Quotes and Notes on Daniel Rose: The Pastor Next Door

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:46:45 -0400

“A good reputation is acquired by many actions; and can be lost by one. Be upon your guard, therefore, against those weaknesses which may risk it. Nothing can be more unjust than to judge a person by one single action; but the world is seldom just.” - Philip Dormer Stanhope

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:26:26 -0400

“In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:56:59 -0400

"Action produces information. If you're unsure of what to do, just do anything, even if it's the wrong thing. This will give you information about what you should actually be doing. Sounds simple on the surface - the hard part is making it part of your every day working process."

- Brian Armstrong

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:24:39 -0400

“Close friends are truly life’s treasures. “Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.”

Vincent van Gogh

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:58:04 -0400

I read this quote by Sarah Bessey and it resonated:

“I don't want to be swallowed by the darkness. Nor do I want to be blinded by the beautiful facade. No, I want to be part of a people who see the darkness, know it's real, and then, then, then, light a candle anyway. And hold that candle up against the wind and pass along our light wherever it's needed from our own homes, to the halls of legislation, to the church pulpit, to the kitchens of the world.”

- Sarah Bessey, Out of Sorts

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 12:05:51 -0400

Currently reading: Simply Good News Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good by N. T. Wright 📚

When you can score an NT Wright book for $3, you don’t ask questions.

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 09:54:15 -0400

Finished reading: The Strength of the Few by James Islington 📚

I look forward to the completion of this story! A cliff hanger of epic proportions…

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:00:18 -0400

Currently reading: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter A Cosmere Novel by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Starting the next read. I am enjoying Sanderson so much!

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:50:35 -0400

Finished reading: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Another fun read from Sanderson. It’s not a Cosmere novel. It’s lighthearted and has a bit of a Terry Pratchett feel to it. I really enjoyed it!

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:42:11 -0400

“The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring: these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.”

Parker Palmer, Quaker educator

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:17:42 -0400

I am currently reading: Dominion by Tom Holland 📚

Spent some with this one today. Seeing the influence of Christianity, the good and the bad is so helpful to hold a nuanced understanding of the development of Western Civilization.

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:14:52 -0400

I started reading: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson 📚

I grabbed the audio book and I’m thoroughly enjoying it! It has dashes of Disc World vibes with Sanderson’s warmth.

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:52:08 -0400

I started reading: The Strength of the Few by James Islington 📚

Diving in to the second hierarchy series tale.

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:50:27 -0400

Finished reading: The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Such a fun read! It was great to see what happened with one of my favorite characters from Stormlight Archives.

Next up: The Strength of the Few, book 2 of the Hierarchy series.

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:49:44 -0400

Finished reading: The Lost Metal: A Mistborn Novel (Mistborn, 7) by Brandon Sanderson 📚

I can totally picture how this series will be serialized and I am so excited for it to hit Apple TV.

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:48:47 -0400

Do you ever bump into a quote that just resonates for you? I bumped into this one by David Foster Wallace today and it did just that today:

“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.” - David Foster Wallace

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 14:40:01 -0400

Currently reading: The Lost Metal: A Mistborn Novel (Mistborn, 7) by Brandon Sanderson 📚

”What’s the point of all this if people can’t change.” - Wax

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 12:36:22 -0400

I started reading: Fight Like Jesus by Jason Porterfield 📚

A friend is hosting a weekly discussion of this text. I can’t attend but, I am reading alongside. I think I will share some thoughts throughout Lent from this little book.

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 08:58:52 -0400

Tomorrow at Tap Room we are discussing nationalism, not just the Christian variant. This description of Christian nationalism by Tom Wright hits the nail on the head.

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:12:08 -0400

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

Frederick Douglass

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 19:56:51 -0400

Finished reading: Humanism from the Heart by Steve Ghikadis, B.A., BEd 📚

This was a really enjoyable memoir. The author, an atheist-humanist is winsome, kind, and generous.

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 14:33:21 -0400

This work is not about tweaking personalities or winning power struggles. It is about creating the conditions for deep change. And that begins with fostering enough safety for courage to grow. It is about staying present long enough for shame to loosen its grip.

