Summer Books

1. I’m Happy for You {Sort of, Not Really}: Finding Contentment in a Culture of Comparison by Kay Wills Wyma.
“Excessive comparison and competition sap our energy and steal our joy. Our friends become our audience and judges, and our kids become part of our brand. Add social media’s constant invitation to post and peruse, and it’s no wonder that we’re left exhausted, discontent, and lonely. Thankfully, there is another way! Kay Wyma shares her experiences with comparison living and offers readers the simple remedies that helped her and her family reboot their perspective and discover freedom, authenticity, and joy.”

2. Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth (Learning to be Human Like Jesus) by Hugh Halter
“According to pastor and ministry leader Hugh Halter, only the incarnational power of Jesus satisfies what we truly crave, and once we taste it, we’re never the same. God understands how hard it is to be human, and the incarnation—God with us—enables us to be fully alive. With refreshing, raw candor, Flesh reveals the faith we all long to experience—one based on the power of Christ in the daily grind of work, home, school, and life. For anyone burned out, disenchanted, or seeking a fresh honest-to-God encounter, Flesh will invigorate your faith.”

3. The Cure: What if God isn’t who you think He is and neither are you by Lynch, McNicol and Thrall
“The Cure gives the diagnosis of this century’s religious obsession with sin-management. It has poisoned the Church, obscuring the Original Good News and sending millions away-wounded, angry and cynical, from nearly any organized expression of faith. The Cure offers an authentic experience in Christ that frees some from a self-rewarded righteousness, and others from a beaten down striving for a righteousness they can never seem to attain. The Cure infuses a relational theology of grace and identity, which alone can heal, free and create sustainable, genuine, loving, life-giving communities.”

*Very interesting format – part fiction/part nonfiction. It’s the story of a man who has to choose between pleasing God and trusting Him, and what it looks like to live the reality of “Christ in me”. This fast read (only about 100 pages) is packed with Gospel-teaching truth.

4. Embracing the Body: Finding God in Our Flesh and Bone by Tara M. Owens
 “In Embracing the Body spiritual director Tara Owens invites you to listen to your thoughts about your body in a way that draws you closer to God, calling you to explore how your spirituality is intimately tied to your physicality.”

*This book was a bit of a stretch for me content wise, but it proved to be thought-provoking so I finished it. Although it’s filled with lots of good nuggets, I wouldn’t recommend this one to many.

5. Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better by Brant Hansen
“The book offers a unique viewpoint, challenging the idea that Christians can ever harbor “righteous anger” or that there even is such a thing for believers. Few other books exist with such a radical, provocative proposal to consider. We have no right to anger. We are to get rid of it, period. Completely. And it is possible to choose to be “unoffendable.” Through the author’s winsome, humorous, and conversational style, this book doesn’t add another thing to do on a stressed-out person’s ever-growing list. Better, it actually seeks to lift religious burdens from readers’ backs and allow them to experience the joy of gratitude, perhaps for the first time, every single day of their lives.”

*I’ve already read this once and I’m reading it again, with a pencil in hand to take notes. This book might offend you. You may not like what it says. However, the picture it paints of Jesus (and the reality of Him living His unoffendable life through us) is one worth pursuing.

So, what are you reading this summer? I’m already making a list for the fall.