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What goes on inside us can be very complicated. This book by Metro-Atlanta pastor, Andy Stanley, works to untangle and uncomplicate what goes on by breaking down the dangerous emotions that we have going on into 4 basic emotions: guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. In each of these areas, he talks about why they are so dangerous and gives easily spelled-out solutions to overcoming these emotions.

If you are familiar with Andy Stanley’s preaching and writing style, then you already know that he is extremely good at making complicated or lofty ideas more accessible. The simplicity that he gives to our inner emotions is definitely the major strength of the book. We can (or at least I can), at times, be overwhelmed by everything going on inside and feel like there is nothing that can be done. Stanley states that excepting things the way they are is very dangerous as it effects not only ourselves but our families and others around us. So, he gives clear instructions that start with meditation and end with an action that is usually carried internally but sometimes externally.

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Takeaway: Prayer requires intention.

It has always seemed to me that the late 19th and early 20th century produced some of the best works on prayer.  EM Bounds, Harry Fosdick, RA Torrey, AW Tozer, Andrew Murry, Hudson Taylor and many others wrote some of the most read classics on prayer.

I have read a number of books on prayer from this era.  Many of them are quite good.  But many of them verge on moralism.  I do think there is something to sin separating us from God.  But it can go too far when the work of prayer depends upon our own work.  There has to be some partnership between us and the Holy Spirit in prayer.  But most of the time when I read descriptions of that partnership I am dissatisfied with the result.

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Summary: The follow up to Ender’s Game set right before the last chapter of Ender’s Game with ideas from the Shadow Series and before the Xenocide and later books.

Last week I was browsing through Audible.com for a new book and saw that Orson Scott Card had released a new book last week that tells the story of the first Formic War (Earth Unaware).  It is getting fairly mixed reviews right now.  But I will probably still get around to reading it soon.

That led me to looking around to see if there were others Orson Scott Card books that I have not read.  I found Ender in Exile in my library.  By description I did not remember reading it.  I remembered it within minutes of starting it.  But it was good so I re-read (re-listened?) to it.

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I listened to about two hours of both of these books on audio.  I just could not get into either one.  

I really want to watch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy.  Sooner or later I will get to it. What I like about all of the reviews of the book is that people keep saying it is a slow spy novel about ideas more than action.  I tend to like books that are more about the ideas than the action.

But the price of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has been a bit high (now $12.99) and it is the fifth book in a series and the first four are not in kindle format.  (Yes it is the first of a trilogy within the larger series, but I still like to read books in order.)

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Takeaway: In this novelization of ancient Church history, the persecution of the church and the fight for orthodox christianity are made very real.

This year my theological reading topic has been the trinity.  I haven’t read nearly as much as I intended so far this year.  So when I ran across this book I picked it up to try and get back on track.

Eagle in Flight is about Athanasius, the 4th century bishop of Alexandria.  Athanasius is important to all the major streams of Christianity.  The Roman Catholic church considers him one of the four main ‘doctors of the church’.  Protestants point to his list of the books of the New Testament as one of the early confirmations of the New Testament canon.  Eastern Orthodox point to him as the ‘Father of Orthodoxy’.

He was a participant in the council where the Nicene Creed was written.  He was bishop during the several severe persecutions after Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of Rome.  And ended up spending 17 years over five different periods being exiled from Alexandria.  I was unaware how much in the years after Constantine that the Christian church was persecuted.

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