There is No Plan B

I have just finished reading "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream" by David Platt (the link will take you to an excerpt of the 1st chapter). I'm not quite sure how to start--for me, this book creates a feeling in me similar to The Hole in our Gospel by Richard Stearns and Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. I don't know how you can read any of these books, and not have some sort of fire lit within you.

Platt has written a no holds barred book about what Jesus has called us to do--as he says in chapter seven

We are the plan of God, and there is no Plan B

Really think about that a minute. We are the plan of God, there is no Plan B. Are we really living as though what we say and do is critical to God's plan for the world? The premise of the book is that churches, both the buildings themselves and us, the people who make the church, have succumbed to the American Dream that stuff equals happiness, that large and full churches equals fulfilling the gospel plan, that marketing equals sharing the gospel. We have watered down God to church attendance and Bible Study attendance. We have limited God's purpose for the world by our complacency, and Platt wants to open our eyes wide to what it really means to be a follower of Jesus. What does it mean? Look to chapter 4:

Meanwhile, Jesus commands us to go. He has created each of us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and I propose that anything less than radical devotion to this purpose is unbiblical Christianity

Wow, those are strong words, but, I have to agree that is what Jesus tells us to do, "Go and make disciples of the nations". I have to ask myself, am I doing that, in even a small way? And, the message seems so large, and well, radical. Yet, that is what God asks us to do, isn't it? To live for Him in a radical way. He did tell us we would be strangers in this world - am I living as though I am a stranger in this world? Am I living as though Heaven is my real world, and not earth? Am I, even in small ways at work and home, fulfilling God's mission for this world? I like that Platt doesn't just leave us hanging, he gives us some practical ways to begin. I also like that he doesn't leave any excuses for not making a beginning, and that he awakens a desire in you to be the man or woman God created us to be.

Platt leaves us with a one year challenge, a challenge to become more of who God created us to be:

1. Pray for the entire world;
2. Read through the entire Word;
3. sacrifice your money for a specific purpose;
4. spend your time in another context (impact communities, nations, world for the glory of Christ);
5. commit your life to a multiplying community (join a community of faith, take up your cross and follow Him)

I once heard a story about a nun who had a vision of Jesus. If I remember correctly she saw Jesus in a church, His hands were tied behind His back, and He was weeping. I don't want to be a person who leaves Jesus ineffective in my world. I want my words and actions to honor Him. I want your words and actions to honor Him. I want to encourage you, and I want you to encourage me. This is what Radical will propel you towards. So friends (you know who you are), if you end up reading this, please call me so we can have book club and talk about how we can allow the Holy Spirit to radically change us to fulfill God's plan.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano by Katie Hafner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first learned about this book from the Barnes and Noble week in review. As a child who grew up with a piano playing mother and a baby grand piano in her home, I was intrigued. As noted in the title, the book is based on piano player Glenn Gould and his search for the perfect piano.

I enjoyed this book so much. I didn't know the history of the piano and the people who tuned and played them was so interesting.

• The Steinway piano began with a cabinet maker who built a piano in his home in Seesen Germany, built a successful piano company there, and then emigrated to the US. Eventually this cabinetmaker and his family created Steinway and Sons. They not only built quality pianos, but they marketed them in such a way that a girl was not considered accomplished unless she could play the piano.
• Blind people (primarily men and boys) were trained to tune pianos--you wanted a blind person to tune your piano as they were more attuned to the "voice" of the instrument. We follow the story of Verne Edquist from Saskatchawan, from a dirt poor family, whose mother could not support him. He had less than 10% of his vision, and local community members pooled their money so that he could be sent to a school for a blind, which eventually led to his becoming an accomplished piano tuner. He heard colors in sounds, and I loved how that came out in his story and in his experience in tuning pianos.
• Then we have Glenn Gould. When Glenn was three, his parents discovered that he had perfect pitch. He could read music before he could read words. When five, he played the piano in public for the first time. At age 14 he played for the first time with the Toronto Symphony. Due to his upbringing, and some obsessive compulsive type behaviors, he was a rather odd performer, but that did not detract from his fame or his ability.
• CD 318 is the piano that most met his needs, and that he did most of his recordings on. He really loved this piano as thought it was his friend.