Creating the Conditions for Deep Change by Chuck DeGroat

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 22:16:56 -0400

Currently reading: The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Starting a new stand alone tonight. The Cosmere is just so addictive!

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:18:49 -0400

Finished reading: The Will of the Many by James Islington 📚

This book read like Red Rising meets Mistborn meets Ancient Rome. I really enjoy the political intrigue that is building.

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 22:34:56 -0400

Currently reading: The Lost Metal: A Mistborn Novel (Mistborn, 7) by Brandon Sanderson 📚

I am excited for the final installment of the Wax and Wayne series.

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 22:29:57 -0400

Finished reading: The Bands of Mourning: A Mistborn Novel (Mistborn, 6) by Brandon Sanderson 📚

These Wax and Wayne books are an absolute blast. The number of times that I laugh out loud is ridiculous.

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 18:08:57 -0400

“Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its apologia for the weak. – I feel that Christianity is rather doing too little in showing these points than doing too much. Christianity has adjusted itself much too easily to the worship of power. It should give much more offence, more shock to the world, than it is doing. Christianity should take a much more definite stand for the weak than to consider the potential moral right of the strong.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from a sermon on 2 Cor. 12:9

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 19:21:10 -0400

A good friend purchases this book for me. I am looking forward to diving in!

Currently reading: Humanism from the Heart by Steve Ghikadis, B.A., BEd 📚

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 19:59:49 -0400

“To simplify before you understand the details is ignorance.

To simplify after you understand the details is genius.” ~ James Clear

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 14:33:59 -0400

Currently reading: The Will of the Many by James Islington 📚

After one chapter, I can already tell this is going to be fun.

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:11:35 -0400

Finished reading: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Another fun tale in the Cosmere. I really appreciate Sanderson’s handling of religion.

My next non-fiction read will be Will of the Many by Islington.

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 17:05:23 -0400

This is the best book I read last year. What was the best book you read?

Finished reading: Slow Theology by A. J. Swoboda 📚

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 19:45:51 -0400

"You can't make time go faster or success come sooner. The only thing you can control is the next action." ~ James Clear

I appreciate this idea. There are so many things that we can’t control. What we can control is our next action.

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:07:44 -0400

Finished reading: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson 📚

This was one the most fun reads! Can’t wait for the next! Western meets fantasy and a continued development of the Mistborn mythology. The characters are so fun!

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 13:06:37 -0400

Currently reading: Dominion by Tom Holland 📚

As I work my way through this work, I am struck by the reality that the good and the bad of Christianity becoming yoked with Empire exists in no vacuum.

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 16:05:29 -0400

Finished reading: Calamity by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Another fun read from Sanderson! Such an enjoyable take on the superhero genre.

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 11:59:00 -0400

“New goals don’t deliver new results. New lifestyles do. And a lifestyle is a process, not an outcome. For this reason, all of your energy should go into building better habits, not chasing better results.” - James Clear

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 17:59:27 -0400

Currently reading: Revelation for Everyone by N.T. Wright 📚

Sharpening up my Revelation perspectives. Beginning in January 6, I will be teaching Revelation and renewing the Beyond Sunday School podcast. #HereWeGo

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 09:36:08 -0400

Finished reading: Firefight by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Another really fun read from Sanderson. A very different take on the superhero genre meets a coming of age tale. I enjoyed it! On to the next…

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 17:46:05 -0400

Finished reading: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson 📚 Now, I need to get onto the next one! My goodness, these are such fun books.

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 19:01:25 -0400

"Reflection requires stillness.
One cost of rushing from thing to thing is that you lose the space to think. Hard work matters, but nonstop motion often hides a quiet truth: you could have used your time better.

If you never pause, you confuse activity with effectiveness. Make time to think. Walk outside. Sit quietly. Create space. Then move again, but this time on purpose."

- James Clear

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 18:59:46 -0400

"When things don't go well it's easy to wonder, "Why me?" It's easy to point fingers. It's easy to wallow in frustration or defeat.
But it is also easy to ask, “What is this teaching me?”

