Be Still My Soul by Elisabeth Elliot
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second time I've read this book. Ironically, I pulled it from my shelf looking for "comfort" words, instead of words like:

"God included the hardships of my life in His original plan. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Nothing is for nothing. His plan is to make me holy, and hardship is indispensable for that as long as I live in this hard old world. All I have to do is accept it."

I forgot how practical Elliot is, and true to God's word, and unyielding on the dying to self theme. Do you know how sometimes you're just sick of it, and if someone asks you to do something one more time you just think you'll scream? How sometimes it seems like it would be so nice to have no responsibilities, no none, other than eating cake or sitting on the beach, or anything that only involves the happiness of one person, that person being you? (If you have never been in this place then I think you have the gift of contentment and you are blessed!). Well, that's how I've been feeling lately (not the content part, but the other). So, I looked to Elliot for some good and encouraging words. Oddly, those words didn't provide balm for my soul, but they still did help me. She reminded me that "acceptance of circumstances, the first step in obtaining joy and peace, begins with faith"

I think dying to self has fallen out of favor with the Christian community--it has sure fallen out of favor with me lately! Consider this:

"All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies [Psalm 25:10 NASB]. About this passage Amy Carmichael once wrote in a note to a coworker, "All does not mean 'all but these paths we are in now' or 'nearly all, but perhaps just not this specially difficult painful one.' All must mean all."

More specific to the dying to self theme:

"As His servants, we lay down our desire for a certain quality of life, our insistence that our life must be arranged in a certain way to order to be acceptable. In a word, we deny ourselves."

So, while I didn't get the balm for my soul I was looking for, God sure told me that I need to get back to work on that dying to self thing. He must have thought I needed a good kick in the pants instead of words of comfort!

View all my reviews >>

The Babs Bon Mots Book Store

So, I'm perusing other people's blogs, and I think I need my own bookstore.

If I had my own bookstore I would require that my employees read while working. After all, it is important to model the importance of reading to all people, and everyone knows, when you are shopping for a book, it is usually best to do so without the interference of other people. Naturally employees would lay their book down to assist with purchases (providing they are not at a very exciting part in the book). To aid in their book search, I would employ a computer look up system similar to what we have at the library, making it very easy to see if we have their special book in stock, and exactly where to find it.

I would have a perpetual book club room where you could stop by for wine and chocolate, or mochas and chocolate, or milk and chocolates (there will definately be chocolates) and talk about books with other bibliophiles. (It is possible we could have some healthy snacks, but, that really is debatable.)

Naturally the bookstore will be filled with comfy chairs, and pillows, and maybe even couches.We will stick to the motto of "Snack, Nap, Read" (I think this may need to be made into a quilt). This very important life lesson should begin as soon as a reader is born (if not before)!

Are any of my friends willing to finance this endeavor?

Take This Bread

Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion by Sara Miles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was intrigued to read this book because of the teaser: "Sara Miles, raised an atheist, wandered into a church, received communion, and found herself transformed--embracing a faith she'd once scorned". Coincidentally, I had just heard a sermon about how the Table is for everyone (see November post). Also, about 6 months ago, I incorporated John 6:57 into my daily prayers: "Just as the living Father sent me and I live by [through, because of:] the Father, even so whoever continues to feed on me [whoever takes me for His food and is nourished by me:] shall [in his turn:] live through and because of me." Amplified Bible. So . . . I was very interested to read this story of a woman who was transformed and nourished, even when she didn't know one thing about what coming to the table meant.

This book will be challenging for you if you have pre-conceived notions about the gay community, bad language, and sexual promiscuity--in other words, if you were brought up in traditional church in West Michigan. Sara Miles is very open about her sexual relationships and her life as an openly gay woman. However, she is also a woman who loves God, and falls deeper and deeper into love with him. She asks good questions of herself, and of us. It reminded me a little bit of an out of print book I read years ago: "What Happens if I Say Damn You God" by Charles Victor Arokiasamy. God is able to handle and answer so many more of our questions than we give Him credit for. But, to get back to Sara's story - she took her experience and made something real and good out of it. She took that nourishment and challenged herself and others to extend nourishment to others in real food for real people in real struggles. She accepts people for who they are, builds relationships with them, and spreads God's love to them. This is what we are called to do, and, for me, this book was a powerful reminder of that.
View all my reviews >>

Stories are my favorite things

Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories by Daniel Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I will let the author speak for me:

"Stories tell me not only who I am but also who you are, and what we are together. In fact, without you and your story I cannot know myself and my story. no one's story exists alone. Each is tangled up in countless others. Pull a thread in my story and feel the tremor half a world and two millennia away."

