Barnes & Noble

For my first Fathers day I received lots of cool stuff. Breakfast in bed, a soccer ball, a Sportsmans Bible, and professionally done portraits of my wife and son to name a few. I also received a gift card to Barnes & Noble. I love getting gift cards to Barnes & Noble. The problem is I could get one for $200 and spend it in about ten minutes. My head starts spinning as soon as I pull into the parking lot. I can spend five minutes just looking at the clearance items before I even get inside the actual store. I know, there is always a good reason that they are on clearance but I have to make sure that a little gem didn't slip past the five thousand readers that have already picked through them.

So I went to Barnes & Noble.

I forced myself to fore go the clearance rack for brevity's sake. After ten minutes in the store (no exaggeration) I had twelve books for consideration. I knew that the gift card was only enough for two paperbacks... except if I chose from the large "buy two get one free section". So, I headed to the Cafe to sort through them and see who would make the cut. I scrounged the change to get a tall coffee and sat down at a table. I read the back covers to see if I could eliminate any right off the bat. Nope. I read the endorsements on the first pages to see if they would rule any out or solidify any into a definite spot. "ooh Andrew Peterson likes this one." "Oh but RICH MULLINS endorsed this one." "uh oh Joel Osteen loves this one." Just Kidding... I would never accidentally choose a book that Joel Osteen likes. Anyway, no luck. I was going to have to do this the hard way; read snippets from each book to see which ones grab my attention. So I did. All of them were pretty interesting but I managed to whittle it down to five. It was an easy decision after that. Three of them were from the "buy two get one free" section and everybody knows that three books are better than two (unless they're by Joel Osteen). So, I reluctantly shuffled around the store replacing the books that didn't make the cut. I offered each one a heartfelt apology and a little encouragement. "Sorry bud, it's not that you're not good, but I only have so much room on the gift card. Keep your chin up, maybe it'll work out next time." I'm almost positive I heard Jack London sniffle a bit and I'm pretty sure Brendan Manning rolled his eyes at me. I averted my eyes from countless captivating titles on the way to the check out line. "Stay focused Brad, you've made your choices, these are good books." Waiting in line I realized something about my choices that I had not planned. If you know me well you might know that three of my biggest passions and favorite reading subjects are; God, the environment, and outdoor adventures (my wife and son are obviously two of my greatest passions but there are no books about them). In my hand I held Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul - Erwin McManus, The Green Book:The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a time - Rogers and Kostigen, and (to replace my stolen copy) Into the Wild - John Krakauer. On my way out of the store I smiled because I thought it was a funny coincidence.

Today I realized that it was no coincidence. I have been praying for God to rekindle the passion that has been dying in my heart. Not specific passions but passion in general. The kind of passion that I talked about not long ago in my post "Come let us meet together". Passion for life, enjoyment of life, to step from the mundane into the glory of God and all He has created. I see it as no coincidence that I bought those three books. This rings especially true as I dive into Uprising, which starts with a section about passion, the death of it, the death it causes, the reasons for it, and how to recapture it.
You would think by now that I would know that there are no coincidences. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer though. I wonder how many more times God is going to have to pound that into head my head? (That there are no coincidences, not that I'm dumb.)

-Brad