It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

As Christmas day approaches it's easy to get caught up in shopping, decorating, etc. It's also easy to forget about the true meaning behind Christmas. I know that I am just as guilty of staying busy all through the season as anybody else. I make a wish list, buy presents, decorate the tree, attend Christmas parties, and I start to focus on the material part of it. But presents and parties are what man has added to this day. The real meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have to realize that the gifts we give can never amount to the gift that Jesus already gave to us; eternal life with our creator, God, by offering His life. So, as the season progresses I encourage you to put down the presents, sit back and reflect upon what Jesus did for you and to read the account of his birth that you can find in the Bible.

Good Books

There are many sayings concerning books including "Don't judge a book by its cover.", "Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.", "A good book has no ending.", and "The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it." While these quotes tell us some about good books they don't help you know how to find one. Well, I know from experience that a good book is hard to find. There are millions of books. There are classics and new best sellers. But how do you know which book will make a good read? I know that I read books based on suggestions or reviews so I have decided to compile my own little list of favorites. I hope that you'll decide to pick one up, read it and enjoy it.

Classics:
A classic book is an older book that despite its age hasn't lost any of its meaning. Here are a few classics I recommend.
*The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Not only are these books filled with magic, mystery and adventure but they are backed with a Christian allegory telling of the struggles of a Christian with temptation and sin. Tolkien is also accredited with basically creating the whole Sci-Fi genre.
*Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
*Call of the Wild by Jack London
*The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Modern Greats:
A modern great is a book that I believe will one day be a classic but is too recent to be.
*The Circle Series (Green, Black, Red, White) by Ted Dekker. The Circle series about a young man named Thomas. You follow Thomas from our planet to "Other Earth" and back. It's a tale of love and forgiveness that is filled with action and power. You could begin the series as I did and read the books in the order they were written in (Black, Red, White, Green) or you could start with book Zero and read the books in the order the author now intends them to be read in (Green, Black, Red, White). You decide because these books truly do form a circle.
*The Oath by Frank E. Peretti
*The Noticer by Andy Andrews
*A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

Miscellaneous:
Any other good books I could think of.
*The Paradise Novels (Showdown, Saint, Sinner) by Ted Dekker
*This Present Darkness by Frank E. Peretti
*The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
*Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
*Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
*Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
*The Phantom Stallion series (24 books) by Terri Farley
*The Summer Hill Secrets series by Beverly Lewis
*The Left Behind series by Tim LaHay and Jerry B. Jenkins