“Being more prosperous has allowed Americans to more effectively hide from their thoughts.”
Alan Noble’s book, Disruptive Witness, is filled with quotes like the one above. I started reading it as part of a Cru book club. On occasion I read something that strikes a chord with how our historic faith intersects with our modern world. Noble’s book fits into that genre. It’s a book to read and dissect.
Noble looks at the issue in our society of our always distracted self. We don’t think deep thoughts, and if we get close to one, then we turn away from it quickly because of the constant barrage of distraction our world provides. Phones, computer, TVs, screens of all sizes and variety constantly pull our attention away from the divine. It’s hard for us to think in this environment, so how do we think we can communicate the deep truths of our faith?
Noble shares ways for us to engage in witnessing disruptively. One primary way involves what he calls the “double movement.” This is the “practice of first acknowledging goodness, beauty, and blessing wherever we encounter them in life, and then turning the goodness outward to glorify God and love our neighbor.” By speaking of the goodness and blessing of God in our lives, we help our friends and neighbors see that this material world is not all there is, and a transcendent God also exists and cares for us.
There’s a scratch on the surface of this book. Noble’s thoughts are worth our time as we consider communicating our faith into a distracted world.
The US trade embargo of Cuba had one unanticipated result – streets filled with old cars. Cubans have not imported cars from the US for over 50 years. You see fascinating old cars all around, including Ladas from the former Soviet Union, but the coolest cars you see are old American models, lovingly maintained for all these years. Here’s a few pics for all you car lovers.
Dawn with a family with whom we met and gave a filter. The actual filter is small. You can see it attached to the end of blue hose, hanging on the bucket.
What do you need?
“I need a new pair of shoes,” “We need to paint our house,” “I need to get my hair colored again.”
These are all statements heard around our house in the last month and none of them are true. However, in regards to the hair – Dawn’s hair is up to her and I don’t enter into that conversation. But I have at lots of shoes in my closet and our house has older paint which is in fine condition.
What is a true need?
Our most basic needs are water, food, and shelter. Our most basic spiritual need is to know God, made known through His Son, Jesus Christ. To know Jesus is to know God.
To start the new year, we met 25 others in Havana, Cuba to give people a small, portable water filter that would provide clean water for their family. We were there with Filter of Hope, whose mission is to give safe water to those in need, plus an opportunity to understand how Jesus is the Living Water and how they can have “clean hearts” and life in Him.
We witnessed people with REAL, BASIC, and SIGNIFICANT needs. The water in Cuba is not clean. It is filled with bacteria and disease that causes diarrhea and stomach problems. Few homes have a filtration system and it costs too much for many to buy bottled water or the propane needed to boil the water. Most Cubans live on approximately $25 per month.
Dozens of teams of college students will head to Cuba and other Latin America countries over their spring breaks to work with Filter of Hope, delivering both clean water and Living Water. Please pray for them as they bring life and hope to entire families.
If you, your church, small group, or family have a desire to be involved with this type of mission trip, please visit filterofhope.org to see about going to one of the many countries where they serve.
Jesus told us, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14.
I love to read, and I want to share with you the books I spent time reading this past year. On this list are novels, books on ministry and leadership, culture and travel and personal growth. As always, some are better than others. I list the ones that stood out to me first, then you can peruse the rest.
Happy reading for 2019!
Go Do Say Give – Keith Bubalo – Four ways to live out a commitment to following Jesus.
The Self-Aware Leader – Terry Linhart – Helps you discover your gifts and your blindspots as a leader. Most of all, it reminds you that you have blindspots that need to be discovered.
Can You See Anything Now? – Katherine James – Complex, intriguing, real, this novel gives a glimpse of the tragedy of the world and the grace of God.
The Invention of Wings – Sue Monk Kidd – A novel following the lives of two women, one a slave and one a white woman and the abolitionist cause she takes up.
Atheist Delusions – David Bentley Hart – The author skewers atheistic thought and worldview. Fun to read a really smart guy give the atheists hell (which they don’t believe in anyway).
Billy Bathgate – E.L. Doctorow – Fantastic novel following a young man who enters the world of Depression era gangsters in New York City.
