What Makes A Book Of Impact?

As I’ve been thinking through the topic of books that have impacted me over the years, I naturally came to the question,”What makes a book impactful?” This is more than just being  interesting or well written or recommended. I’m talking about the books that you hold in your hands differently because they are so dear to you. The books that make it into your life story, those that mark and change you, that have special places to live on your shelves because they feel like a friend, not just a book. These are the ones you tell other people they just HAVE to read. What are some of the recurring themes of those books for me?

Here are some of my thoughts on it.

1. Timing: It’s not just what you read but when you read it. A book on dating isn’t likely to make it on this list for me at this point in my life. Why? I’m married. But when a book’s topic is perfectly matched to my season of life, when it is as if my heart has been primed for the material and is able to soak it in to a deeper level than normal – then a book has a chance to be impactful. That is why The Hiding Place and God’s Smuggler hit me so hard. I was a young college student and new to my faith. A story of ordinary people who had to prove their faith in the face of unbelievable challenges, who God called to great intimacy with Himself…these stories just spoke to me at that time in my life. They still do.

2. Well-written: It’s not just what you write, but how you write. We’ve all got memorized words stuck in our heads and hearts. Song lyrics. Sayings. Quotes. Why? It’s more than just the ideas they express. It probably has something to do with the rhythm, the rhyming, the cadence. The WORDS! A well-written book makes the topic easy to understand and engage. The childrens’ books on my list are examples of this. They are a joy to read. On the other hand, a poorly written book, no matter how important the material, most likely won’t get read.

3. Introducing a new idea or concept: I love books that open my mind to something I haven’t thought of before, that stretch previously unused intellectual muscles.  One of the things I love about teaching is being the first to tell someone something, getting to a fresh mind first. When a book does this for me, it glues me to my seat and revs my brain into high gear. I can get lost in the newness for hours at a time. John Piper’s Hunger for God was this for me in that I had never heard anyone unpack the details of fasting before. He got there first.

4. It moves me: Some books have an emotional component. They are more than just a source of information and they engage more than just my head. Works of fiction like Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers have the potential to do this. A story becomes part of the reader, tickling more than the intellect. They can provide emotional pictures in the heart that go beyond words. Sometimes works of non-fiction can also move me. The material may cause me to change something in my life, to feel a certain way. When a book hits my heart, it has a chance to impact me.

Books Of Impact – Missions

FOREIGN TO FAMILIAR by Sarah Lanier

This book is not particularly long, deep or intellectually dense, but here is the single best, most concise explanation of the general differences between cultures I’ve ever read.

Why are Europeans so ‘rude’, ‘direct’ and ‘unfriendly’? Why are southerners so ‘shallow’, superficial’ and ‘two-faced’? Of course those terms are relative depending on where you are from. What a southerner might term rude a European might call honest. What a European might call shallow a Southerner might call friendly. Jumping cultures is a really challenging and tricky endeavor. This book clearly and concisely explains these and many other cultural land mines that anyone who has traveled often has hit.

This book makes my list because  as a world traveler it helped me put words to things I’ve experienced and as a communicator of the Gospel, barriers that I’m dying to overcome.

If you plan on spending anytime at all in a second culture, you need to read this book. That sort of ringing endorsement springs from a book that has impacted me. That’s why it is on this list.

Books Of Impact – Academic

SOCIETY WITHOUT GOD By Phil Zuckerman

The tag line for this book says, “What the least religious nations can tell us about contentment.”

Studies show that the people in Scandinavia are the wealthiest, best educated, happiest, most content and also the least religious on the planet. They are as close to a truly secular society as exists on the planet, yet they are also perhaps the most civilized and decent.

The author, an atheist, spent a year in Scandinavia interviewing people from all walks of life about their spiritual lives and beliefs. The book is a series of interviews and conclusions drawn from his research.

