Indelible Ink

I have mentioned before that I am an avid reader. Last year, I started keeping a record of the books I read. I thought it would be interesting to review. I didn’t start keeping track until mid-spring, so it is conceivable that I left something off the list, but the total I came out with was twenty-eight books. I am not the fastest reader in the world, so I think this is a pretty good accomplishment.

Sometime in the next couple of weeks, I hope to review that list and give you what were my favorites for the year. This posting is devoted to books other than the Bible that have impacted my life. This idea is the result of a book I picked up at work last week by Scott Larsen called Indelible Ink: 22 Prominent Christian Leaders Discuss the Books That Shape Their Faith. It was in the Bargain Bin at work. I looked interesting and has proved very much so. I think I like it so much because it combines three loves of mine: reading, discussion of theology and related topics, and personal testimonies.

Larsen’s book limits the contributors to the top three books. There are four that came to mind immediately when I thought about my own life. The first two are Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life by James Bryan Smith and Richard Foster, and The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out by Brennan Manning.

I read these two in September of 1997 after graduating from College. I was in Colorado at the time. I had gone out there in the hopes that being in the area would give me a better shot at getting a job with a particular organization. As it turned out, I did not find a job, but while I looked for one, I spent three incredible weeks in awe of God’s creation. I remember walking outside every morning and having my breath taking away by the majesty of Pike’s Peak. Sometime in those three weeks, I read these books and cried. I cried because, for the first time in my life, I understood and believed that God loved me.

This may sound strange coming from a Missionary Kid who made a profession of faith at age 8 and was baptized at age 11 or 12. I believed in God and believed He had saved me. I firmly believed in His love for everyone else, but for some reason I had never fully come to terms with His love for me. I still remember those days when I began to understand and receive His love for me. It was a profound time. I believe that God took me out to Colorado so that I would be in a place of retreat…a place where I would hear Him speak. Nestled in the majesty of His mountains, I could do little but listen.

The last two books are devotionals: Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman and My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. I don’t remember when I was first introduced to My Utmost for His Highest, but ever since then, it has been the devotional that I return to again and again. It has been a constant source of encouragement and insight.

I think my mom first introduced me to Streams in the Desert. It was her favorite devotional, and quickly became mine. It has been a stream in the desert times of my life offering me hope and encouragement and pointing me back to God when I wasn’t sure I still wanted to walk His path.

I am sure other books will come to mind as I reflect on this particular blog, but for now, I offer you these four as the ones (apart from the Bible) that have left indelible marks on my life. God may not use them in your life as He has mine, but you never know.