January Reading Log

Lots of reading this month, everything from faith to baseball to superheroes. Take a look!

8 Articles I Like This Month

"What Does Arming Ourselves in Our Houses of Worship Do to Our Souls?" by Joshua J. Whitfield, The Dallas Morning News. 3 minutes.
"The Idea of Carrying Weapons into Church is a Gut Punch" by John Kanelis, The Dallas Morning News. 1 minute.
"'Be Careful': It's About Safety, and Also About Stopping Hate" by Kaitlin Griffin, The Dallas Morning News. 2 minutes.

In this trio of columns published in the January 12 edition of The Dallas Morning News' "Voices" section, different perspectives are offered on what it means, at both a spiritual and social level, that churches are moving away from being gun-free zones to places where armed security teams roam the halls. My take: I appreciate the efforts of SGBC's "Sheep Dog" team. I hate that we are living in a time when such measures are deemed necessary. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

"Let's Help Women Choose Life" by Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, The Dallas Morning News. 2 minutes.

Donald Trump is frequently called "the most pro-life president ever" by his supporters, a superlative he has embraced. Is that accurate? Pro-life feminist Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa says no, and offers a brief but compelling argument why not.

"The Making of an NBA Icon" by Howard Beck, Bleacher Report. 6 minutes.
"Kobe's Greatness Was Both Beautiful and Maddening" by Zach Lowe, ESPN. 11 minutes.
"Kobe Bryant Was More Human than Hero" by Sarah Spain, ESPN. 8 minutes.
"Losing Kobe Bryant, the Dad" by Shea Serrano, The Ringer. 6 minutes.

While I'm a huge NBA guy, I won't pretend I was a big Kobe Bryant fan (I knew he was an icon, but I also thought he was perennially overrated). But, like everyone, I was shocked when Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and 7 others died in a helicopter crash this past Sunday. In the week following Kobe's death, thousands of obituaries and retrospectives came out; these were my favorites.

THE DANIEL CODE: LIVING OUT TRUTH IN A CULTURE THAT IS LOSING ITS WAY by O.S. Hawkins

A gift from a church member, The Daniel Code was a step outside my comfort zone as a reader. I'm quite disdainful of the evangelical church's emphasis on culture wars over the last 40 years, and (as the subtitle indicates) this book fits neatly in that stream of thought. However, by the end I had to conclude that The Daniel Code offers a clear, biblical take on how to live faithfully in an unfaithful society.

The Daniel Code, written by onetime FBC Dallas pastor and current CEO of Guidestone Financial Resources O.S. Hawkins, uses as its outline the first six chapters of the biblical Book of Daniel, the story of a man and his three friends who had to figure out how to stay faithful to their God while exiled in Babylon. Comparing modern-day America to ancient Babylon, Hawkins challenges the reader to follow the example of Daniel and his friends by staying true to God even when doing so sets you apart or threatens your security.

By and large, the comparison works pretty well. Written in sermonic language (3 alliterative points, anecdotal illustrations, etc.), Hawkins makes his points clearly and with biblical support. While I've heard many a preacher compare America to Babylon, few have done so as effectively as Hawkins does here, and his use of Daniel and Co. as alternatives to a pagan lifestyle presents a biblical model to follow. Furthermore, Hawkins  consistently directs the conversation toward Christ, something preachers often fail to get around to when using the Old Testament as their starting point.

With that being said, some parts of the book work better than others. When Hawkins is prescribing individual solutions based on the lives of Daniel and his friends, it's a good fit. When he starts using Daniel as a template for national revival, he veers into the always dangerous America-equals-ancient-Israel fallacy, a huge pet peeve of mine. And the second section of the book, based on the prophetic second chapter of Daniel, is an exegetical mess even if your eschatology is dispensationalist (which mine is not). His analysis of the narrative texts is on point; his explanations of prophecy are, in my opinion, pure eisegesis.

All in all, I appreciated this book more than I thought I would. If you've bought into the culture wars, this is a far better work than most of the books at Christian bookstores, which tend to do more exegeting of Fox News than the Bible. If, like me, you're skeptical about the culture wars, this book is a helpful look at things from that point of view, one that strives for spiritual solutions instead of incendiary rhetoric.

VELVET ELVIS: REPAINTING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH by Rob Bell

Before he was exiled from evangelicalism for questioning the doctrine of hell in his book Love Wins, Rob Bell was one of the biggest names out there, a pastor with a special gift for asking questions previously thought out of bounds and speaking to the doubts and fears many were feeling. Velvet Elvis was arguably his most personal work, a book that dares to think critically about Christianity without abandoning love for Jesus.

Throughout the book, Bell reminds readers that Jesus, not organized Christianity, is the Savior of the world, and that many of our assumptions, prejudices, and attitudes related to faith have more to do with manmade systems than anything Jesus said. In Velvet Elvis, he encourages readers to go back to the gospel, to listen and learn directly from Jesus. Questions and critical thinking, he argues, are not to be feared, but embraced—after all, what kind of God can't stand up to some probing questions?