I not only found it fascinating but personally quite moving. As a Christian, I long to see each culture on earth find their unique expression of the faith. How to communicate the Gospel for people who have pretty much everything this world has to offer, in a way that speaks past material needs to the deepest places of the heart?  Oh how I long to find out! This book is on my list because spoke to my heart about something God has planted deeply within me. This book has fanned into flame some of these questions – and I hope I get to be a part of discovering some of these answers one day.

Books Of Impact – Children’s

The books listed in this entry have impacted me, but for different reasons than the others in this series of posts about significant books in my life. These are on the list because of the sheer numbers of times I’ve read them, because of the very positive memories associated with them as I’ve read them with my children over the years, because they are just beautiful visually, poetically and emotionally. These are my favorite children’s bedtime stories. For the parents reading this, none of these selections will be earth-shattering or unexpected. Millions of parents have read these to their kids over the years proving their staying power. These, I cannot recommend highly enough.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd

Best. Children’s. Bedtime. Book. Ever. This one has lulled millions of children to sleep over the decades with its simple cadence and soothing pictures. I’ve never read a better bedtime story. The words flow and are fun to read. The artwork is simple but perfect for little ones. Every time we read it we find something else to talk about. (Have you found the mouse in every picture?) Again, this one makes my list because I’ve been reading it almost weekly for a decade now. I sometimes give it as a gift to new parents so they can enjoy it also.

The Runaway Bunny By Margaret Brown and Clem Hurd

The tag in Amazon says that this book was first printed in 1942 and has never been out of print since. One read and you’ll know why. It is the sweet story of how a mother becomes whatever she has to in order to find her little baby bunny who is trying to run away. The artwork is beautiful, colorful and humorous. It is also fun to look for the related pictures that repeat in Goodnight Moon, which was written a few years after by the same author and illustrator.

I love to read this at bedtime to my little bunnies.

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram

My mother bought this book for me to read to my little ones and it has always made me smile. It is the story of a conversation between a baby bunny and a parent bunny. Who loves the other more? It is a sweet back and forth and a great bedtime story. I’ve read it to my kids in three languages now and it still gives me a wonderful excuse to hug my children every time.

Baby’s Blessings Bible

This really isn’t a Bible. It’s a little children’s’ book with simple artwork, basic and fun poems that are meant to introduce little ones to Jesus, Bible stories and the concept that the Bible is a book for them.

“Jonah didn’t want to go where God had told him to.

God sent a fish to swallow him to show him what to do.

The fish swam to the seashore and coughed Jonah on the sand.

Then Jonah prayed, thanked God and said, ‘I’ll follow God’s command!”

We can pretty much all recite that and other fun poems from memory around here as we’ve read it so often.
There are better children’s Bibles out
there, but this one is a sentimental favorite.

I Love You Stinky Face by McCourt and Moore
“But Mama, but Mama…what if I was a super smelly skunk and I smelled so bad that my name was Stinky Face…would you still love me then?”
This is one fun book to read out loud with my children! It makes the list because I have such fond memories of bedtime with the kids with this book in our hands.

Books Of Impact – Prayer pt. 3

Valley of Vision – a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions

As a good Protestant, generally I’m not a fan of written out prayers. But…this collection of prayers and devotions of the Puritans (and wow, could they pray!) is different. It doesn’t read like a dry, “repeat this” routine, with no thought on my part required. Instead, it is a challenging, poetic, heart-stirring model of what my prayer life could look like. I read it and am moved, closer to God and to focus more deeply on the things I talk with God about.

This classic serves two functions in my life. First, there are days when my words fail me and I can’t quite get my thoughts together. It is helpful to have some written out for me to jump-start my own. Second, the things the Puritans prayed for are so much deeper than what I pray for. They stir things in my heart, head and soul, prompting new streams of thought, taking me places in my spirituality that I would never find on my own.  These prayers stretch me from the inside out, challenging me to move beyond my typical, “Bless me, keep me safe, take care of my kids…”

It occupies a regular place on my bedside, which is a sure sign that it is a significant book for me.

