Tis the Season

Our family Christmas celebrations start this weekend. That is just so incredibly weird for me to get my head around that. Already?!?!?! The past couple of months just seem like a blur... must be from all the drywall dust and paint fumes from my recent basement renovations :)

I'm looking forward to celebrating with loved ones over the next couple of weeks. I'm excited to have family coming to the church to see the kids' Christmas play. I'm pumped for our very simple Christmas Eve service. I can't wait to see the looks on the kids' faces when they open their present on Christmas morning... they are going to LOSE THEIR MINDS!

But even more I'm just SO incredibly grateful for all that God has done in my life this year. It wasn't a easy year by any means. We had tough decisions and hard choices to make... but God has been so faithful in all of this. It had a lot of stress. It had a lot of tears. It had a lot of stress (did I say that already??) But through it all we experienced a TON of God's grace and peace.

This Christmas season has already been such a great reminder of all the blessings I have in my life. I'm so thrilled to remember and celebrate that with the people we love.

What I'm Reading Now

I love reading. I read a lot. Actually, let me rephrase that. I USED to read a lot. Seems I've lost my reading groove since moving to the Ottawa area. Between getting settled at the new church, doing basement renovations, and living out of boxes my reading has really dropped. This month I'm making reading a priority again. I usually have a few books on the go at the same time, so here's what I'm reading now.

The Grace of God by Andy Stanley. I have a number of friends who work for grace based ministries... so over the years I've been given multiple copies of books on the topic of grace. This one blows them all away!! I've actually restarted this book and will be going through it more slowly (I may even blog about what I'm learning). I love Stanley's understanding of God's grace in the Old Testament. I've seen very little (if any) references to the Old Testament in the other grace books I've read. Grace isn't just a New Testament theology but at the core of who God is. This is a great book that everyone should read.

Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears. I picked this book up during the summer and only read the first few pages. I strongly believe in importance of sound doctrine so I'm looking forward to getting back into this one.

The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper. I read this one in my Intro to Preaching class in seminary. As a Teaching Pastor I want to improve in my preaching as much as possible. Looking to be refreshed and encouraged again by rereading this one.

The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel. No one speaks into my life as much as Pastor Craig Groeschel does. His sermons and his books just pierce me and have a huge impact in my walk with Christ and in my service to God. I so appreciate his honesty and openness. He encourages me to do the same in my life and in my preaching. Our church will be studying this book in January and I can't wait to see what God will do in those six weeks.

How about you? What are you reading these days? Any books you'd recommend?