Velvet Elvis was very influential in the Emergent Church movement, where Bell worked alongside other preachers and writers like Brian McLaren to try and present the gospel to the postmodern world. You can see why it was popular when you read it; Bell has a relatable yet deep writing voice, intelligent without being over your head. His vision of faith is winsome and wise, and certainly attractive for those willing to listen.

My only criticism is a familiar one for Bell and others within the Emergent Church—at a certain point, you want questions to be answered; eventually relativity must give way to absolute truth. While I fully support the thrust of Bell's questions-are-ok mentality, at times his openness to new ideas seemed to verge on I'm-ok-you're-ok relativism. 

For mature believers willing to listen, learn, and seek, Velvet Elvis is a thoughtful examination of our faith. You won't come away with a lot of answers, but you'll be thankful for the perspective.

THE BIG FELLA: BABE RUTH AND THE WORLD HE CREATED by Jane Leavy

First things first: this was not a baseball biography, not really. In fact, it's hard to call it a biography at all, given that it wasn't written in the linear birth-life-death trajectory. Instead, tasked with chronicling the life of one of the most transcendent celebrity athletes of all time, author Jane Leavy offers something that feels more like a collection of magazine profiles, the sum of which leaves you knowing more about Babe Ruth than you did before you started—but unfortunately, still makes him seem a figure too much larger than life to really understand.

To her credit, Leavy's book is meticulously researched, offering more information than you ever cared to know about Ruth's finances and celebrity appearances. Indeed, Christy Walsh, who worked as the Babe's agent before that was even a thing, is almost the Robin to Ruth's Batman throughout the book, negotiating not only Ruth's contracts with the Yankees, but his endorsement deals, public appearances, and offseason barnstorming tours. Leavy, who says in the afterward that this book has been in the works for a decade, has done her homework on the under-discussed parts of Ruth's legacy.

Unfortunately for baseball fans, the events which made Ruth a household name—his 60 home run season, his Called Shot, the infamous sale of his contract by the Red Sox to the Yankees—are treated as prior knowledge, mentioned but never really delved into. Fans wanting to know about Ruth's baseball career should probably look to a different book; here baseball is mostly just treated as Ruth's vehicle to fame rather than something worthy of attention.

As mentioned above, Leavy organizes the book in an unorthodox way rather than in the traditional linear style of a biography. Organizing the chapters around an offseason barnstorming tour of the nation, each stop on the tour is used as a springboard to talk about some facet of Ruth's life, from his upbringing to his marriages to his trademark dispute with the Curtiss Candy Company over the Baby Ruth bar. This layout keeps you on your toes, but also makes for a disorienting reading experience at times, and ultimately leaves you wondering what got left on the cutting room floor.

I enjoyed The Big Fella, but was also frustrated by it. Leavy is an excellent researcher and writer; I can't help but wonder what sort of a book she could have written if she'd for a traditional biography instead of playing fast and loose with the genre. 

THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner

Have you ever read something, sat back, and said to yourself, "I have no idea what I just read"? Well, thanks to James Joyce's Ulysses and now William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, I certainly have. I read this book from beginning to end and while, much like with Ulysses, I can appreciate the craft and the cleverness, I wouldn't begin to say I enjoyed it. Nor would I recommend it to anyone but a literature professor.

The Sound and the Fury, according to Wikipedia, "centers on the Compson family, former Southern aristocrats who are struggling to deal with the dissolution of their family and its reputation. Over the course of the 30 years or so related in the novel, the family falls into financial ruin, loses its religious faith and the respect of the town of Jefferson, and many of them die tragically." Some of that's news to me—while I could tell you the characters' names and relationships, I'd have struggled to lay out the plot even if you put a gun to my head.

That's because The Sound and the Fury begins with a 75-page chapter that is one of the most notorious in American literature. Told from the perspective of a severely retarded character, the chapter is written in stream of consciousness, bounces from one period of time to another without explanation, and generally does the reader no favors. Even reading the Cliff Notes afterwards is exhausting. Again, I can admire the ambition and the craft of Faulkner's writing here, but I can't help but wonder what the point of storytelling is if it doesn't communicate. The book gets progressively easier to read each chapter, taking it easier on the stream of consciousness when the narrator changes and then eventually moving to a third person perspective. But by the time I got there, I was so lost that I was really just reading so that I could say I finished it.

When you read a few reviews by people smarter than me, you start to understand what Faulker is doing in the book and you're able to appreciate that, yes, what seems like nonsense ultimately serves a purpose. But I'll echo what I said about Ulysses: stories are meant to be read, not deciphered; I don't think I should need a decoder ring to get through a novel. There's a difference between difficult and incomprehensible; The Sound and the Fury straddles the line.

A VELOCITY OF BEING: LETTERS TO A YOUNG READER edited by Maria Popova and Claudia Bedrick

Another gift from a church member, this book was a daily delight for me throughout the month. A Velocity of Being is a collection of short letters by authors, poets, and writers of all stripes, from Neil Gaiman to Jane Goodall to Shonda Rhimes, written to young readers. Each letter is then accompanied by a full page illustration by artists ranging from Mo Willems to Art Spiegelman.

