Creativity requires risk. So do exploration and innovation. Anyone who thinks outside the box is taking a risk. Leadership brings many risks. Investments involve risks. Decision making always means a certain degree of risk.

The most important developments in science, history, technology and the arts came from taking risks.

Ben Carson, MD.

Dr. Carson writes this book to challenge those who read it to take risks and do so by following a way of processing decisions that he has used for years. His Best and Worst Case Analysis format is easy to digest and could provide a systematic way to help anyone who has a tough decision to make.

Here are the four questions he asks:
1. What is the best thing that can happen if I do this?
2. What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?
3. What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do this?
4. What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do this?

Dr. Carson is a world renown neurologist and surgeon who is also a strong believer in Jesus Christ. His faith is at the foundation of the questions above and in his reasoning to act or not act. He says plainly in this book that we are “always safe in Jesus Christ.” He has been involved in some of the most incredible and dangerous surgeries in medical history and shares those stories in this book.

All the above is good and will be helpful to me as a new way to think through tough decisions. But, the real gem in this book is found in chapters 10 (Faith is a Risk Whatever You Believe) and 11 (Living Your Faith in an Uncertain World). In these chapters Dr. Carson offers the most complete yet simple and concise explanation of how science continues to support creationism. He makes it obvious that faith in evolution takes a much larger leap than believing in an all powerful God. He completely dismantles Darwinism and it’s proponents.

***The following is not in the book it’s just something the book caused me to consider***

One thing I love about God is that he is incapable of risks. I don’t believe the bible offers a God that has to do a Best Worst Case Analysis himself. Risk, by its very nature, involves uncertainty and if God is uncertain about anything then he can’t be God. In Exodus 3:14 God says, “I am who I am” not “I am who I think I am”.

It is on this foundation that any believer can say along with Dr. Carson that we are “always safe in Jesus Christ”. We then are left to wrestle with the reality that sometimes what we consider as risk is really a matter of trust.

Humility: True Greatness by CJ Mahaney is one of the best books I have ever read. If you have not read it yet, you should.

Isaiah 66:2 provides Mahaney with a biblical foundation for writing this book. I offer a list of quotes that I hope get your attention enough so that you will read this book.

Humility gets God’s attention.

Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

Pride seems to have a strange and sure way of ignoring logic altogether.

Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him.

You and I hate nothing to the degree God hates pride.

And in true humility, our own service to others is always both an effect of His unique sacrifice and the evidence of it.

The cross never flatters us.

Sin doesn’t wake up tired.

Too many Christians are more readily aware of the absence of God than they are of the presence of God, and they are more aware of sin than they are of grace.

It is possible to admire humility while remaining proud ourselves.

Two more things I love about this book. The first is the way CJ Mahaney includes some very challenging and inspiring statements from the likes of John Owens, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, John Stott, DA Carson, RC Sproul and others. Secondly, this book isn’t just theory and theology. It also includes very practical ways to begin and end each day so that we can walk toward true greatness which is only found in humility.

I just wanted to give quick props to one of my favorite fiction writers, Robert Whitlow. He is lawyer who writes legal thrillers. If you enjoy John Grisham you will love Whitlow. I have read most of his books and have found them to have interesting and believable story lines that keep me turning the pages. Whitlow is a Christian and does not shy away from that being a driving force for at least one of the main characters in his novels. One thing that distinguishes Whitlow form some Christian fiction writers is that his stories do not come across as hokey. More than that, as a believer, I have have yet to read one of his offerings that didn’t really challenge me on how I live out my faith.

Here are my top five:

1. The Sacrifice

2. The List

3. Mountain Top

4. Life Support

5. Deeper Water