I picked this book up off the shelf in Phnom Penh because it was only a couple of bucks and the title was intriguing. I had checked the copyright date (2007) but quickly discovered it was a reprint of a book that was 89 years old as many of his illustrations dealt with travel by train and other vestiges of our recent history in America.

Though he calls himself a Christian the author approaches giving himself away not as part of his religious duty but rather as a hobby that brings him much joy.

One of the big takeaways from the book for me was to be on the look out for ways to add value to the lives of others. Another takeaway was that the door to give yourself closes quickly so walk through it while you have the chance.

The author also said that the more specific you can be with gifts, compliments and praise the better. To someone with the spiritual gift of giving this may come as no surprise but it was a good reminder for me.

Even if you never read the book you should still “Try Giving Yourself Away” this week and I am sure you’ll have a much better week and bring glory to your God in the process.

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Kisses from Katie is the kind of book I would never purchase. Someone purchased it for us as a gift and I am glad they did because I loved it. I loved the stories of her struggle and the joy that comes from serving the least and the last.

There are times when I feel like the life I live here is a bit of a struggle. I have spent 4 of the last 13 months sick. I got home at 1:10 am this morning after going around our city on a moped looking for kids who may have been trafficked. Some days I just want to have a normal job and not deal with the heartache and injustice, the fundraising, the multiple ministries, and the multiple projects in multiple countries.

Katie Davis’s account of her first three years in Uganda was convicting, inspiring and challenging.

Convicting because the life she lives and the sacrifices she has made are 10 X’s more difficult than my own. Inspiring because she makes it clear that there is no better path to be on than the one that God has called you to. Challenging because she chose to despise the things of this world and say yes to the things of God.

If you are looking for a personal account of the radical life lived out, look no further.

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OK. I don’t know what I can say about a trilogy without ruining the first book.

A few days ago my friend mentioned the the hunger games were the top three selling books on Amazon. I checked today and saw that they are still the top three selling books. While going with the crowd is not usually a path for success in life I think it might be when looking for a good book.

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The Hunger Games is compelling like water is wet. Suzanne Collins reaches out from her book in the first few pages and grabs your attention and doesn’t let go of your collar until a couple of hours later you find yourself on page 374 looking for book 2 of the trilogy.

Yesterday I was mentioning the book to a friend and a lady ahead of me turned around and said, “Isn’t the hunger games awesome.” Yes, stranger on the street, it is.

While boy meets girls is always a good start to a book, there are so many ways this storyline aligns with the current world situation. Evil government versus good citizens. (It’s very real in my neighboring Burma and Syria is killing it’s citizens as I type this) Entertainment versus serving the needs of the world around us. (This one is very real in my own heart and life) and Self Preservation versus dying to yourself and/or giving your life for the sake of others.

The Hunger Games takes place in the future in the land that was once America where the government forces each of the 12 districts to send in two kids each year in a fight to the death leaving only one victor. This is to remind the districts that the central government holds the power and each of the districts exists to serve them. Originally the story line sounded a little to gruesome and while it is definitely PG 13 it has caused me to think about how sin has impacted our world.

I encourage you to read the series with a couple of friends and talk about it.

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I have always loved creative thinkers and Jay Abraham is definitely at the top of the list when it comes to creative ways to think about business and make money.

He has a couple of cool thoughts from a business perspective.

Put the need of your clients ahead of you own.

You have clients not customers.

A customer is someone who buys a commodity product or service.

A client is under the care and protection of another.

There are three ways to increase the revenue in your business:
1. Increase the number of customers.
2. Increase the average transaction price.
3. Increase the frequency of transactions.

I think that over simplifies business a little bit but probably makes things a lot less complicated for growing your business than usual. He gives multiple strategies to increase all three areas and even ideas that can lead to entirely new businesses.

His idea of bringing value to others fits in with his ideas of Joint Ventures. Creating different business opportunities where two or three businesses all derive great benefit from the partnership.

The book was written in 2000 so his chapter on internet marketing is a bit dated, (He doesn’t even mention google in his list of search engines) but the book is fool of solid marketing ideas.

