Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’ve heard about Ender’s Game in a few places and thought I’d try it out. I downloaded the 20th anniversary audiobook from Audible. Haven’t read Orson Scott Card before so didn’t know what to expect.
First off, the narration was superb. It is dramatized in a few places in a way that intrigued. The narration as much as the story drew me in. Continue reading
The Apple servers were overloaded early yesterday when I upgraded my iGadgets, but basically everything went smoothly. After playing around a little here’s my initial assessment of iOS 5 on the iPhone 3GS. It’s pretty much the same on the iPad. (I won’t do an in depth review of features as these have been done better in other places).
Happy with:
Performance – I haven’t noticed a change, so no worse. I believe some tests are saying it’s better. Continue reading
Every death is sad. Everyone is someone’s parent, child, sibling, friend. If we truly have no one at the end, that’s tragic. But most deaths go unnoticed and unmourned by most people. I, like most who mourn his death, didn’t know Steve Jobs. Yet people are weeping tears and feeling empty because of his passing. I’m usually somewhat cynical about these things, but this time I’ve been affected by it.
At the most superficial level, of course, Steve touched millions of lives with his technology. Continue reading
I’ve been feeling kind of sad all day.
Sadder still that Steve didn’t know Jesus.
Rest in peace, Steve.
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Eragon is the eponymous tale of a teenage farm boy living with his uncle and cousin who one day discovers a dragon’s egg. When the dragon chooses Eragon as her rider, they set off on an adventure that sees him a fugitive of the Empire. Mentored by the local storyteller, Brom, he learns about magic and the history of Alegaesia and discovers that being a rider is a mixed blessing. He has an uncommon bond with his dragon, Saphira, but is feared, honoured and manipulated by people.
This is a very imaginative, detailed and well written novel. We’ve been reading it as a family and everyone from the 9 year old daughter to the 13 year old son and their parents have thoroughly enjoyed it.
Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Vintage Church is classic Mark Driscoll (cowritten with Gary Breshears) – classic systematic evangelical theology delivered in a contemporary, relevant package. What I particularly like about Driscoll is he’s unapologetic about defending a historic, biblical, evangelical faith. He is obviously familiar with church history, drawing on major Christian thinkers and coupled with a deep knowledge of Scripture writes with authority.
Driscoll grounds the church firmly in Christ and from there discusses matters such as leadership, the sacraments, unity, discipline, love and mission. I particularly found his discussion on missional churches helpful. But what really stands out to me is his argument that multi-campus churches are, in his opinion, the way of the future. He argues for it convincingly without in anyway discarding traditional churches or small congregations.
Apart from the last couple of chapters on multi-congregational and missional church, much of his discussion holds no real surprises, at least for anyone familiar with the subject matter. But I would highly recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t studied ecclesiology in any depth.