This book weaves all the above points into a highly readable account. One thing that I think is amazing is how you have these 2 characters that are a bit odd, Verne Edquist and Glenn Gould, and how they come together in a partnership that lets CD 318 "sing". I also find it interesting that so many artists, musical or otherwise, have these odd tics that are a part of them. Is their oddity what gives their art such beauty? Think of the artists you known that struggle with alcohol, drugs, phobias and yet have left the world with lasting treasures.

Part of the Christian message is that brokenness leads to wholeness, and I always wonder about this part in the artist's journey. Here also, we have distinctly different lives, and yet,they hold hands for the unique time and space that allows this artist to shine. It is difficult for me to keep God out of that, although He does not seem to be given credit for the gifts He bestowed.

I have been intrigued to learn more about Glenn Gould, downloading his recordings from itunes, and checking out some videos on youtube. I encourage you to do the same.

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The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book hooked me in right from the beginning. "What would you think of a postmistress who chose not to deliver the mail?" Frankie Bard asks, and captures the attention of everyone at her dinner table. When they find out it's true, and that it happened 1941 during the war, they are shocked. It is from this beginning that the story unfolds.

It is a story of war and of love told from the eyes of several people, mainly Frankie Bard, reporter and Iris James, Postmaster of Franklin, Massachusetts. You are taken from the bomb shelters of Britain, to the trains of Europe that hold the Jews who are trying to escape and back to Franklin, Massachusetts where the townspeople hear Frankie's stories of war on the radio. They listen, but with that suspension of disbelief that comes from being on the edge of a story and not living the story itself. We live on the outside of so many stories don't we? We don't pay attention to the details and clues that might come our way and help us to help someone else escape from the story that they are in. I think that happens because we are afraid--if we get too far into another person's story, we might be changed. Perhaps we, like Dr. Fitch in the story, might say

We are all of us here in the mess. There's no way around it. And all I am in the face of it is a single voice and a pair of hands. Not anyone's son anymore. Not anyone's husband. Anonymous but necessary. Vital. A Lucky Strike.

The people and stories in "The Postmistress" were real to me. I wanted to know what was going to happen to them. In fact, I cheated, as I often do, and read the ending before I finished the book because I just had to know.

Once you've finished reading you might want to check out the author interview. I would definitely wait until you were finished with the book though, or the story may be ruined for you.

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Cleopatra: Vixon or Brilliant?

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I finished reading this book, I thought, oh, it was okay. But then I started telling a friend about it, and decided I like it much more than I thought. It is fascinating to me that there are really no images of Cleopatra, only her coin portraits are accepted as authentic. So here we have a woman, who

ruled Egypt for twenty-two years. She lost a kingdom once, regained it,nearly lost it again, amassed an empire, lost it all. A goddess as a child, a queen at eighteen . . . at the height of her power she controlled virtually the entire eastern Mediterranean coast, the last great kingdom of any Egyptian ruler

In a way, this book is a myth buster. Consider what you know about Cleopatra. This is what I knew - she was a queen, she was beautiful, she killed herself by allowing herself to be bitten by a snake. Guess what, all of this was wrong in some degree.

• She was a more than a queen, she styled herself as a goddess, and was considered a deity.
• From correspondence of her time we know that she was not a stunning beauty, but a great conversationalist and highly intelligent - go figure, a woman who is loved for her mind!
• The cause of her death still leaves room for speculation, but it is thought to have been from poison, not from a snake bite.
• Cleopatra spoke 9 languages - 9! One of them Egyptian, which shouldn't have been a surprise other than the fact that her family was not really Egyptian at all, but rather Macedonian Greek.

I learned a lot about Cleopatra, Egypt, Rome, and the history of those empires in this book. As is often the case with successful, brilliant women, her accomplishments were attributed to the men she associated herself with. This book sets the record straight.

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