In case I haven’t mentioned before, I love reading fiction books, specially christian fiction books. I think they provide excellent tools for the writer to teach us something and to make our minds “travel” to a new world created by their imagination.

Jesus Himself used those tools when He told amazing truths about God and the Kingdom of Heavens through fictional stories (also known as “parables”).

Recently I’ve read a delightful book that I wanted to share about with you. It’s Stardust, by Carla Stewart.

I’ve just finished reading the book Untitled: Thoughts on the Creative Process by Blaine Hogan, and I’d like to share a few thoughts about it with you.

First, let me talk about the intriguing title. “Untitled”, as Blaine explains in the book, is usually the default name of a new file in most Word Processors. So when you create a new, blank file, it is called “Untitled”.

He talks about the challenge of the blank page, and how the creative needs to fill it with something beautiful and meaningful.

The book is divided into four parts: the work; the inside out; failure, fear and making mistakes; and worth it. He focuses on different aspects of the creative process in each part.

In the first part, for example, he explains why he thinks that having ideas are not what matters. What really matters is how you execute your ideas.

From the first time I saw the book The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, I knew that God had something to tell me in there (I have already mentioned in a previous post how God led me to buy this book). Actually, He had several messages for me there.

This book doesn’t attempt to address the “whole Gospel”. It doesn’t cover the need of salvation, the coming of Jesus and his death, ressurection, etc. But it does cover what it claims to be the “hole” in our Gospel: the general lack of action from the Church towards those in need, specifically those living in extreme poverty.

In the first part of the book Stearns tells us how he became the CEO of World Vision. He was the CEO of a secular company and he had a very comfortable financial situation. Well, maybe more than comfortable. Than he was challenged by God to accept a job that would bring a considerable change in his life. The job of CEO of World Vision represented a decrease in 75% of his salary. Yet, he felt God was calling him to do it.

That was my favorite part. At that time, when I was reading the book, I was praying to God about my own job, and I was almost certain that He wanted me to quit. So reading Stearns’s own account, his doubts and fears, the financial change that accepting the challenge would bring, they all made me identify with his story.

At the end of last year, a missionary and singer called Helen Berhane came to Brazil for a series of events where she would share her life story and testimony. I have never heard of her before, but I am sure I will never forget about her.

She came to Brazil through Portas Abertas, a local representative of Open Doors, a christian organization that serves persecuted christians worldwide.

I wasn’t able to attend any of the events, but I was able to watch an interview that she gave at a TV show. It was brief, but when I heard her saying that she was imprisoned for almost three years in a container (like those shipping containers) and was submitted to harsh beatings and torture for refusing to deny her christian faith, I had to look for more information about her. I wanted to know her story.

So I found about the biographical book that she had written entitled “Song of the Nightingale“, and luckily it was available for Kindle, so I bought it and started reading it.

I couldn’t put it down…

Have you ever seen a book title and subtitle and wished for a moment that that book was written about you, that it depicted your life in one single line?

That’s what I felt when I first saw the title of this book: “The Unlikely Missionary: From Pew-Warmer to Poverty-Fighter” by Dan King (from BibleDude.net).

I had this strong feeling that I wanted to be that person that changed from being a “pew-warmer” to becoming a “poverty-fighter”.

As some of you know, I’ve recently quit my job and I am now finding my new path in life (career-wise speaking). And it seems that it will have something to do with helping people, fighting poverty and/or missions. Maybe that’s why that book title spoke so deeply to me. So I prayed about it, of course, and as soon as the book was released I bought it.

I love to watch a lot of sports, including the traditional american leagues (NBA, NFL and MLB), but living in Brazil, sometimes it is not so easy to follow those championships. Just a few of these games are aired here.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto/Kameleon007

I watched a few of the MLB final games of this season, and I was moved by the celebration the Texas Rangers players did using soda drinks instead of Champagne when they won the 2010 American League championship. The brazilian narrators explained that the change in the traditional celebration was out of respect to Josh Hamilton, who was a recovering drug and alcohol addict.

I’ve got to tell you, it was moving. The later San Francisco Giants World Series victory celebration was pale next to this one.

Then I remembered that I had bought Josh Hamilton’s biography entitled “Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back” a couple of years before, and I had forgotten about it. By then, I really didn’t really know who he was. I saw the book on a bookstore, checked the backcover information, and since I love to read biographies, this one sounded interesting, so I bought it.