Our dear friends Justin ‘Daddy’ and Erin Narducci recently got word that they are going to be parents again for the second time in a year. This time, it is via adoption from Ethiopia. I hope you will take the time to read a little more about their hearts and this process on their blog.

Congrats to you two! I may have known you back when you were ‘only’ students, but you teach me a little about life everytime I hear from you.

I finished reading The Golden Compass last week, and with my reading for school about done for this semester, I’m moving on to The Subtle Knife. (The Kindle version is only $3.19 — just another reason to yearn for a Kindle!)

Most of the critique I’ve heard of The Golden Compass states that it is the series that is overtly anti-Christian, and not just this book. So, I’m hoping to blaze through The Subtle Knife and then move on to The Amber Spyglass to offer some thoughts on the whole series before or soon after the movie is released.

As for my reading of The Golden Compass, I’m not going to take the time to go into detail. From talking to JJ, it sounds as if the movie was faithful to the book for the most part in terms of the plot and issues it raises. JJ has done two thoughtful and worthwhile posts on it — A Review and Theological Thoughts — so take a look at those.

I’ve spent most of my time in the car the last few weeks listening my way through an Audible version of The Starfish and the Spider, by Ori Brafman & Rod Beckstrom. From my experience, I have found that audio books are a worthwhile replacement for print books, but this is one that I think my audio experience was inadequate because there are a number of ideas I would want to revisit and dwell on.

The premise of the book is that there are two types of organizations represented by starfish or spiders. Though both creatures might be similar in shape, they are significantly different. Spiders, and thus spider organizations, are centralized in their command structure. All direction radiates from the head in the center. Starfish are decentralized, but are comprised of five legs that operate seemingly independent of each other.

Brafman and Beckstrom write from the perspective of extolling the virtures of a decentralized organization, and as they describe it, I see many benefits as well. Ultimately, however, they end up emphasizing a hybrid form that contains elements both of centralization and decentralization. With a church plant sitting on my horizon and steadily drawing closer, there is much in this book that I want to revisit in the process of shaping how the church might function. And so, for the first time, a book that arrived in my library in audio form will need to be added in print as well. (Ahem…Christmas idea!)

As a bibliophile and technophile, I’m pretty intrugued with the idea of Amazon’s new Kindle e-reader. I’ve never been that interested in e-readers before but this one seems to capture some features that would make it more appealing — wireless shopping and downloading from anywhere, and reduced pricing on books where you are paying only for content and not packaging.

I doubt I’m going to be able to find $400 to carve out of the family budget anytime soon for one of these, but it’s a product I’ll be keeping my eye on as it moves into it’s second or third generation.

Two years ago, I sat in a session by Joe Myers at an Off the Map event. He shared some about his upcoming book Organic Community, which, at the time, was due to be released within 4-6 months. That turned into 18 months and the book was finally released this past spring. I ordered a copy, but it sat with the 60 or so other unread books on my bookshelf…up until a few weeks ago. Having now read it, I can say it has been worth the wait.

The primary thesis that Joe advocates is that genuine community does not from master planning, but organic order. Master planning falls short in that it tends to have every thing figured out in advance, and then tries to program everything out so that the desired results come about. Organic order leads to organic community that is “not a product, not an end result. Organic community — belonging — is a process, a conversation, a jazz piece, an elegant dance. It is not the product of community that we are looking for. It is the process of belonging that we long for.” (pg 125) Through a series of chapters, each related to a different concept, Joe contrasts how master planning vs. organic order might look.

In one sense, it is a very easy read. The writing style is easy to follow and the concepts are explained pretty well. On the other hand, it is a book that should be given some time to digest. Though it could pretty easily be read in a few short hours, it shouldn’t be. Ideally, this book should be read with others, whether in an established community, or in order to dream about one. Though everything Joes says might not be adapted or agreed with, it can certainly stimulate some worthwhile discussion.

I picked up a copy of The Golden Compass this week and I started reading it last night. I’m very enamored with the idea of reading children’s books of this type right now — maybe that’s because they capture the imagination better then anything else.

I probably don’t really have time to read it right now, but I want to read it in case I actually get a chance to see the movie next month. There’s also a lot of chatter against these books in Christian circles right now. I have some opinions that will likely be forthcoming about all that, but I figured I wanted to have actually engaged with at least the first book before commenting on it all.

Tomorrow morning, my friend Chris Marlow is headed to Africa with three others from his church. I’m jealous…but I’m still very much going to pray for him as I have many other friends who have been marked by their own journeys to this southern continent.

As he is able, Chris will be giving updates from his trip at his blog and offering some things to pray for. If you are the praying type, please pray for Chris and the others as they travel, as well as for his wife and their precious girls.