Little Big Man – Thomas Berger – A wild, crazy, fun novel of the American West.
White Awake – Daniel Hill – A book that’s aimed toward white folk, like me, on how to understand and move forward into the racial issues that plague our nation and our churches. Highly recommended.
Union With Christ – Rankin Wilbourne – Highly readable, a fresh way to return our union with Christ into the heart of the Christian life.
The Power of Moments – Heath & Heath – The value of creating quality surprises in the lives of those you serve. A book on giving something unexpected and how that influences those on the receiving end.
Portrait of a Spy – Daniel Silva – One of a series of novels featuring an Israeli art-restorer who also doubles as – wait for it – an assassin. You’ll see several on the list, all good for keeping you up late turning pages.
On Truth and Untruth – Friedrich Nietzsche – This is a compilation of a few of Nietzsche’s writings on truth. When he told us, “without truth, all things are possible,” Nietzsche tilled the soil for many of the evils of the past century to take root.
All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque – Likely the best book written on warfare from the soldier’s perspective, a German soldier in this case. Banned by the Nazi’s as being anti-war, you get a picture of the futility of World War I from the trenches.
The Winter Fortress – Neal Bascomb – A true story that should be a movie. Norwegian freedom fighters blow up a factory integral to the Nazi’s development of an atomic bomb.
The Shallows – Nicholas Carr – While a few years old, this book on the changes the internet is doing to our brains will make you put down your phone or tablet or computer and pick up a physical book. Or go and learn a hobby like woodworking or gardening. Unless you’re so far gone it’s too late.
NIV Integrated Study Bible – Holy Spirit – The best chronological Bible I’ve ever used. It goes chapter-by-chapter and even verse-by-verse in the sections of chronological overlap and makes it easy to compare the parallel passages. I especially liked reading the book of Acts in parallel with the letters from Paul, and the books on the Old Testament kings in parallel with the prophets.
And the Rest. Many of them I really like, just didn’t make my top 16…
Ministry Mantras – Briggs & Hyatt Beartown – Fredrick Backman Two Kinds of Truth – Michael Connelly The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams Don Quixote – Cervantes The Black Echo – Michael Connelly The Eagle of the Ninth – Rosemary Sutcliff The Inferno – Dante Alighieri Empathy For The Devil – JR Forasteros After the Passion – Gary Stanley Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives – Chuck Swindoll The Servant – James Hunter Shogun – James Clavell Church Refugees – Packard & Hope On the Road – Jack Kerouac Creating Customer Evangelists – Huba & McConnell Flags of Our Fathers – James Bradley Predictable Success – Les McKeown The Rembrandt Affair – Daniel Silva Bridge of Spies – Giles Whittell After the Funeral – Agatha Christie The Beautiful Struggle – Ta-Nehisi Coates Creativity, Inc. – Ed Catmull Daily Rituals, How Artists Work – Mason Curry Slade House – David Mitchell Making Ideas Happen – Scott Belsky At Play in the Fields of the Lord – Peter Matthiessen Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk Gospel Patrons – John Rinehart Dear Client – Bonnie Siegler The Camino Way – Victor Prince Call of the Camino – Robert Mullen Grape, Olive, Pig – Matt Goulding Bunker Hill – Nathaniel Philbrick The Return – Hisham Matar The Fallen Angel – Daniel Silva The Child – Fiona Barton Leap Over a Wall – Eugene Peterson The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers Christianity and Manhood – Art of Manliness Tulipomania – Mike Dash Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates Writing Without Bullsh*t – Bernoff At Day’s Close – Roger Ekirch The English Girl – Daniel Silva
Join me in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2026. If you spend 30 minutes a day on social media, you can read through the Bible in a year. Download the 5 Day Bible Reading Plan, grab your Bible and join in. You’ll be glad you spent this year with the men and women of Scripture.
Seers, Sayers, Schemers & Saints
Stories to encourage you with the leadership experiences of overlooked men and women of the Bible. Their lives will inform your story, and move you to step out and lead.
GO: Following Jesus to the Ends of the Earth
This book contains reflections on the Lordship of Christ, the Great Commission, and a life of adventure and eternal significance. Read this book and you won't be able to sit still!