 

Books Of Impact – Prayer pt. 2

Praying God’s Word – Beth Moore

This is perhaps the most unusual book in my series on Books Of Impact. As with most Beth Moore books, this one is highly, highly Biblical – in fact the majority of the book is just straight scripture with the wording slightly tweaked so that it becomes a prayer. But unlike most Beth Moore books, a man would be comfortable reading this. In fact, I think this just might be the work of Beth’s that survives her ministry the longest as a classic.

The introduction is 7 of the most direct and powerful pages I’ve ever read on the practice and discipline of praying God’s Word back to Him, of targeting our prayers around our specific needs and linking them to what God has already said about them. Each chapter centers around  a specific sin we struggle with: idolatry, addiction, guilt, rejection, depression, unforgiveness, etc. After a brief teaching on the topic, Beth lists scripture after scripture, written out in the form of a prayer, meant to be prayed as we battle the particular sin. This book is intended to be a tool as well as a teaching device to help believers get in the battle for our own sanctification, using the weapons God has given us: prayer and His Word.

I revisit this book often and always recommend it highly.

Books Of Impact – Prayer part 1

Prayer by Ole Hallesby

I have yet to meet the Christian who says, “My prayer life is going pretty good right now…” Most of us know we should pray more and if we are honest, we actually know how to pray. We just choose not to.

I probably had this book in my personal library for 10 years or so before I got around to reading it. I am kicking myself for putting it off. Ole Hallesby was a Norwegian pastor during early and middle part of the 20th century. He was imprisoned for being a part of the Norwegian resistance to Nazi occupation during WWII. I think it is safe to say that this wasn’t written in an academic ivory tower but in the trenches of difficult circumstances and extreme need.

Hallesby has written a classic that is both theologically rich yet practically engaging, simple yet deep. He unpacks for us the reasons for prayer, what hinders it and how to do it more and better. It is like a basic primer on the subject, but not lifeless, timeless yet incredibly relevant. From the first chapter, it feels powerful, authoritative, inviting and compassionate. He wants us to know the joys of a vibrant prayer life, not feel guilty because we can’t get our act together.

A sample quote: “The real hindrance to intercessory prayer is, of course, the  fact that we live and move in such a narrow circle about ourselves and those nearest us that the Spirit of prayer cannot create in our hearts true zeal for others.” Basically he is saying, we are too self-absorbed to look up and out and see the needs of those around us to be moved to pray for them. Tell me that doesn’t ring true today.

My copy of this book is well underlined and falling apart: a sign that I not only revisit this book often, but found its content very useful. After reading this, I didn’t have just a better intellectual understanding of prayer, but a better prayer life. I think that is a great endorsement for any book.

Books Of Impact – Biography

Here I Stand by Roland H. Bainton

A biography of Martin Luther

For years now my reading sometimes follows a pattern: a particular topic grabs my interest and I read broadly on the topic for months till the itch is scratched.

A while back Luther and the Reformation grabbed my attention. It was a pivotal time in world history where an individual just did what he was supposed to do right where he was and greatness was thrust upon him. Fascinating stuff. This book is the best of the many biographies I’ve read about him and is universally recognized as the gold standard. Written in the 50′s, the language is a bit higher than is commonly used today, so there are Luther biographies out there that are easier to read, but I haven’t found one that is more comprehensive. You can tell the author is a scholar and expert in his field. A little bit of background knowledge on the subject is helpful also.

So, the reason this book is on my list isn’t necessarily because of the book itself, but the topic. Luther stands tall among the giants who have marked and influenced Western culture. He not only led the Protestant reformation, but:

He translated the Bible into German, effectively creating the modern German language. This also created the norm that people should be able to read the Bible in their own language, and that they should read their Bible personally.

He was among the first individuals who expressed a personal conviction, stood up to the institutional powers and not only survived, but won. This opened the way for the rights of individuals and democracy. No Luther, no American revolution. No individualism. No personal quiet times. No priesthood of the believers.

He promoted literacy, even among women, because for him, to be a Christian, one had to read the scriptures.

He was the first best-selling author in history.

