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News and Prayer Requests
- My aforementioned visit with my brother in Alabama (August 3-8) was a true gift. We enjoyed sharing so much as we celebrated our long life together and the legacy of our good parents. Tom is doing well physically yet remains tired from these past ten months of fighting cancer. His prognosis is very good.
- I continue to spend time with my pastor, my friends and many others I meet along the way of life.
- Stacy and Paul bought a home only 0.3 of a mile from us,. On August 3 she and the boys moved into their new home. This meant that our home became the quiet and peaceful place I had treasured in the past. This significant change brought to an end the three and a half-year time that we shared our home. This move has given me the quiet physical space that encourages me to write again. It also answers our prayers for our daughter and her boys.
News and Prayer Requests
- My aforementioned visit with my brother in Alabama (August 3-8) was a true gift. We enjoyed sharing so much as we celebrated our long life together and the legacy of our good parents. Tom is doing well physically yet remains tired from these past ten months of fighting cancer. His prognosis is very good.
- I continue to spend time with my pastor, my friends and many others I meet along the way of life.
- Stacy and Paul bought a home only 0.3 of a mile from us,. On August 3 she and the boys moved into their new home. This meant that our home became the quiet and peaceful place I had treasured in the past. This significant change brought to an end the three and a half-year time that we shared our home. This move has given me the quiet physical space that encourages me to write again. It also answers our prayers for our daughter and her boys.
| 4. On September 2 I have a ticket to visit the Obama Center in Chicago. I will go with my longtime friend Marc Thomson. The two tickets are a treasured find given the great interest in the opening months of this historic site. I have been to all but two presidential museums and libraries so my streak continues. The first such museum and library is that of Herbert Hoover and the last will now be the Obama Center and Museum. (The two I have missed are the LBJ Presidential Library near Austin and the George H.W. Bush one near Houston.) |
At the Jesse Owens Museum in Alabama.
I spoke to ten pastors in Champaign-Urbana on Christian unity on August 27. My son Matt introduced me and we spent the day together driving to and from the meeting.
A Few of the Books I Read in August 2026
- The First Gentleman, Bill Clinton and James Patterson (2025) This is the second book these two have co-written. It is story-telling at its best. The president is a woman and her husband is being pursued on murder charges.
- Lessons from Bobby: Ten Reasons Robert F. Kennedy Still Matters, Chris Matthews, (2025). A short book that shows how Matthews, a friend of the Kennedy family, still considers RFK an important figure in modern American history. I often wonder what would have happened if RFK had not been killed in June 1968. Would he have defeated Nixon? Would a Kennedy presidency have ended Vietnam much sooner?
- A Wind in the Door, Madeleine L’Engle (1973). One of you suggested this novel and I enjoyed its use of science fiction with brilliant narrative and story. L’Engle’s papers are housed at the Wheaton College Library.
- The Friend of the Family, Dean Koontz (2026). This is my favorite novel of 2026, at least so far. If you want a beautiful story of redemption, without the simplistic answers you so often see in evangelical fiction, then you will love this excellent read.
- That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell and Universal Salvation, David Bentley Hart (2019). I am not finally convinced by Hart’s argument but this is a rigorous treatment that takes into account all the evidence of the New Testament, as well as teaching of the early fathers of the church. It also employs compelling logic. I read this book first in 2019 when it first appeared, and thus this was my second reading. It is not an easy book to read and Hart’s style will offend some who disagree.
- Liar’s Kingdom: How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save America, Andrew Weissman (2026). A friend recently said to me that they cannot understand how we Christians who are alive at this time in history can not be political, even if they do not wish to be partisan. I could not agree more.
- The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003). I saw the movie many years ago but the book is far, far better. This is a superb novel and will give you great appreciation for both Muslim culture and the gracious people of Afghanistan.
- Esther’s Army: The Christian Women Who Power the American Right, Katie Gaddini (2026). This non-fiction book is a narrative the author put together after years of listening carefully to the women who drive the modern MAGA movement. It is fair and non-judgmental. If you find it hard to comprehend how evangelical women embrace a sexual predator like Donald Trump then this book will help you make sense of how they continue to support him. Without this particular share of the vote Donald Trump would never have been elected either in 2016 or 2024.
This is not a full list of my books read but features some of my favorites. I did not say more about the book by James K. A. Smith because I will do so in October after I have finished reading it this week.