You can’t remove the frustrations from life, but you can always try to come out a little wiser on the other side."

This is from James Clear’s weekly email. “What is this teaching me?”

Such a key question.

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 16:32:44 -0400

It is so refreshing to simply listen to music and read some non-fiction after a full Sunday.

Currently reading: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 15:54:35 -0400

Finished reading: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson 📚

The second book of the Mistborn trilogy. It’s such a fun read and the characters are just a blast!

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:26:16 -0400

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” - Simone Weil

I think of this in terms of presence. “Presence” is the word I would drop in there for “attention.”

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 19:48:53 -0400

I just got this in the mail today! I am excited to dive in. It promises to be one of the better books I will read this year.

Want to read: The Vision of Ephesians by N. T. Wright 📚

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 10:12:46 -0400

“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” - Virginia Woolf

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:20:06 -0400

I ran across this quote in my reading today and it really struck me:

“Let us, since we are travelers and pilgrims in this world, keep the end of our road always on our minds — for the road is our life, and its end is our home.” - Columbanus

Currently reading: Dominion by Tom Holland 📚

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:04:59 -0400

This was a fun read! It kind of felt like reading source material for The Boys, but skipping some of the more depraved stuff.

Finished reading: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 22:13:42 -0400

“Everyone has the will to win. Not everyone has the will to prepare.” - Bobby Knight

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 16:41:44 -0400

This quote by Otis Moss Jr, a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr,

“Let it be forever remembered that all racism and hate lead to genocide, (Professor George Kelsey taught us this decades ago), past, present and future. In a society of hate no one is safe. The haters and the hated are in constant danger.
However, Love, Justice, Liberation, Transformation and Reconciliation must be our abiding commitment. This commitment must be kept alive and active from generation to generation.

Our prayer must forever remain: Dear God, make me too brave to hate and too courageous to be unkind.”

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 22:56:39 -0400

Finished reading: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson 📚

This was another fun read in the Cosmere! I am excited to read the next in the series. It’s a welcome change of pace from the non-fiction that I am constantly reading.

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 16:09:15 -0400

Currently reading: Dominion by Tom Holland 📚

I just finished the preface. Let me tell you, I think this book is going to be epic. I’ve heard a number of interviews with Holland (a self avowed atheist) and the premise of the text, that Christianity is more disruptive on the stage of world history than we realize is profound.

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 15:00:07 -0400

Finished reading: Slow Theology by A. J. Swoboda and Nijay Gupta📚

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I highly recommend it!

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 09:57:52 -0400

Currently reading: Slow Theology by A. J. Swoboda 📚

This book! Whew.

“Few things shape us more than the questions we spend our life pondering… the deepest questions do not necessarily deserve quick answers. In fact, the quick answer very well may cheapen the sacredness of a holy question.”

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 10:54:16 -0400

Currently reading: Slow Theology by A. J. Swoboda 📚

This might be the single most challenging book I’ve read in the last few years. The good kind of conviction on every page.

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 13:20:16 -0400

Currently reading: Slow Theology by A. J. Swoboda and Nijay Gupta 📚

I just read this: “To pursue Jesus is to pursue truth.”

As I ponder that it strikes me again that that to point people to truth is simply pointing the toward Jesus. Which means if we seek to do that, we must do our best to mirror Jesus to the world.

Oh, how I woefully fall short. May God have mercy.

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 13:54:05 -0400

I just grabbed my guy, Justin Belt’s new book, Purpose in the Pause. I am excited to read it conjunction with _Slow Theology _by Swoboada and Gupta. 📚

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 15:27:03 -0400

Finished reading: The Virtue of Dialogue by C. CHRISTOPHER. SMITH 📚

A fantastic short read on the importance and centrality of conversation in the church.

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 15:21:40 -0400

I am just beginning: Slow Theology by A. J. Swoboda and Nijay Gupta 📚

Oh boy, this book is going to be so good and so very challenging. I am excited!

