Fruitful Words

I grew up on the the Dick, Jane and Spot readers. I remember this one about Jane getting 3 dollies for her birthday. Bleh!

I didn’t want dollies. I wanted adventures, dirt, improper behaviour.  Thankfully Dr. Seuss delivered: selfish Yertles, yacky cats, sneaky grinches and grinchy sneetches.

See here for a bunch of Dr. Seuss activities and links. See here for info about Dr. Seuss. It’s an interesting read. It appears that he typically wrote one book a year!

Sorry the day is over. Probably none of you are going to go rush to wake your babies to partake of these fun ideas now. Oh well, they’ll still be fun even if it isn’t his birthday.

 Quiz - Which of the following books were written in my birth year?

1. Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
2. The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
3. Green Eggs and Ham

Numbers 1 and 2.  These also happen to be my favorite books. What’s your fav Dr. Seuss book? Why?

So happy belated birthday, March 2nd,  to one of my favorite childhood authors.

What 10 books are a must reread for you?

Since this day is about getting the kiddos to read, go ahead and list your favorite books the younger crowd would enjoy.

Here are some of my favs . . .

Of course there are many, many more I could list. Here is what some suggest.

• The Teacher’s Association compiled a Top 100 book list for kiddos from baby to young adult.
• The Teacher’s Association also compiled a Top 100 list from the kids’ point of view.
• Go here for another view of the 100 Best Books of the 20th Century.
• HeyThatsMyBlog lists her favorite books for 5th and 6th graders.

The website LoveReading.Co.Uk adds these two books (see previous post) to their list:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

I loved Wuthering Heights as a teen!  Its heart-wrenching tale of betrayal gave me permission to cry. Hmmm. I think I’ll reread this one during my one week break.

This site has the typical list of books by genrewith the option to buy them (in pounds) online.

But it also has a “unique free service [that] lets you read the Opening Extract of every book featured on the site. This could be the first chapter; less if the chapters are long, more if they’re short.

Just click the ‘download extract’ button next to a title and choose ‘open’ when prompted to open or save the file. Then read on your screen or print out to enjoy on the train or in your garden.”

What a wonderful celebration! Unfortunately this is being held only in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Scotsman.com lists 10 books we really can’t live without. Read the whole article for descriptions of the books. How many have you read? Have any comments on them?

(more…)

I like the premise of this book. I agree that many Believers have lost their good opinion of God. Their hearts have become cold to His advances. The Christian life has become a matter of mechanical actions and more than a trifle dull. However, that is not how it’s meant to be and there is a way out. There is indeed something more.

I wish that the authors didn’t wait until chapter eight (page 99) to start the how-to section of the book. At least I hope it starts in chapter eight. After the first 11 pages, I was convinced and didn’t want to read the many different word pictures about why I should be persuaded to read the rest of the book.

I was thrilled to read about the authors’ explanation of our longing for transcendence, “for the desire to be part of something larger than ourselves, to be part of something out of the ordinary that is good” (19).

I have felt this way for decades and usually buried it because I thought it was megalomania on my part. And then two things happened in the past three years.

First, when I attended orientation at

William
Jessup
University, the speaker said that we could become world changers if we took the risk to follow God. I unburied that desire a bit more on that day.

Secondly, after reading this section, I uncovered even more of that desire. I don’t know what I, a 48 year old divorced woman, could do that would qualify as a heroic purpose. But I am seeing more clearly that that desire is not a mistaken one. Rather it is one placed within my heart by the Hero of my sacred romance.

I look forward to reading the rest of the book to see just how that might occur.

         The Sacred Romance is about how to have a soul- and emotionally-satisfying relationship with God. The authors, Brent Curtis and John Eldredge show how busyness and past relational hurts bury the innate need Believers have for a good and authentic relationship with God. They bury the needs of their heart. But all people “want to be chosen, to be welcomed…invited into the Drama… [they all] want love, the adventure of intimacy, and this is what God’s pursuit means for men and for women” (97). This invitation into the Drama, this pursuit, is the sacred romance.

            Two parts make up the sacred romance.

