Last night I finished reading A Million Ways to Die, The Only Way to Live by Rick James. I am not really sure how I came to hear about this book. I think someone or more than one someone mentioned it on Facebook. But no matter how I came to read it, it was thought-provoking. I didn’t really “get” the book in the beginning. I can’t say that I have never stopped reading a book because I didn’t get it but I usually “keep on, keeping on” so I kept reading. Actually I multitask when it comes to books – I read more than one book at a time. The pile of books may include one fiction book but it won’t include two fiction books – that would be too confusing. I am always pleased when the thoughts in one book appear in another book from the current pile. Of course when I start to tell a friend about new thought I am not really sure where the thought came from. That is a hazard of reading more than one book at a time but I can live with that. A thought that I am still processing: “If, for example, you’ve experienced more trails than anyone you know and it doesn’t seem fair–well, it’s not fair. You’ve been given twice as much fuel, which can be transformed into twice as much life. Perhaps Satan has harassed you to a degree far exceeding the experience of others. Well, that’s a calculated risk on his part. If you don’t give out or give in, he’s actually provided you with excess fuel that can be processed by faith and transformed into life. If Satan sends you a bomb and it doesn’t explode(that is, if you don’t give up), he’s actually given you a weapon.” I am still turning than around in my head. Another tidbit, which is more than a tidbit because it is a lot to chew on: “when we die to self and embrace our trails, unjust suffering, and pain, we do so with the anticipation of how God will resurrect and transform things into life.”
Current pile of books: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick – reading with my niece, Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr – just finished and I am going to reread, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss- for book club. Bonhoeffer, his biography has been on the pile a long time. It is good but it is a slow read. Recently finished: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston – would highly recommend. Sanctuary of the Soul by Richard Foster- would also recommend.
