Tom Branch - Roads of Faith

A new year is here and I am sick. I tend to get sick the same time every year around mid December to early January. And it snuck up on me again. When I am sick I get very ritualistic and things have to be done at certain times in certain order etc. I get super picky and I do it without giving it any thought whatsoever.

What are my resolutions? Well they are all God centered or they need to be. So I hope I do not forget that.

Continue the battle for sexual purity
Learn death to self in a godly fashion
Become a better steward and managing my finances
Work in my health issues such as weight, stress, and sleep apnea
Bring someone in for finances and health for accountability and support

What the best thing about all of these is that it's all a part of one big thing, which is putting self to death. This can only be done back in my walk with Christ and journeying towards that. Then I can see that all of these request are linked to selfishness and pride so once that is worked on all the others issues upon that foundation will start to be effected at the same time.

Now I did a count and I read 13 books last year. One I already started on the previous year but had half of it read very beginning of this last year so I counted it with 2005.

Purpose Driven life, Phil Warren. Not a bad lil book. I had just started going to Sojourn and this book helped give me a kick off and started to see things in a different way. Not a bad beginners book. I had found no one else to discuss this book with was the only downside.

Every Man's battle, Steve Arterbun. This book gets a bad review from me. He did start off real well and was talking to every man, then halfway through it he only talked to the married men and left out the ones that struggle as hard if not more while they were single. It is a waste of money in my opinion. this was the first book I read in battling for sexual purity.

48 days to the work you love, Dan Miller. Not to bad it had some good points and a few very good laughs. But it did not give a clear outlined plan to find a new job in that amount of time. This is a good book if you read it with a few people to get a good idea and discuss what works and does not. Alas the same thing I read it alone and no one to discuss. It was a good godly centered way of viewing work ethics and jobs.

The Naked Christian, Craig Borlase. This was the first book I bought from relevant.com. He really put a healthy up front in your face view of how we should be as Christians and become authentic and real. That was the big push authentic Christianity.

Boy Meets Girl, Joshua Harris. This was the first book I got of his. This was a very good book and put a nice view on christian dating and courtship. It had some great stories in there but really focused in on the godly way of doing it. It really changed the way I looked at dating and courtship. Which was a very loose term for me until this book. I do highly recommend.

Growing your faith, Jerry Bridges. This was a phenomenal book. I was given this book by the pastor during my first partnership meeting. I was asked to read this and discuss with my accountability partner. This really did help me get a better understanding into my faith and answered a few questions. I did get to read with and discuss this book so that helped very much alot. It was a simple read yet so profound it took me days to get past a page or two as it was so much. This was a very enlightening book.

Out of the depths of sexual sin, Steve Gallagher. This at first i thought was another book about sexual sins and stuff like that. It was but it was more of a biography from Steve Gallagher where he started off in California where sexual sin dominated his life. He tells of his journey from then until now where he leads Pure Life Ministries to help battle sexual addicted men break the cycle. It shows more of how his ministry got started and how he ended up here in Kentucky just south of Cincinnati.

At the alter of sexual idolatry, Steve Gallagher. This had to be the most profound book I read last year. This took it from a "sin" where I thought it was just an issue of lust to something much deeper. Lust is at the surface but this one really backed everything up with biblical principles. It has verses every other paragraph almost. And he came to help me understand that it is deeply rooted in pride. Until this book I was never convicted of Pride being one of my sins. After this my journey really took on a new path with the help of a few other circumstances. But this book is to be given much credit. I highly recommend this one.

The cross centered life, C.J. Mahaney. This was a great short read. What I was going through at the time I was not able to grasp or let soak in most of it but it did get me known of Horatius Bonar a great hymnist and then listening to not only christian music but God Centered music to focus in on the cross. I would like to go back through this one. I will get to hear more from Mahaney in May at the New attitude conference.

Come Thirsty, Max Lucado. This is another book I would not recommend as it was ok I guess. It had a few good points but the point was to come thirsty from Christ, yet it left me parched. Not even thirsty. I think it was too watered down in my opinion. Now he has had some other goodies but I think I happened to get a dud.

Not even a hint, Joshua Harris. This book was recently renamed but is still a good book. This time he tackles lust and dealing with it in a christian manner. It is not a bad book. It was not as good as the one from Gallagher. It is easy to understand and is written in a way that most people can relate to it. This one does give you more of an idea of actual things to do while you battle and bringing others in. This does give one major point to bring others in for accountability.

Startling Beauty, Heather Gemmen. This I first heard of from a podcast For Faith and Family. This is her journey from being raped and how it effected others around her and her family. This was a very easy read as it read like her talking to you in person. This really showed how her faith was effected and was even rebuilt and how God can restore people. This was a good one to read if you love a good real life story. I do recommend this book.

There was one more but I loaned it out and forgot the title. I think it was how good is good enough. It was a small "life changing" books. Once again it was a quick read. It makes a great gift as it can give you a thought or two.

you can learn a lot by what a person reads. I want to read more. In fact Television and movies have been down for me. I of course read more of the bible this year than any other year. I do have nearly a 14th book read and have 2-3 I started and another 7 I have but have yet to read. So that's about another 10 books in line but I think Narnia will come in and be read before those I think. I can't get Narnia out of my head after watching the Silver Chair.

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