Be Thou My Vision

Zach Nielsen's blog, Take Your Vitamin Z, is near the top of the list of blogs I check almost daily. In addition to being a blogger and a pastor, Zach is also a very talented musician. Yesterday he posted the video below of the hymn Be Thou My Vision. I really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd pass it along.

Where Have All the Singers Gone?

Zach Nielsen has one of my favorite blogs and it definitely has the coolest name in all of the Christian blogosphere: Take Your Vitamin Z. This afternoon Zach pointed readers to a post he had seen dealing with the lack of congregational singing, specifically among men.

In it, David Murrow suggests that much of the reason for such a lack is the constant introduction of new and unfamiliar songs.  Click here to read his whole post and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic as well.  Zach is a talented musician who says he might write about it himself tomorrow.  Keep an eye on Vitamin Z, as I'm sure his insights will be a helpful addition to the conversation.

Great Book Giveaway

Zach Nielsen is running a great giveaway over at his blog in partnership with Crossway Books.  Among the books being given away are the following:

Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God by John Piper
Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe (RE: Lit) by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels by Tullian Tchividjian
What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage by Paul Tripp
Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey
ESV Study Bible

Check out the details at Zach's blog, and while you're at it, check out the rest of the blog as well.  His stuff is  top notch!

Pray for Boldness

Michael Kelley authors a great guest post for Zach Nielsen today over at one of my favorite blogs, Take Your Vitamin Z.

In it he offers a helpful corrective for our prayer lives, suggesting that in the midst of difficulties, the focus of our prayers ought to be boldness to proclaim the gospel in the midst of our circumstances as opposed to deliverance from them.

Boldness, not deliverance. Extension of the gospel, not a change in circumstances. Courage, not comfort. Maybe I ought to spend a little more time praying for that type of thing rather than a band-aid for my perceived problems. Because if I did, it would show that I had a much more full grasp of how big and important the gospel really is.

I recently finished preaching through Ephesians, and I am likewise reminded of the example we find there of Paul. Though he was under arrest, his prayer request was actually not that he would be released, as I'm quite sure mine would be. Rather he asks for prayer "that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak" (Ephesians 6:19-20).

You can read Michael's whole post here. By the way, be praying for Zach that he would proclaim the gospel boldly in Madison, Wisconsin, as he is in the process of moving to be part of a church plant there.

Books to Read

In 2 Timothy 4:13, Paul instructs Timothy, "When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments."

In commenting on this verse, Charles Spurgeon famously noted about Paul, "He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for a men to utter, yet he wants books! He had written the major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books!"

I have a confession to make. Though I got decent grades, I was not a great student and certainly not a big reader back in my high school and college days. It drove me crazy in college that each semester I’d buy a bunch of books, hardly ever look at them, and at the end of the semester sell them back to the bookstore for about 20% of what I paid for them. I was a little slow, so it wasn’t until my final semester that I finally figured things out, skipped the whole process and didn’t actually buy any books.

I say this not because I am proud of it; exactly the opposite is true. I wish that I had been a more serious reader in my earlier years, because if I had, I’d be a better and more well-read reader today.

When I went to seminary after a decade-long hiatus from schooling, I found that reading was all of the sudden far more appealing than it had ever been. This was probably due in large part to the fact that I hungered to learn what was in these books, as opposed to the books I had to read in college. Perhaps it was due to my increased maturity (less likely). Maybe it was a combination of these and other reasons.

Whatever it was though, I do enjoy reading now, especially those books of a theological nature. That being said, I still do not read anywhere near as much as I’d like, and as I look forward to 2010, I hope to read more than I ever have.

I thought it might be helpful to both others and myself to have some suggestions as to what we should read. To that end, I’ve pulled together the following list from people who have blogged on their top books of 2009. While I might not agree with everything each of these people say, I do respect their opinions and plan on using them as a guide in my reading over the upcoming months.

Kevin DeYoung

Tim Challies

Zach Nielsen

Russell Moore

Trevin Wax

Keith Mathison

John Samson

Sam Storms