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 15:05:34 -0400

The kingdom of God is not in the wisdom of the world, nor in eloquence, but in the faith of the cross and in the virtue of dialogue. — St. Cyprian

I bumped into this quote in C Christopher Smith’s, The Virtue of Dialogue. It really resonates with me and I think it is quite timely.

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:38:51 -0400

Oh, this is excellent from @bjhess:

[A Bit Naive](https://bjhess.com/posts/a-bit-naive)
What I wouldn’t give right now to be a bit more naive.

What I wouldn’t give for all of us to be a bit more naive.

A bit less social media.

A bit less 24-hour news.

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 21:32:47 -0400

Your Yes to God demands your No to all injustice, to all evil, to all lies, to all oppression and violation of the weak and the poor, to all godlessness and mocking of the holy. Your Yes to God demands a brave No to everything that will ever hinder you from serving God alone, whether it be your profession, your property, your house, your honor before the world. Faith means decision.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Gift of Faith, 1938

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:11:07 -0400

Diving into this text seems appropriate at this point in calendar…

Currently reading: America’s God by Mark A. Noll 📚

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:07:58 -0400

I am going to be writing through some things from this book, The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt 📚.

I think Haidt has much to say to help us understand the moment we find ourselves in.

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 15:20:45 -0400

A century later, Christian teacher Origen challenged the Caesarean Christians of his time not to blur the powers. "For you who are redeemed by Christ... a physical sword has been removed from your hands... In its place the 'sword of the Spirit' has been given and you must seize it." For Origen, Christians are to fight the evil powers by means of *prayers and fasts, justice and piety, gentleness, chastity and all the virtues of self control."

Currently reading: Reckoning with Power by David E. Fitch 📚

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 10:38:58 -0400

“Failure is the mark of a life well lived. In turn, the only way to live without failure is to be of no use to anyone.”

Currently reading: Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 14:18:06 -0400

I am excited to dive into this little book on power and the Church.

Currently reading: Reckoning with Power by David E. Fitch 📚

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 14:37:55 -0400

I just finished reading Jesus and the Powers by NT Wright and Michael Bird it was challenging and encouraging in all the right ways. I am going to do a little write up on it soon.

Finished reading: Jesus and the Powers by N. T. Wright 📚

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:01:27 -0400

Do you ever read a book so timely it is almost overwhelming? Something that grabs you by the soul and says, “LOOK!”

I am experiencing that right now with this little book.

Currently reading: The Tears of Things by Richard Rohr 📚

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 16:17:25 -0400

Currently reading: Jesus and the Powers by N. T. Wright 📚

“Perhaps the single greatest threat is not the rise of secularism or the emptying of churches, but the apathy and indifference of the churches that are still here.”

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 12:57:01 -0400

Currently reading: Jesus and the Powers by N. T. Wright 📚

Diving into some texts on power this week. Starting with this one and going from there.

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 10:26:12 -0400

I just bumped into this quote:

“When the Greeks got the gospel, they turned it into a philosophy;
when the Romans got it, they turned it into a government;

when the Europeans got it, they turned it into a culture;

and when the Americans got it, they turned it into a business.” Richard Halverson

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 13:46:28 -0400

This was such a fun read. I am excited to continue exploring this world in Oathbringer. Finished reading: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:09:30 -0400

During the 1933 Prussian Synod Dietrich Bonhoeffer offered multiple theses to challenge the “Aryan Paragraph.” The “German Christians” were those aligning with the Nazi party, “We,” was the nascent Confessing Church.

Currently reading: The Bonhoeffer Reader by Michael P. DeJonge 📚

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:48:33 -0400

Another timely thought from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in response to the 1933 “Aryan Paragraph.”

Currently reading: The Bonhoeffer Reader by Michael P. DeJonge 📚

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 09:16:59 -0400

Here’s the second of the theses that Bonhoeffer penned to challenge the Aryan Paragraph in 1933. Again, it reads as very timely for our moment in history.

Currently reading: The Bonhoeffer Reader by Michael P. DeJonge 📚

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 13:59:40 -0400

Dietrich Bonhoeffer composed a number of talking points to refute what was known as the “Aryan Paragraph” in September of 1933. The paragraph excluded non-Aryans from civil service which was beginning to be adopted by German churches.

