Favorite Books of 2011.

I was blessed to read a lot of good books this past year. I could make a long list of the top twenty or ten books that I read this year, but I wanted to just pick one. The top book that I read this year. But after much consideration there were two books that stood out and I couldn't pick one over the other. So here they are:

 To the Golden Shore. The Life of Adoniram Judson. by Courtney Anderson

This was a fascinating book. I was enthralled with Judson's life story from the beginning and honestly there were no points where I grew tired of reading it. He had a dramatic conversion, then helped to lead a youth missions movement in colonial America. Was the first American missionary sent to a foreign land, and the first missionary to see any response to the gospel in Burma, which still has a strong number of Baptist Christians within its borders.

Judson's life showed that even those who are most devoted to the Lord's work and living for His glory still go through many tribulations. Along the same lines it revealed that missionaries must be willing to die for the Lord when they go to difficult places to promote the gospel. Burma was a very difficult place and still is in many ways. But Judson was not only willing to go and die, He labored patiently through many years of seeing no gospel fruit at all. But the time did eventually come, when God brought a mighty wave of His Spirit across the lands, fueled mainly by Adoniram's work.

What also greatly impressed me was Judson's clear love and devotion to the Gospel. Even at the end of his life, the news that impressed him the most, what occupied his mind the most, and what he talked about the most was the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This was an enjoyable book that was good for my soul to read, and challenged me in many ways. Of these top two books this one has a slight edge on the other, because this was a book that I gladly stayed up late into the night reading.

King's Cross. The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus. by Timothy Keller

Adoniram Judson's life story was fascinating, but there is no life more fascinating and awe-inspiring as the life of Jesus. As I read this book I was shown over and over again just how Jesus is the King that this world needs, that He is the loving friend each of us needs, and that He is the Savior that we all need. Jesus is the answer. Clearly. And the more we get to know Him, the more we are enthralled with Him.

Keller takes us through the Gospel of Mark in this book focusing on how Jesus was not the Messiah-deliverer that the Jews were expecting. But that He was so much more than that. The salvation that He brought was so much greater than they could even imagine, and the liberation that He brought was vastly more broad then they could have ever dreamed.

The thing that I appreciated most about the book was Keller's sly way of making me realize how much I need Jesus. That I do rely way too much on my own efforts. That I do tend to put too much confidence in the flesh. That I often do live like I don't really need any help from Jesus at all. But in reality I am the leper that He came to cleanse, I am the father who needs help believing, I am the Pharisee that Jesus came to confront, and I am the sinner that Jesus came to call to repentance and die as a ransom for.

This is an all around good and helpful book for the Christian, for the inquirer, and for the one who rejects Christianity but would be willing to read a book with you if you challenged them to. I read it with some good pastor friends this year, and now I am reading it again with the men of my church. They have all been very impressed with it so far.