- as i read what he read a few months ago, suddenly i get where he’s picked up phrases that have made their way into small group lessons, staff meetings, and everyday conversations

- they are filled with big words that I have to look up. I have a pretty strong vocabulary, and have been a zealous reader for most of my life (testing at a college reading level as I entered middle school), so its really cool to read something that’s a little bit of a technical challenge, that forces me to pull out the dictionary once in awhile.

- i get to read joey’s notes which are always insightful.  sometimes they are insightful into the book itself or the topic of discussion, but sometimes they’re insightful into joey instead :)

- they challenge me to think, to reason, to reexamine my own thoughts and beliefs and decide whether I agree or not or to what extent.  They are rarely just a reminder of what I know, but instead present a completely different or more complex approach.  I’ve never been so challenged mentally, intellectually, spiritually, and i love it.

- they make me laugh.  Example: “some of us have totally outsourced our brains to our Palm Pilots.” (The Shaping of Things to Come, Frost & Hirsch)

- they keep me up at night and wake me in the morning, processing over and over in my head.

- they force me to ask “how then shall we live?” - how do I go from what I’ve learned into practical application?  How does this make things different in my life, in my work, in my ministry?

i heart reading!