After almost seven months without a new post, I have decided that the Tim-Weston.com blog will go on an indefinite hiatus. The blog will be archived at the current address here for historical purposes.
On July 17, Tim-Weston.com will no longer redirect to this blog. Instead, it will redirect to my current blog, The Daily Mickey.
Thanks very much for reading throughout the years,
Tim
While at Creation Festival this summer, I picked up Bob Lenz’s book Grace: For Those Who Think They Don’t Measure Up, and, after catching up with other books ahead of it in my reading queue, I finally got around to reading it.
At 227 pages, Grace is a fairly quick read, but it contains lots of great information about God’s wonderful gift of grace. The most important concept of the entire book is that grace is a gift, not a paycheck. Grace, unlike a paycheck, is not earned through works; instead, it is given to us at no personal expense.
Paul’s Letter to the Romans contains some good passages about grace:
21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Another thing that jumped out at me in this books are two acronyms: PRIDE and GRACE. PRIDE stands for People Relying In Doing Enough, while GRACE stands for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. These are excellent, easy to remember reminders of how grace is a gift and not a paycheck.
If you’re just starting your walk with Christ, or if you’re thinking about becoming a Christian, I highly recommend you read this book, as it does a superb job discussing a topic at the foundation of the Christian faith.
I was checking out my site’s admin panel today to see if any plugins had updates and I realized it has been quite some time since my last post. Here’s a summary of what I’ve been up to.
– Passed the baton to another volunteer to lead my church’s youth ministry. I’m still involved with the ministry, but I’m thinking about exploring some other options.
– Participated in a 40 Days of Community small group at my church.
– Traveled to a few places (old and new), most importantly Walt Disney World with my family.
– Helped out at my church’s second annual Halloween Safe Stop where we passed out bags of candy to 400 kids.
– Posted like crazy on Twitter.
– Spent time dreaming about the future.
That’s about it. I’ll see what I can do about posting more often, but I won’t make any promises.
While traveling a couple weekends ago, I came across a small, locally-owned bookstore. I decided to stop in to see what the place was like, as such stores usually offer books that big-box stores don’t (plus, their employees are typically very well read and make wonderful suggestions).
Upon entering the store, the first display I saw was for Michael Gates Gill’s How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else. For some reason, the book really caught my attention; thinking back, I’m not entirely sure why, but I’m guessing it was a combination of the title and the display. I picked up a copy, skimmed the back cover and decided this was the book for me, so I headed to the cashier (I try to limit myself to one book per trip to a bookstore, because I already have a stack of over a dozen books I have to read).
Two days later I started reading and three days after that I’d finished the memoir. I don’t often finish books so quickly because I have lots of other things going on, but I found myself picking up the book every free minute I had. Most mornings I usually watch EPSN, but for three days I opted to skip the latest sports news so I could continue with the amazing memoir.
I was truly fascinated by the author’s re-telling of his firing from one of the United States’ most prestigious advertising firms to taking a job as a Starbucks Partner (their name for employees) in Manhattan, suddenly finding himself in the minority. Through the process, Gill learns what it means to truly live well and respect others.
If you’re at all interested in non-fiction, particularly memoirs, you should add this book to your wish list. The book is an amazingly quick read and I have a feeling I’ll find myself going back to this book anytime I need a dose of reality.
At a youth workers conference earlier this year, I picked up a number of books that were on sale for only a few dollars. I recently finished one of those books, Matthew Paul Turner’s Provocative Faith.
The book is a fairly quick read (less than 200 pages) and turned out to be pretty decent. As usual, I took several notes while reading; here are some of the things that stood out to me.
If you’re at all interested in Christian non-fiction, this book is worth a read. In fact, you can pick up my copy on PaperBackSwap.
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