My Favorite Pastime
Ever since elementary school, reading has been one of my most consistent favorite pastimes. I'm usually always reading something. While listing reading as a favorite hobby doesn't carry the same awe or inspiration as say rock climbing, ballroom dancing, archery, Iron Man competitions, or surfing, it is one of my favorite ways to relax and unwind.
I've read a pretty eclectic mix of books so far this year. Here are their covers.
Hands down one of my favorites this year was Cheryl Strayed's Wild. Excellently written, engrossing, and incredibly, a true story.
So, because of my love for books, whenever Gospel for Asia staff offer to send me a book to read and review on my blog, I gladly take them up on the offer. Most recently I read K.P. Yohannan's book, Touching Godliness.
The book was originally published in 2008 and has been republished in 2013. The book is about a topic that seems almost taboo in today's culture - submission. I know many people who cringe at the word. Yohannan writes about Christ being our model for submission. If Christ embraced and lived out the concept of submission, we as his followers must learn to come to terms with the concept of submission in our own lives.
Yohannan writes, "Christ's life was always marked by absolute obedience and submission to His Father. But please don't misunderstand -- Christ was not a weak person by any means. He was a leader in every sense of the word. People were amazed at the authority with which He spoke. He commanded demons to flee, rebuked the wind and sea, and even called Lazarus to rise to life from his tomb. His authority came out of the His submission to His Father."
Major sections of the book examine the different authorities that have been placed over us - government, work, church and family. He also includes profiles of Paul, David and Joseph, Godly examples of submission.
Submission is not easy. It is our nature to be strong-willed, independent and rebellious. Yohannan writes, "If Jesus needed to stay in such close contact with God that He could say He only did what His Father showed Him to do, how much more do we need the same? How can we assume that we can get by even for a moment without involving the Father, if Jesus could not? If He desperately needed the Father's input, don't we even more so need to hear from the Lord in all we do?"
In the well known Lord's prayer, there is the sentence..."Thy will be done". When Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking if it was possible for the cup to pass from him, he said "your will be done."
One of my greatest wishes and one of my most fervent prayers is for God's will to be done in my life and Tom's.
Yohannan's book handles a topic that many Christians might shy away from, thinking we as a people have evolved beyond the concept of submission -- that it's an Old Testament concept. But submission is a concept that runs through the Old Testament and the New Testament and applies to our lives today. I found the book full of a lot of practical examples and great scriptural verses. It's definitely a book I will revisit because my will certainly needs some work in aligning itself with the Father's will.
Click here if you're interested in getting the book.
I've read a pretty eclectic mix of books so far this year. Here are their covers.
Hands down one of my favorites this year was Cheryl Strayed's Wild. Excellently written, engrossing, and incredibly, a true story.
So, because of my love for books, whenever Gospel for Asia staff offer to send me a book to read and review on my blog, I gladly take them up on the offer. Most recently I read K.P. Yohannan's book, Touching Godliness.
The book was originally published in 2008 and has been republished in 2013. The book is about a topic that seems almost taboo in today's culture - submission. I know many people who cringe at the word. Yohannan writes about Christ being our model for submission. If Christ embraced and lived out the concept of submission, we as his followers must learn to come to terms with the concept of submission in our own lives.
Yohannan writes, "Christ's life was always marked by absolute obedience and submission to His Father. But please don't misunderstand -- Christ was not a weak person by any means. He was a leader in every sense of the word. People were amazed at the authority with which He spoke. He commanded demons to flee, rebuked the wind and sea, and even called Lazarus to rise to life from his tomb. His authority came out of the His submission to His Father."
Major sections of the book examine the different authorities that have been placed over us - government, work, church and family. He also includes profiles of Paul, David and Joseph, Godly examples of submission.
Submission is not easy. It is our nature to be strong-willed, independent and rebellious. Yohannan writes, "If Jesus needed to stay in such close contact with God that He could say He only did what His Father showed Him to do, how much more do we need the same? How can we assume that we can get by even for a moment without involving the Father, if Jesus could not? If He desperately needed the Father's input, don't we even more so need to hear from the Lord in all we do?"
In the well known Lord's prayer, there is the sentence..."Thy will be done". When Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking if it was possible for the cup to pass from him, he said "your will be done."
One of my greatest wishes and one of my most fervent prayers is for God's will to be done in my life and Tom's.
Yohannan's book handles a topic that many Christians might shy away from, thinking we as a people have evolved beyond the concept of submission -- that it's an Old Testament concept. But submission is a concept that runs through the Old Testament and the New Testament and applies to our lives today. I found the book full of a lot of practical examples and great scriptural verses. It's definitely a book I will revisit because my will certainly needs some work in aligning itself with the Father's will.
Click here if you're interested in getting the book.
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