A Quiet Day, A Warm Fire, A Good Book

Does that image appeal to you? I've discovered that people either like to read or don't like to read. For those of us who enjoy reading, that image is very comforting. Both Diane and I (and, we're discovering, our children) highly value reading. We're often passing around the latest great book to friends and getting a bag full of books in return.

One person that I highly respect and admire is Michael Catt. Michael is the senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Michael highly values reading also. Michael was Diane's and my first pastor after we were married in 1989. Coincidentally, Michael's first day at Sherwood was our first day at Sherwood. It's an interesting story how we came to attend Sherwood and meet Michael (thanks to a close friend of mine from college), but that's another story.

Unfortunately, we were only able to attend Sherwood for about 7 months, then I was transferred to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. So while I respect and admire Michael, I doubt very seriously that he'd even remember me. But during that short time I experienced incredible spiritual growth under his Biblical teaching. And I quickly learned that value of developing reading as a habit.

Michael's latest weekly newsletter article focused on reading and the idea of giving books for Christmas. He included a list of books that he suggested be included in your home library. I was very interested in the list and thought I'd share it, in case anyone who reads this blog is having trouble deciding on a good Christmas gift. Happy reading!

• The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
• Your Life in Christ by George MacDonald
• The Be Series by Warren Wiersbe (hardback edition of all the "Be" books).
• When Heaven is Silent by Ron Dunn
• Don't Just Stand There, Pray Something by Ron Dunn
• Not Peace But A Sword by Vance Havner
• Repent or Else by Vance Havner
• A Hunger For The Holy by Calvin Miller
• Listen to the Giants, Walking with the Giants by Warren Wiersbe
• Just As I Am by Billy Graham
• Any book in the "Leaders in Action" series including books on Theodore Roosevelt, C. S. Lewis, Booker T. Washington, Patrick Henry, Winston Churchill, Robert E. Lee and others.
• Various books on prayer by Andrew Murray and E. M. Bounds
• The Life and Diary of David Brainerd by Jonathan Edwards
• Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot
• The Life of D.L. Moody by Lyle W. Dorsett
• Prophetic Untimeliness by Os Guiness
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
• The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis
• Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
• The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
• Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala
• At least one biography on great men like John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, C. T. Studd, Winston Churchill, Stonewall Jackson and others.
• Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
• The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham by Harold Myra and Marshall Shelley
• Thinking For A Change by John Maxwell
• Living By The Book by Howard Hendricks
• Kingdom Education by Glen Schultz
• As Iron Sharpens Iron by Howard and William Hendricks
• The Myth of the Greener Grass by J. Allan Petersen
• No God but God, Breaking with the Idols of Our Age by Os Guiness and John Seel
• When Skeptics Ask by Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks
• First Person, Second Person, Third Person (three books) by Lehman Strauss
• Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey