{"id":1973,"date":"2019-09-12T14:31:23","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T14:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theholisticpursuit.com\/?p=1973"},"modified":"2019-09-12T14:31:23","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T14:31:23","slug":"6-books-for-6-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theholisticpursuit.com\/blog\/6-books-for-6-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"6 books for 6 moments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo taken by Calvin at Trinity College Library (which houses the book of Kells)<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n

There were many factors that helped awaken my faith in my mid-20’s, but arguably the biggest catalyst was reading books. During my journey toward God, there were books that found my hands at just the right time. I decided to list some and describe the moment I was in and why it was the perfect book for the moment.<\/h4>\n
\n

1. The Bible (NLT)<\/h3>\n

Ok, I know! It’s an obvious pick, but I wanted to share about this particular translation. I started to read this version in the midst of my faith awakening. I wanted to read for myself what the Bible says. I ended up reading through the bible in about a 9 months\u20131 year. THE NLT is easier to read than KJV (because of the more modern english) or ESV (sometimes the sentences just don’t flow nicely) because it is more of a sentence-by-sentence translation. It is not meant for scholarly study of the best word choice but more focused on the spirit of passages and sentences in modern english. I found it easy to read and understand.<\/p>\n

Buy one here<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne (and Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals)<\/h3>\n

I had been to church my whole life, but while reading Shane Claiborne’s book, I realized I wasn’t living my faith out practically and it was under the false-pretence of “grace” or “anti-works” but it really was passivity. When I saw that Shane actually tried to be like Jesus in radical ways, I was inspired to read the gospels again for myself and see the life of Jesus as something to model. I learned that Jesus’ life just as much as his birth, death and resurrection was important to study and try to apply His ways to my life.<\/p>\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. Muslims, Christians, and Jesus: Gaining Understanding and Building Relationships by Carl Medearis<\/h3>\n

I was in my discipleship training school with YWAM and found out I would be going to Sweden and to a neighborhood called Rosengard which was mostly an immigrant and refugee neighborhood in the city of Malmo. There were going to be many muslims and I had no idea what I thought of them, how they thought of me (besides this underlying suspicion brought about by 9\/11 and the news and political narratives) or what muslim even believed. This book was such an important and accessible primer by a man who has lived his life loving muslims in the middle east and sharing Jesus with them.<\/p>\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cThere is more treasure in books than in all the pirate\u2019s loot on Treasure Island.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n

WALT DISNEY<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

4. Theology Narrative Missionary books<\/h3>\n

My time with Youth with a Mission opened me up to this genre of book. These types of books generally use story and testimony to share spiritual truths. They are easy to read yet incredibly inspiring and challenging. I read a whole swath of these books in my first years with YWAM. It helped me see God as powerful yet personal and it inspired me to step out in faith myself. Since there are so many amazing ones, I’ll just make a list below:<\/p>\n