The Important Two

The two most important influential things in your life is based off what you read and who you know. This is very true for the most important thing in your life being your walk with God. What you read about Him and the type of people that play a part in your walk with Him. It is also true for every circumstance in your life. The things you read will impact your knowledge and wisdom in an either positive or negative way. The people you know will help or hinder the situations in your life. They will also open up many doors of connections along this thing we call life. God puts people into your path not just for this season but also to help you find the next. It is also important not to necessarily believe everything you read and/or listen to all the advice you hear. This is where discernment is mandatory. This is where your relationship with Jesus comes into play. He will always speak to you, we just have to be in tune with the way He is speaking.

Since 2011 is about to be a wrap, I want to share with you a couple books I've read and some of my personal opinions about them. Some you might want to check out...

Good To Great by Jim Collins - You can apply many of these business truths to biblical aspects of leadership. He challenges the reader to not settle for good things but to remove good things for greater things.
Onward by Howard Schultz - This was one of my personal favorites because I am intrigued by minds like this. Again, he had many concepts of leadership that can and should be applied to ministry.
Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick - A great challenge of faith to stop living life in mediocrity and not only asking God to move in impossible ways but expecting Him to.
Big God by Britt Merrick - He's not the best writer but what he has experienced in life and how he has applied the truth of God to his life is admirable. A great challenge to live in faith using the examples of faith in Hebrews 11.
Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley - A great and challenging book for developing leaders in our students. A must read!
Crazy Love by Francis Chan - I liked this book but I would not recommend it for a new believer. This is a book to challenge those who claim to walk in God's love. Are we really doing it right? Do we really love Jesus? I understand and love Chan's heart in this book but it takes 87 pages to first talk about grace. You can't talk about God's love without talking about God's grace.
Dying To Live by Clayton King - This was the best book I read this year about my personal relationship with God. Very challenging and another must read!
Love Wins by Rob Bell - I do not agree with this book but it's important to read books like this because they force you to really see what God actually wrote. Read it for yourself before you form an opinion but then read Erasing Hell by Francis Chan. Erasing Hell was one of the best books I've read about what the Bible actually says about topics such as Heaven and Hell.

2012 to-read list...
Radical by David Platt
A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo
Forgotten God by Francis Chan
The Passion Of Jesus Christ by John Piper
Greater by Steven Furtick
Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Torn by Jud Wilhite
Gospel by J.D. Greear