The resulting collection is one of my favorite kinds of books, a celebration of reading by those who value it most. Whether telling their own stories of skipping school to finish a book or offering advice on how and why to stick with reading, the letter writers' passion for the written word is infectious, and makes you want to spend all day curled up with a good book.

This book was a mainstay on my nightstand this month, and anytime I had a minute or two to spare, I'd read a letter. To avoid the book becoming repetitive, I'd advise reading it just that way, rather than for an extended period of time, when the letters might start running together. If you love reading, this book will make you feel right at home.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 1-2 by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, and Cory Smith

Thanos is dead, but as a contingency plan he had previously uploaded his consciousness into someone in the galaxy. So, organized by Thanos's brother Starfox, Marvel's cosmic protectors take it upon themselves to assassinate the person they think most likely to be Thanos's unwitting heir: Gamora, formerly of the Guardians of the Galaxy. And it's up to a new team of Guardians to keep that from happening.

That's the premise of the first volume of Donny Cates' take on everyone's favorite band of lovable space idiots, and it's a winning formula for humor, action, and just plain fun. Cates is a rising star at Marvel, and he has a knack for balancing pathos with zaniness in his comics, which incidentally is exactly what has made for the best Guardians stories. The first volume does a great job featuring some fan favorite Marvel cosmic characters while still giving the spotlight to core Guardians (specifically Star-Lord, Groot, and Gamora)

Volume 2 doesn't take its foot off the pedal, bringing Rocket and eventually Drax back into the fold as the Guardians must take on a future version of the Church of Universal Truth, a zealous enemy borrowed from Jim Starlin's Warlock and Infinity stories. I worried that, as is sometimes the case when a new writer comes onto a book, Cates might have only had one good story to tell about the Guardians and then start coasting, but that's far from the case. If anything, the character work is better in volume 2, thanks largely to the return of Rocket and his interactions with his Guardians family.

If you liked the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, there's no reason you won't like these books. My brother put these in my hands, and I'm grateful he did; they made for a fun week's worth of comic reading.

BATMAN/FLASH: THE BUTTON by Tom King, Joshua Williamson, Jason Fabok, and Howard Porter

In 2011, DC Comics made the bold decision to reboot their entire line of comics through a crossover event called "Flashpoint," starting every title over at issue #1 and, in the cases of characters seen as in need of an update, making major changes to the heroes themselves. While positively received at first, the "New 52" (named after the number of titles DC was publishing at the time) eventually proved to be a bust among fans, who complained about the changes made to DC continuity and the elimination of beloved characters.

So in 2016, DC released a one-shot, DC Rebirth, which was advertised as the first step in restoring what had been. The big tease at the end of that issue, which promised to explain why the New 52 universe was so different from what had come before (and how it would be reset), was the appearance of Dr. Manhattan of Watchmen fame. Though published by DC, Watchmen had historically been a standalone story in its own pocket universe, a glassed-off masterpiece that did not interact with the DC Universe. DC Rebirth changed that in one of the legitimately most compelling cliffhangers I can remember.

So the Batman/Flash four issue crossover, "The Button," collected in this deluxe hardcover, serves largely as a bridge between the Rebirth one-shot and the 12-issue maxiseries Doomsday Clock (reviewed below.) The story sees Batman and Flash return to the Flashpoint alternate timeline, in which Bruce Wayne was shot as a child and Thomas Wayne becomes Batman, and furthers the mystery of how and why their universe is off-kilter.

The Batman issues are superior to the Flash issues, both in writing and art, and the whole crossover is largely one big meh. I remember the excitement when these issues came out, the anticipation people felt that perhaps answers were coming. Upon the revelation that, nope, this crossover was just continuing to string fans along until the next big event, the story receded into the background. After reading it, I can see why. Mysteries are fun, but when left unsolved they're ultimately unsatisfying.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank

Doomsday Clock #1 arrived in November 2017 with a lot of hype and a lot of promise. Its job: fix the DC Universe. Easy, right? Unfortunately, the 12-issue maxiseries didn't end 2 years later, in December 2019, plagued by delays. The result is a great story, but not a great crossover event.

Doomsday Clock is the fulfillment the story begun by DC Rebirth and continued in Batman/Flash: The Button, a meeting between the DC Universe and the Watchmen universe. Told in the style of the Watchmen series, it sees Watchmen characters Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan fiddling with the reality of the DC Universe in an attempt to save their own, ultimately leading to a confrontation between Superman and Dr. Manhattan.

There's a lot to like in the series. The craft is outstanding, with Geoff Johns doing a mean Alan Moore impression and Gary Frank turning out art so clean and detailed that you can almost the repeated delays he subjected the book to—almost. Furthermore, the central theme beyond the book demonstrates a great understanding of why fans love the DC Universe. As shown in the climactic confrontation between Dr. Manhattan and Superman, hope is the animating force behind the DC Universe, as personified by Superman. It works in-story, it gives you the warm fuzzies when you're reading it, and it seems to offer direction to a comics universe that often appears aimless.

