Six Impactful Books I Read in 2017

Reading actual books is one of the habits found among the successful. Because reading and thinking go hand in hand. 

Reading is key to becoming the very best version of yourself. It fills your mind and shapes your character like nothing else can. 

Too many sit on the couch, and binge on Netflix, rather than turn off the glass box and get after it instead. 

“The man who does not read good books,” Mark Twain said, “has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” 

I don’t want these words to characterize my life and I know you don’t either. For that reason, I’d love nothing more than to share the books that impacted me most this year with you here. 

What follows are those books that challenged my mind, and encouraged my heart most. Books that helped me grow, learn and develop more and more into the man I’d like to be. 

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Wilink and Leif Babin - It’s easy to say a book changed your life. You hear it all the time and may have even uttered it once or twice yourself. It is almost never the truth, but when that rare occasion comes it is worth taking note. I did that by sharing 21 Things I Learned From Reading Extreme Ownership earlier this year. 

Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron - “The mindset of a champion,” Bergeron says, “is not some innate character trait that you have or don’t have based on DNA, fate or sheer dumb luck.” This book is about building character and embracing the process that’ll get you to the top. It is an approach you can deploy in every area of your life. One that will transform you if you let it.     
 
Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon - “Art,” Pablo Picasso said, “is theft.” These words form the theses for Austin Kleon’s classic flip book on the creative’s journey. Everything the artist creates is a mash-up of everything they’ve experienced. In short, “there is nothing new under the sun.” This small book is about answering the questions every creative asks themselves. In finding a path forward you'll soon realize you have all the permission you need to do great things. 

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World by D.A. Carson - Our community group is walking through the Gospel of Matthew. We are taking our time and working through the text a verse at a time. The chief aim is to move beyond “quiet times” and have God’s Word change us. D.A. Carson’s work on Matthew 5-10 has been a tremendous help in digging deeper. 

The Story of Reality by Greg Koukl - Every worldview is an attempt to make sense of the world. Yet, not every worldview deals with the way the world actually is. In The Story of Reality, Greg Koukl sets forth how Christianity answers fundamental questions about life, death, evil and why we are here. He provides a concise and winsome encapsulation of the Christian worldview. One that I trust you'll find a helpful and compelling companion on your journey to find and know the truth. 

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney - “Ours is an undisciplined age.” V. Raymond Edman said, “The old disciplines are breaking down…Above all, the discipline of divine grace is derided as legalism or is entirely unknown to a generation that is largely illiterate in the Scriptures. We need the rugged strength of Christian character that can come only from discipline.” Penned atop page one of Donald Whitney’s modern classic are the above words. They serve as far more than a primer to the Spiritual Disciplines, but a call to modern man. A call to something bigger, deeper, and greater. A call away from the entangling enticements of our day and back to the life and character that are only achieved through discipline. 

Honorable Mention  

The Way of the Writer by Charles Johnson

Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley

Romans 1-7 For You and Romans 8-16 For You by Timothy Keller 

The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller

Who's Responsible For Your Health?

Your health is your responsibility. It’s not mine, your neighbor’s or the government's. 

It is 100% yours. 

You are responsible for it. 

Don’t shrug off that responsibility or give it away. 

Own it. 

After all, you’re the one who has to live with it day in and day out. 

The sooner you accept this, the sooner you can start making the changes necessary to ensure that you’re in the best possible shape. 

Before you get to the changes in diet, exercise, and routine, you’ve got to tackle this change of mindset. 

As long as you think your health is someone else’s responsibility you’ll never grow or improve. In short, you’ll be stuck with the same health issues you’ve always had. 

The War Within

Mortification is, “a ruthless, full-hearted resistance to sinful practice.” This stodgy religious term is about more than throwing off the shackles of sin in our lives, it is about going on offense, and taking back ground. You may be surprised to learn that the language of the New Testament isn’t as rosy and gentle as you might have been led to believe. No, peppered throughout these inspired writings is the language of war. 

