As a child I used to love buying a new pack of baseball cards. There was an experience involved – removing the wax paper outer packaging, popping the stick of gum into my mouth, brushing that powder left over from the gum off of the cards and then sorting through the actual cards, hoping against hope to get that particular rookie card. It was a wonderful experience, albiet one that was short-lived. As I got older I found I was more excited by opening a new tape (and later a CD) than a pack of cards, and although there was no gum involved, it was also an experience, reading the lyrics, reading the thank you’s, and looking forward to listening to the album.
I’m a little bit older now and baseball cards have lost their appeal. I still enjoy buying new albums, but having listened to thousands of albums, they do not excite me as much anymore. Fortunately, there are still books. The other day I had a person contact me about a domain name I registered earlier this year and was not using. He offered me a $75 Amazon gift certificate in exchange for rights to the domain. (Last time I mentioned my Amazon wishlist I got an email from the owner of my local Christian bookstore explaining that I had obviously made a mistake and still intended to purchase my books through him. I do, but in this case had little choice!) I took him up on his offer, sold him my domain, and on Saturday placed an order. A few minutes ago my books showed up. This is one of my favorite experiences. I love cracking open the books, taking a look at who endorses it and looking over the table of contents. I always flip to the back and leaf through the bibliography, for you can tell a lot about a book by the sources the author cites.
Here is what my $75 got me:
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. This is one I have wanted to have for quite some time now, but did not want to pay for. Amazon had it on sale, so I finally nabbed it. It weighs in at nearly 1300 pages. I do not know if I will use it primarily for reference or if I will attempt to read it cover-to-cover.
Their God is Too Small by Bruce A. Ware. This is an entry-level examination and rebuttal of the doctrines of open theism. While I know the term and much of what it entails, I am looking forward to studying it further. It is only 126 pages, just about a perfect Sunday afternoon size.
The Book on Leadership by John Macarthur. I have Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels and thought this would be an interesting one to contrast with it.
Revival and Revivalism by Iain Murray. This has become something of a classic and promises to change the way I look at evangelism, revival and conversion.
So it seems the rest of my week just got booked solid. I now have 11 unread books on my list (though I am one chapter away from finishing one of them) with more coming my way for Christmas, so I need to get cracking!
If you are interested, you can see my reading list and wishlist here.
