Saturday, March 13, 2010

20 Books to Read in your 20s

Great List from Justin Buzzard... this was published a while back but I pulled it up today and thought I would share it!
-------------------------------------------
20 Books to Read in Your 20s

1. Living the Cross-Centered Life, C.J. Mahaney

2. Discipline of Grace, Jerry Bridges

3. Step By Step: Divine Guidance for Ordinary Christians, James Petty

4. The Fight, John White

5. Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, Tim S. Lane and Paul D. Tripp

6. Finding A Job You Can Love, Ralph T. Mattson and Arthur F. Miller

7. God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible, Vaughan Roberts

8. Disciplines of a Godly Man/Disciplines of a Godly Woman, Kent and Barbara Hughes

9. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, Tim Keller

10. Desiring God, John Piper

11. Stop Dating the Church, Josh Harris

12. Feel, Matthew Elliott

13. The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis

14. Engaging God’s World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living, Cornelius Plantinga

15. Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper

16. Bible Doctrine, Wayne Grudem

17. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer

18. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart

19. The Reason for God, Tim Keller

20. Biography (various authors). Nothing can replace reading biographies of great men and women of the faith. Find a godly personality from church history who intrigues you and begin reading about him or her. Consider starting with Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper, or Hudson Taylor’s spiritual Secret by Howard and Geraldine Taylor.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Dental Students in D.C.

To my loving husband, you uplift me through your beautiful words, I miss you.
As Ryan said I am in D.C. (well technically at National Harbor, Maryland) for the American Dental Education Association conference with one of my friends from my class Lila. We are here for the student council meetings where we discuss current issues for dental students. I know, it sounds wildly exciting.
Unfortunately the issue that has impressed me the most is with all the interaction I have had with students the last 3 days I have not had one conversation about Christ or the gospel. It reminds me how easy it is for us in the South to mention Christ because it is the norm. There are students here from all over the states, and even Canada and Puerto Rico, (not many from the South) and I am beginning to realize that most of them have either never heard the gospel or don't understand its true meaning for their lives. I am praying that God will some how, in my sometimes bumbling self, allow me to effectively talk about Christ to these students.
Lila and I did get to go to downtown D.C. yesterday with our newfound friends from Puerto Rico. We walked into a couple of the museums, Air and Space, American History, and Natural History. We then walked by the Washington Monument and then through the WWII memorial (which is my favorite but unfortunately not as beautiful when all the fountains are cut off) and on to the Lincoln Memorial. I separated from the group to go see one of my other favorite memorials, Vietnam. Everyone else was freezing at this point, it was about 35 degrees and windy, but Birmingham's cold weather had me pretty primed for the cold. When then met one of the Puerto Rican's friends who lives in D.C. She is originally from Mexico, so needless to say there was a lot of Spanish speaking going on and I realized how little I remember from my small Spanish education. Lila and I were so glad we got to get away from the resort for a little while, especially since Lila had never seen D.C.