Unfortunately, Doomsday Clock, while an entertaining and well-crafted story, is itself a bit aimless. Is it a Watchmen sequel? A universe-shifting crossover event? A standalone story? Geoff Johns, the mastermind behind the entire DC Rebirth initiative, never seems exactly sure. And so the result is a sort of Watchmen impression that feels important but doesn't actually seem to have any sort of lasting consequences.

I initially read this series as it was coming out, but finally gave up 3/4 of the way through, frustrated by the shipping delays and lost in the weeds of the story's many threads. I'm glad I returned once the series was over and I could read it all at once; this is very much a series intended to be read as a graphic novel instead of as bimonthly issues. It didn't accomplish its big goal—the DC Universe remains a mess of thematic contradictions—but it was fun to read, and offers a nice capper to Geoff Johns' take on what DC is all about.

A Two-Way Street (Friday Devotional)

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

- Matthew 6:14-15

When I’m driving, I try my best to be considerate—I always use my turn signal, I don’t tailgate cars in front of me, and I stay out of the right lane unless I’ll be turning soon. But I’m human, which means that every once in a while I mess up. Maybe I cut a driver off, maybe I go too slow in the passing lane, maybe I cut across three lanes of traffic when I realize my upcoming left turn is actually a right turn. Either way, when I make a mistake, I count on the drivers around me to let it go and accept my sheepish wave of apology.

So you’d think I’d be more understanding when I’m on the receiving end of other drivers’ mistakes. You might assume I’d give the benefit of the doubt to the driver going 35 mph in a 45 mph zone or the motorcycle who zips past me at twice that speed. You’d think that—but my blood pressure in such moments tells a different story.

Forgiveness is like that—we want to receive it, but we’re hesitant to give it. When we stumble, we are quick with rationalizations and excuses; we are more than ready to explain why our mistakes should be overlooked. But when someone else has wronged us, we become far more interested in justice than grace—rules are rules, and we want to see punishment doled out.

Jesus made clear that grace is a two-way street, something we receive from God and are then called to extend to others. Indeed, Jesus says that the heart which is too hardened to forgive others is a heart too hardened for the Father’s love; those who claim to know grace must not only receive it, but offer it to their neighbors.

The humbling truth is that we are all sinners in need of grace, and that ought to change how we regard one another—having been forgiven, believers ought to be the first to forgive. Will you be an example of such grace today?

A Tale of Two Days (Friday Devotional)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

- Proverbs 3:5-6

Some days I come to church convinced I have all the answers. It feels like there is no problem I’m incapable of solving, no crisis I can’t navigate, no conflict I can’t resolve. I walk through those days with my head held high, utterly confident in my abilities.

But other days the only thing I feel certain of is that I’m completely in over my head. The simplest tasks feel like heavy burdens, questions I should be able to answer in an instant seem like impossible puzzles, and my responsibilities feel like more than I can manage. On those days, the idea of leading anyone is preposterous, because I just want to curl up in a ball.

As different as those two kinds of days are, they share a common focus: me. Whether I feel capable or incapable, empowered or overwhelmed, I’m trying to handle things all by myself. I’m not praying, I’m not seeking God in Scripture, I’m not going to a brother or sister in Christ to talk things through. I’m acting as though I have to do everything alone.

God never intended us to go through life that way. The Bible identifies Him as an ever-present help in trouble, as a Helper and Friend, as God with us. We are encouraged to seek Him, to call upon Him, and to cry out to Him. Most of all, we are told to trust Him instead of relying upon our own capabilities, to turn ourselves over to His will instead of waiting for Him to get on board with ours.

When you do that, you begin to see that both kinds of days I described are built upon the lie of self-centeredness and can be healed by the truth of faith. When you trust the Lord with all your heart, arrogance gives way to humility and you’re able to recognize that you don’t have all the answers, but that you know the God who does. Alternatively, when you lean on God’s understanding instead of your own, anxiety gives way to trust and you’re able to remember that far from being incapable, you can move mountains when the Lord gives you strength.

Some days are easier than others. But the key to getting through is not digging deep within yourself, it’s taking the hand of the Savior who is reaching out to you. God doesn’t expect or want you to go through life alone—He calls you to walk through it with Him.

No Age Limit (Friday Devotional)

Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

- 1 Timothy 4:12

99% of the time, my son Andrew is incredibly sweet with his baby sister Katherine—he talks to her, he hugs her, and he makes an effort to include her in everything we do as a family. By and large, his transition from only child to big brother has been as seamless as we could have hoped for.

But of course, he’s only human—and three years old at that. So when he was playing with his remote controlled train set the other day and Lindsey asked if he’d be willing to let Katherine hold the caboose, his brow furrowed with suspicion. Searching for the right words, he finally frowned, put a protective hand on the caboose, and said, “I think maybe trains are for when she’s bigger.”

