Roy Goble, Author at Junkyard Wisdom

Reading List

Looking for a good book to read this summer? I have a few to recommend. I’ve read sixty-one books in 2012 and can weed out a lot of bad ones for you. Most importantly I can point you to the good ones! There are some gems in the list below.

The book I’ve talked the most about is, ironically, Quiet, by Susan Cain. Loved this book and I’ve recommended it to dozens of people. Best business book would be Great by Choice, by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen, though Good Strategy Bad Strategy, by Richard …

Reading Scripture

Every few years I follow a “read through the Bible in a year” program. It’s not easy to stay on track, but there is a sense of accomplishment when that last chapter of Revelation is finished. It also helps me see the big picture of God’s work and how the whole story unfolds.

But I’m always amused by some parts of the Bible. My inner sarcasm comes out and I begin to laugh as I contemplate what the writers of Scripture were thinking. It’s a good thing I wasn’t hanging out with the Old Testament prophets and early Christians: I …

Free audiobooks!

One of the outcomes of moving is that you end up with a lot of giveaway stuff. Before the pile in our garage went to the thrift store, I pulled out a few audiobooks. These are all well used CD’s, but still interesting and fully functional.

If you want one, let me know and we’ll figure something out. Maybe you can buy me a drink. Or send a gift to PathLight. Or simply smile and say please. Whatever.

Here’s what I’ve got left (each is a link to the Amazon.com description):

…

Love Does, by Bob Goff

We all have memories of long ago friends. Those memories often shape who we are, adding a touch of joy here, a bit of laughter there. Over the years the details may diminish, but somehow the ideas remain. Like unused bookmarks in our cerebral web browser, they might sit for years without being used.

Sometimes, if we are lucky, we reconnect with our old friend after years of absence and realize the friendship never wavered. Better still, we learn the old friend has weaved in and out of our lives ever so closely, yet never so close as to be …

Prayer Request Update

A few days ago I asked for your prayers as PathLight selected which students would be accepted into the sponsorship program. It was great to see 17 students graduate a few weeks ago, but now it is time to select a new class of students.

I wanted to post this quick update to say that 20 students were selected today. There will be five students from St. Margaret’s, seven from Armenia, and eight from Cotton Tree.

Now we can start praying for the class of 2016!…

Laggards and Competitors

A little something to start off the weekend …

The culture around me is competitive. Whether for-profit or non-profit, workouts or cookouts, country club or foreign country, I am often surrounded by highly competitive people. They don’t want to fall behind; many live in fear of being the laggard.

There is a different way. Columbanus wrote, “Obey your seniors, keep up with your juniors, equal your equals, emulate the perfect … Do not envy your betters, or grieve at those who surpass you, or censure those who fall behind …”

A devotional that I read added this insight:

“In other …

Prayer Request

Last week in Belize was amazing. Seventeen PathLight students graduated from the local high school! It was great to see the PathLight students dominate the list of academic awards (even though only 17 of the 57 graduates were in the PathLight program).
A few days later something equally amazing happened. PathLight distributed applications to the 8th Grade students to begin the process of selecting the next incoming class. It was an amazing response, with 68 students sending in their applications! That’s a huge number, larger than any response PathLight has had before.

To put it in perspective, the entire PathLight …

Culture Making, by Andy Crouch

My friend Brenda Salter-McNeil recommended that I read Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. She added, “I can’t wait to hear what you think about it.” Well Brenda, here you go.

This is a fabulous book. Regular readers of this blog know that I only post book reviews on this “main” page if I feel strongly about the book. And Culture Making certainly qualifies.

Crouch calls Christians to be culture makers. The complexities of culture are explored with broad but sensible descriptions, and then the recent impact the Church has had on our culture is unpacked. The result is …