Radical by David Platt

Awhile back, I started reading a little book titled Radical. I was just getting into it when Katelyn took an interest in it and I had to hide it from her. Then I forgot where I hid it. Greg recently found it "hiding" on a bookshelf (novel place to find a book, right?) and I picked up where I left off. This review is based on my hazy memory of the half I read at first, and the recent insights and convictions I've experienced in finishing it.

As a reminder: I don't often read nonfiction. It usually doesn't hold my interest. If I finish reading a work of nonfiction, it's usually for one of two reasons: it was short, or I thought it was fascinating. I finished Radical for both reasons. It's only about 200 pages, and yeah, I think that's short. But the main reason I stuck with it was that I found myself either agreeing with or convicted by Platt's statements. He points out several areas where he believes we get things wrong in American church culture; areas where our practices tend to ignore or contradict the teachings of the Bible. He does this using Scripture and stories of how real people live out the Bible in their real lives, both in America and around the world. He then proposes the "Radical Experiment," a year of living a life based on real faith rather than the pursuit of the American Dream.

I loved Platt's statements about our need to love and thirst for the truth of Scripture. I completely agreed with his explanation of why we should take the Gospel to those who have never heard. I was challenged and convicted by his call to make disciples and care for the poor.  I think that in our materialistic, cynical, and (quite honestly) lazy culture, this book could serve as a wake-up call to those who claim to follow Christ. Or, it could be a book that people read, or start reading, and say, "Yeah, what he says is fine, but I've heard it all before. I think I've read it in another book. Yawn." I've actually heard people say that about this book in particular. That makes me a little sad and a little frustrated, because there is good truth in this book and others like it, that might actually change our lives if we choose to live it out. So the question I was left with is: "Am I willing to make changes in my life based on what I've read in this book, or am I just going to say it was a worthwhile read, and leave it at that?" I would rather make those changes, because deep within me, beyond my laziness and cynicism, beats a heart that longs to show others the glory of God, no matter what it takes.

So, if you're just looking for a good read to chew on and evaluate on an intellectual level, I'm sure there are plenty of more academic books out there for you. But if you know in your heart that you're living a very surface-level Christian life and you want to discover some ways to go deeper and really live out your faith, pick up this little book, read it all the way through, and most importantly, do what God tells you to through it.  Shallow Christians make this world sick. Let's dare to get a little radical and take back our faith from the American Dream.

Goodbye, Chuck

Tonight one of my favorite shows on TV ended. It was a quirky, nerdy, sappy, and often cheesy little show called Chuck. Yes, I've been obsessing over it for the last few days. And yes, I cried (a lot!) when it was over. So why is it that TV shows, of all things, can do that to me when normal life stuff usually doesn't? I believe it is the power of a story. So let me tell you one.

About two years ago, thanks to the good folks at Netflix, Greg and I discovered Chuck. I'd heard about it and wanted to watch it but we don't watch much TV and I think it was on at a bad time for us. Anyway, for a month or two we actually got our money's worth of our Netflix membership. I wasn't sure what to think about the pilot, but after Chuck vs. the Helicopter, I was hooked. We would watch the four shows on the disc in two or three days, return it, and repeat the process a day or two later when we got the next disc. That's how we caught up on those two great first seasons. We'd laugh, I'd yell at the TV (it's what I do), and then we'd look at each other and say, "One more?" It was fun.

What's the appeal of a show like Chuck? Well, it's nerdy. And goofy. And kind of sweet, sometimes sexy, occasionally serious, but mostly silly. It's a show about a (seemingly) regular guy, a little down on his luck, who one day gets an email from his former college roommate and friend who turned on him, got him kicked out of Stanford, and stole his girl. When Chuck opens the email, he downloads the Intersect, a supercomputer full of government secrets encoded in subliminal messaging, into his brain. Just one of those things that could happen to anybody, right? Over the next five seasons, Chuck meets spies, saves the world in pretty much every episode, and tries to keep his "spy life" from endangering his "real life," all while chasing after superspy Sarah Walker, the girl of his dreams. There's spy spoofs, romantic angst, cool spy gadgets, and stupid nerd humor. And I loved it. Over five seasons, we saw brilliant writing, terrible writing, good acting, terrible acting, awesome bad guys, so-so bad guys, cool guest stars, and the wacky antics of the employees at the Buy More, Chuck's "cover job."