By the end of the week he was happily sharing his trains with her (in fact, insisting that “she wants them!”), but that initial skepticism was a compelling reminder of how quick we are, at any age, to think less of those younger than us. Whether it’s senior partners vs. junior partners, college students vs. high schoolers, or 3-year olds vs. 3-month olds, age has a way of creating a hierarchy, as well as a presumption that more experience automatically translates to more wisdom. Being young too often means being overlooked and underestimated.

But among followers of Jesus, things ought to be different. In Christ, worldly divisions are set aside—“there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). So with that in mind that Paul was able to tell his coworker Timothy to let no one disregard him because of his relative youth and inexperience, but to bear witness to Christ with his words and actions.

There’s a twofold command in there, depending on whether you are the elder or the up-and-comer in any given room. When you are the person with the most years and the most experience, this verse serves as a call to humility. It’s a reminder that God equips the called, whether they’ve ‘paid their dues’ yet or not; it’s a prompt to listen even when you think you’ve already got the answers.

As for when you’re the youngest person in the room, this verse is a call to boldness, a declaration that discipleship is for everyone, not just the most qualified. Proclaiming the gospel in word and deed, Paul makes clear, is not a task reserved for an elite band of elders, but something the young and old alike are called to do.

Our natural tendency is to look down on those younger than us—for that matter, anyone we consider ‘beneath’ us. Like Andrew with his trains, we think certain things should be reserved for when you’re bigger. But as the Lord who praised little children and old widows alike makes clear, the kingdom of God has no age limit. Everyone willing to speak the words of life gets a chance to talk.

Victory vs. Values

For the past 24 hours, I’ve been engrossed in the fallout of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. For those of you who aren’t sports fans, reporting came out a few months ago that, during their 2017 championship season and stretching into 2018, Astros players used replay technology during games to steal the opposing pitcher-catcher signs and communicate them to their batters so they’d know what pitches were coming. After the story came out, Major League Baseball conducted an intensive investigation and yesterday released its findings, which confirmed the independent reporting and announced harsh punishments for upper management. The team was fined $5 million (the maximum amount allowed under the MLB constitution), was required to forfeit its top two draft picks for the next two years, and its manager and general manager were both suspended for one year. Shortly after the announcement, Houston’s owner turned the suspensions into something more permanent, firing both of the leaders.

As a Rangers fan, there’s admittedly a certain amount of schadenfreude in this story for me, but beyond its effect on my favorite sport and my favorite team, the story has spoken to a bigger issue I’ve noticed in our world today. The commissioner’s report codified something that fans had long noticed about the culture of the Astros organization: they were driven by a win-at-all-costs mentality. Norms were ignored, social contracts were breached, and ultimately rules were broken, all in pursuit of victory.

In that respect, they are far from alone. Crossing over to a different sport, the New England Patriots had their own similar scandal more than a decade ago. Already 3-time Super Bowl winners, the 2007 Patriots were caught videotaping the New York Jets’ defensive signals from their own sideline in pursuit of a competitive advantage. Fans still debate whether the penalties for “Spygate” matched the crime, but like with the Astros, the scandal confirmed the Patriots were an organization willing to cut corners to win.

In entertainment, no story has been bigger in the last year than the flurry of reports about film producer Harvey Weinstein, one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. While accusations of sexual harassment, abuse, and even rape have obviously and rightly dominated the headlines, other details have emerged which were once spoken only in off-the-record whispers: that Weinstein bullied actors, directors, and fellow film executives in order to make sure his films were of the highest quality and won the best awards. Weinstein was a tyrant in the entertainment business, willing to crush anyone in his path to accomplish his goals.

And of course, Washington D.C. has made winning at all costs a matter of course. Mitch McConnell, tasked in 2016 with putting Merrick Garland, Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, up for confirmation in the Senate, refused to do so in violation of his constitutional duty. Over the holidays, Nancy Pelosi proved that Democrats were not above flouting constitutional obligations either, refusing to send articles of impeachment to the Senate until she liked the terms of the subsequent Senate trial. Finally and most obviously, Donald Trump has routinely shown that he values victory over values by violating established norms, instructing subordinates to ignore congressional subpoenas, and routinely finding ways to ignore and work around the legislative branch.

From so many places, we are receiving the message that Vince Lombardi made famous: winning isn’t the most important thing, it’s the only thing. Cheating is acceptable because flags fly forever. Bullying is ok if it results in good content. Values can be violated as long as you hold the power.

We hear these messages every day, implicitly and even explicitly. But there’s another message that needs to be heard, a counterexample that needs to be cited. When Jesus was in the wilderness, he was tempted three times by the devil, who hoped he could convince the Lord to stray from his path and settle for earthly glory. The final temptation is one we need to pay attention to today: “The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’” (Matthew 4:8-9).

