by John Chandler

Loved the idea of this book, but about 80% of the book was about the accelerations and only about 20% was about the Thriving. Found myself wishing it was at least 50/50. Still, it left me with much to consider which is what I most ask for in a book.

Rereading an old friend. I’d forgotten much of how the book resolves, but some of paragraphs in the first few chapters were still completely memorable. Is it okay to say this was one of the most formational books of my childhood? Don’t panic.

I started this for my final sermon series at aMS. Volf writes about how Christianity should be engaged in the greater good of humanity, and like everything by Volf it is so well though out. Proved even more to be a timely read for my new role with Help One Now.

A quick listen of an audiobook. Not going to make to it recommendation level in any conversations I have with other readers, but interesting enough to finish it. Chose it because I’ve been shifting to a handwritten Bullet Journal (which I really need to write about) after years and years and years of digital task management. And by years and years and years, I mean my whole adult life.

So the thing is, Chris is a good friend, and I was closely tied to the early days of Help One Now. But I hadn’t read his book. I finally started in on it a couple months ago to prep for the Make Good series at Austin Mustard Seed.

Starting a job with Help One Now certainly wasn’t on my radar at the time. But now it’s imminent. (Something I need to write about more in depth here on the blog.) Nobody has asked me if I’ve read the book anywhere in the process, but I’m ready to say yes if they do.

This doesn’t completely read like a biography. It’s biography enough though, in that it serves as a helpful introduction to how all of the Paul related pieces of the New Testament fit together. And it offers an overall view of how Paul’s developing theology fits in early and contemporary Christian conversation.

Also, it is NT Wright. I read everything he publishes.

The quest continues to work through some classics with my kids. In this case Beowulf, which I’d never read myself.

This is more of a paraphrase of the original, so I hope it isn’t considering cheating. It was very readable though, so I think we made a good choice.

Super duper likely this will end up being one of the most influential books I read this year. A collection of themes that have been on my mind in recent years, but presented in a way that pulls them all together.

So much of what happens in our marketing saturated culture is corporations hooking us into something that’s not healthy for us and keeps pulling us back. He explores the addictive and toxic effects of sugar and social media, among other things. But it’s not all a diatribe, as he ends the book with several thoughtful chapters on exploring a better way for individuals to live.

I read the audiobook and got more out of it than I normally do an audiobook. But I’ll be returning soon to the words on page version — there’s more for me to take away from this book, I’m sure.

A book I’ve been interested in for a long time. The idea of flow is that all of us are capable of achieving some kind of optimal working condition where attention is tuned and effort seems streamlined. It’s an idea that’s common often for me both in conversations and inner ponderings.

Yet, it’s a challenging book to read, and one you almost have to feel like you’re already in Flow to engage. It’s a deep dive. I appreciate that it’s not a simple how-to manual constructed for quick sales, but almost requiring one to achieve levels of flow to stay engaged and read it. Yet, for others (and me at times), that depth might be a challenge to read through at a time when so many of us would benefit from why the engaged levels of attention of flow are worth regaining.