Top 5 of 2007

I love to read and appreciate books that inspire, motivate, challenge. I love to be introduced to new ideas and new ways to think. If I don't read then I am stuck with only me and my point of view and my way of thinking. That isn't bad unless I'm thinking wrong or looking at things from the wrong direction. Here are the top 5 books that I read in 2007 in no certain order.

1. In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. I read this last January and it set a tone for the rest of the year. It's about seizing opportunities, not quitting, facing fears and accepting risk. Mark has a great story of planting a church in Washington D.C. Following God and attempting things for Him can be a scary and risky place but the dividends of achieving outweigh it all.
2. Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. This was a challenge to me in many areas including political views, social issues such as war and poverty, the purpose of wealth and prosperity, and living out the Gospel by taking the words of Jesus literally.
3. A Renegade's Guide to God by David Foster. I was drawn to this book by the title. The dictionary defines renegade as an apostate from a religious faith. I want to abandon Christianity as a religion and live it the way God intended. I want to be a renegade. I feel like I am one and have been one for most of my life. But often I need someone like David Foster to unleash it and keep pulling it out of me. I am not looking to forsake what I have been taught or how I was raised but I don't want those things to go unchallenged either. These books (2 & 3) do that for me.
4. The Dip by Seth Godin. This is a small, business book by a secular author about when to quit. It was an excellent read. It challenged me and fired me up about the opportunity here at Axios.
5. The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. Yancey has been around for a while but I had never read any of his books. This book was a little slower reading for me but worth it still the same. I'll probably read another Yancey book this year.