What Jesus was promised was unimaginable power, victory over any perceived enemy—all he had to do was sacrifice his values. He could have the best this world had to offer, just so long as he would give up what God had called him to. Perhaps you know how Jesus responded: ““Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’” (Matthew 4:10).

Jesus was more interested in God’s glory than his own, more concerned with the gospel than with his own gratification. His integrity was not for sale; his mission was not up for compromise. He sums up why in Mark 8:36: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world but lose his soul?”

There are a lot of people today—athletes, entertainers, leaders, and more—who are more than willing to put that wisdom to the test. They’ll break any rule, violate any value, and bully any person in the name of reaching their goals. They’re so fixated on winning that they’ll lose pieces of who they are along the way and not even notice.

But we don’t have to follow them.

Even when their way seems to work—when cheating produces championships and ugliness wins elections—we can follow Jesus along the narrow way, because it ultimately leads somewhere far greater. We can cling to the cross of Christ even when we could trade it in for an earthly crown. We can say with Jesus that, no matter how we are tempted, we will we worship the Lord our God and serve only Him.

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world but lose his soul?

Sweet Exteriors (Friday Devotional)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

- Matthew 23:27-28

When Matsy Flores brought the cake out, it was supposed to be a moment of celebration. After all, her daughter had just graduated from high school, and all their family and friends had come to the house to celebrate the accomplishment. It was a great day all the way around.

Then she cut into the cake. While at first glance everything had appeared to be on the up and up, the crackling sound the cake made when the knife descended into the icing told a different story. That’s because the Houston-area Wal-Mart they’d ordered the cake from hadn’t given them a custom vanilla cake. They’d given them a block of Styrofoam with icing on top.

During Jesus’s life and ministry, there was a group who were spiritually a lot like that cake—attractive on the outside, but ultimately phony. The scribes and the Pharisees, who often clashed with Jesus, knew the intricacies of God’s Law better than anyone, yet somehow managed to miss its point. Disguised as teachers of righteousness, in reality they were peddlers of self-righteousness, hypocrites more concerned with their reputations than their souls.

Those scribes and Pharisees are long gone, but their brand of faith lives on today. Sadly, many Christians are more concerned with the appearance of virtue than with authentic discipleship. They listen to the ‘right’ music, they read the ‘right’ books, they vote the ‘right’ way, but these choices are simply masks for who they are when no one’s looking.

Jesus made clear that he wasn’t looking for followers with spotless reputations—he wants redeemed sinners, not false saints, because being his disciple isn’t a matter of conforming to the image of whatever people say a Christian should look like, it’s about conforming to the image of Christ himself. Simply put, Jesus isn’t looking for Styrofoam Christians, no matter how nice they look. For it’s beneath the sweet exterior that God sees what we’re really made of.

In With The New (Friday Devotional)

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

- Proverbs 19:21

As we’ve ushered in both a new year and a new decade this week, I’ve seen a lot of articles, videos, and discussions in the media about what the last ten years were like. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s not difficult to define a decade in just a few words—the 1960s, for example, can be boiled down to the words “seismic social changes,” the 1980s to “optimism and success”, and our newly departed decade to “dissatisfaction with business as usual.”

What’s more difficult than looking back is forecasting the decade to come. What new social changes will the 2020s bring? What technological achievements are coming? Will the next decade be remembered as a time of renewal or decline?

It’s impossible to answer these questions today, a mere three days into the new decade. No one can possibly know the future this far in advance, much less control it. But of course, it doesn’t stop us from trying. With every tool at our disposal, we find ourselves strategizing and planning for how best to prosper ourselves and those who care about.

Such planning can be valuable, but Scripture reminds us to do so with humility. No one knows what is coming except God, and no one controls tomorrow but Him. Our efforts to control the world around us are just that, efforts; none of our plans are set in stone.

So as you make your New Year’s resolutions and ten-year plans, as you forecast what your life will look like in 2030, do so with the knowledge of who holds the world in His hands—while you are worrying about the future, God invites you to trust Him with it instead.

December Reading Log

In a month where my schedule was often not my own, the 4:30 am-6:30 am window was my sanctuary of alone time, time to drink coffee in the dark, cold living room and read. Here's what that time was devoted to in December.

2 Articles I Like This Month

"The Dishonesty of the Abortion Debate" by Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic. 14 minutes.

Because of the obviously and understandably heightened emotions around the issue of abortion, it's difficult to talk about it rationally. But as writer Caitlin Flanagan points out in this article, each side has compelling arguments that cannot be reasonably argued. Pro-lifers have to reckon with the inarguable truth that outlawing abortion will result in women dying from illegal, unsafe abortions. And pro-choice advocates have to face what any 3-D sonogram clearly shows: fetuses are not simply masses of tissue, they are developing human beings. I love this article because it acknowledges what few are willing to say: no matter how passionately you feel on either side of the debate, there are no easy answers when it comes to abortion.

"The Decade of Disillusionment" by Ross Douthat, The New York Times. 6 minutes.