Currently reading: The Bonhoeffer Reader by Michael P. DeJonge 📚

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 19:16:30 -0400

This is such a timely read. Bonhoeffer’s writing is so highly applicable to our times.

Currently reading: The Bonhoeffer Reader by Michael P. DeJonge 📚

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 21:04:38 -0400

Unreal book deal right now…

NT Wright’s New Testament for Everyone complete 18 volume set is on sale for Kindle for $5.99!

John Goldingjay’s Old Testament for Everyone complete 17 volume set is on sale for Kindle for $5.99!

📚

Sat, 09 Nov 2024 11:39:01 -0400

From Bonhoeffer on the command to love our neighbor and enemy. This was from a talk he gave to a student organization at the end of 1932.

I am really bad at this. I need to grow.

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 10:42:50 -0400

I am still processing this quote from my reading last night. This is part of Bonhoeffer’s conclusion on a talk on the prayer, “Thy kingdom come.”

Too often the American Church has derided struggle as a sign of not keeping “in step with the Spirit.”

Yet, as we read the Scripture we see over and over again that struggle is central to inbreaking of the kingdom of God.

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 19:20:58 -0400

This is a quotation from Bonhoeffer’s catechism. It strikes me as very timely.

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 14:53:07 -0400

I’m really enjoying this book so far. I think it might make for a good preaching outline.

Currently reading: 15 New Testament Words of Life by Nijay K. Gupta 📚

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 15:01:30 -0400

Finished reading: Following Jesus by N. T. Wright 📚

I’m excited to share some quotes and notes from this little book. It is an excellent read!

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:22:09 -0400

"Yes, there was a whiff of triumph on Palm Sunday, but not the kind of triumph that might impress Rome and not the kind that impressed crowds in Jerusalem for long either. What manner of king was this?"

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

This week, let us consider the different manner of king that Jesus was.

Sat, 23 Mar 2024 14:12:02 -0400

Jesus himself had mixed feelings during the clamorous parade. Luke reports that as he approached the city he began to weep. He knew how easily a mob could turn. Voices who shout “Hosanna!” one week can shriek “Crucify him!” the next.

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

As we step into holy week this quote has been on my mind. Particularly, “how easily a mob could turn.”

Would I have turned?

Would I have shouted “Hosanna!” and then shrieked, “Crucify!”?

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 22:19:01 -0400

I know of no more poignant contrast between two human destinies than that of Peter and Judas. Both assumed leadership within the group of Jesus’ disciples. Both saw and heard wondrous things. Both went through the same dithery cycle of hope, fear, and disillusionment. As the stakes increased, both denied their Master.

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

If this isn’t a “but by the grace of God go I,” I don’t know what is.

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 12:49:02 -0400

Jesus’ response to suffering people and to “nobodies” provides a glimpse into the heart of God. God is not the unmoved Absolute, but rather the Loving One who draws near.

from: [The Jesus I Never Knew](https://micro.blog/books/9780310295815) by Philip Yancey 📚

This might be one of the most challenging concepts for many American Christians to wrap our minds around. We have been told for so long that God is non-emotional. Yet, in the person of Jesus, we see God draw near in love. This is the consistent response of Jesus in the Gospels to the people who are on the “outside.”

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:02:54 -0400

Indeed, the kingdom of God will grow on earth as the church creates an alternative society demonstrating what the world is not, but one day will be: Barth’s prescription of “a new sign which is radically dissimilar to [the world’s] own manner and which contradicts it in a way which is full of promise.”

From: [The Jesus I Never Knew](https://micro.blog/books/9780310295815) by Philip Yancey 📚

I imagine this alternative society would look vastly different from what we see today.

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 17:57:42 -0400

I am 7% done with book and already there are quotes that will be used in a series of talks I am giving this weekend. Whew!

