For (going on) four years now, my morning ritual begins with a pot of coffee and about an hours worth of scripture reading. When I was determined to read the NKJV (New King James Version) Study Bible from cover to cover (without skipping the guiding analysis at the bottom), I would read two verses at a time and follow it up with a chapter from various faith based books which offered different perspectives and unique interpretations.

Through this process I have been able to read some fantastic titles by great authors. Charles R. Swindoll, Jason Cruise, Rick Warren, Max Lucado, and Jerry Bridges to name a few.

I consider this routine that I have established and stuck with to be one of the greatest gifts that God has blessed me with in this new slice of life. A radical departure from repeatedly pressing the alarm clock for precious minutes of extra sleep before leaving the house without breakfast at 2:50 AM to go and facilitate peoples gambling addictions. And one that I believe everyone could immensely benefit from. It helps to remove the fog implemented by any sort of jaded media source from the previous 24 hours that I went to bed with and start the day on a light foot in the correct direction. Not to mention the immense wisdom that can be taken away as an added bonus gift.

At the beginning of posting weekly reviews, I found that I was often conflicted in giving anything which was faith based material a grade below an A. As if by drifting below the mark of excellence was some form of blasphemy. An affront to the almighty because the material centered around him.

It became a similar dilemma I experienced with my favorite authors and film directors as well.

As I devoted more time to reading books and watching entire catalogs, I came to find that not a single author or director, no matter how much I loved their work, was batting .1000 at the plate.

In the past, I would lie to myself out of blind loyalty and profess that I enjoyed either a book I didn't understand or film that was complete dog shit as a means of validating my integrity.

"Said author or director couldn't possibly churn out a dud! That would reflect so poorly upon my taste and who I am as an individual!" Was the delusional battle cry inside my head.

Fortunately, the wider expanse of materials I read and the more I saw cultivated the beneficial byproduct of depth in character, and I, in turn, began to grow more and more confident in myself and the opinions within that coagulated organically. Opinions which were genuine and 100% my own.

With rock solid convictions, it became easier to admit that not every film by whom or whatever I am loyal to is a grand slam. Neither Scorsese, Tarantino, Aronofsky, Vonnegut, Ellis, Selby, nor the Demigodz themselves are actual Demi Gods. At the end of the day they are human beings just the same as you and I, prone, just the same as you and I to experience the same share of victories and defeats as we do. I realized over time that it is perfectly fine to admit that the latest blockbuster just didn't tickle my fancy. Or that whatever renowned author, regaled the world over, just doesn't connect words that resonate with me the same as it does to the others. And that is quite alright. Disappointment is a way of life. A learning block which can be used intelligently to sharpen character. For every swing and miss there are a million other banger's to make up for the deficit of time I may have felt I just wasted.

In bringing this point to full circumference regarding The Parables, as I write this, I don't recall anything in particular which sticks out as a mind-blowing decipher of Jesus Christ's testimony to the world. I'm sure that if I were to go back and re-read The Parables, there would be plenty of evidence to the contrary, but I doubt anything of which would stick like adhesive to the memory banks.

And that's how it goes sometimes.

The Purpose Driven Life, I Can Only Imagine, Respectable Sins and The Man Minute are a few titles of which I can merely glance at on the shelf and associate at least one new lesson of which I had been taught. One nugget of wisdom that I was able to walk away with which I had never considered before.

And then there are others that I can remember reading which failed to quake, or even tremor, the foundations of faith.

Unfortunately, that can be the case a lot of times with Christian literature. The subject matter can be awfully repetitive. And if you want to enhance your relationship with God, I found, he demands you utilize the wisdom he has gifted to you to dig deeper and search even greater to bring yourself into alignment with his ultimate design for you. And not every book exactly helps in these matters.

That's not to say The Parables is poorly written. Not at all. I actually thought it was written very beautifully and provided me with a few wonderfully crafted sentences that I eventually plan to borrow. And the substance matter was very important. But, if I am to be honest in authoring these reviews, that comes with the obligation of being unbiased, and there really wasn't much here that I didn't know. For a non-christian who is seeking a greater understanding of who Jesus Christ was and is, I believe this book is worth its weight in gold. But for someone who has read their fair share of scripture, there's nothing new here to see. Read it anyway and perhaps you'll connect with it in a way that I did not.

Grade: B

Verdict: Pass