He reinvented church services. He wore regular clothes and sang songs in the language of the people. If you go to a contemporary church service now, thank Luther for blazing the trail. He was also an accomplished musician, writing A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, among others.

I could go on and have in previous blogs (click here to read), but my point is this. Luther changed the world. And he did it as an ordinary little monk in a remote region of Germany. His life should have been spent in obscurity, but he was in the right place at the right time for God to use him. I’m fascinated by the question of how one gets in position to be used by God to change things. Studying Luther’s life has held many clues for me, therefore this biography makes it on my list of books of impact.

Books Of Impact – Fiction

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

I guess it is surprising that only one fiction book is on my list of books of impact. I love a story. I think they are among the greatest teaching tools known to man.

But I’ll be honest here…it took me years to read this book. It was first recommended to me over a decade ago. Ask anyone who’s read it and you are likely to get an over-the-top emotional gush of, “Oh my gosh,  it is best book ever, you’ve just got to read it, I cried, etc” I thought, “Can a book really be that good?” Plus, I’m not big into chick-lit. Historical romances? Puhlease…I’m too busy reading John Piper.

Then I read it. And it totally won me over. It is a fictional re-working of the story of Hosea, how God told him to marry and love a prostitute. Set in California in the 1800′s, it follows a young woman, sold into prostitution as a child, then redeemed by a man who marries her and loves her back to wholeness. It is a moving story of God’s grace and how the process of sanctification, healing from our wounds and the lies that would master us, is a lifelong process. This story was beautifully written, both heartbreaking yet ultimately joyful. A story like this gets inside you and doesn’t let go.

I was so moved after reading it that I taught on the Biblical themes of grace for a while with my Bible study group. It pointed me to more of God and a greater realization of how He loved and continues to love me. So now I’m in the camp of “Oh my gosh, this book is amazing, you just have to read it…etc.” This is one of those books that has a special place on my book shelves (a sure sign of a book of impact) as it feels like an old friend – this story has impacted me deeply.

Books Of Impact – Evangelism

Out of the Saltshaker by Rebecca Manley Pippert

This book is a classic on learning to share your Christian faith without it sounding all weird and awkward. Becky Pippert is an excellent communicator, visionary and teacher. The principles she shares are deeply Biblical and timeless, the style is readable and accessible and the stories are unforgettable. The content of this book was foundational for me in thinking about how to begin really great spiritually significant conversations with people about the most important things in life. This has been one of the great themes of my life and ministry ever since. Not being the same afterwards is mark of a book of impact. I think that Out of the Saltshaker is one of those classics that everyone who aspires to be influential for the kingdom of  God, leading others to know and love Him should read.

Books Of Impact – Disciplines

Hunger for God by John Piper

Phil. 3:19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

While in college I did an in-depth verse by verse Bible study of the book Philippians. (Shout out to Jeff and Beth F. and Rendy N. if you are reading:). It was life-changing for me in learning how to think critically about and interact with the scriptures. One of the verses that slammed in to my heart during that time was Phil. 3:19 which is written above. The phrase, “…their god is their stomach…” speaks to how one’s appetites and their satisfaction can become ultimate. Ever known someone whose god was something besides God? Since then, I’ve periodically referred back to this concept and the challenge of not being ruled by my stomach or my temper or my past or my emotions.

I’m just coming into (ahem) middle age and am taking stock of many things in my life. I am at the age where I’m seeing my friends reaping the consequences of 10-15 years of making poor decisions and worshipping their stomachs. I admit, it is terrifying. So I’m thinking about how to stir my affections for Jesus, to make Him more fully my God.

I recognize that an area of my life that needs strengthening and focus is how I battle my appetites. I’m coming to learn that self-control is a foundational trait for followers of God, and in our culture of indulgence, it is falling by the wayside. That is why I choose to read Hunger for God by John Piper.

