Atoms, Life, Grace and Curse

(But the Grace part is never mentioned, nor the Curse part.) bold added

To begin with, for you to be here now trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and intriguingly obliging manner to create you. It's an arrangement so specialized and particular that it has never been tried before and will only exist this once. For the next many years (we hope) these tiny particles will uncomplainingly engage in all the billions of deft, cooperative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable but generally underappreciated state known as existence.
Why atoms take this trouble is a bit of a puzzle. Being you is not a gratifying experience at the atomic level. For all their devoted attention, your atoms don't actually care about you - indeed, they don't even know that you are there. They don't even know that they are there. They are mindless particles, after all, and not even themselves alive. (It is a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself apart with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you.) Yet somehow for the period of your existence they will answer to a single overarching impulse: to keep you alive.
The bad news is that atoms are fickle and their time of devotion is fleeting - fleeting indeed. Even a long human life adds up to only about 650,000 hours. And when that modest milestone flashes past, or at some other point thereabouts, for reasons unknown your atoms will shut you down, silently disassemble, and go off to be other things. And that's it for you.

Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, 1-2.

"proves"?

Occasionally, because the sense of the word has changed, fossil expressions are misleading. Consider the oft-quoted statement "the exception proves the rule." Most people take this to mean that the exception confirms the rule, though when you ask them to explain the logic in that statement, they usually cannot. After all, how can the exception prove a rule? It can't The answer is that an earlier meaning of prove was to test (a meaning preserved in proving ground) and with that meaning the statement suddenly becomes sensible--the exception tests the rule.

Bill Bryson, The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, 80.

This is an interesting book...but not one I was interested in finishing. I am grateful, however, for this tidbit.
My explanation for how "the exception proves the rule," was this: the exception is exceptional and therefore cannot be used to formulate rules on the issue at hand, thus establishing the strength speaking of the "rule," if not absolutely, then generally. But, of course, I'm post-modern, and don't suffer the delusion that there are many "rules" anyway.

Grace...through our defects.

"How could we experience grace at all except through our defects?" (31.1)

Prayer, by Philip Yancey

Prayer, by Philip Yancey

Extremely helpful book. Yancey raises all sorts of difficult questions about prayer, and while he doesn't answer them when the bible doesn't, he does give you both biblical sides of the issue and how he and others have wrestled with the tensions. Tim Challies notes that Yancey has flirted with Open Theism, an unbiblical, unhelpful package of beliefs. I don't know...who hasn't? I'm sad to hear of winsome, theologically savvy church leaders who ascribe to Open Theism...but it's not like I don't know where they're coming from. At any rate, it never comes up in this book on Prayer. Not really. For a "balanced" perspective, Challies reviews the book. But from my perspective, it was very helpful and will be read again.

4.9/5 stars

Pros: thorough, enjoyable to read, convicting
Cons: long, extremely convicting, lots to think about (a con?)

The Fall of the Evangelical Nation

The Fall of the Evangelical Nation, by Christine Wicker

Got turned on to this book by iMonk. Helpful appraisal of authentic Christianity in America and a road map for what to expect. In sum, Megachurches are not the future. You can built it,...and they will not come. You can build it, but you will get your butt handed to you. Mega- Consumer- Celebrity-Driven Church is going the way of the dinosaur. And while I hate to see all this hand-wringing, I think it's for the best. The Church has always enjoyed being the Pheonix. But first you have to die. (cf. Phil 3:10)

4/5 stars

Pros: well-written, fun to read, sobering, empathetic
Cons: maybe the slightest twinge of a smile as she pours salt over the wounds

Wasn't what they truly believed

"These committed evangelicals were becoming disillusioned as a result of their own growing relationship with God or after realizing that what the church was telling them wasn't what they truly believed." (124.2)

The Fall of the Evangelical Nation, by Christine Wicker

Rarely Able to Convert

American Evangelicals "are rarely able to convert an adult, middle-class American. Their share of the population is not 25 percent but at most 7 percent of the country and falling." (67.8)

The Fall of the Evangelical Nation, by Christine Wicker

The Trouble With Boys, Peg Tyre

The Trouble With Boys by Peg Tyre
Helpful book that follows the trajectory of under-performing boys through the academy from pre-K to college with brief reflections on what might be happening to society in general in light of this. Built on the proven premise that young men are having a harder time in school as it is now conceived.
General conclusions: more recess/physical education time each day, more parental involvement, more awareness, and broader criteria for acceptable classroom work.

3.5/5 stars

Pros: readable, thorough, even-tempered, helpful
Cons: not helpful enough, won't change my life