Fearless

I just finished reading Fearless by Max Lucado.

Though I wasn't blown away, it was exactly what I needed to have been reading. It softly spoke truth into my heart and encouraged my sometimes very tired soul. And it quite graciously kept me from wasting my life on hulu and netflix, an easy trap to fall into for a college student with only a few weeks left until summer.

Two of my favorite parts of the book were these quotes:

"Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need" (Matt. 6:32-33 NLT).

Seek first the kingdom of wealth, and you'll worry over every dollar. Seek first the kingdom of health, and you'll sweat every blemish and bump. Seek first the kingdom of popularity, and you'll relive every conflict. Seek first the kingdom of safety, and you'll jump at every crack of the twig. But seek first his kingdom, and you will find it. On that, we can depend and never worry.

And,

In the book Prince Caspian, Lucy sees Aslan, the lion, for the first time in many years. He has changed since their last encounter. His size surprises her, and she tells him as much.

"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."

"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.

"Not because you are?"

"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."

And so it is with Christ. The longer we live in him, the greater he becomes in us. It's not that he changes but that we do; we see more of him.

So I suppose I would recommend Fearless if you are looking for just something nice to read. Don't expect a challenge. Just drink up the somewhat cornily-phrased truth and stop being afraid :)

On a completely different note, I've just recently discovered the band Never Shout Never. I'm always so behind on these things. It's almost distracting how much I've listened to them recently. They aren't even amazing. Just catchy. If you are interested I'm a fan of Can't Stand It, Happy, and Coffee and Cigarettes.

And if you are interested in something less mainstream, check out Shep and Kendel's youtube channel. They are currently working on their first cd. They write a lot of their own stuff, and they are really phenomenal.