As of Feb 4th you can download the book for free from here

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The Iron Lance is the first in the Celtic Crusades Trilogy. I have really enjoyed Lawhead’s works after being introduced to them by a couple of friends a few years back. In fact, since my return to fiction 2 years ago I have read more of Lawhead than all other fiction authors combined. So I might be a bit biased.

While I would give it five stars the book did seem to start off a big slow and it took me at least 60 or 70 pages to really get into it. The other down side is that I felt like you could have removed 150 of the 641 pages without taking too much out of the story.

That being said, of what I have read, this is perhaps Lawhead’s best work of historical fiction in trying keep to the facts of history as we understand them and weave a great story into the mix. He shows the awful side of the Church as it existed around 1095 to 1100 and doesn’t sugar coat anything. At the same time he lifts up the Cele De as a group that tried to follow the teachings of Christ where they differed from the Church. He also shows the realistic struggles of the protagonist as moves from disdain for the church to a growing faith.

The history of the first Crusade is intriguing in itself but the characters in the The Iron Lance make it a wonderful read.

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Wholly guacamole what a disappointing book.

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I am always amazed out how many different ways people make a living online. Though I would never use most of the income streams that the author refers to I really enjoyed the quick read and that thoughts that it stirred in me.

One of his current income streams is using Amazon FBA to deliver everything for him so that he doesn’t have to do the work and he hired an Indian at $3 an hour to manage his inventory. Genius.

Probably the hottest thing write now is building businesses that help offline businesses get more customers and Jim pushes the site that he helped develop that helps normal people do just that.

If you are looking to make income online this is a good book to get you started. It doesn’t have step by step instructions but gives you a good overview of how to get started and can help you think about what direction you would want to head.

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Books on the soul are always a little bit hard for me to get through. Though I often mock 21 laws to this, 7 steps to that and 4 secrets for success in your field, I love the simplicity of the thought that there really are 21 laws, 7 steps or 4 secrets.

That said I really did enjoy the book and think it is a great read for anyone who has been in Christian leadership for 10+ years.

Ruth Haley Barton, takes the life of Moses and walks us through his leadership and walk with God. She does a great job of pulling out principles without stretching the story as told in Scripture. On a side note, I was told by a counselor that he had come up with the concepts in her book a long time ago but she had been able to market them better.

At the end of leading people for 40 years Moses is not able to enter into the promise land. I have often that that seemed like a huge punishment for what seemed to be a small sin. Barton speaks to that in a way that made sense and also challenged me in my own life.

This part of Moses’ story does speak to the fact that when you choose the spiritual life the stakes get higher and higher. Behavior and attitudes that were good enough last year may not be good enough this year. A level of integrity that was good enough for one level of spiritual leadership disappoints others and yourself as you move into greater responsibility. There is a peace on this path and very deep rewards, but there is an even greater need to live authentically and more given over to grace. The more spiritual the destination the greater the the importance of our character and utter responsiveness to God in the journey is.

He no longer needed any role or responsibility or task to define him….And this is what I have come to see most clearly in the life of Moses: for Moses the presence of God was the Promised Land. Next to that, everything else had already paled in significance.

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After both Mark and Ron made this book one of their top reads for 2011 I knew that I had to read it. I know that not even their man crushes on Steve Jobs could move it up that high in their minds if it wasn’t an intriguing read.

This book impacted me more than I expected. Getting to know the life of another always increases compassion and understanding. Job’s character flaws are well known and he didn’t seem to care that much about them other than a little regret in quiet moments of reflection. As I longed for Job’s to know Jesus towards the end of the book it caused me to reflect on the lives of many others around me and how there is still the opportunity to tell them of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

One of the things that came out over and over was Job’s ability to get people to do things that they thought were impossible and over and over in his career people were able to meet seemingly impossible goals.

A paraphrase of Job’s thinking, “Act like you can do something and it will work. Pretend to be completely in control and people will assume you are.”

Job’s obviously made a dent in our world in a huge way. When Apple’s iTV comes out in 2012 millions more will be impacted by his desire to bring simplicity and peace to technology.

I did walk away from the book encouraged to live a life without regrets and pursue the things that God has before me wholeheartedly.

James 1 comes to mind. “The sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; It’s blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.”

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