What I loved, and I think most fans of the show loved, was the heart of the show. Chuck is just a downright good guy, who loves his family and his friends and would literally do anything for him. And even though that gets him in trouble sometimes (okay, a lot. Actually, most of the time), it all works out in the end. Most of the time. A lot of crazy, unbelievable, stupid stuff happens in the course of every episode, but good prevails. That is the connection that takes a good show, a good story, and makes it great. We all know that in this world, good doesn't always win. Bad people do terrible things to good people, for stupid reasons like power, ambition, and greed. Sometimes even good people do dumb stuff that hurts others. But ultimately, we want good to win. We long for it. We need it. Why? Because even though this world is messed up, God is good. He wants us to know that He will ultimately save the day. Good will win the fight against evil. God will win the fight against the enemy. Good stories remind us of that simple truth, and that is why they can touch us in ways that real life sometimes can't.

If you haven't seen Chuck, go ahead and give it a try. Maybe you'll like it, and maybe you won't, and maybe you'll cry like I did when it was over. Even the good stories aren't perfect, but God's story is. If you haven't found that one yet, you have no idea what you're missing.

(One little note regarding content: Chuck is not exactly what I would call a family friendly show. There is often rather brutal hand-to-hand combat and other sorts of violence, as well as some pretty risque scenes and outfits in just about every episode. Standard stuff in TV these days, but I thought I'd offer fair warning.)

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

After reading Inheritance, Paolini's monolithic finale to his epic cycle by the same name (which I generally refer to as "those Eragon books"), I decided to review the entire series.

The books center around Eragon, a simple farm boy who chanced upon a dragon egg in the forest and went on to alter the course of the world. Throughout the course of the series Eragon grows in his abilities as a dragon rider and in his relationships, as he becomes more mature in his dealings with his dragon Saphira, his elf-friend Arya, his cousin Roran, and the leaders of the various people of Alagaeisa. Ultimately he must face and destroy the tyrannical and nearly invincible Galbatorix in order to free the land from his rule and attempt to restore the race of dragons, which the evil king almost completely destroyed.

Paolini's attention to detail is impressive. His mastery of a thesaurus is downright heroic. His dragons are delightful. His storytelling is brilliant, but ultimately his story was missing something. I hate to say it, but it's true: I was disappointed by the ending. Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe I just couldn't appreciate the vastness of what the author was trying to do with the story. Still, in my opinion, it got away from him. After I finished Brisingr, and while I waited for this widely anticipated final volume, I was concerned that he had bitten off more than he could chew, and set events into motion which he would not be able to satisfactorily resolve. And in my opinion, that is exactly what happened. When I finish an epic series like this one, I want to feel something. Honestly, I want to cry. When I finished Inheritance, I felt nothing. Not excited, pleased, satisfied, happy, heartbroken, or any of those things that a really good book (or movie, or TV show, or sometimes even commercial) can make me feel. That in itself made me a little sad.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the series. Remember, in the spirit of positivity I only review things I like on this blog. Paolini obviously put a lot of thought into developing the major races of Alagaesia, including their languages, cultures, histories, and people. And although there are those who say his work is largely derivative of the true masters (read: Tolkien), I actually was impressed with his creativity and ingenuity. Plus, I am very forgiving of anything involving dragons. I love dragons, and Eragon's Saphira is no exception. She is really a great dragon. There were several other nice touches throughout the series. I could get all caught up in the things I didn't like and probably bore everyone to death, but I'm not going to do that here. Instead, I'll say that the books are good but not great. I recommend them to die-hard fantasy fans but people who can take or leave fantasy would probably be better off leaving these books.