Jonathan Shradar

I have been anticipating this new book from Jeremy Writebol geared to exhort and encourage pastors. Having just finished an advance copy I can say the anticipation was matched with clear and timely words for those doing ministry in our age.  In Pastor, Jesus is Enough Writebol endeavors to relay Jesus' comfort and challenge in his letters to the churches in Revelation 2 & 3 (which he sees as letters to the messengers, pastors of these churches). Unpacking each helpfully through the lens of modern ministry and how we are prone to trusting in our self-sufficiency, get caught up in the rage of the day, or experience our own suffering.  Each chapter shows how Jesus is enough, that he is for us and how that is meant to shape our vision and execution of ministry. And the book ends in worship, what carries us through.  Writebol's own experience of division and desertion out of the pandemic and political upheaval of the last couple of years serves as the backdrop for this work. Thi

First finished fiction of the year. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. This Pulitzer Prize winner weaves a good story through the difficult landscape of the Vietnam war, or American war as it may be. Highlighting the life of a South Vietnamese intelligence officer who is a double agent, the story launches with the fleeing from Saigon and entry into life in Southern California.  There was much to grab a hold of in this book and though I began it at Thanksgiving, it consistently beckoned for reading on days I was free for fiction.  There is plenty of human gravity in the book, assassinations, illicit romance (not graphic in description), torture rape, all told to encapsulate the era. There was also a deep core sense of longing for belonging that pulls back a bit of the veil of the human condition that I found enticing in The Sympathizer.  Thoughtful, provoking, and engaging. I enjoyed this one.