I love to read. You've heard the cliche that, "Readers are leaders and leaders are readers." I buy into that line of thinking.  I would argue that the Bible is a fantastic place to begin and in addition to that, there is a vast world of knowledge out there waiting to be discovered. History, biographies, non-fiction - they each offer an opportunity to the reader to discover what's happened, what worked, what didn't work and most importantly they each offer clues as to "why". In a world saturated with limited character social media updates, fast paced phone screens that flicker at a mile a minute and endless options of brain numbing media we would do well to pick up a book and immerse ourselves in something that would serve to slow us down. 

Below are just a few examples of what I've recently been reading. Be encouraged and keep moving forward.  

This is a fantastic read that will challenge you to make a bigger impact on those around you. Melissa weaves real-life examples
with Scripture in a powerful way.

Towards the end of the book she says,  "Our greatest legacy 
will be those who live eternally because of our efforts. It's not
just about making it to heaven ourselves, but about helping as
many others as possible get there as well. Living to make an
impact requires that we train our heads, our hearts, and our
whole lives to reveal to other people who Jesus really is."

Wow, what a challenge. Far too often we boil down our faith journey to ensuring that we make it to Heaven, meanwhile we forget about those around us that are in desperate need
​of knowing Jesus personally. Read this book. 

Too often we read, study and apply the words of the Bible from our western perspective. We attempt to apply our modern understanding of how things work, how relationships are formed, and how conflict is managed to God's Word without ever considering the culture and perspective of the Jewish culture in which it was originally written. 

Bottom line: when we do this, we cheat ourselves of an accurate understanding of how God's Word was written in its original language and with its original Jewish understanding. 

"Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus" takes a deep look at this very idea and will challenge the reader to set aside their modern preconceived notions of what the Bible is all about and to more fully embrace its Jewish roots.