2014 Recommended Reading

This year's best-book list will not be particularly long, although I did quite a bit of reading this year.  Part of that is because my current stage in life means that I am doing a good bit of reading in Turkish: Aziz Nesin is a famous and very funny, but probably not to most people who are unfamiliar with Turkish culture.  Thus, I will suggest several books which I think would be widely enjoyable and let that suffice.

God's Glory in Clay Pots (Les Ollila and Sam Horn) - I virtually never read devotionals, but this one was extremely valuable to me.  There is also a sermon series which it was created from, available here. I previously posted about this book here.  (my blog post)

David and Goliath (audio edition, by Malcolm Gladwell)  - This is another well-written book by Gladwell, which we again enjoyed together as a couple. We highly recommend the audio editions, as the author reads them beautifully.  Topic: underdogs and outcasts.

The Legacy of William Carey (Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi) was an insightful book about the effect of William Carey's vision and work on the people and culture of India, extending to modern times. The robust and well-balanced vision of a Christian man. (related posts: Dorothy Carey, Carey: Spread of the Gospel, Carey: on Prayer)

For the first time, I read Louis L'amour's entire Sackett series in order this year.  That was fun, and as far as I found, there was only one book that didn't seem to fit quite right. I have been gathering the series for years, though I haven't finished gathering a few books with miscellaneous references to Sackett's yet. (Reading order here.) 

Also, in the Western category, Tim Champlin (relation unknown) has written a couple of novels I really enjoyed this year: Wayfaring Strangers and Cross of Gold.  Wayfaring Strangers was particularly interesting as it followed different characters going West in several different ways.

It's a Jungle Out There (Ron Snell) is an autobiographic series of sketches about a family growing up deep in Peru's jungles.  It reminded me in many ways of my own childhood, was a fun read, and will be even more fun to read with my kids someday I think.  (I got the second volume this Christmas.)

Nothing much new happened in the musical category this year.  Of course, the Piano Guys' "Wonders" album came out, but that was more a continuation of past joy than a new discovery.  Also, Kevin Burrill has begun producing his music, starting with "The Great Exchange" and continuing with a Christmas album.  Those were both greatly enjoyed!

Recommendations from years past: 2013, 2012, 2011

Advent 2014

 This year as a family we started doing Advent readings on the mornings we ate breakfast together in December. It was a special time of sharing as a family, the girls could understand the short passages with a little explanation. Since it was an experiment, we started in the easiest way I think, we read the major prophecies that we could think of about Christ leading up to His birth. The themes were beautiful, and it seems a good tradition with which to focus on the unique Son.

2014 names of the Promised One

Genesis 3 - the One who will crush the snake's head
Genesis 12 - the Blessing
Numbers 24 - the Bright Morning Star
Deuteronomy 18 - the Prophet who is greater
Psalm 2 - the forever King and God's Son
2 Samuel 7 - God's forever King who builds God's forever house
Psalm 22 - the Sufferer
Psalm 24 - the King of Glory who is strong and mighty in battle
Psalm 110 - the High Priest like Melchizadek
Isaiah 7 - Immanuel
Isaiah 9 - a son, a child, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
Isaiah 53 - the despised, atoning Sufferer, God's servant
Isaiah 61 - the Spirit-anointed Healer, Liberator, and Gladdener
Micah 5 - a long-in-coming Ruler in Israel
Matthew 1 - Jesus