JESUS FOR PRESIDENT

I'm not much of a Bible scholar. I like reading books that explain Bible stories in a 21 century way of thinking, flushing out the religious blabber. (I think it's called Christianese.)  Reading the Bible is often hard for me, probably because of the weird names of people and places and for some reason my mind glosses over as I dream about bikes and seadoos.

Jesus For President
Author: Shane Claiborne

Jesus For President is fairly political, and that is definitely not my interest. But between the political references there is a lot of exploration, whereby I feel myself nodding "Ya, that's it, I agree".

Like, I didn't fully consider "manna from the sky" until the author explains it as God saying, "Don't take extra; there will be enough" and when Israelites hoarded extra, God sent maggots to destroy it.

The story of David killing Goliath with a stone and slingshot is a bit like the idea of killing Bin Laden with a super-soaker.  Impossible, but that's what David did.

Or, the stuttering prophet to be the voice of God. Or a barren old lady to became the mother of a nation. Or the homeless boy who would lead the people home. Or the shepherd boy who would be king is like picking a kid from the sweatshop to run a corporation. Interesting concepts.

Perhaps my favourite line so far (because I'm only halfway thru) is this:  "We in the church are schizophrenic: we want to be good Christians, but deep down we trust that only the power of the state and its militaries and markets can really make a difference in the world."

More so, I love the packaging, written on faded pages, with ink notes in the margin and red circles around key thoughts. It's an already-read-book-with notes.