Snowmageddon Reading

1. 

   Isaiah. Preaching on this Sunday, Feb 6. Come out to Garnett Church of Christ to hear 66 chapters in 25 minutes. OK, I’m not going to cover all the chapters but overview and main themes, which are very powerful and instructive even for us 2,700 years later.

2. 

   Decision Points. This autobiography is very well put together, revealing of major and minor decisions. On the decision to run for president in 2000, he wrote about talking to his twin daughters. They said, “Why do you want to ruin our lives. You are not as cool as you think you are.” I’m learning more to dispel or confirm some of my perceptions of George W. Bush. For example, he deals directly with the perception that Dick Cheney ran the White House and describes their working and personal relationship very clearly showing Bush made final calls on everything from personnel to global decisions. About his decision to only commute Scooter Libby‘s sentence, not fully pardon, he tells how Cheney said, “I can’t believe you’re going to leave a soldier on the battlefield.” Bush worries he made the wrong decision, that his relationship with Cheney would suffer, but he shows examples of how Cheney’s loyalty to Bush does not waver.

3. Writer’s Digest Magazine. I read The Writer and Writer’s Digest a couple times a year. Ashley and I made a run to Barnes and Noble Monday night before the storm to use gift card and get a little reading material for the storm. This was one of my choices, along with number 4.
4. Spirituality and Health. This magazine caught my attention a few years ago, and I read it once or twice a year when I get a copy. Here is where I first read about Kathleen Norris’s Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life. From Publisher’s Weekly, “In this penetrating theological memoir, Norris (The Cloister Walk) details her relationship with acedia, a slothful, soul-weary indifference long recognized by monastics. Norris is careful to distinguish acedia from its cousin, depression, noting that acedia is a failure of the will and can be dispelled by embracing faith and life, whereas depression is not a choice and often requires medical treatment.”

5. 

   Cover via Amazon

   Kindle version of Tulsa World. For the first time in more than 100 years, the Tulsa World did not print a newspaper. They opted for e-editions, web, and Kindle, and that has been extended from Wednesday to Thursday and Friday as well. So we’ve been reading all three versions, trying out the Kindle version, which is regularly $9/mo. but has no ads, just stories read as a book one after another.

6. Facebook. Of course like you I’m reading Facebook entries from people coping with the snow around the country and checking in with Garnett staff and members this week to be sure everyone has what they need and no one is taking unnecessary risks getting out on the roads before they are cleared.
7. Leadership Journal. I’ve been reading this excellent journal since grad school in 1990, and I really respect Marshall Shelley and ongoing effort to bring challenging wisdom to bear on church leadership.

Finally, I thought about writing a book during Snowmageddon, but I decided to make igloos with the kids instead. I figured that’s the most productive thing I can do. I still need to write a sermon for Sunday, though, so I’d better go.