Pushing Books

My friend Mary is a Book Pusher.  Some people push drugs.  Others push agendas.  Mary pushes books.

"Hey, Tammy, I got something for you,"  she'll say as she thrusts a book into my hands.

"Is it good?"  I ask - already knowing the answer.

"It's good - it's real good,"  she says and walks away to pass out books to some other bibliovore wh can't wait to sink their teeth into some juicy, thought-provoking words.

The thing about a book pusher is that you can NEVER outdo them.  You can NEVER pass them a book because when you try - they tell you that they have already read it or just got it and are about to read it.

But, I LOVE books - so this arrangement is fine by me.  This relationship is working really well.

Another cool thing about Mary is that God has been whispering to her about the same issues He has been whispering to me about:  How do we as American Middle Class Christians live authentic Christian lives that really show the love of Christ rather than just be a voting block or a subculture that is sequestered from the rest of the world?  How do we live lives that are consistent with the WHOLE counsel of God - not just some portions of it?

If any of you are interested in these topics, then I would like to give you a booklist of some of the great books that I have read.  Basically - I would like to push on you some of the books that Mary has pushed on me.....well, maybe, some of them I discovered on my own - but I am SURE that she has read everything on my list....I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Grab a hot cup of tea and enjoy!

Challenging you to engage the world with radical love:
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
Radical by David Platt
The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearn
The Radical Disciple: Some Neglected Aspects of our Calling by John Stott

Biographies by people who have stepped out of the middle class bubble to make a difference:
Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis (18 year old who moved to Uganda and did AWESOME things)
Same Kind of Different as me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore (homeless shelter work in Texas- amazing story)
Seven by Jenn Hatmaker (middle class mom who starts changing her lifestyle/outlook)
Risking Everything by Sarah Courson (missionary in Bolivia)
Always Enough by Heidi Baker (missionary in Mozambique)
Bruchko by Bruce Olson (Amazon missionary)
Insanity of God by Nik Ripkin (I just started this - but it's good - so far....Mary bought 10 copies if that tells you anything......she hasn't read it yet either but she always can spot the good stuff.....)

Social Justice:
A Generous Justice by Tim Keller (my favorite Christian thinker)
The Good News about Injustice by Gary Haugen (He started the International Justice Mission to fight human trafficking/slavery)

Helping the Poor without enabling them or humiliating them: (balancing out Social Justice causes so that you are really helping people and not just alleviating your own Western guilt)

When Helping Hurts by Corbett and Fickert
Toxic Charity by Robert Lupton