The Holidays have come and gone and as promised, it's time to get started on our Spectacular Sins Book Club!

Before I give the particulars, I have to tell you I am so excited to co-host this little exploit with my dear friend Missy at It's Almost Naptime. I appreciate her insight, her love for God's Word, and her flat out funniness. I hope together we can facilitate a meaningful discussion on this all important topic of God's sovereignty over every last detail of our lives.

I don't want to jump ahead but I must share with you a paragraph from the Introduction to flavor of our considerations of this book. While speaking of the 'Success of Sin in the Providence of God' (p. 17) the author, John Piper, says:

"My aim is to show that sin and evil, no matter how spectacular, never nullify the decisive, Christ-exalting purposes of God. No, my aim is more than that. These spectacular sins do not just fail to nullify God's purpose to glorify Christ, they succeed, by God's unfathomable providence, in making his gracious purpose to come to pass. This truth is the steel God offers to put into the spine of his people as they face the worst calamities. There will be tenderness in due time. But if the back of our faith is broken because we think God is evil or absent, who will welcome Him when He comes with caresses?" {final emphasis mine}

Above all things, we must be thoroughly persuaded God is guarding his glory and our souls even when it feels like He's killing us - or allowing us to be killed. That truth is indeed the bedrock of how we process every evil that comes against us. If we are the display of God's glory, then we have the power to choose to whom we'll ascribe it. Will we allow it to be squelched by the darkness that so desperately wants to snuff it out or will we magnify it in the brilliance that is Christ?

Okay, I'm not going to get started but that's just a tiny taste of the awesomeness in this book! Moving on, here's how we are going to proceed:

1. The Book Club will begin on Monday, January 19th and will continue each Monday until we are done.

2. You can still order a copy of the book in my left sidebar. Have the Introduction read by the time we meet on January 19th. Don't skip it! It's as rich as the chapters!

3. Missy and I will be alternating as hosts of the discussion. This blog will be home base so there won't be any confusion about where to go and when. We will be doing some video, maybe some live chat. When we figure it out you'll be the first to know.

4. There are still other details to be worked out but I'll have those ready come time for the Intro. In the meantime if you have any questions, please ask them in the comments.

ONE LAST THING!

Let's do a Roll Call. If you are planning to participate, please leave a comment with your name and state. This will give us a basic idea of the size group and help us determine how to style the discussion (i.e. in comments only or asking you to write your own post, etc.) Most importantly, I want to know your sweet names so we can build some community!

Okay, so that's it for now. Yay! Let's do this!