Reading at the Beach...

I love the beach.  I love to read.  Last week was Spring Break and I was able to read a couple of books while sitting on the beach.  It was nice and relaxing.  Here is a brief review of both books I read:
  The Racketeer was the first John Grisham book I've ever read and will definitely NOT be the last!  This was a GREAT read.  I don't read a lot of fiction, but from time to time I like to.  Especially at the beach.  This is one of those books that you can't put down!  And when you do, you are ready for the next minute that you get to squeeze in a chapter or two.  It's one of those books that even when you fall asleep you still are thinking about it and it causes you to have some crazy dreams!  I highly recommend this book.  I won't tell you much about it because it may give away some of the story and what fun is that. All I say is I almost read this book in about a 48 hour period.  It was THAT good...

The next book I read at the beach was Radical by an old college buddy named David Platt.  David and I went to UGA together and even played on the same club basketball team at the BSU.  We were roommates on a trip to Israel.  Since that time, David has really accomplished a lot!  He is now the pastor of a church in Birmingham Alabama and more impressively, has been on numerous mission trips to places around the world to spread the gospel.  His trips are the type where if he gets caught he risk being thrown in prison or being killed.  This was a great book I'd been wanting to read for a long time.  It will definitely challenge you as a Christian.  David uses scripture to basically show us how the American church has a lot wrong about the 'Christian church'.  He says we are too comfortable here in America and that is not what Jesus called for.  Jesus called for us to live radical lives and not comfortable lives by our own measures.  He makes a lot of good points and what I like about it was that everything was backed by scripture.  As a guy (me) who has been down on organized religion because of all the 'holy rollers' that want to tell you everything that is wrong with your life....as you watch them live lives that you know are not pleasing to God according to the word, it was a refreshing look at how Christianity is SUPPOSED to be and not how the church in modern day America has made it!  This book challenged me that I need to do better in my own life as a Christian.