This is a book about fasting that doesn’t teach you how to fast. No where does it discuss the practical how’s of fasting. Instead it is a Biblically based discussion on why we should fast (and not just from food) and how it changes us. It is not a book about our stomachs, but our hearts. It is about the importance of intentional self-denial and mastery over those things that would master us. It covers how fasting is more than just not eating, but conquering anything that we might be tempted to love more than Him. Discipline in our physical lives is a key to freedom in our spirits.

Even if you don’t read the whole book, the first chapter is one of the most profound, most paradigm shifting I’ve read in a long time. In it, Piper lays out why we need to conquer our flesh. His tone is tender and even affectionate for the reader. He writes not as a theologian but as a pastor. I’ve read more than my share of John Piper books over the years and I’ll be the first to admit, they aren’t always easy. Sometimes they are incredibly long, dry and overkill on minute points, often reading like text books. Sometimes they are so intent on being theologically correct that they neglect any practical applications.

This book is Piper at his best: first-rate scholarship tempered by a compassionate shepherd’s heart. It hit me at a time in my life when I needed not just a challenging read, but a challenge to love God with my body as well as my mind. It provided the theological grounding and the motivation to shift some practices in my life. It has brought about much fruit in my life that I can see is very important for my second half.  By combining the perfect topic with the right time in my life, this book has deeply impacted me.

Books Of Impact – My Two Favorites

There are two books that I point to often as being life transformational. I read them both while in college and both affected me in such a way that literally, the trajectory of my life shifted as a result.  Both are biographies, written by Dutchmen and placed in the middle of the 20th century. I’m sure my heart for Europe was fanned to flame by these books.

Howard Hendricks, famous seminary professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, says that the two things that will have the greatest impact on your life are the people you spend time with and the books you read. In my experience, he is exactly right. And biographies allow me to spend time with great people I would never otherwise meet.

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Hands down, this is my favorite book of all time. (The Bible is ina different category altogether.) Not because it is chipper and enjoyable. At times it is utterly heartbreaking and painful to read. It is the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her family in Holland during World War II. They were devout Christians who chose to hide Jews in their home. Ultimately, Corrie and her sister Betsie ended up in a concentration camp where she uttered the words, “…must tell people what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us Corrie, because we have been here.”  But through it all, God is ever present, loving and at work. The spiritual truths Corrie learned have been bouncing around in my life ever since and I can honestly say, I am not the same after reading this book. One of the greatest highlights of my time in Europe was visiting her house in Haarlem Holland and seeing where these amazing events took place. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew

This is the story of an ordinary man who just took the next step in his faith, simply trying to do what he felt God was leading Him to do. Before he knew it, he was smuggling Bibles to persecuted Christians behind the Iron Curtain in 50′s and 60′s. His story reads like a movie, filled with action and amazing God-moments. He learned to trust God in ways that I can’t even really imagine. My heart was moved by how his heart was moved by his suffering brothers and sisters in the faith. He actually centered his life around serving God, even when it wasn’t safe or logical. And oh, the stories God has blessed him with as a result! Like The Hiding Place, the spiritual truths in this book, wrapped up in a powerful story, dented my heart in a way I still haven’t recovered from.

Books of Impact

These particular topics are not my personal favorites, although as a science teacher, I do find the titles intriguing. I took this photo in the Piedmont College library one afternoon. I love the smell of books and could have spent hours just looking around.

Periodically I am asked about books : What am I reading now, what would I recommend, and the hardest of all… What’s your favorite? Asking me, “What’s your favorite book?” is like asking which child I love the most. As an avid, voracious and lifelong reader, I answer the same as any parent would. “I love them all! “

So maybe a better question is, “Which books have marked me, have had a significant and lasting impact upon me?”

So I wanted to spend a few weeks with y’all and discuss what I call Books Of Impact. I’m not writing simply about books I like, or current suggestions on what to read. These books that are so much more than that. These are some of the titles whose content and ideas have profoundly changed me. These are the books I treasure in my collection, revisit often, give as gifts to others and recommend highly. I hope you enjoy the coming entries and that you will share with me your thoughts and suggestions as to which books would make your list. Stay tuned…