26 in 2011

I know, I know, it's been a really long time since my last post.  I am finally getting back into the full swing of things after two wonderful weeks of time spent with friends and family.  These times are refreshment to my soul and leave me with nothing but gratitude for my life.  God is so good.   

I absolutely love the new year.  It's a time of reflection, rest, and renewal.   In this regard, I have always embraced the "out with the old" mantra (with great vigor I might add), and greatly enjoy delving into the tradition many Americans deem as 'resolution-making'.  Shockingly, I know many people who scoff at resolution making, but I definitely think there is something admirable about wanting to better yourself, especially as it plays a part in God's redemptive purposes.  While most resolutions typically deal with losing weight or something in the same vein, I wanted to do something different this year. 

This past semester my 'Theology of Contemporary Worship' Professor, Dr. Rock (that's really his name), challenged us to become 'masters of our language'.  He stressed to us the power of language, and how our ideas and illustrations could only be as powerful as the language used to convey them.  He likened a 'master of language' to a person using a 64-Crayon box as opposed to one using a 6-Crayon box.  Instead of just a 'red', you now have 'magenta' or 'maroon'.  Instead of 'green' you now have 'emerald' or 'clover'.  You get the picture.  As a Worship Pastor and songwriter, this challenged me greatly, and became something I greatly desired to achieve.  "With a firm grasp of language", he would say, "you can convey more accurately what you thinking, what you're feeling.  You can paint in much broader, and louder strokes." This is one of my favorite things about the prophet Isaiah.  His use of language, paints us an unbelievably vivid picture of God and His work throughout his book.  His use of beautifully complex metaphors and illustrations gives us explicit pictures of otherwise indescribable events (i.e. the throne room). Another thing Dr. Rock said often was "read whatever you can get your hands on. Read a lot of history and philosophy.  It will give you perspective." All that to say, Dr. Rock's statements definitely left an impression.

So, this year I have set before myself a challenge.  Apart from my daily Scripture reading (I made it through the whole Bible last year! and plan to do so again this year), I am going to read 26 books in 2011 (26 is for my age.  I am toying with the idea of the yearly amount directly coinciding with my age from here on out, but we'll see.  I'm not ready to commit to that yet). 

I actually just finished my first book, 'Blink' by Malcolm Gladwell.  It's an incredibly fascinating book about how we make decisions. I highly recommend it, especially if you're a psychology fan.