This week at the Christian Book Club we will be finishing The Numbers of Hope. Our reading and discussion will focus on chapters 10 through 12 and the daily devotional at the end of the book. I think this will be enjoyable reading for you. Max does a good job of talking about Heaven and Hell. He also talks about living with the promise of John 3:16. I look forward to your comments as always.

If you don’t have C.S. Lewis “The Weight of Glory” yet, make sure you order it soon. We will start reading it July 1st. I love Lewis and I think you will enjoy these “sermons” that he delivered during World War II.

The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses By C.S. Lewis

I will be praying for all of you and hope that you are enjoying the Christian Book Club Online. I was just given a copy of a book called The Shack. It looks like an interesting book. I checked out the reviews and people seem to love it or hate it. I will probably be adding it to a future book club. Anyone with any insight on the book?

This month at Christian Book Club we will be reading Max Lucado’s 3:16 The Numbers of Hope. I always enjoy reading Max Lucado. His writing style flows in a way that makes reading the book very enjoyable. He is an amazing storyteller. There is so much power in story. Here is how we will read the book:

• Week 1 - Chapters 1 - 3
• Week 2 - Chapters 4 - 6
• Week 3 - Chapters 7 - 9
• Week 4 - Chapters 10 - 12

I would also suggest reading the 40 day devotional that begins on page 135. I know that there are only 30 days in June but we could discuss the first 30 days and I think we will enjoy the extra discussion. As always I look forward to reading your comments. Your insight really adds to reading the book.

A Personal Note

I am sorry I didn’t post sooner. At the church I pastor we had one of our members get hit by a car while she was running on Thursday morning and she went to be with Jesus. Her name was Dawn. She was really quite an amazing woman. She had a very difficult past, drugs and alcohol and a lot of personal tragedy. Five years ago she gave her life to Jesus and she had a huge impact on people. She was an amazing example of what it means to be “Born Again”. I have been ministering to her friends and family and hearing about the impact she has had on them. I had just finished reading Your God is Too Safe when I got the phone call Thursday morning.All I could think about was the C.S. Lewis scene that Buchanan had talked about at the end of the book. Where the children are with Aslan and they find out that they had been in a train wreck and that they had died and were going to stay with Aslan. This was the quote that really stuck with me.

“All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever and ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Dawn is beginning Chapter One of the Great Story. She will be missed but I am glad that she is with Jesus in the for ever story.

Week four in the Christian Book Club brings us to Book 4 Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity.

Lewis tries to explain some basic theology in this book. How do you think he did? Was he able to express fairly complex ideas in a way that was understandable?

After reading Mere Christianity do you think it would be a book you would recommend to someone who had questions about Jesus and Christianity? Why or why not?

I enjoy the parable he borrows from George MacDonald on page 205. “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself”. What do you think of this parable?

I look forward to your comments. Don’t forget to get next month’s book “Prince Caspian”. It’s another Lewis book but I thought it would be fun for us to read it before the movie comes out May 16, 2008. If you don;t have a copy of “Prince Caspian” you can order it at the Christian Book Club Books page.

At the end of each Christian Book Club I would ask you to consider donating a cup of Virtual Coffee to help keep the site up and running. It will cost you $5.00 (five dollars) and you can use a credit card or PayPal account. Pray about it and if you feel like you should just click on the coffee cup at the end of this post or on the home page. If you would like to contribute a larger amount there is a place to do that at the bottom right of the home page. Thank you!

Would you consider buying a cup of virtual coffee to help keep the Christian Book Club running?