Well, I’ve pretty much resigned to the thought that I could be a regular blogger.  As many times as I’ve said it, you’d think I’d follow through.  I shall henceforth be known as The Occasional Blogger, even if I’m the only one to ever refer to myself as such.  I probably could also call myself The Guy Who Complains About Not Blogging Enough Every Time He Does Blog, but that’s quite a mouthful, so let’s stick with the former, okay?

On to bigger and better things…

I am now once again a reader.  Well, that might be a bit of a stretch, but I’m getting there.  I remember a time when, if given the choice, I’d choose to read for fun.  My imagination was filled with the stories of the Boxcar Children and the Hardy Boys, not to mention Aslan and crew from the Chronicles of Narnia.  Unfortunately, those days ended when I started 5th grade at a new school.  Suddenly, I learned what homework was and forgot what reading was.  Well, now that I am no longer a student of any formal institution, I have the responsibility of making the choice to continue my education on my own.  I suppose that’s what life is all about, but I feel like I’ll probably benefit a bit more by being proactive about it versus just breezing on through.  So anyway, I thought I’d share a couple lists with you.  The first one is fairly short, a list of books I’ve been working on recently:

C.S. Lewis – A Grief Observed (completed), The Great Divorce, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (re-reading)
John Eldredge – Wild at Heart (completed)
Mark Batterson – In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day

I set aside The Great Divorce a while back, in favor of Wild at Heart, but now that it’s complete, I’ll get back to it.  I needed a break from deeply thoughtful reading, so I decided to invoke my imagination and re-read The Chronicles of Narnia.  I don’t have to sort through syntax to get to the meaning; I can just immerse myself in the story, and I love that.  Reading those books is like watching a movie to me.  Anyway, the second list is my “To read” list.  They’re just sitting there on my shelf, waiting for me.  We’ll see how long this takes.

Erwin McManus – The Barbarian Way
Becky Tirabassi – Sacred Obsession (for student ministries next fall)
John Piper – The Passion of Jesus Christ
Steve Brown – A Scandalous Freedom
Gene Edwards – A Tale of Three Kings (re-read)
Ron Owens – Return to Worship
Bill Hybels – Too Busy Not to Pray
Rory Noland – The Heart of the Artist (I’ve tried to read this a number of times and just never finished)
Robert Ludlum – The Bourne Supremacy (Same story here) and The Bourne Ultimatum
Thom S. Rainer & Eric Geiger – Simple Church
C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, and the rest of The Chronicles of Narnia

I’m sure that list is incomplete, but those are all the books and I can think of at this point.  I’ve also been recommended The Shack, but I don’t have it, so I’ll have to borrow from someone.

Ok, I think that’s enough for today.  I need to leave in 20 minutes for Pendleton, and I want to get a chapter or two more done in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

For Narnia and for Aslan!