"It is crucial . . . that we surround children, and ourselves, with healthy stories. These stories should be filled with mentors, models, and heroes who do the kinds of things, physically and spiritually, that we ourselves wish to do. If I cannot imagine myself doing something, I am unlikely even to attempt it. Stories multiply our possibilities."

"Stories can . . . literally give us courage. The child who hears of another child outwitting a giant in a fairy tale is better equipped to conquer the equally fearsome giants in his or her own life. . . this is one of many reasons to reject the flippant response "It's just a story" . . . Stories are more real and more determinative in our lives than the vast majority of things that go on in the merely physical world. Stories form our minds and spirits, the way we perceive ourselves and others, and how we act in the world. Strip the world of story and it becomes more a simple mechanism--and therefore less real."

"Storytellers should be aware that they are dealing with dangerous materials. Life and death flow to us through stories. Words have almost unlimited power to destroy and to heal. Nothing is more false than the implication of the phrase 'words, words, words--nothing but words.' More lives have been destroyed by words than by bullets, and more lives redeemed and made whole."

"In his Nobel Lecture, Solzhenitsyn reflects on the role of stories, and art generally, in the modern world, and identifies four things literature can do to help heal a violent, fragmented, alienated world. First, it preserves memory, without which we forget who we are. In addition, it helps us to see ourselves accurately, diluting our human tendency to self-delusion. Further, it gives us a vehicle for overcoming our radical separateness and the relativism of values, offering something for common contemplation that shows us our potential for agreement and community. Lastly, as we have seen, art and stories can vanquish lies, including the lies that provide the needed cover for violence and oppression."

Tonia, you have it right when you say, "Fight Evil, Read Books".

I really liked this book, and when I think of my life as story, and my friends as characters in my book, I don't know, it just adds something to my life.
View all my reviews >>

Coming to the Table

We had the nicest sermon on taking communion a few Sundays ago. The scripture was from 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. For me, it was a beautiful reminder that you and I are always welcome at the Lord's table.

It is only when we come to supper with the Lord that we can receive His Power and His Grace. It is here we can be washed clean and rest in God's presence. The blessing is that we can come just as we are. . . no, you do not need to be perfect and without sin - an impossibility that it seems I, at least, am ever striving to attain. I think that I am often tempted to judge myself and other people, as to whether they are worthy to partake. I'm not sure if this is something that I grew up with in the Church, or something that I picked up from the world, but the thing is - I don't get to decide. The Lord has invited everyone to come to the table. Everyone means just that, everyone - the blatent sinner, the unbeliever, you, and me. Some of the sermon highlights:

• When we prohibit people from coming to the Lord's table they cannot receive the power of Jesus. When we come to the Table of the Lord we let Jesus show Himself to us.
• While there, we need to enjoy the feast for all it's worth.
• Unusual prayer is fitting at the Lord's table.This is the place to bring your most outrageous and impossible requests.
• Jesus can flow His wholeness into any part of my life (or yours) that is broken. It is here that we receive God's cleansing.

Isn't this all such a mystery and such a great picture of how outrageous and upside down it is to be a Christian. We can't reflect God's glory if we are not nourished by His body and blood. We must turn the other cheek and forgive seventy times seven, we must go and tell this strange and unbelievable message to people that don't know Him. We must follow His creed of loving our neighbor as ourselves. Not just the neighbor that we find it easy to like, but also the neighbor that we find reprehensible and unlikeable. Who else follows a religion like this?