The Christian sees himself smack dap in the middle of a war. A war taking place within their own mind, heart, and body. A war between the light and the darkness. A war between what is good, right and God-honoring, and what is not. The Christian is a ground-bounder in this war. His feet march on the front lines where contact with the enemy is unavoidable and inevitable.  

With this in mind, the pages of the New Testament call for an unrelenting violence upon the baser instincts and desires of your flesh. Don’t confuse this with violence or aggression towards other people; that’s wrong. Violence of action upon the weakness and sin lurking within your heart is the call.  

You must take it out before it takes you out. There is no way around it. You must engage in battle with your flesh and make it your slave. “Be killing sin,” John Owen said, “or it will be killing you.” 

“The very word translated as ‘put to death’ (Greek word thanatoute),” Tim Keller says, “is violent and total. It means to reject totally everything we know to be wrong; to declare war on attitudes and behaviors that are wrong—give them no quarter, take no prisoners, pull out all the stops.” 

This is not the language of a group of soft, weak men and women. This is the language of a determined and strong group of people. People who make it their aim to squash sin and conquer their bodies. A group of people called out to take extreme ownership of every area of their lives, and to pursue radical discipline in pursuit of one goal—holiness. 

The Christian isn’t engaged in conflict with sin, and weakness in order to earn or merit acceptance before God. The Christian already has everything he needs to be right with God, because of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. They fight sin for a completely different reason—gratitude to their savior who has set them free. 

In Christ, we are called to make war with our flesh. We are enlisted in a great battle that will last the rest of our days in this life, but we are assured the final victory. No matter how we are doing in our fight, Christ has secured our ultimate victory over Satan, sin, and death. We have nothing to fear. Nothing to hold us back except our own insecurities, and weakness. 

Get violent with those things. Take the aggressive and drastic measures required to kill the tiniest of your desires to sin. Don’t sit back and take it easy. Get in the game. Because you can’t lose.  

3 Takeaways From Watching What The Health

I sat down to watch What The Health yesterday afternoon. I found it disgusting, shameful and shocking—and not for the reasons you may assume.

For those of you unaware What The Health is the newest in a long line of documentaries discussing the gross and cringeworthy aspects of the American diet. WTH focused their attention on overturning the tables of the meat and dairy industries. 

I’m not here to convince you one way or the other. I don’t think this documentary is the greatest thing ever, or the worst thing imaginable. As with most things, it lands somewhere in the middle. Bottomline: You’re going to have to make up your own mind about the diet choices you make. That’s 100% up to you. 

What I do want to share with you are three takeaways from the film. We can all walk away from this documentary thinking and united on at least three things: 

1. There is a link between what we eat and our health. This isn’t groundbreaking or even new information. Far too few of us make decisions that reflect a deep understanding of this link. I know I haven’t. If we pause long enough to think we’ll see that the link between how we feel, the measure of life we experience and its length are all directly linked to the things we put into our bodies. 

2. There are some serious concerns with the meat industry. The meat, dairy, and egg industries have truly appalling practices that need to be addressed. The issues go far beyond the treatment of animals—which is an issue requiring serious thought and action—to include the items injected into the foods we consume. It is hard to square these practices with what ethics and sanity would call us to.   

3. You must take ownership of your own health. Regardless of where you land on the issue of nutrition and the great meat debate, your health is your responsibility. You can’t sit back, take it easy and pass the buck. Your health is no one else's responsibility. It’s something you have to seize control of. Your choices and decisions are yours to make. Do with them what you will, but don’t blame anyone but yourself for how things turn out. 

21 Leadership Lessons Learned From Reading Extreme Ownership

“The only meaningful measure for a leader,” Jocko Willink said, “is whether the team succeeds or fails. For all the definitions, descriptions, and characteristics of leaders, there are only two that matter: effective and ineffective. Effective leaders lead successful teams that accomplish their mission and win. Ineffective leaders do not.” 

Leadership and leaders are a hot topic. Talk to anyone on the street and they want to be a better and more effective leader. Not everyone will define good leadership the same, but all want to be effective. All want to win. 

