three books later...

hello??? *echo*
helllllllllllllooooooooooooooo???? *echo, echo, echo, fade out*

well, anyway, im here to tell whoever reads this that...
i just finished reading "the shack."
obviously, ive veered a bit off the proposed reading list, but i got some interesting books this summer that i couldnt help but read. before that, i read another holocaust-genre book called "everything is illuminated" that was interested but has some sexual stuff that i found uncessary and distasteful. it was a fresh way, however, to look at the guilty conscience of a non-German who was used to do terrible things by the nazis. the characters were fairly interesting. there's a movie out with elijah wood in it but i havent seen it yet and dont know if im gonna.

theeeen i read the shack and it wasnt quite what i expected. actually, my expectations were really high after all the hype, and i was prepared for what it really was. i agree with my aunt, who says that it would have made a lot more sense going into it KNOWING that william p young wrote it to be a kids book--a way to explain God to his children as they grew older. if i had known that, i would have understood why people were so enthralled with a book that wasnt very impressive from a literary standpoint. it did bring up some very interesting ideas about God that i was eager to embrace, but unsure if i should. i just longed for some biblical support so that i knew i wasnt being pulled in to just someone's opinion or personal view of God. but i guess that's the challenge: remember what he said about God and his relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit and ourselves and put it to the test of the Word. a good excuse to dive into the Bible. there were several scenes at the end of the book that were worth reading the whole book, for me. i was crying pretty hard near the end, i guess my heart longing for such peace and reconciliation. it WAS a pretty amazing portrait of relationship and God as love.

so, right now i'm reading Red Moon Rising, which is a book about the creation of the 24-7 prayer movement that began in England. so far, five chapters in, its just a personal story about how the idea came into being and then started becoming reality. it is really inspiring to read about this man's journey of true faith, and it has been bringing up some real questions in my heart and mind about prayer, and about my prayer life. its been fun to journal about them, dialogue with God about them, and ponder them. maybe when im done ill remember to write some of my new thoughts on here.

what's everyone else reading? anything good?