Book Notes

/Book Notes

Principles: Ray Dalio

A book about how to make good decisions (using Principles) both in Life & Work: Principles are ways of successfully dealing with reality to get what you want out of life. Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behavior that gets you what you want out of life.  They reflect your inner character and values.  They can be applied again and again in similar situations to help you achieve your goals. The quality of our lives depends on the quality of the decisions we make. My Favorite Idea from the book: Believability Weight Your Decision Making Find [...]

Principles: Ray Dalio2020-04-05T20:27:25+00:00

The Spirit of the Disciplines: Dallas Willard

“Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried.”  GK Chesterton We are saved by grace alone, however, grace does not mean that sufficient strength and insight will be automatically infused into our being in the moment of need. Why do faithful church members sometimes not grow to maturity in Christ?  We have somehow encouraged a separation of our faith from everyday life. An individuals character is nothing but the pattern of habitual ways in which that person comports his body. What are the disciplines for the spiritual life?  They [...]

The Spirit of the Disciplines: Dallas Willard2020-03-26T19:40:45+00:00

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: Meg Meeker M.D.

The 10 secrets; (1) you are the most important man in her life, (2) she needs a hero, (3) you are her first love,(4)  teach her humility, (5) protect her, (6) defend her, (7) pragmatism and grit: two of your greatest assets, (8) be the man you want her to marry, (9) teach her who God is, (10)  teach her to fight, keep her connected. Fathers, more than anyone else, set the course for a daughter’s life.  Your daughter needs the best of who you are: your strength, your courage, your intelligence, and your fearlessness.  She needs your empathy, assertiveness, [...]

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: Meg Meeker M.D.2020-03-22T20:41:28+00:00

Reforming Marriage: Douglas Wilson

Maturity in the Lord is a prerequisite to maturity in marriage. Every husband is in a position of inescapable leadership.  If he attempts to abdicate in some way, he may, through his rebellion, lead poorly. One of the central difficulties we face in our culture today is the general “wimping out” of the Christian men.  Men have abdicated their God-given strength, leadership, and authority. The Bible teaches that a minimalistic approach to doctrine should be an embarrassment for older Christians.  The question is not, “How little can I know and still get to heaven?”  The question for husbands is, “Given [...]

Reforming Marriage: Douglas Wilson2020-03-22T20:42:21+00:00

Raising Kids for True Greatness: Tim Kimmel

The biggest challenges our kids will face: What is my mission in life going to be? Who is my mate going to be? Who is my master going to be? Put another way: What am I going to do with my life?  Who will I spend my life with?  Who will I live it for? God has not called us to raise safe kids; He’s called us to raise strong ones. He hasn’t called us to raise popular kids; He’s called us to raise spiritually potent ones. True greatness: grace that demonstrates itself in the attitudes of humility and gratefulness [...]

Raising Kids for True Greatness: Tim Kimmel2020-03-22T20:44:39+00:00

Raising a Modern Day Knight: Robert Lewis

Fathers today are coming up short with their sons at three critical points We have failed to deliver to our sons a clear, inspiring, biblically grounded definition of manhood. Most fathers lack a directional process that calls their sons to embrace the manhood they should be able to define. A third shortcoming involves the loss of ceremony.  How many dads today think of formally commemorating their son’s progress or passage into manhood?  There is no place in our culture where boys are initiated consciously into manhood. Every son needs from his father vision, direction, and solid answers to questions such [...]

Raising a Modern Day Knight: Robert Lewis2020-03-22T20:45:16+00:00

Family Driven Faith: Voddie Bauchman Jr.

According to researchers, between 70-88 percent of Christian teens are leaving the church by their second year in college. Modern American Christianity has a failure rate somewhere around eight (almost nine) out of ten when it comes to raising children who continue in the faith. Our children are falling away because we are asking the church to do what God designed the family to accomplish.  Discipleship and multi-generational faithfulness begins and ends at home. God has designed your family—not the youth group, not the children’s ministry, not the Christian school, but your family—as the principal discipling agent in your children’s [...]

Family Driven Faith: Voddie Bauchman Jr.2020-03-22T20:46:09+00:00

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: John Mark Comer

You become what you give your attention to. We are distracting ourselves into spiritual oblivion. Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Problem: The greatest enemy of our spiritual growth is busyness Comer meets with John Ortberg, a California-based pastor and writer, who shares a story about Dallas Williard, who was a philosopher and spiritual leader at USC: But behind the scenes [Ortberg] felt like he was getting sucked into the vortex of megachurch insanity.  So, he calls up Willard and asks, “What do I need to do to become the me I want to be?” There’s a long silence on [...]

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: John Mark Comer2020-03-22T19:25:43+00:00

Empty Promises: Pete Wilson

Summary: this book is about idolatry.  “The human heart is a perpetual factory of idols.”  John Calvin.  It’s not a matter of do we have idols, it’s what are they and how do we put God back in first place.  Which idol is God’s biggest rival in your life?  What we worship shapes who we are. The human heart is a perpetual factory of idols.  John Calvin Idolatry is when I look to something that does not have God’s power to give me what only God has the power and authority to give. Idolatry isn’t simply a sin.  It’s what [...]

Empty Promises: Pete Wilson2020-03-22T19:27:09+00:00

Your God is Too Safe: Mark Buchanan

Surely the most needless tragedy in the body of Christ is bored Christians.  Following Jesus is the wildest ride on earth.  It’s time we took off the seat belts. I reckon this: the idol of the nice god, the safe god, has done more damage to biblical faith—more damage to people coming to faith—than the caricature of the tyrant god ever did.  The despotic god, howling his rage, wielding punishment with both ransacking destruction and surgical precision, at least inspired something in us.  We were afraid.  We wanted to appease.  But the Milqestoast-Pampering deity is nothing but a cosmic lackey, [...]

Your God is Too Safe: Mark Buchanan2020-03-22T19:28:19+00:00