Abiding in God

I had a lot of good intentions to write on my blog more, but so far they've fallen by the wayside.  Which confession makes me feel especially like Emma Woodhouse right now.  Rather apropos since this post is about Jane Austen!  I've recently read some "sequels", or perhaps more accurately stated as Jane-Austen-from-a-different-angle books.  I quite enjoyed both of them - they were fun, light, quick reads.  As I only borrowed them from the library, I think I will have to watch out for them in the bookstore sometime so I can have them to re-read them at will later.  Anyway, without further ado - here are the reivews: Mr. Darcy's Diary  by Amanda Grange Amazon link I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this book. I've seen a lot of both really positive and really negative reviews. As to whether someone will like it or not, I think it really boils down to your expectation. We all have our own opinions, ideas, and expectations for exactly...

"The King's Daughter" by Pansy (Isabella MacDonald Alden) When Dell's mother died, she was raised by her uncle and aunt in Boston in a strong Christian and temperance home.  After years away from home, she's called back to help her father with the housework.  Her father runs a hotel and saloon in a run down, dreary town.  Even though Dell is the daughter of a liquor seller, she works incessantly for the temperance movement.  This book is the story or her work, her setbacks and discouragement, and ultimately her faith that brought her though it all.  It's a great story and wonderful encouragement if you're dealing with very challenging circumstances that don't seem to change.  However it ends feeling unfinished and you're told that the story continues in another book.  After digging around a little, I believe the semi-sequel is called "Wise and Otherwise".  (which, if you've read more of Pansy's books, is also the sequel to the b...

" Forever: Why You Can't Live Without It " by Paul Tripp I bought this book at the Liberate Conference in Ft. Lauderdale.  (the bookstore at the conference had me drooling all over the place!)  Having gone through loss, Heaven and forever is suddenly a big topic of interest for me so the book and it's description really grabbed my attention. The book is about forever - eternity - and how our view of it impacts our lives.  Most notably that we don't even think about it at all in our day to day existence.  We have, as the author frequently states, "eternity amnesia".  The book describes our neglect of eternity and how that neglect shapes the way we think and how we live.  It was very eye-opening for me.  I had no idea how vast and deep a difference having and living with a right perspective of eternity makes on your everyday life.  We generally acknowledge that our understanding of forever affects our view of death and loss, but how many of us r...

A week and a half ago we went to the inaugural "Liberate" Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It was an absolutely amazing event! As part of my "processing process" (ie. I'm a slow thinker and it takes me awhile to process things ;)) I thought I would share about the conference here. I haven't quite decided *how* I will do that yet - whether just general remarks about the whole conference or sharing my notes and thoughts on most of the sessions... But something will be coming in the near future! (if you have a preference as to which would be most encouraging, let me know)

" Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery " by Eric Metaxas I recently saw a video of Mr. Metaxas' speech at the national prayer breakfast in Washington D.C. I really enjoyed what he had to say - how he was able to mix humor and truth. When I heard that he had written some books, I knew I had to check them out. This book on Wilberforce happened to be a much more manageable size than his one on Bonhoeffer so I chose to start here. I found this book to be very well written and gripping. I read good chunks of it on a flight recently and had a hard time putting it down to step off the plane! Unlike the title may suggest, the material covers more than just Wilberforce's work on slavery. It's really a comprehensive biography of his life, his faith, and his two "great objects". I found it fascinating to see how people's lives intertwined during that era. William Carey met William Wilberforce and Wilberforce later l...

" First Family: Abigail and John Adams " by Joseph J. Ellis This book offers a fascinating look into the lives, ambitions, and marriage of one of the foremost families of the Revolution era. I found it to be particularly fascinating because it isn't just a re-telling of their life - it offered a sort of "behind-the-scenes" look into their thoughts, attitudes, and motives through use of their copious amounts of letters and journals. As the reader, you aren't just walking through the events of their life, you're journeying into their heart. I also found the book to be very well-written - the words and thoughts flow so nicely together that it made reading both easy and very stimulating. The book is about 250 pages with only seven chapters - so needless to say, the chapters can be lengthy. There are quite a few sub-headings in each chapter though so it's fairly easy to find a good stopping point. I haven't done much reading or studying on this ...

