Job's Job

You remember Job, right? He was that poor unfortunate soul in the Old Testament that had his land, his family, and his resources destroyed. I don't know much about Job, but I know this. That had to have sucked.

Job's job was in the fields, working with animals. Satan observes that God blessed the "work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land." Blessed he was indeed. The passage tells us that he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. Can you imagine owning seven thousand sheep? That is a lot of freaking sheep. I can't imagine owning one. What would I do with it? Feed it? Let it run around in the yard? Would it sleep in a kennel? 7,000 of those things running around would be insanity. And the smell wouldn't have been too pleasant either. But what about another three thousand, clumsy, awkward, smelly camels. And another five hundred yoke of oxen (I must be really stupid because I am not quite sure what a yoke is). And oh yeah, Job also had 500 donkeys. I like that the passage includes this. Donkeys are really funny looking. And Job had 500 of them. That would be cool. If I were Job, I would trade all of the other animals for more donkeys. I'd have an entire donkey farm. I'd sell donkey sausage. I'd make donkey glue. I'd drink donkey milk.

Job was rich indeed. And Job's job was to tend and care for his animals. He probably stepped on a lot of doo doo. He probably was always spitting individual, coarse hairs from his tongue. He probably aided more animal birthings than I care to imagine. He probably killed more flies in a day than all of my insect murders combined. He probably named each individual donkey. I know I would have.

But just like Job naming the donkeys that were dear to him, I want to name some books I have recently read that have been dear to me. That's all I wanted to do with this blog anyway - just give you some good book recommendations. But then I noticed that Job owned 500 donkeys. That was too sweet to pass up.

Not the Way It's Supposed to Be by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. An ingenius examination of sin and its manifestations. Wonderfully written and unbelievably insightful.

Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks. A clever oberservation of the way our culture's new aristocracy has synthesized with the spirit of bohemia. Witty and charming.

Letters of John Newton by....John Newton. This is a compilation of letters that the old British pastor wrote to his friends and members of his congregation. Downright amazing.

Unveiled Hope by Scotty Smith and Michael Card. An easy to read exposition of the book of Revelation. As intimidating as that last New Testament book is, Unveiled Hope helped to remove some confusion and hesitation. Very good. Very good indeed.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Awful. Dangerous. If I had 500 donkeys I would make them urinate on it.

Love Constraining to Obedience by Doug Serven. This book is delicious. Seriously. Tastes like chicken.