Thanks to being part of a book club and the discovery of audiobooks, I did a lot of reading (and listening) in 2018. Here are ten of my favorites: The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia, by Michael Booth This is an interesting look at the cultures and societies of […]
2017 Reading: American Stories
In looking over the books I read in 2017, it’s apparent that I somehow got on a kick of reading books that told stories about the history of the United States. Maybe it had something to do with the four 1000+ mile road trips across the country that I took. At any rate, if you […]
Recommended Reading: Non-fiction
I recently saw someone on Twitter ask for non-fiction book recommendations. I promptly made a list of some of my favorite non-fiction books; however, since I’m generally hesitant to jump into Twitter conversations, I decided to share my list here. Bottom line: I love reading non-fiction, and as you will see from this list, I gravitate […]
Twin Bells?
The second bell that Noël Piper and I found in China was at a church in Ya’an, Sichuan Province. Like the bell we had found the day before, this one was cast in a foundry in Cincinnati, Ohio. The pastor didn’t know what had happened to the bell during the Cultural Revolution, and how it had survived. […]
Bell Talk and Book Signing
I have two “Bell Talk and Book Signing” events coming up in the Twin Cities this weekend and next weekend. Here are the details: Saturday, February 4 @ Bethlehem Baptist Church (downtown campus) 720 8th Ave. S. Minneapolis Time: 7:15PM (following the evening service) Saturday, February 11 @ Bethlehem Baptist Church (north campus) 5151 Program […]
Recommended: “The Dust of Kandahar”
On a mid-April day in 2013, I heard a news report about an attack on US State Department personnel in Afghanistan in which 5 Americans were killed. I held my breath and said a prayer because a friend of mine from childhood, Jonathan Addleton, was at the time a diplomat in Afghanistan. In due time […]
