Waking The Dead

I recently got rid of a lot of books (some I put away in a box). Many of the books in my collection were/are historical, or have Christian themes.

Most of the ones I got rid of are the Christian themed books. I had a lot of them, and they bored me. They all said the same things; just timeless topics, with a new hair-do, poorly written. Too many books today are personality and current-events driven.

Recently, my friend Julie (or Sister Julie of the Church of What's Happening Now, as her closest friends like to call her) recommended Waking the Dead, by John Eldridge, 2003.

I'm still reading the book, but I must say it is probably one of the few books that has challenged me in a long time (since The Ragamuffin Gospel).

Some of the topics I've been reading about so far: War (don't get excited; it's not about Iraq), being alive inside, and the heart. One of the things he writes about that is a challenge to me is "the heart is good."

This is a challenge, not because I suffer from self-loathing and Eldridge is bursting my bubble, but because I am so aware of who I am. I am very aware of "the evil that lurks in the hearts of men"; of me.

I don't live in the same self-inflicted Utopian world that many people abide in; a world that stunts their growth because they refuse to see that evil is more than just "mean people", destroying the environment, Republicans, Democrats, terrorists, capitalism, communism, religion or atheism. Evil is birthed in a much deeper place then what we see with our eyes. Unfortunately, people in their "find a happy place" stupor walk around, much like zombies, "waiting for the world to change", to quote the latest John Mayer song (self-righteous rambling from Mayer by the way, if you think about it. Good tune though).

Whoaaaa tangent!

Anyway, I'm dealing with the theme of "The heart is good" that Eldridge brings up. It's not what you're thinking though. You should pick up a copy to get a better grasp of what he means.