a highlighter worthy read

I just realized that I haven't shared with you some of my favorite books, and that is such a major flaw on my part. I LOVE reading. I'm currently sitting in a library surrounded by them and just can't decide where to start. I'm always reading. Of course, I haven't done much of that lately because #1 I've been pretty busy, but #2 I'm also working on writing my book so I don't want to clutter my mind or get sidetracked. Therefore this library is a supreme temptation to me.

I've always read a lot. My family constantly teased me about my addiction. But I learned how to ignore them. I used to have to lock myself in the bathroom, sometimes climbing into the empty tub fully clothed to read a chapter or two in silence. Then I got used to them and now I can read in the middle of a crowded room and block them all out. A couple members of my family have no interest in reading. Recently though, I have talked Shay into reading my number one favorite (to be shared later), since then she has pretty much been reading nonstop. I find it so funny to see her "addicted" like I've always been.

I want to share with you my top five fiction and non-fiction books. Then again I may not stop at five, who knows where this may go. I'll post a link to Amazon.com for each book. I'm thinking they should give me a discount or something for all this advertisement. Just a thought.

Today, I'll share with you one of the hardest yet smallest books I have ever read. Calvary Road by Roy Hession is a much needed but excruciating look in the mirror. I highly recommend this book for every Christian. I ended up highlighting most of the entire book, and cried through a majority of it. I had to read it as part of a counseling class I took a few years ago. The class was called Self Confrontation, and dealt with self counseling. This book really made me re-evaluate all I had thought about myself and my walk with Christ. It was the first of six books I had to read for the class. Each one taught me more and more. However, this book is an excellent place to start. I reread it every year now just as a reminder.

It is an old book. I think it was written about fifty years ago. But what it is teaching is timeless. I love the analogies Hession uses throughout the book. For example, Calvary Road. He explains how, as Christians, we are all traveling this road to the cross. The entrance requires you to be bent and broken before Him to get through. The road is very narrow and you run the risk of falling off. I John 1:5-7 says:

"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."


Hession points out that this road to Calvary requires you to walk in light. The moment we allow sin to enter, we fall off the road and into darkness. I won't give away too much of the book, but I found myself thinking about how much of my life I spent thinking I was on the straight and narrow. After reading this book, I realized I've actually been walking in the ditch on the side of the road. It was humbling and eye-opening. 


It definitely puts you in your place, but when it comes to things that involve my relationship with Christ I would rather be put in my place and hurting then walking ignorantly and aimlessly in the ditch.


I promise to give you a more light-hearted read after this, but I promise you won't regret reading this one even  if you do find yourself in tears and covered with highlighter ink.