Richard Foster

What I’ve Been Reading in 2018 (first batch)

Books

My goal going into this year was to read 52 books. So far, I’m halfway to that goal – a bit ahead of pace. But I already know I won’t be doing this again next year. Every so often I find myself pushing forward too quickly rather than slowly absorbing what I’m learning.

Anyhow, I thought I’d go ahead and share a brief snippet about the 26 books I have read so far in 2018. For space reasons, I will only include the first thirteen of them in this post, and then wrap it up in a couple weeks. As you’ll see, I tend to read a lot of theological books, however, there is a little variety sprinkled in.

Continue reading →

The Handiwork of Healthy Prayer

Prayer, Spiritual Growth

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” – Jesus (Mk. 12:30-31)

Earlier in my spiritual journey, during my teenage years, I can remember setting a goal for myself – thirty minutes of prayer every day. Thirty minutes seemed like a nice, round number. It was the length of an episode of Saved by the Bell. It seemed quite attainable.

For the first few days, I figured things were going pretty well. I was enjoying my time of prayer each day, and I was especially satisfied by the realization that I had made a goal and was sticking to it.

However, after a few days, I recognized a strange dynamic at play. I came to grips with the awareness that my motivation wasn’t so much about making meaningful connection with God, as much as it was about feeling the gratification of achieving my measurable goal.

Continue reading →