Currently reading: The Brothers Karamazov: A New Translation by Michael R. Katz by Fyodor Dostoevsky 📚

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 16:18:20 -0400

Jesus had but to give a nod of agreement and he could have constructed Christendom, not on four shaky Gospels and a defeated man nailed on a Cross, but on a basis of sound socioeconomic planning and principles. . . . Every utopia could have been brought to pass, every hope have been realized and every dream been made to come true. What a benefactor, then, Jesus would have been. Acclaimed, equally, in the London School of Economics and the Harvard Business School; a statue in Parliament Square, and an even bigger one on Capitol Hill and in the Red Square. . . . Instead, he turned the offer down on the ground that only God should be worshipped.

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

Jesus: “Nah, I don’t want Christendom.”

The American Church: “Hold my grape juice.”

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 12:52:33 -0400

As I look back on the three temptations, I see that Satan proposed an enticing improvement. He tempted Jesus toward the good parts of being human without the bad: to savor the taste of bread without being subject to the fixed rules of hunger and of agriculture, to confront risk with no real danger, to enjoy fame and power without the prospect of painful rejection—in short, to wear a crown but not a cross.

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

As I continue to consider this, I am confronted with my own desire to wear a crown and not a cross.

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 17:00:00 -0400

In Jesus, God found a way of relating to human beings that did not involve fear.

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

I think this might be one of the most significant and under appreciated aspects of the personhood of Jesus. If we are leveraging fear with regards to Jesus then we have missed a central piece of the gospel story.

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 18:19:27 -0400

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

The virgin Mary, though, whose parenthood was unplanned, had a different response. She heard the angel out, pondered the repercussions, and replied, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Often a work of God comes with two edges, great joy and great pain, and in that matter-of-fact response Mary embraced both.

It strikes me how I often think if I’m really doing what God called me to do it will be all joy. But, it’s not. It’s both/and, great joy and great pain.

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 13:47:04 -0400

“I am impressed that when the Son of God became a human being he played by the rules, harsh rules: small towns do not treat kindly young boys who grow up with questionable paternity.”

- From: [The Jesus I Never Knew](https://micro.blog/books/9780310295815) by Philip Yancey 📚

I hadn’t thought of this, have you? The idea of Jesus growing up in a small town “with questionable paternity,” is one that kind of shakes me. Would I have mocked him? Would I have held him at arm’s length? Was he treated poorly even as a child?

Trying to wrap my mind around Jesus from the human perspective is proving to be a bit of a gut punch.

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 14:12:45 -0400

Currently reading: The Brothers Karamazov: A New Translation by Michael R. Katz by Fyodor Dostoevsky 📚

A sunny day and nice pipe and diving into a bucket list read.

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 23:32:05 -0400

I’ve decided that I have to read Brothers Karamazov. I have started it a couple of times and never pressed on, but it keeps coming up over and over in my reading. I feel compelled to read it. 📚

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 12:26:51 -0400

"Two words one could never think of applying to the Jesus of the Gospels: boring and predictable. How is it, then, that the church has tamed such a character — has, in Dorothy Sayers’ words, “very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies”?

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

It strikes me that when we focus our attention on the Jesus that we meet in the Gospel stories as opposed to the cultural Christian Jesus that we have invented we will find ourselves shocked by what we find. Jesus is a wild man. There is absolutely nothing safe about trying to live like him.

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 16:11:17 -0400

“Of the many reasons for Incarnation, surely one was to answer Job’s accusation: Do you have eyes of flesh? For a time, God did.”

From : The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

For so many years I regularly thought of Jesus as this divine superman. I am so intrigued by his god-ness that I missed his ordinariness. Yet, now it is his sheer ordinariness that most attracts me. This man who ate, drank, got annoyed, ran away from people, teased his friends, and took naps but also introduced the world to grace.

I am drawn the man. I am drawn to the homeless, wandering Rabbi.

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 17:04:15 -0400

“Looking in retrospect on my years at Bible college, I see that, despite all the devotional intimacies, Jesus grew remote from me there. He became an object of scrutiny.”

