Admit What?!

I cried at the end of a book. Yeah. Me. I've never done that. I've come close, but never actually done it. Until last night. And I wouldn't have admitted it except for the cool thought I got out of it.

So, to back up. This was the second time I've read this book. Pretty sure the first time, nearly a year ago, was one of those 'came-close-to-tears'.

For those who were wondering, the book is actually two books, but the second isn't really a sequel, it's more like a continuation. Yeah, the first one leaves you like, in the middle of a sentence. They're Black Out, and All Clear by Connie Willis. They're Sci-fi/Time Travel books that explore the power and purpose of a single variable in a situation. They're excellent, although I must warn that there is some language. Also, they're a little hard to follow if you haven't read any of her works before. That is because as with most time travel books, the author came up with her own system as to how time travel would work. And, it's never exactly explained precisely. You kind of have to pick up on it as you go. To Say Nothing of the Dog may possibly be better to start with. Her non-time travel book, Bellwether is also fascinating by the way...It's about fads...or influence...or variables...or all of the above.

Anyway...

I cried when I finished All Clear. It was just so, so...beautiful.

So, I was sitting there crying, and I thought..."Now wait a minute, I'm here crying over something beautiful in a Sci-fi book, but I've never cried over the beauty of the cross when I read it?"

Something seemed out of whack there, so, I followed that train of thought for a few minutes. And then it hit me...

It's OK not to have been super emotional about the cross. Maybe it'd be nice once in while, and maybe that time will come. It's OK to have been super emotional about a work of fiction that was beautiful.

Why?

Because the Sci-fi will never change my life, and the Bible has, and will, and does, and that is the most beautiful thing of all.

Which is not to say that no other book has changed my life. There have been a select few that have. (Works of fiction, so far, have not been among them)

God's Smuggler, by Brother Andrew, began a change in my outlook of mission, ministry, persecution, and suffering. There were several books I read right afterwards that solidified that change. If I Perish by Esther Kim, Of Whom the World was not Worthy, by Marie Chapian, Brother Andrew's sequels, or updates, The Calling, and The Light Force, also, Against the Tide, by Angus Kinnear.

Andrew Murray's School of Prayer, obviously the title indicates the area of change. I also read a biography of Hudson Taylor and John Hyde, or, Praying Hyde, which, again, reinforced the change. Also, I have in my possession a biography of George Mueller, which has influenced me greatly in regards to faith and prayer.

Radical, by David Platt, is a book I would include in the life-changer list, but not exactly because it began a change than that it reinforced and directed a change.

But, in spite of that, none of these books have the power to change every aspect of my life. Only God, through His Son, and His Word, the Bible, have that power.

So, obviously, the next thing for you to do would be to sit down, read the Bible, and then go read all the books I just listed, including the Black Out, and All Clear, which won't change your life, but might make you cry, and it might give you a break from all the hefty ones I just listed, (some of which aren't that hefty.)

Cheers!