" William Carey: Father of Modern Missions " by Sam Wellman (part of the Heroes of the Faith series) I picked this up to read even though it's a pre-teen/teen level biography. I've seen this series at homeschool bookfairs for years so I thought I'd give it a try. I enjoyed this book for what it was. It is pretty well written and easy to read. It was a nice broad overview of William Carey's life, but being a pre-teen book, didn't stay too heavily on the details. I enjoy a lot of in depth details about people's lives, so this book felt more like an appetizer rather than an entree. Also because it's geared toward a younger crowd, I thought some things were over simplified and over-interpreted. (for example, there are lots of made-up/hypothetical conversations) The author was able to keep my interest throughout the book and I really enjoyed getting a look at this great man of faith. My interest in Carey's life has been piqued. I will be ...

"Dual Citizens" - by Jason Stellman This book has the subtitle "Worship and Life between the Already and the Not Yet" which I found to be very intriguing. From the title, subtitle, and brief description of the book I found I thought the book would be about the seeming push-pull relationship between living on earth but living for Heaven. I was fairly wrong and disappointed. The book is divided into two sections. The first 7 chapters cover the worship aspect of Christianity and the last 7 chapters deal, somewhat generally, with life. I felt that seven chapters on church was a little much, partly stemming from some issues I had with his theology of church. The second half is definitely the best half, with chapters 9 and 11 being my favorites. The book doesn't always make sense in it's flow from chapter to chapter. I especially found it odd to end a book for Christians on a chapter detailing the assurance of salvation provided by the Holy Spirit. I thin...

"Dick van Dyke - My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business" by Dick van Dyke I was randomly typing names into the search engine at my library when I came across this book. I immediately requested it and picked it up a few days later. I love the Dick van Dyke Show - it's hilarious and such a classic. His sense of humor and his expressions of it are just fabulous. So I was eager to read this book. He gives some of his background and experiences growing up. One of my favorite parts was the mention of his time in the Air Force. The way he talked about his experiences made me think of Gomer Pyle - it was pretty amusing! He also documented his entry into stardom. He spent many years working from paycheck to paycheck and traveling the country before his talents were finally discovered and utilized. I really loved reading the parts about the filming of the Dick van Dyke Show. He talked about how everyone genuinely had a fabulous time working on the show together, and I ...

One of my goals for the new year is to read at least 2 books per month. Along with that, I thought it'd be nice for both my writing and analyzing/critical thinking skills to post a review of most of the books I read. So - here goes! "Ginger, My Story" by Ginger Rogers This book combines two things I've long been fascinated with - biographies and movie stars. One of my favorite things as a youth was to randomly wander the biography aisle at the library looking for new and interesting people to read about. Even today I often gravitate towards the biography sections in the bookstores. I found a sad thing though as I grew up. Biographies were no longer guaranteed to be wholesome and compelling. I started to realize that many people's lives weren't as "clean" as children's literature made them seem. After taking home books only to give them up in disgust a little ways into them, I started scanning books while still in the library. That led t...

I recently watched the documentary “ Divided ” by the Leclerc Brothers and promoted by the National Center for Family Integrated Churches. The following are some of my thoughts concerning this film. I’m going to start off with the concerns and disagreements I had with the film. I found parts of the film highly ironic and actually contradictory. It was stated and inferred several times throughout the film that the purpose of youth ministry was to draw kids’ hearts away from their parents and to usurp the parent’s role in raising and discipling their kids. What was ironic was that most of the youth pastors they interviewed said the exact opposite. They stated that it was their desire and intent to work alongside the parents and support and uphold what the parents are teaching. They didn’t want to take the parent’s roles or the parent’s place in these kid’s hearts. I’m surprised that such a blatant contradiction was allowed to remain in the film. ...

One of the ways I like to study the Bible is to take a passage or verse and try to dig in and pull it apart. I love it when preachers/teachers go back to the original Hebrew and Greek words because there is such depth and significance there that is sometimes lost in translation. I try to do that on my own as much as I'm able - which isn't a whole lot since I'm illiterate in both languages. Still, I do find some rewarding things by at least trying to dig deep. I like to go through a passage word by word with a word study book and dictionary to look up the definitions for each word and the grammatical construct of each word. Then, I like to re-write the passage in my own words based on what I've learned. Sometimes it ends up basically the same - but sometimes I discover "hidden treasures". The following verse is one I found some "hidden treasures" in. "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:...

