive results of my efforts. They don't need to be quantifiable, but they need to be visible, at least to me. I don't care if others know, I don't care if I'm appreciated, but I do care if I have made a difference. And in 'my line of work' that means life change towards Christ. Or at least, it does to me. I suppose other pastors may use other measuring rods; whatever. But even if I were not a pastor, those would be the results I sought more than anything else.  Unfortunately, there is a subtle and dangerous form of idolatry at work he

The Critic Revisits the Monsters - Wonderfully insightful essay on the fantasy genre in our time. Caine's Arcade - Just plain fun. Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?  -  "We were promised a global village; instead we inhabit the drab cul-de-sacs and endless freeways of a vast suburb of information." That quote should make you want to read this article.  Understanding Amazon's Strategy   - Frightening... too much to keep track of and I like my kindle... but still.  Shift Happens -  Examining Kuhn's "Structures of Scientific revolutions." The last paragraph is stunning.  A/B Testing - Do you  wonder if this has ever happened to you? I do.  The Worlds Most Important Story - More to think about. TED Video:  How Small is an Atom? - - fun, entertaining, mind-boggling... it's like the high school science class I wish I had.  TED Video:  Reinventing Fire; a 50 year plan for Energy - - if this is really doable are we doing it?

"Our No. 1 'job' in discipleship and ministry is to so live in Christ that we live and serve out of the fullness of Christ. Our No. 2 'job' is to do everything we can to make No. 1 possible. Our No. 3 'job' is not to do the things which hold us back from No. 2 and No. 1." - Darrell Johnson, Speaking at the 2012 Regent Pastors Conference 'Overflow' Response: This weeks pastors conference has been good in many ways. Above all, I have been reminded of the true nature of my position as pastor and the priorities which come with it. If this is not number one in my life and conduct then all else will fall apart. 

" You anoint my head with oil;  my cup  overflows." - What I want Top 3 Posts from April 1. "Daddy, Be a Monster..."  - With a resounding lead for traffic this month, we have a brief reflection on playing with my daughter and experiencing heaven.  2. Prayer: A Word I Need to Hear  - Also with higher than average traffic, and a strong second place, a brief reflection and response to some words from Timothy Jones.  3. Forgiveness: A Hard Word From Luther - Third place goes to a good quote.  Three Most Visited Posts in April 1.    "Daddy, Be a Monster..."  - It has been a long time since my top most "googled" posts have been knocked off the top. Clearly I need to write more about Hannah :)  2. Heaven and Hell - ... but some things don't change... 3. We're Sinking - Indeed... April has been a hard month. For some time now I have been doing my best to exercise discernment in what to prioritize and what to let go. N

"I try to remember that words do not matter to God as much as many of us suppose. They carry less weight than we think.  Our culture seems infatuated by words. By the millions they stream from our radios, televisions, newspapers, internet sites, and yes, books. Drive through any metropolitan area, with its billboards, neon ads, and bannered signs, and you get the strange sensation of driving through a phone book or huge dictionary. Words seem essential. But much that is profound can happen in their absence.  ... Rather than defining prayer as something solely expressed in words, I see it more fundamentally as being present to God. Sometimes words are eminently appropriate. Sometimes they get in the way. Often they simply don't matter. The important thing is to stand before God without our constant chatter, ready to be in heartfelt relationship with him. Where our whole selves are engaged in relationship with God, there prayer will be, even if words are not used."

"Both our transformation and the imputation of Christ's righteousness depend on union with Christ. And so does forgiveness, the fact that God doesn't count our sins against us. Because we are one, Christ's life is our life. Because we are one, Christ's qualities are our qualities. Because we are one, we have died in Christ's death, and our sins are no loner ours but are 'swallowed up' by Christ. ... God gives, faith receives. And because God gives even before the hands of faith open to receive, faith never goes away empty-handed. To have faith is to have christ and, with Christ, a new life and forgiveness of sins." - Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge . 151, 153

Today I read: "The contemporary climate is therapeutic, not religious. People today hunger not for personal salvation, let alone for the restoration of an earlier golden age, but for the feeling, the momentary illusion, of personal well-being, health, and psychic security." So wrote Christopher Lasch in his 1979 book The Culture of Narcissism. It has, perhaps, never been more true than now in 2012.(1) Today I also read:  ... The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as

It's 3am and I can't sleep. I'm all alone. There's no one to call at this hour. And so, rising slowly and allowing blankets to slip to the floor, I head for my computer. With a half-desperate sigh I log on to my Facebook account. I hope for some activity, some contact with other people.  Nothing. I post a status update and wait. Click. Refresh. Click. Refresh. Nothing.  My brain side-slips reality and I imagine, for the briefest of moments, a different life.  I imagine being constantly tired but unable to sleep. The heaviness of my eyes growing with each passing moment but nary a moment of sleep. I imagine sitting for hours, days, and weeks with abundant tools of communication at my disposal but having no one to talk to. My lonely desperation growing with each passing moment but nary a moment of human contact.  Gripped by this image there is only one option. I turn the computer off and go to bed. And as I drift off  I wonder... I can

