One of my favorite quotes is from Charlie "Tremendous" Jones who used to say, "You will be the same person five years from now except for the people you meet and the books you read."  So what are you reading?  I read a number of years ago that the average American only read three books the rest of his or her life after college.  I don't know whether that's true, but if it is, then life change is going to be a lot more challenging.

When it comes to that last statistic, I am certainly not average, because I'm always reading three or four books at a time.  Right now, I'm finishing Plan B by Pete Wilson.  The sub-title is a great summary of the book:  What do you do when God doesn't show up the way you thought He would?  Wilson does an outstanding job of helping us reflect on God's will as well as what it means to follow God when He isn't present in our lives in the way we expected. This book came out in 2009, and ought to go on your "Read for Life-Change List"!

I'm also finishing up Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew.  Yancey has become famous for helping us understand our lives as Jesus' followers at a deeper level than most of us typically go.  In this work, He helps us understand Jesus as more than a sweet Savior who died for our sins.  The book's been out since the mid-1990's but I just got around to reading it, and I'm glad I did.

I've been stalled on The Boy Who Came Back from the Dead for a while, but will be finishing it up, because it's an interesting read, and offers a 90 Minutes in Heaven perspective from a child who technically died in a car accident and was in a coma for an extended period of time, during which he experienced heaven.

The most challenging book from a spiritual and practical sense, that I've picked up in a long time is Radical by David Platt.  The sub-title sums it up: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream. I'm only a third of the way through the book, but identify strongly with Platt's comparisons of what he has experienced on the mission field in terms of vital faith and deep commitment, and what passes for faith and commitment in most of the American Church.  Radical is not for the light of heart.  It won't be new for anyone who's been reading their Bible seriously over the years, and then seeking to APPLY what they've found there, but that is actually a radical concept in most American churches.  Platt's book is hard-hitting, and while I've considered (and preached about) most of the things I've found in it so far, I recommend it to anyone who wants to be a serious follower of Jesus---and to everyone who thinks you already are.  It may be this generation's Cost of Discipleship (by Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

Remember, as always, as we read ANYTHING, but particularly as we read books intended to deepen our lives as followers of Jesus:  Information-application=information, but information+application=transformation!  Here's to life-change that leads us to deeper levels of enjoying God's grace and extending His glory through our lives! 

Let me know what you're reading, because I'm always looking for opportunities to grow--and of course make sure that the Bible is the number one book on your daily reading list!