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

This is, I think, one of the great struggles for not only people at Bible college or seminary, but also much of Protestant evangelicalism. Evangelicalism is buried in information. Jesus, for many, has become “an object of scrutiny.”

When we lose the relational connection to the divine we have lost the very core of what it is to follow Christ. To be learner of Christ is to grow in Christ’s character and competency. These can’t be learned when Christ is nothing more than an “object of scrutiny.”

Sat, 17 Feb 2024 22:50:03 -0400

Monday, I am going to start sharing quotes and my reflections from this book…

Currently reading: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

New note by Daniel Rose

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 17:42:39 -0400

I’m reading: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey, and it is so good. I read it ages ago, but the timeliness of it remarkable.

I think I will start sharing some quotes and brief thoughts from it and other books.

📚 micro.blog/books/978…

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 17:42:35 -0400

I’m reading: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey, and it is so good. I read it ages ago, but the timeliness of it remarkable.

I think I will start sharing some quotes and brief thoughts from it and other books.

📚

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 15:25:41 -0400

“Friendship is a much underestimated aspect of spirituality. It’s every bit as significant as prayer and fasting. Like the sacramental use of water and bread and wine, friendship takes what’s common in human experience and turns it into something holy.”

📚: Eugene Peterson, Leap Over A Wall

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 15:16:47 -0400

“Love—God’s love in particular—is fundamental to the world’s existence. Love is the background against which everything else is played…”

📚: Leap Over A Wall by Eugene Peterson

Mon, 29 May 2023 13:25:46 -0400

This might be one of the most challenging books I’ve read. It is impacting my soul in ways I didn’t expect.

Currently reading: Run with the Horses by Eugene H. Peterson 📚

Tue, 23 May 2023 14:51:38 -0400

“Commands assume freedom and encourage response. Addressed by commands we are trained in response-ability.” Currently reading: Run with the Horses by Eugene H. Peterson 📚

Tue, 16 May 2023 15:17:42 -0400

“What we do in secret determines the soundness of who we are in public. Prayer is the secret work that develops a life that is thoroughly authentic and deeply human.”

Currently reading: Run with the Horses by Eugene H. Peterson 📚

Sat, 08 Apr 2023 12:46:51 -0400

This was a challenging and hope-filled Lenten devotional. I’m grateful for the time spent considering the deep and weighty things of Scripture these last forty days.

Finished reading: Wondrous Encounters by Richard Rohr 📚

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 11:48:53 -0400

“No child is just a child. Each is a creature in whom God intends to do something glorious and great.”

Currently reading: Run with the Horses by Eugene H. Peterson 📚

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 16:31:46 -0400

Currently reading: Deep Work by Cal Newport 📚

I’m going back through this book and creating a list of questions to process. As a pastor, I feel like I need deep work and somehow maintain connection via modern digital network tools.

Curious what others think…

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 14:27:21 -0400

Just started a new, to me, book by Eugene Peterson. The opening sentences:

“The puzzle is why so many people live so badly. Not so wickedly, but so inanely. Not so cruelly, but so stupidly.”

This book is going to be something else.

Currently reading: Run with the Horses by Eugene H. Peterson 📚

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:32:21 -0400

This book was really insightful and helpful. I am excited to begin putting some of Dr Li’s insights into practice. For instance, today I began drinking green tea.

Finished reading: Eat to Beat Your Diet by William M. Li 📚

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 20:02:55 -0400

Currently reading: Wondrous Encounters : Scripture for Lent by Richard Rohr 📚

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 13:45:11 -0400

Currently reading: The World-Ending Fire by Wendell Berry 📚

As I continue to slowly work my way through this text, I am reminded that I live too fast. I don’t savor life and am rarely as present as I would like to be.

Sat, 04 Mar 2023 10:57:11 -0400

Currently reading: The World-Ending Fire by Wendell Berry 📚

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 23:34:36 -0400

Finished reading: Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Mission by David E. Fitch 📚

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 23:27:34 -0400

Currently reading: The Acts of the Apostles by JG Dunn 📚

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 23:23:41 -0400

Currently reading: The Wisdom Pattern by Richard Rohr 📚