I’ve found them

It is a bit annoying…

In a recent survey, people where asked “If you were given the chance to have dinner with someone from the Old Testament who would you choose and why?”

Here are the the top 3 responses: [ My comments in square brackets ]

1. God (279 responses) [ What did you expect? ]
2. David (158 responses) [ Meh, understandable. Kind of a big deal. ]
3. Eve (126 responses) [ LOLZ! I wonder how many of the 126 responses where from men!? ]

And you?

Because of your strengths, you have no doubts about being linked in some way with everything in the universe. This includes all creation and all humankind. It’s very likely that you continually seek wisdom from people with whom you have intelligent conversations. You not only listen but also share your thoughts. In the process, you are likely to move beyond concrete facts. Your curiosity draws you to speculate — that is, reflect or wonder — about theories, ideas, or concepts. To keep your mind fresh, you frequently quiz individuals who are equally fascinated with the intangible and abstract aspects of life. Instinctively, you choose to associate with people whose philosophical perspective gives them both balance and courage in the face of adversity. Driven by your talents, you sense that everything in life is somehow interrelated and interdependent. This idea steels — that is, fortifies — you to calmly face most of life’s challenges and difficulties. By nature, you might be determined to do good for people and/or the environment. Perhaps you are puzzled by people who cause harm without realizing they are hurting themselves.

I’ve changed my mind.

I’ve just done my strength finder test. Here are results:

• Connectedness
• Harmony
• Responsibility
• Restorative
• Analytical

I’m not gunna lie, on first glance I’m not impressed…

On Wednesday I did a talk at Aston’s CU. Despite running over my time limit I think it went pretty well. During the talk I said I would write a blog post with various links to notes and books I used while researching the topic. The idea of this was because I couldn’t look at the whole of Job in one night, I’d point anyone who wants to in the direction of some good material if they wanted to look more at Job.

Books.

The Bible Book - Nick Page
I found the summary of Job in this commenatary of the Bible really helpful to get an overview of the poem of Job.

The Message of Job - David Atkinson
This was the main commentary on Job that I used. It was very thorough but also not to hardcore to mean you needed a doctorate in theology to understand.

Don’t Waste Your Life - John Piper
I was given this book by a good friend and it has proved to be inspirational. While it isn’t directly about Job, the general ideas that I spoke about where inspired by what Piper says in this book. It is a book that I think all Christians should read. It is a challenging book to read, and Piper does seem to repeat himself in places, but the overall message is good. If you don’t want to buy and don’t mind reading off a computer screen there is a PDF version available for free to download.

Websites.

Here are two webpages talking about how Martin Luther and how he explains the differences between faith and hope.

Faith and Hope

Faith vs Hope

The Orchard
Didn’t use this site during the talk, but you need to check it out!

Talks.

On Hope.
This talk is by Don Miller. Miller is a (in my opinion great) writing who has written many books including Blue Like Jazz and his latest book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. In this talk he address the Imago Dei church community in Portland talking speaking about hope. He addresses the empty comercial gospel sales pitch and the immediate fulfilment it suggests we get and how it is actaully hope that gets us through. Unfortunately you have to pay $3.99 for this talk, but is well worth it. Read everything by this guy.

Calvery Chapel series on Job
Calvery Chapel are a network of churches that have made a lot of their teaching online to be downloaded for free. There is a whole series for every book on the Bible including Job.

I hope that you find this useful. If the audio recording is good I may post that up too.

So I was browsing round the themes section of the site and found this new theme. Kinda nice. Eventually I will my own. But right now, I like this. Not to sure of the colours of the blocks yet but I can change them once I have found a palette I like. Which might be a while. But hey-ho.

I wanted to write something deep and meaningful, something full of hope.

But all I can think is “Man, I am tired.”