I just finished reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. If you’re even remotely interested in Sci-fi, military strategy/battle, or the dilemmas of childhood you should read it. It really is an excellent read and it’s the first book in a long time that I seriously had internal struggles trying to put it down. “Hmm, let’s see, should I go to bed or just read one more page? Ok, just one more, but then that’s it, I mean it this time!” I bought two more books from the series and look forward to reading them.

It’s been nice to take a break from reading non-fiction for a little while. Though, I have been listening to short audio fiction from podcasts for a long time now. If you’re interested, check out Escape Pod for sci-fi, the brand new PodCastle for fantasy, and The Drabblecast for really strange fiction (and when I say strange, I mean the mustache-loving-intestinal-worm-jelly-singing-giant-squid kind of strange). I have to warn you, they aren’t all clean and I’ve skipped a couple stories after hearing what the content would consist of. However, I’ve also heard some amazing stories that I’ll probably never forget. I’d like to think that listening to good stories will make me a better writer, but this hasn’t been conclusively proven yet and I’m sure there’s plenty of people out there who watch tons of excellent movies and are no better film directors for it.

I really have to give a big hip-hip-hooray for podcasts. They keep my job entertaining and make life on the whole much more enjoyable. And they’re great for long trips (though I usually listen to music or just have God-time during my lengthy commutes). I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate the time and energy spent by other people to provide such great material, free of charge. I have made donations to all my favorites, but the fact remains that I never have to pay a dime for the many hours of entertainment I’ve received. While I’m at it, here’s my other favorites, with a brief description in case you’re interested:

The Relevant Podcast: A podcast companion for the Relevant Magazine. It is by far the most consistently hilarious (l laugh out loud at least once per episode, much to the confusion of my coworkers) audio I’ve ever heard, while also touching on the deep and thoughtful from time to time. After a few listens, you’ll be hooked.

Let My People Think (RZIM): Ravi Zacharias is probably my favorite Christian apologist. His podcast includes his lectures from all over the country. This man’s words are truly amazing, insightful, and even life changing.

The Dice Tower: One of my geeky boardgame podcasts. The host is an American pastor working in Korea. It’s a well-made production with some interesting contributors from all over the world and a new top 10 list every episode. I’ve actually won twice from their ongoing contests, which is pretty amazing considering the thousands of listeners they have.

The Spiel: Yet another gaming podcast. These guys are really wacky, but all the more fun because of it. They do some nice in-depth explanations of games, which has helped a lot in deciding the ever-prevalent question; what game(s) should I buy next?

I trimmed my toes recently.

I realize this isn’t really big news to people. For most of you, the trimming of toes is about as exciting as the brushing of teeth or the combing of hair, perhaps even less so. But for me, toe trimming is about as close to performing surgery on myself as I’ll (hopefully) ever get. Suddenly, a certain scene from Cast Away comes to mind. Let’s just say that dentistry and ice skates don’t mix well, ugh! Anyhow… trimming really is quite an undertaking for me and a painful one at that. You see, as my mom was happy to point out frequently while I was growing up, I have “funny toes.” The problem resides mostly with the big toes. I won’t go into too much detail since I’m under the impression that a good portion of my readers are female. Suffice it to say that they tend to grow callouses around the edges of the nail so that the callous begins to overlap the nail and the nail starts to dig in to the real skin. This results in a nagging dull pain when the nail gets too long and a rather sharp and outright offensive pain when I have to dig in and trim things back.

Ok, you overly squeamish people can relax, the worst is over. Naturally, I’m actually going somewhere with this. I’ve been realizing that there is a good (or should I say bad) amount of excess in my life. It probably doesn’t help that I live in an incredibly materialistic society. But excess isn’t just material possessions. It’s all that is wasteful and unprofitably useless. It’s the things I could do (and probably do much better) without, that bit of extra weight in the backpack that slows me down and tires me out. And, just like it isn’t always easy to tell the callous from the softer skin, it’s not always easy to tell what parts aren’t profitable and what parts are. Sure, some things are obvious, but not everything. I’d even say that in many cases it’s not matter of completely removing something, but just giving less attention to it and dropping it down a few notches on the priority scale.

Excess tends to build up and get in the way, much like calloused toe skin. And if it isn’t dealt with it can become a bigger problem. Even though the cutting away part can be painful, it allows future healing and future growth. My prayer is that I’ll be wise enough to discern what is excess and strong enough to allow the unnecessary things to be removed in the continual refining process that is my life.

I recently finished reading Flashbang by Mark Steele. It left me both entertained and enthralled. Mark’s humorous anecdotes and insightful spiritual applications were incredibly refreshing. It is by no means a deeply theological text nor would I say that the ideas presented in it are completely original, but it would be terribly wrong to categorize this work as fluff, mere icing with all sweetness and no substance. Mark presents old and necessary truths in a fresh and creative way, and I enjoyed every word of it.

Here is a quote, which serves as a good example of what the more weighty sections of the book are like and, I believe, gives a good impression of the focus for the entire book:

It is not until you live a moment wide open that you truly discover the difference between actual sacrifice and artificial endeavors that point the finger at your own supposed profundity.

Sure, I believe I am being vulnerable when I select a few inconsistencies, issues, or hurts in my own life for others to take a good look at, and then I wonder why no one takes interest.

It is because the revelation of the pain in question is so well-orchestrated and so rehearsed that it smells like manipulation. But I tend to believe that because I have uncovered any humanness at all in myself that I should be applauded as a saint and a martyr.

That, indeed, is the dumbshow: the intentional tripping up or falling down, the revealing of a flaw for the sake of applause and attention. This is not vulnerability. This is not abandon. This is not sacrifice. But it is too often mistaken for all of these.

It is actual truth that changes others. Actual truth coming out of ourselves. Not orchestrated truth. Not partial truth that is well-timed. Not “just enough to matter” — but rather the whole enchilada.