Endear Like a Champion!

I'm doing a little early recruiting.

Book reports

The Peacemaker, by Ken Sande
When I picked this book up I thought it would be more about arbitration and mediation with a Christian twist (based entirely on the prohibition against taking other Christians to court in I Cor. 6:1-8). While that passage is referenced a few times in the book, its scope is much more broad than that. Sande has a lot of good points about the inability of courts to address underlying problems in disputes and the damage this can cause in relationships among believers, but I really like the book's positive focus on what the church can, and should, do about it. He encourages churches to take an active role in maintaining healthy relationships within the church by overseeing conflict resolution and reconciliation. Most notable about this book is that it is not really about "legal" disputes. It is about relationships and ALL the conflicts that go with them, whether it's the breakdown of a contract, of a marriage, or kids fighting over the front seat of the car. It was challenging to me on a personal level because it pointed out the positive effects of conflict--greater understanding of and interaction with fellow-believers, and growth from the ability to reach God-honoring solutions. I don't like conflict and tend to deny it, run from it, or ignore it, and that is just as unhealthy to a relationship as belligerence. This book gets lots of stars on a scale of lots of stars.

Humility: True Greatness, by C.J. Mahaney
This book reminded me of one of those little coffee-table-type inspirational books you sometimes see at the checkout. I don't mean that in a disparaging way. It has good substance, even if it is a little repetitive and sometimes reads like an annotated bibliography. If you need a quick reminder and refocus on your exact position with reference to God (and who are we kidding, don't we all?), this book is a good choice. Watch out for some overt Calvinism, if that sort of thing bothers you. A respectable number of stars out of lots of stars.

Books for fun

Well, it's officially summer for most of us student-types, so that means it's reading-things-other-than-textbooks season. Blackstone has sent me what looks like a fantastic set of additions to my library, there are some other new books on my shelves waiting to be explored, and of course there are some old friends there who need to be revisited. Books in the first category:

• Confessions, by A. Augustine
• Always Ready, by Greg L. Bahnsen
• Coercing Virtue, by Robert Bork
• Natural Law for Lawyers, by J. Budziszewski
• Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton
• America's Christian History, by Gary DeMar
• Architects of the Culture of Death, by Donald DeMarco & Benjamin Wiker
• The Cruelty of Heresy, by C. Fitzsimons Allison
• No Other God, by John Frame
• The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis
• Humility: True Greatness, by C.J. Mahaney
• The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, by Edwin Meese III
• Christ and Culture, by H. Richard Neibuhr
• When I Don't Desire God, by John Piper
• The Peacemaker, by Ken Sande
• Idols for Destruction, by Herbert Scholssberg,
• The Homosexual Agenda, by Alan Sears and Craig Osten
• ACLU vs. America, by Alan Sears and Craig Osten
• Sir William Blackstone & the Common Law, by Robert Stacey
• The Cube and the Cathedral, by George Weigel
• Vindicating the Founders, by Tom West

Books in the second category:

• One Hundred Years of Solitude (which my roommate just gave me--can't wait!)
• Huckleberry Finn (which I am ashamed to say I have never read)
• Understanding the Times

A FEW books in the third category:

• To Kill a Mockingbird (just saw the movie at DPAC and really need to reread it)
• Wuthering Heights (it's just been a while)
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Cry, the Beloved Country
• something by Jane Austin

So what are you guys reading?

Chieftains pictures

For you who are interested, they finally have a few pictures up on the DPAC website from the NDSOrchestra/Chieftains concert. I don't think I'm in any of the ones from Carnegie Hall, but I was there, I promise.

Edit: Oh wait, I'm in some of the rehearsal pics from Carnegie Hall. See, told you I was there.

More sniping at cnn.com

Note to CNN: Polygamy is having more than one wife. Polyandry is having more than one husband. They are not the same, whatever any statute may be titled and however it might be applied. Check your Greek and Latin, folks.

More Kent

Here's Baby Kent in all his glory. Not bad, if I may say so myself. If he's lucky, he'll take after his aunt. ;-)

First pictures of Kent

This is what is known in socioeconomics as a nuclear family unit.

This is what is known in family law as a potentially good situation.

New Phillips

Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law for successfully creating another Phillips to populate the world. Kent Alan was born this afternoon about 3:00, at 20 1/2 inches and 7lbs., 14 oz. Pictures to follow.