These three books helped move me through three significant milestones in my journey of faith.
The Message - by Eugene Peterson & Kelly Dolan
I really started digging into the subject of "God" back in 2000-2001. The origins of Christianity was really interesting, but I resisted reading the bible until I could believe that it was historically accurate - but I couldn't find the absolute proof I was looking for. I found that I couldn't understand a lot of the arguments because I wasn't familiar with what the bible actually said. So I picked up a copy of The Message, which is the New Testament scriptures written in contemporary English. As I read, the gospel stories just blew me away. I found the character of Jesus so absolutely amazing that I couldn't put the book down. Really, it was that powerful. At times I found my heart just going "pitter-patter" for all the love that Jesus had for people. Even with so many questions, I found myself believing in Jesus, and I wanted to be more like him.
Finding God in the Questions - by Timothy Johnson
This book helped me get by all my questions, and understand that there is always mystery involved in having faith. No matter how much I study and rationalize, I'm likely to always have questions. That's why they they call it "faith". For whatever reason, God has not supplied us with all the answers, and I decided that was OK with me.
The Hole in our Gospel - by Richard Stearns
I finished this book about a week ago, and it still has me all shook up. Richard Stearns is the President of World Vision - a humanitarian charitable organization. His book describes his journey of faith, which is a huge testament to the power of being open to the will of God in your life. It's a call to action. Having "faith" is one thing, but God wants much more.
