Happy Weekend!  Happy birthday to my daughter Greta (“the squirt”)!  Here are just a few articles and books for the weekend:

Some really interesting considerations here: Is literature next in line for virtual-reality treatment?  I think V/R is really fascinating and combining it with great literature would be even more engrossing.

David Mathis wrote a touching article called ‘My Little Daughter: A Father’s Glimpse into the Heart of God’.  Preview:

There is a special kind of love and affection that exists between a godly father and his daughter, whatever her age, whether three or twelve or thirty. We would be foolish to rank a father’s love for son against his love for daughter, but we’d be naïve not to see the distinctions.

This one’s for my brother: The Long Linguistic Journey to ‘Dagnabbit’

Michael Haykin writes a short article about St. Patrick’s life. Excerpt:

When Patrick was in his twenties, he escaped from captivity in Ireland and went back to his home in what had been the Roman province of Britannia. Here he would have stayed, glad as he was to get back to his family and friends. But not long after he got back, he had a dream in which he saw the Irish coming to him, asking him to return to Ireland to presumably share with them the good news about Jesus Christ.

TECH: Always Be a Sort-of-Early Adopter

How did I miss this? ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series Coming to Amazon

I think this has major issues: YouTube is turning to Wikipedia to help it fight conspiracy theories. First of all, does no one realize that Wikipedia is just as susceptible to wrong information as anything else???  Second, what makes us think we want YouTube to provide us context filtered through their own opinions about what is real/right/sane/normal?

A pretty balanced view (all things considering) of the situation over at the White House from Red State writer Joe Cunningham: What Trump Needs Right Now. His main argument is that Trump (like Obama) has surrounded himself with “yes-men” who are unable or unwilling to push-back and offer alternative or creative ideas that challenge the President or other advisers. Many great presidents were known for surrounding themselves with a diverse group of thinkers and perspectives (Lincoln and Washington set early examples).

It hasn’t exactly been the best week for the White House. Trump Jr. is getting divorced, several major figures were sacked – Secretary of State Tillerson, and on Friday night the Dep. Director of the FBI.  The latter was fired over Twitter last night just a few days before he was eligible to retire with his full pension. Whether or not he deserved it, it wasn’t exactly the most deft political move because it smelled like retribution (and perhaps an preemptive attack considering the coming book took of the equally suspect James Comey).

Personally, I like man of the things that have gotten done in the first year of the President’s tenure. But he would be wise to campaign very hard to get his voters to the polls this fall, because if Republicans lose the House (which is possible if things keep on this track), Democrats will be strongly tempted to impeach the President, further distracting the country from accomplishing reforms and enjoying prosperity and peace.

Moving on…something to consider if you want to think a bit deeper today: How to Understand the Jordan Peterson Phenomenon.  I may have posted this before, but after re-reading it, and as I read through Peterson’s book, I thought it useful to make sure it’s circulated again. I agree with Joe Carter in this article, because he seems to understand Peterson, but also because I like the overall direction he’s encouraging us toward – namely, that Christians need to be deep thinkers and to engage in the kind of holistic arguments and discussions that made Francis Schaeffer so influential in his day. Teaser:

When the Irish band U2 covered the song “Helter Skelter,” Bono said, “This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We’re stealing it back.” Similarly, Peterson has stolen the song about order and meaning we Christians use to sing so well. It’s time we steal it back.

Books…….

This week I have been diving into a series of essays that I come back to periodically in the book ‘The Christian Imagination’, which is edited/compiled by Leland Ryken, and which I highly recommend.

But I also finished off a few books.  I finished what has sort of become an annual reading of The Loveliness of Christ by Samuel Rutherford. If you ever want to be encouraged during a difficult time in your life, this is the book for you. Very small, and full of excellent quotes, I’ve always found this little book to be very helpful.

The Pastor and Counseling was a book given to me by my good friend Derek. It was okay, in that it provides a decent framework to work within, as well as some helpful reality checks on the process of counseling. I wouldn’t give it 5 starts, but its a good place to start if you don’t have time for the verbosity of Tripp or Adams.

From a fiction standpoint, I mentioned last week that I was reading Beneath a Scarlet Sky, and how much I enjoyed it.  I finished it up, and can still state that it was fantastic.  There are some sexual elements to it – some which teach life long lessons, I think. But those things always leave the reader slightly uncomfortable. Still, this is a terrific story, and that its based on real life events is even more astounding. One of the best modern works of “fiction” I’ve read recently.  Thanks to Matt R. for the recommendation!

Interestingly, I had just finished up the Summons from Grisham before the Scarlet Sky book.  I think I mentioned that a bit before…but it was an interesting exercise to read Grisham, and then read a book like Scarlet Sky.  Grisham’s book was fast-paced and interesting to a degree.  But you sort of feel like you’re eating McDonald’s instead of eating a nice meal at a restaurant with table cloths in comparison to a more thoughtfully written piece of fiction.

Lastly, I read John Maxwell’s classic 21 Laws of Leadership book.  I have mixed feelings about the book.  I don’t think all his “laws” are necessarily necessary. And I don’t think he helps you understand the process for developing the kind of character or steps it takes to achieve each of these “laws” – its sort of like saying to your kids for the first time “you need to clean your room” without explaining to them how to go about it.  Maxwell can come off a bit condescending at times, and the superficiality of his writing leaves me feeling like his observations are nice, but not necessarily life changing – he’s not a deep thinker, by any means. But if there’s one redeeming virtue to his book(s – they’re all sort of similar), its that they cause YOU to think and to engage in some self-reflection.

That’s it! I hope you have a great weekend!

PJ