"Reading Rainbow" Book 4 - Week...5

So I had to take last week off from reading due to my crazy schedule during the fair. But I am back up and running.

This week I read through the book "Who You Are When No One's looking" by Bill Hybels. Here is the basic overview. Easy book to read. A quick read actually. Great simple insight into character and how it affects our life. It is a book that challenges us to evaluate and take the next step to seeing our lives transformed buy God's power.

Bill spent the first half of the book focused on specific character traits. Each chapter was dedicated to a specific trait - Courage, Discipline, Vision, Endurance. The second half of the book was dedicated to forms of love - Tender Love, Tough Love, Sacrificial Love, Radical Love. The way Bill writes and teaches is very simple to understand. Anyone could read this book and walk away with a challenge and a better understanding of what scripture says about our character in Christ. I really appreciated the chapter on Discipline and Vision. Both of which are areas of my life that God is working overtime on. The chapters dealing with love begin by declaring our need to be living lives of empathy and then continues on to see how that looks in dealing with work, relationships and then further on into dealing with issues and trials. There is an excellent balance of turning the other cheek and speaking the truth in love. Both extremely valid, both necessary. In chapter 9 Bill discusses Matthew 5:39-41 from the sermon on the mount. It is one of the best practical teachings on that passage I have ever heard or read.

Anyone can read this book. I would definitely recommend it. It is practical, challenging and speaks in love. Bill truly cares about the character of the Christian community. You hear and feel this with everything he writes.

Here are some great quotes from the book...

Courage - "Every single day we make choices that show whether we are courageous or cowardly. We choose between the right thing and the convenient thing, sticking to a conviction or caving in for the sake of comfort, greed and approval. We choose to either take a carefully thought out risk or to crawl into a shrinking shell of safety, security and inactivity. We choose either to believe in God and trust Him, even though we do not always understand His ways, or to second-guess Him and cower in corners of doubt and fear."

Discipline - "Delayed gratification. Advanced decision making. Accountability. These six words define discipline and tell how to achieve it."

Vision - "Vision is the God-given ability to catch a glimpse of what God wants to do through your life, if you dedicate yourself to Him."

Endurance - "You build endurance by learning how to crash through quitting points." "That is when ordinary people like you and me become extraordinary in God's sight."

Love - re:Matthew 23:13-33, "Jesus said these things because they were true. His words were upsetting, difficult to receive, tough to swallow-but true."

"He or she must believe that truth telling is more important than peace keeping...that the well being of the other person is more important then the current comfort level in the relationship."

"True personal fulfillment never comes through self-gratification."

"Jesus is the exact opposite of a thief. He does not come to rob, but to give. He does not break into anyone's life; He stands at the door and knocks. If invited in, He wanders around the house placing precious objects on the mantels, on the shelves and in the cupboards. He fills up the person's life with everything life is worth living for: purpose, fulfillment, meaning, love, peace, confidence, security and even freedom."