I'm reading an interesting book: Take This Bread by Sara Miles. Sara's ancestors were Christians on both her mother and father's sides. Her mom and dad however, rejected the faith. Sara had no interest in the Christian lifestyle. Until . . . one day for reasons unknown to her she stopped by a church and took communion. She knew nothing about God, she just sort of followed the routine of the people in the church, but taking the bread and wine changed her. I'm still learning about her journey, but am struck by her stories of the people in the church who we might turn out, and who are actually the sort of people that Jesus hung out with. I'm struck anew by the fact that it's not my job to judge, but rather to love. How to love without judging? How to speak to the wrong without alienating the wrongdoer, and is that even my role? Do we only point the way to Love and leave the rest to the Holy Spirit?

These are the sorts of questions rolling around in my brain. I'm thankful that I can be nourished by God's body every day, and that His Holy Spirit is accessible to me every day, not just at communion. I'm thankful that I'm not the Judge, and that, even though I don't know the answers to my questions, that I can count on the One who knows all the answers to lead me down the right paths as long as I entrust myself to Him.

If you are a Christian, and love Jesus, then you know He's called us to be the light of the world. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, partly because we're focusing on World Missions in Church, and partly because that's always a part of my thought process in my life as a Christian. Since we've been focusing on World Missions, we're seeing and learning a lot about the amazing work God is doing in countries where they don't have the gospel, or not allowed to share the gospel. Learning about people who are putting their lives on the line so that others can hear and share in the Good News.

This always makes me feel a little inadequate--I haven't gone to Africa, or India, or anywhere really, except to my desk at work every day. I believe that God uses me where I am, but somehow it doesn't seem like it measures up to the Great Commission. I'm trying to think differently about it, because I know God uses me, and I know I have some things He's wanting me to do right where I am that I'm really not too crazy about doing. Heart things that could make a difference in how hearts view Him. Do you think it counts if you do the heart things, but don't FEEL the heart things? (This is really a rhetorical question, I know the answer is YES, but wouldn't it be better and more honoring if my heart could do those things joyfully rather than reluctantly and with much groaning?)

If you haven't seen the "A Thousand Questions" video by Willow Creek you should take 10 minutes to view it. I think the ending in particular, clearly shows that we are called to help in the world, certainly, but also, the world isn't just far away places, but it's right here, right now, right where you are. There are school kids that need our help, people in nursing homes, homeless people right here in our own backyards, and yes the people we work and live with every day.

Perhaps some day I will go to a persecuted country and share the good news. Perhaps not. Maybe I'll always be sharing the good news in my own small way in my own small corner of Holland, Michigan. For me, the greater victory will be when "I will [not merely walk, but] run the way of Your commandments, when You give me a heart that is willing" Psalm 119:32 Amplified

In the meantime, I will remember the words of William Booth, and show God's mercy where I am.

"Not called" did you say? "Not heard the call" I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face--whose mercy you have professed to obey--and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the World. (my italics)

"Crispin": Junior Fiction Worth Reading

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Crispin is set in the 14th century. It's the story of a boy who is known only as Asta's son, and discovers his true name after a series of sometimes cruel and sometimes strange events. He is pursued on every side for reasons that are not clear to him. In all his 13 years he has never been treated with kindness, but only with contempt or dismissal. In the beginning the language seemed a little stilted to me, and some of it put me off, in that 14th century language isn't that smooth I guess. Before long though, I was wondering what misadventure was going to happen next, and how the story would be resolved. I strove mightily not to read the end before finishing the book, but alas, I can rarely resist that temptation. It never ruins the story for me though, and I just picked up where I left off and read through to the end. I'm thinking this has something to do with my impatient nature, which is sometimes an advantage, and sometimes not. One thing that struck me was the picture of people as souls. Rather than saying "150 people can fill this building" the book would say "150 souls can fill this building. I like that. I think we should have kept that language, because when I think of you as a soul, I value you so much more.
Crispin: At the Edge of the World by Avi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The day after I finished Crispin: The Cross of Lead I went to the library to get this book. I wanted to know what was going to happen! I enjoyed this book as much as the first. Crispin has grown in his sense of daring and right and wrong. His loyalty to his friend Bear is strong. His curiosity though, seems to get him into a little bit of trouble. I'm disappointed that the 3rd part of this trilogy is not out yet. Now I'm left hanging until it's published!

View all my reviews >>