"Daddy, be a monster." Asks Hannah, my 3 year old daughter. And so, dropping to all fours, with a savage glint in my eye and a feral grin on my face, I let out a roar. In response Hannah shrieks with delight and runs to her room where she dives under the blankets and waits for the "Daddy Monster."  I roar down the hallway, crawling slowly so as to amplify the suspense, and, upon reaching her room, say in a deep and growling voice: "Where is my dinner?"  When I finally catch Hannah she giggles and laughs and after a brief tickle I let her go so that we can repeat the process in the other direction.  This delight in the face of a 'monster' is possibly precisely because this monster is the 'daddy monster.'  If only all of the monsters we faced were loved ones in disguise. If only all of the monsters, upon catching us, wanted noting more than to see us laugh and then released us to run again, shrieking with delight, fo

"Those who follow Christ grieve more over the sin of their offenders than over the loss or offense to themselves. And they do this that they may recall those offenders from their sin rather than avenge the wrongs they themselves have suffered. Therefore they put off the form of their own righteousness and put on the form of those others, praying for their persecutors, blessing those who curse, doing good to the evil-doers, preparing to pay the penalty and make satisfaction for their very enemies that they may be saved. This is the gospel and the example of Christ." - Martin Luther (Quoted by Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge, pg. 161-162)

Forget Self-Improvement - A good word about goals. Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Prize Speech - Nobel prize speech given by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn; amazing. TED Video: The Earth is Full - The earth is full. Literally. Our current economy is unsustainable. Letter: A Brave New World - Huxley's own take on why "A Brave New World" is more likely than "1984" Neurons V Free Will - problems in neuroscience? The $8-Billion Dollar IPod - hilarious video looking at 'copyright math' and the flaws therein. Culture After the Credit Crunch - Thought provoking look at our reactions to recent financial crisis. What Isn't for Sale? - Hidden costs in a society where everyone is for sale? Havel's Specter - reflection on the political and poetic wisdom of Vaclev Havel The Right Habits - small habits leading to victory

He is Risen! Or so we will declare very soon :)  Top 3 Posts from March 1. Child Soldiers and Hunger Games - A few thoughts on the recent blockbuster movie and the tragedy of child soldiers.  2. Children Are Waiting  - A word about the Christian duty to care for orphans.  3. Rediscovering Sin: Pusillanimity - The title kind of says it: I learned about a sin I had never considered before.  3 Most Visited Posts in March 1. We're Sinking - My reaction to Josh McDowell's "Truth Matters" campaign is quickly becoming my most popular post ever.  2. Heaven and Hell  - But this one keeps hanging on.  3.  Child Soldiers and Hunger Games  - It's nice to see a post on both of these lists; it seems to happen only rarely as Google searches continue to dominate my traffic ratios.  A few key events dominated the last month in my life. The keen observer may have noticed that I was posting at a rate of 1 a day for the first week of March. Then I said no

Mark Buchanan. Your Church is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down . Zondervan, 2012. 240 pgs.  Mark Buchanan believes there is a visible gap between life in Jesus and the life we live, between the Church of Jesus and the churches we have. In his own words, "What happened? When did we start making it our priority to be safe instead of dangerous, nice instead of holy, cautious instead of bold, self absorbed instead of counting everything loss in order to be found in Christ?" This, then, is a book for those who wish the church looked more like the kingdom of God.  What follows, then, are 18 chapters of pleas, stories, examples, and explanations of what it means to be the true church of Jesus Christ. Buchanan shares with us how Christ makes all things new, how Christ calls us to trust and work for healing and reconciliation and forgiveness and love, and how this will get us into trouble.  A friend of mine commented that this book could be

Upon finishing my post-malazan  period of readers mourning  I took a moment to reflect on my reading over the past months. I reviewed my readers log (stardate 2178...) and realized that "The Malazan Universe" had entirely occupied the fiction portion of my reading for upwards of 6 months. In itself this was unsurprising; thirteen 1000+ page fiction books should take that long to read given how much time I devote to reading fiction. However, I also realized that I needed to now read something utterly different. Science fiction and Fantasy would have to be laid aside, at least for a time.  But what else could I read? In the world of non-fiction, I have a seemingly never ending pile of books waiting on my desks, and an even longer list waiting on Amazon. In the world of fiction, not so much. And so I began to look at top lists: Pulitzer prizes, New York Times Best Sellers, etc. It didn't take long for me to come up with half a dozen books to start with and this list hap

It has been hard, but I have resisted posting any response to the whole Kony2012 debacle.  If nothing else, it made me take notice. With so many people making the point that raising awareness about child soldiers and world problems is a good thing, no matter what else we think of the video or InvisibleChildren, I decided that I should actually raise my awareness. That is to say, do something other than watch a 30 minute video which is mostly mistaken or lying. I bought, and read, They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children   by Romeo Dallaire  (who founded the Child Soldiers Initiative ; a much better way to get involved and help stop this serious problem).  I know that I am still in the process of understanding all that Dallaire shares in his book. It broke my heart to learn what is going on in our world, what some children go through. And then something happened.  The day I finished reading this book I saw a preview for "The Hunger Games." My first thought