It’s a Wonderful Life is a wonderful movie, and author Bob Welch has illuminated fifty-two teachable moments from the film.

They are generally good, some quite insightful. Others needed an edit.
Here are the 52 with a couple of quotes from two of my favorite chapters.

Lesson 1: God Honors Our “Childlike Faith”
Lesson 2: Underdogs Matter
Lesson 3: Sometimes You Just Gotta Dance
Lesson 4: You Matter to the World.

Lesson 5: Self-Pity Skews Our Vision

Twenty years ago as I was working through some of my unresolved anger I saw The Anger Workbook by Les Carter and Frank Minirth on a book shelf. 

This book’s insights, probing questions and the subsequent dialogues that followed certainly contributed to my healing.  In turn, I have shared insights from this book with several people.

Fortunately, for all of us this book has been re-released.  

Carter and Minirth explain their Thirteen Steps Toward Anger Management:

Step 1. Learn to recognize the many faces of anger.

Step 2. Admit that all angry expressions, good or bad, are the result of choices.

A Theography?

“First,” the authors wrote, “this isn’t a biography. It’s a theography. Even if you argue that a biography of Jesus is possible, which is hotly debated among scholars today, we are telling the story of God’s interactions, intersections, and interventions with humanity through the life of Jesus.”

Following the lead of N.T. Wright, Sweet and Viola declare that “if we don’t interpret the available evidence correctly, ‘we shall simply squash Jesus into the little boxes of our own imaginations rather than seeing him as he was.’”

The authors explain that the Scriptures, and in particular John’s gospel, portrays Jesus as meeting all human need:

As most mysilentscream readers know, I love baseball and books about baseball.  If you read my review of Men of Sunday by Curtis Eichelberger, you know I love football too.

Published in 1997 The Dark Side of the Game: My Life in the NFL by Tim Green is a quick read, and a friendly introduction to a sometimes dark and always violent game.

Author Tim Green was an unusual NFL player:  
– He read prolifically
– He went to law school in his spare time

Dark Side of the Game is a series of seventy or so blog-like mini-essays (2-4 pages) covering many topics that interested me.

In The Blessed Church, subtitled “The Simple Secret to Growing the Church You Love”, Pastor Robert Morris commends readers to believe a healthy church is possible.

Morris provides practical wisdom he has learned throughout his ministry years, particularly principles and practices from his time serving with Gateway Church.

Vision

“Without a doubt, my vision for Gateway Church crystallized, expanded, and deepened over the years, but from the very beginning there were three key things I was determined that, with God’s grace and supernatural empowerment, we would do as a church. The following were the central goals of my vision:

“What Matters Most: How We Got the Point but Missed the Person” is a reprint of a 2004 book, entitled “Out of the Question…Into the Mystery.”

That said, this is a powerful book that needed to be re-considered for an audience, myself included, that missed it when it was first released.

“Belief can exist in isolation, but faith requires a relationship.” For without dynamic, engaging deep relationships — relationship with Jesus and then relationship with people — we cannot demonstrate love.

Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo wrote this book as a dialogue. Their hope is their conversation provides us with insight as we seek to live the teachings of Jesus.

Introduction: Why This Book?

“Whenever the word evangelical is used these days, a stereotype comes to mind…Trying to escape that definition, a group of us gathered together to adopt a new name for ourselves: Red Letter Christians.

Starting in 1899, Bibles have been published that highlight the words of Jesus in red. We adopted the name Red Letter Christians not only to differentiate ourselves from the social values generally associated with evangelicals but also to emphasize that we are Christians who take the radical teachings of Jesus seriously and who are committed to living them out in our everyday lives.”

The text of Wild Grace was adapted from Max Lucado’s book Grace. Gray boxes behind the text indicate places where new words and stories were added by James Lund specifically for our teen readers. 

If you read my review of Grace you know I enjoyed it.  I was interested in finding out how Lund adapted Lucado’s book for teens.

I Liked

Lund expands on Lucado adding, “One dictionary definition of “grace” is “unmerited divine assistance.” Sounds simple enough— God giving us something we don’t deserve. But do we really get grace? And even if we do, does it have anything to do with our lives?”

I follow Max Lucado on Twitter. 

When I read tweets like these I began to be excited to read his most recent book Grace.

“To discover grace is to discover God’s utter devotion to you, his stubborn resolve to give you a cleansing, healing love”

“Your identity is not in possessions, talents or accomplishments. Nor are you defined by divorce, debt or dumb choices.”

“Mercy pardons us. Grace empowers us.”

I love what I read in the tweets.
I assumed that they were quotes.
I assumed wrong.

Despite that, I love the book.

I’m turning 50 this week.

I’m not yet fifty — it’s just four days away — but I thought I’d lead you through my journey, and maybe you’ll learn a thing or two that will help you on your journey.

Guitar Hero 

I always wanted to be a guitar player.

I own more than one.
I play (listenably) none.

None!

I cannot play with Carlos Santana‘s cool.
I cannot play with John Butler‘s artistry.

I cannot play with Michael Hedges‘ complexity.
I cannot play with Phil Keaggy‘s passion.