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Reads of My Life

We continue our summer series in which members of the Spectrum community share the 3-5 books that shaped them the most. Read past essays here.

On Call In Hell

An autographed copy, this book is about a man and war. It is timeless, yet up close and personal. Richard Jadick is currently a urology resident at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Ga. He got there the hard way—through the Marines and two months in a Marine forward aid station in Fallujah, Iraq. How he got there and what he accomplished and the indelible impressions it made on his life are all in bold detail.

I related to this story for three reasons:

  1. How war has become more brutal, intense, and up close and personal in the 65 years since I was in a similar situation.
  2. The fact that he tenderly cared for a former student of my son. John. until that young Marine Lt. died from a sniper bullet in the back after he had successfully cleared the area of his squad under heavy attack.
  3. That Richard has agreed to present the sword of distinction to the honor graduate at the Citadel in memory of that fallen graduate.

It is a Hemmingway kind of story the asks all the same questions with no better answers. Why does hate produce more heroes than love? Is it because brutality exposes the unselfishness of others? Richard is just an ordinary guy placed in the most unique of situations and behaves with courage, compassion, and ingenuity.

We need more Richard Jadicks, but let us find them in places less hostile than Fallujah.

Craddock Stories

Fred B. Craddock is Brandy, Professor of Preaching and New Testament, emeritus, at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Ga.

He now lives in Cherry Log, Ga. He pastors the Cherry Log Church—a must venue for anyone interested in overhearing the Gospel from one who has given his life to the telling.

Pastor Craddock is a master of his art. His stories, although up close and personal, are universal in their application. As one listens or reads one is immediately transported into that scene and comes out a very enlightened and blessed person. One wants to bring Fred home with them to at least Sunday dinner. Pastor Craddock certainly has brought the parable into the twenty-first century. As a story teller, I salute a master and thank him for the richness he has added to my life.

What Christ Thinks of the Church: An Exposition of Revelation 1-3

This is vintage John Stott, the former Rector of All Souls, Langham Place, London.

To one raised on the Seven Churches of Revelation as a dispensational Revelation, Stott brings the Seven Church to a historic yet immediacy of application. Stott makes it clear that Christ was talking directly to the seven churches in Asia minor. He also makes it clear that each admonition is applicable to each of every Christian Church today. In so doing he clears away the mystic tone of the rest of Revelation.

He closes with a comment that came out of a conference on science, philosophy and religion at Princeton.“ Commitment without reflection is fanaticism in action; but reflection without commitment is the paralysis of all action.”

His closing thought is that the following three chapters leaves no doubt about the security of the people of God.

I was left with the thought, why, oh why don’t Revelation Seminars do the same?

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