I’m little different. I want to win at work, at home and in every area of life. I’m willing to take extreme steps to avoid losing, and to secure a victory. I want to exude drive, discipline, and focus. In short, I want to be the leader Jocko Willink and Lief Babbin describe in Extreme Ownership. 

Ask my wife and she'll tell you how obsessed I am with this book and Jocko’s podcast. I love their philosophy and take on leadership and am compelled to share a glimpse into why with you here. 

What follows is a list of twenty-one things I'm learning from both sources.

1. Discipline equals freedom. This starts each day when the alarm clock goes off. In many ways, it’s the first test of the day, it sets the tone. If you get up, you win. If you don’t, you fail. Discipline starts with the little things and is the difference between good and exceptional.
2. Check your ego. The most difficult ego to deal with is your own. 
3. Own everything around you. Take responsibility. Look at yourself first whenever trouble arises. Your team not performing well? It's your fault, own it. Rather than blame others, figure out a way to better communicate so they understand. Instead of complaining about your boss, take ownership of problems and lead. Support your boss. Take responsibility for communicating in the right way.
4. Be humble. Admit shortcomings and failures. Be willing to admit when you’re wrong or at least that the potential for being wrong exists. "Winning in daily battles," Jocko said, "gives you the opportunity to deflect credit, show your humbleness in victory and show your ability to lead. Which all help you in the long-term fight to achieve your goals. Losing a battle gives you the opportunity to generously cede your position, admit your wrong, which both display humbleness, and display your ability to follow. Winning or losing isn’t as important as how you react to winning or losing." 
5. Believe what you say. If you don’t, ask questions until you understand and find belief in what must be done. You can't expect others to buy-in to an idea you yourself don't believe in.
6. Explain the why behind things. Help people understand not just what you want them to do, but the goals and reasons why. Help them understand the intention. 
7. What you tolerate is more important than what you say. "If substandard performance is accepted," Jocko said, "and no one is held accountable—if there are no consequences—that poor performance becomes the new standard."
8. Never be satisfied. Always strive to improve and build that mindset into those you lead. There are no finished products this side of the grave. 
9. Go on offense. It is always better to go on offense than to sit back and play defense. Be proactive rather than reactive.
10. Cover and move. "Work well with others," Jocko said, "Support them and help them win. Make them part of your team. Stay close enough, physically and relationally that you can move to support and help one another."
11. Simplify as much as possible. Complexity compounds issues when things spiral out of control, which they will.
12. Detach from the situation. "Detach yourself," Jocko said, "when you start getting worked up and ask yourself, 'why?' then regain control of yourself." Detachment is a common theme on the podcast, one that sounds both difficult, and rewarding. 
13. Prioritize your problems and take care of them one at a time, focusing on the highest priority first.
14. Empower other leaders to go get it done. Give simple, clear, concise orders that are easily understood by everyone. Allow people to take initiative and make decisions. "They must know you have their back," Jocko said, "even if they make a bad call, as long as the call was made in an effort to achieve the objective."
15. Develop standard operating procedures. 
16. Have a system for planning. Have a repeatable checklist of all the important things they need to think about.
17. Make decisions. Be decisive. Be aggressive.
18. Don’t burn bridges. "Nothing is gained by this." Jocko said, "The future is unknown, and you should always do what you can to maintain lines of communication, bridges intact and reinforced if possible. Do not pursue a course of action that can not be undone, reversed or manipulated in the future."
19. Don’t be emotional. Don’t lose control of them. If you can’t control your emotions what can you control? Take control of your emotions. "They don’t get a vote," Jocko said. Impose your will upon them; discipline, mind control, and drive. Don’t let them control you, control them.
20. Be the best at everything you do. Put in the time, energy and effort required. Hustle hard, and outwork everyone.
21. Listen and seek to understand what other people tell you. 

This is the man I want to be. These are the principles I want to fuse to the very core of my being. I want them to ooze out of me like sweat during a workout. 

Why am I drawn to these principles? Why do they suck me in like a moth to a flame?

The simple answer is that they reflect the biblical worldview and scriptural principles. God’s word calls His people to behave and respond to the world around them in the same way. They are an ideal worthy of our pursuit and one I want to run after.