In a day where compromise and "tolerance" reign - where absolutes and "only ways" are despised - where humanism is the way to go and man's opinions and preferences are "god" - we need to stand firm on truth and the authority of God's Word in all things and in all areas of life. Second, a high view of Scripture must accept the accuracy and inerrancy of the Bible. After all, if the Bible is God’s inspired Word in every part (meaning that He is the author), then it must also be truthful in every part (including passages regarding science and history) because He is a God of truth (cf.Titus 1:2; Heb 6:17-18). Thus, the Scriptures can be wholly trusted because they come from a God who can be wholly trusted. This means that Genesis should be believed when it states that the world was created in seven days. It means that Adam should be accepted as a real human being, that the Flood was a global event, that Sodom and Gomorrah were literally destroye...

Now, if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained, without asking any individual , the means for establishing and carrying on an Orphan House: there would be something which, with the Lord’s blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, … but still the first and primary object of the work was (and still is), that God might be magnified by the fact, that the Orphans under my care are provided all they need, only by prayer and faith , without any one being asked by me or my fellow-labourers, whereby it may be seen, that God is FAITHFUL STILL, AND HEARS PRAYERS STILL. The above is a quote from George Mueller's autobiography "A Million and a Half in Answer to Prayer". (pg. 81 to be precise, emphasis is original) George Mueller was a man of great, abiding, unshakable faith in God. It amazes me how his faith remained so strong in the midst of all the many and varied trials his ministry went through. What a godly legacy he has le...

"My life has been hidden with Christ (the left hand) in God the Father (the right hand). Nothing can touch my life that has not been allowed to touch my life by passing through both the Son and the Father. Nothing, then, is going to happen to me by accident, nothing that is outside of my loving Father's control. He who spoke the worlds into existence exercises the same power in keeping me safe in His love." James R. White

[The following is an article I wrote on the Intelligent Design movement for an apologetics class I took a year and a half ago.] There is a movement in the science world today that is gaining much attention and press. Intelligent Design (hereafter referred to as ID) has an appealing name to those of us who believe the Bible is God’s Word and take Genesis as a literal historical account. Yet, many of us don’t really know much about it other than what we hear from the secular media. What should we know about ID? Is it just a new name for Biblical creationism? In this article I’d like to give you a brief overview of the good and bad aspects of this movement and how we, as Bible-believing Christians, should view and act towards it. The Discovery Institute, a home for the ID movement, describes ID as such – “ The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process su...

If you came into our living room you would see a sofa table layered with picture frames. Nothing too out of the ordinary there. But you would also see 2 figurines of Disney characters, Woody and Jessie. (why those in particular is another story for another day) They look a little out of place with the beautiful furniture, frames and photographs. But they hold deep significance for me. I found the second piece on a recent trip to the mall. Naturally, I had to peek into the Disney store. While browsing around, a small snow globe caught my eye. I was simply drawn to it and couldn't stop staring at it. I noticed something that seemed unusual to me in my limited snow globe knowledge. The main characters were separated. Snow globes that I normally see have the main characters together inside the globe. But this one was different. Woody was inside the snow globe that rested on top of an old TV set while Jessie sat next to it and gazed inside. And I realized something while loo...

I love quotes. I love collecting them, writing them down, and re-reading them from time to time. I found this quote in a book I just finished. I found it to be not only excellent, but quite challenging and convicting as well. "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of Heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper, who did his job well.'" - Martin Luther King "Who did his job well." Is that not our goal to hear this? "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." (Matt. 25:21)

Namely: Books. Thanks to my friend Rachel for the inspiration to get back to reading! She recently mentioned a challenge to read 2 books per month. I haven't decided whether I will hold myself to that particularly, but I do plan to start reading more. I don't want to keep wasting time on the computer and facebook when I could be spending my time more profitably. I actually have a books-to-read list that I started about a year ago. 23 books and 4 booklets have already been checked off! (though granted, 2 books were checked off incomplete because I simply couldn't wade through any more of them) I probably have just as many more on my list - and I'm constantly adding to it! I'm now working on finishing some of the books I've already started. I almost always am in the middle of at least a half dozen books. Variety is the spice of life, right?! Here's some of the books I recently finished or am trying to finish soon: The Six Days of Genesis by Paul Tay...