In this op-ed column, Ross Douthat writes that the primary theme which animated the 2010s was disillusionment—a sense, on the both the right and the left, that business and usual was not up to the task. An insightful look at how the events of the decade contrast with our feelings about the current state of the country.

THE DIVINE CONSPIRACY: REDISCOVERING OUR HIDDEN LIFE IN GOD by Dallas Willard

The Divine Conspiracy is, without a doubt, one of the most formative books I've ever read. It has colored the way I think about discipleship, the kingdom of God, and the gospel itself. So, having first read it in seminary, I decided in November to dive back in for a second go-round, this time at my own pace. It took every bit of two months of slow, methodical reading, but I was glad to plunge back into its waters.

The Divine Conspiracy tackles a topic as old as time: the meaning of life. But, coming from a Christian perspective, Dallas Willard is approaching the question in a slightly different way, asking "what kind of life does God want for us?" The answer is found in the person, example, and teachings of Jesus Christ, who Willard posits wasn't just teaching us how to 'achieve life after death,' but how to know life as God intended both now and eternally.

Walking through the Sermon on the Mount and countless other biblical texts, Willard writes that the life Jesus described and demonstrated—a life where you love your enemies, where you pray without ceasing, where God is all in all—is not only possible, it is what God wants for us. The key is for Christians to not just believe in Jesus, but to actually follow him, to understand that discipleship is not the call of so-called 'super Christians,' but of all Christians.

The Divine Conspiracy is not an academic book, but neither is it easy reading. I remember from seminary how exhausted I would feel after completing my daily 40-page reading assignment, which sometimes took me as much as 2 hours. Every page of the book overflows with wisdom; those who like to highlight significant passages and quotes will find themselves picking up their highlighter after almost every paragraph. A challenging, powerful read, I cannot recommend The Divine Conspiracy highly enough.

BOYS WILL BE BOYS: THE GLORY DAYS AND PARTY NIGHTS OF THE DALLAS COWBOYS DYNASTY by Jeff Pearlman

I'm too young to remember any of the 1990s Cowboys (I was born in 1989), so all the stories about Jimmy and Jerry and the Triplets are history for me, as relevant to my relationship with the franchise as any of the stories about Tom Landry and Roger Staubach. Nevertheless, the story of those 1990s Cowboys is one worth telling, and Boys Will Be Boys does an admirable job chronicling the on-the-field heroics and off-the-field misdeeds of the boys in silver and blue.

The book begins, after a brief introduction, with Jerry Jones' purchase of the team, then follows the team's rise to glory via Jimmy Johnson's coaching, Jerry's spending, and the historic Herschel Walker trade that netted the Cowboys a seemingly endless supply of draft picks. As the team's talent grows, so does its collective ego, starting at the top with Jerry and Jimmy and flowing down to characters like Michael Irvin and Charles Haley. These egos, in author Jeff Pearlman's telling, have as much to do with the Cowboys' eventual decline at the end of the decade as anything—after all, it was ego that prompted the replacement of Jimmy Johnson with the inferior Barry Switzer; it was ego that made Jerry Jones believe his mind for football was the equivalent of a coach's or general manager's; it was ego that made sure no one in the Cowboys organization knew the joyride was over until it was too late.

And, as Pearlman details throughout the book, it was ego that made players from Charles Haley to Michael Irvin think they were above the law (which, to be honest, was mostly true in football-crazy Dallas.) To a degree unknown at the time, at least on the record, the Cowboys were a hedonist's dream, where no player ever went wanting for drugs or sex. For all the changes that happened over the course of the decade, Pearlman makes clear that the team's appetites never wavered, and were consistently indulged by Jerry Jones and the head coaches ostensibly in charge of team discipline.

A book that is equal parts history and tell-all, Boys Will Be Boys never fails to entertain and horrify, and is likely to leave readers who lived through the Cowboys' glory days reveling in the wins they remember even as they read wide-eyed about the off-the-field craziness that went mostly unreported.

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr

Moving straight from Boys Will Be Boys to this Pulitzer Prize-winning historical drama gave me a bit of literary whiplash. You can't say I don't have some variety in these logs!

All the Light We Cannot See tells the stories of two children in World War II, a blind girl living in occupied France and a German boy who finds himself drafted into service as a radio technician, and how their paths ultimately converge during the siege of a small French village. Through the experiences of these two young people, so different in their experiences yet so fundamentally similar, readers come to see how war's best attempts to rob the world of beauty cannot withstand the endurance of the human spirit.

The star of this book is Anthony Doerr's descriptive prose. Whether narrating Marie-Laure's attempts to learn the streets of her village after blindness sets in, Werner's skill at tinkering with radios, or the devastating bombing of planes overhead, Doerr's words vividly and beautifully put the reader in the book's setting. Even when the plot seems to crawl, Doerr's writing is a joy to read.

Structurally, the book is made up of short chapters (anywhere from half a page to 5 pages), and Doerr jumps between the 1945 siege of Saint-Malo and events before it as a way of building suspense for Marie-Laure and Werner's inevitable meeting. This device is mostly successful, though the chapters set during the bombing become a bit redundant over time.

