Pair of Sevens

I recently read two extraordinary books that I highly recommend.  What do they have in common?  Yes, of course, they are both books written to encourage and motivate Christians.  However, that's not all they have in common.  Interesting enough, they both have "Seven" in the title.

The first one I recommend is 7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas.  Many of you may recognize Metaxas as the author of Bonhoeffer, which I also highly recommend that you read if you haven't already.  Metaxas' humor, whit, and distinctively Christian-worldview perspective makes 7 Men a fascinating and fresh approach to seven great men whose examples we would do well to emulate today.  Of all the people that he could have written about, the author limited himself to these seven: George Washington, William Wilberforce, Eric Liddell, Jackie Robinson, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Paul II, and Charles Colson.  One thing men seriously lack in our culture are good role models, and Metaxas has ventured out to try to reverse that trend.

The second book I'd like to mention is 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker.  Hatmaker's experiment involved seven months of seven identified areas of excess and seven simple choices to fight against those excesses.  The seven identified areas of excess are food, clothes, possessions, media, waste, spending, and stress.  Through the process, Hatmaker, in decluttering her life, experienced God in ways that she couldn't before because of all the "noise."  I found the book to be a delightful read.  In fact, Hatmaker had me laughing out loud several times.  More than that, though, I was led to identify and examine the excesses in my life and to come up with ways to knock them down.  I'd like to attempt my own 7 experiment soon!