Overall I respected this book more than I loved it—it's longer than it needs to be, and historical dramas aren't a favorite genre of mine. But All the Light We Cannot See has a story worth telling, two compelling protagonists, and captivating prose. For those who love stories about World War II, this is a literary novel worth picking up.

THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Frequently referred to as the greatest American novel, I'm convinced that The Great Gatsby is wasted on most of the high schoolers who are required to read it in English class. That was certainly the case for me—I remember liking it fine, but not understanding what all the fuss was about. After my second go-round, I get it. The pairing of a cautionary tale about ambition and decadence with Fitzgerald's genius for language makes for what is indeed one of the finest novels I've ever read.

As you likely know, The Great Gatsby is the story of Jay Gatsby (née Gatz), a mysterious socialite whose seemingly frivolous lifestyle masks an intense love for his neighbor and former beau, Daisy Buchanan. As narrated by another neighbor, the fundamentally decent Nick Carraway, the novel tells the story of Gatsby's doomed affair with Daisy and how all Gatsby's attempts to reinvent himself ultimately come to nought. A tale about ambition, class, and love, The Great Gatsby is the ultimate cautionary tale about the false promises of the American Dream.

Reading this novel a second time, I was taken at first by Fitzgerald's writing. His descriptions are beautiful and his turns of phrase proverbial—while I was too inexperienced a reader to appreciate his talents as a high schooler, this time I was able to admire genius at work while reading. But secondly and perhaps more importantly, I was struck by how relevant the 1920s story of Gatsby was in the twilight of the 2010s. Now as then, the American Dream of opportunity for everyone has revealed itself to be a myth, something everyone is chasing but few actually achieve—and, as is the case for Gatsby, even those who reap the rewards of its promise find those rewards to be ultimately empty. The Great Gatsby is a timeless American story, worthy of its place in the American canon.

Is it a perfect book? No, none are. I found most of the characters flat (with the exception of Gatsby and Nick), and Fitzgerald's dialogue often rang false to my ears. But where it counts, The Great Gatsby is a masterclass in storytelling. Glad I came back.

ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 7 by Roger Stern, John Byrne, Roger McKenzie, Sal Buscema, et al.

Following Jack Kirby's cult classic run on Cap in the late 1970s, the book went through a creative dry spell, with missteps (such as revising Steve Rogers' origin story), a rotating cast of guest writers and artists, and few story arcs longer than 2 issues. But in this final Essential volume, we get one last great run for the shield slinger when Roger Stern and John Byrne take the reins.

Instantly they make their mark with plotting, dialogue, character work, and art which are all leaps and bounds above what was previously being done on the book. If you're looking for the moment when Captain America stories left the Bronze Age and entered the 1980s, it's this run, which lays down all the markers that made that decade such a successful one for Marvel. Using villains as varied as Baron Blood (a villain first introduced in the 1970s Invaders comic), Dragon Man, and Batroc the Leaper, Stern manages to repeatedly tell entertaining stories without drawing from the well of overused Captain America tropes (the Red Skull as mastermind, angst over Bucky's death, etc.)

And as for the art, well, John Byrne is my all-time favorite comic book artist, and this run came during his peak. The line work is clean, the backgrounds are intricate, and the storytelling is dynamic without being overly flashy. Byrne was a pro's pro, and (as I've argued in the past) his work arguably looks even better in the Essential's black-and-white format than in color. 

For the Stern-Byrne run alone, this book was worth the price of admission (in fact, that's really the only part I'd bother to reread.) With my Essential Cap reading now completed, we'll see what Essential run I dive into to start 2020!

SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen

Despite appearances, this isn't really a Superman story. But it is one of the best "what if superheroes were real?" stories out there.

Superman: Secret Identity takes place in our world (i.e. not the DC Universe of Metropolis and Gotham) and tells the story of a man named Clark Kent who goes through life resenting the teasing that inevitable comes as a result of sharing the name of a superhero. Then something crazy happens...for reasons that are never entirely explained, Clark develops powers just like Superman's. From there he has to make a decision: in a world without supervillains or a Justice League, what kind of life will a superpowered Clark Kent make for himself?

Those waiting for a big twist or a meet-up with the "real" Superman will be disappointed, but those simply looking for a well-told story with compelling characters will be pleased. This is definitively not a normal superhero story, just good fiction that happens to include superpowers. While there is action (Clark is at one point kidnapped by the CIA), there is far more introspection than punches; Clark's nemeses are natural disasters and terrorists, not aliens or mad scientists.

Most importantly, this is not a story about Superman, but about Clark Kent. The genius of the story's conceit is that it flips the script on what we expect from a Superman story—Superman is the 'secret identity,' not Clark Kent, Clark is the real person and Superman the costume. In telling the story this way, Busiek subtly delves into what makes both characters stand out and reminds us of the enduring importance of Superman's humanity.

It's not a traditional Superman story, but it's one of the best graphic novels out there. Highly recommended.