• One part is that Believers acknowledge the true goodness of God. He is a hero who has a heart of gold. He is trustworthy and in pursuit of His love, Believers, just because He wants to be with them.

• The second part is that Believers acknowledge their good place in relationship with Him. They were once sin-sick but God, the Hero, rescued them from sin with His sacrificial death. God’s pursuit of Believes makes possible for the goodness to be born and released. He makes it possible for Believers to authentically participate in the sacred romance.

            However, because of growing up in imperfect households, most Believers learned to hide their true selves so as to avoid ridicule and rejection. They took to heart these imperfect words as truth and formed their identities around them. Their maimed identities confirmed suspicions that they’d never meet up to the expectations placed upon them.

            Why do Believers even care about how others view them? God made all people to be relational creatures; just as He is relational. He placed within them a desire to be known and to know others in relationship. Maimed identities make it hard maybe even impossible to participate well in the lives of others. In this sacred romance, Believers are individually sought and uniquely known by the Hero. And more than that, “God created each … with a unique identity, a role in the larger story” of the sacred romance (85). They are shown how to relate well with the Hero and with others.

         So far I have only half of the book. Tomorrow, I will post what I have found to be most helpful in the first 98 pages.

         Hey, if you’ve read the book, what’s your take on it?

God provided me with an accountability partner (ap) for the Treasure Principle sermon series. (Maybe two!)We’ll meet weekly to talk about our goals, how we did, educate ourselves about this issue and pray. I think prayer will turn out to be the key to our changing.

Our discussion revealed that we have some doubts about God’s willingness to take care of us financially. When I was married I didn’t feel that way. Even though at times we were poor (like not knowing where the next meal would come from poor), I felt secure in my hubby’s ability to provide. I just didn’t worry about finances. Back then I KNEW that God would provide either through hubby or other means. And He did every time.

However, since the divorce, I’ve felt very vulnerable and fearful. Isn’t that plain nuts? I have the same God. Maybe I  was really counting on the hubby to provide and not God. My ap and I realized that our focus is off. We want to focus on God and not the giant.

So part of our assignment for next week is to daily list “5 Ways God Took Care of Me Today.” I won’t always make this list public, but here’s today’s list.

1.  The accountabilty partners from God are just what I need. Not only will I get some structure in this area, I’ll have fun doing it. And I won’t have to do this alone.
2. God provided our WM account with $98. It came from the used cell phone/inkjet cartridge fundraiser. This money will go towards scholarships for the Retreat. We will do this fundraiser again!
3. I didn’t spend any money. That is always a plus.
4. I received emotional support. Several people called and/or visited me. Connecting with other women in honesty, fun, intelligence and caring fills up my emotional tank. The more filled it is, the better I am able to not resort to buying things to fill my tank.
5. God reminded me of my priority. I want God and not Things, Money, or People to rule my heart, pocketbook, words, actions and how I spend my time.

Be sure to pick up your copy of The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving by Randy Alcorn. Go to the church office to pick one up. It’s $6.

There are two Treasure Principle Small Groups at church these next 6 weeks. Pastor Mike has one on Wednesday nights, 7-8:30 pm. John and Shula have one on Thursday nights, 5:30-8:30 pm. Their group starts with a potluck.

Call the church for phone numbers or more info on the groups. Or how about forming your own group? Or getting an accountability partner or two?

The Gospel of the Kingdom by George Eldon Ladd

CT writes, “Ladd’s work called a generation of evangelicals to a higher level of scholarship, and his “already-but-not yet” take on God’s kingdom influenced charismatic theologians and cessationists alike.”

Do you ever read the reviews of books at amazon.com? I do. Especially if I don’t know much about the book in question. Like this book, although I’ve heard of it, I don’t know much about it.

So I checked out some of the reviews. Look at this one by Gary Gillespie:

The Gospel of the Kingdom is a terrific book which every Christian should read. A curious fact is that it was written in 1959, well ahead of its time.

• We are subjected to various views of the Kingdom of God and how it relates to the Church, Israel and the end times.
• There is much confusion as to what the Kingdom is, and when and where will it be. Ladd answers these critical questions.

The chapters deal with. . .

• 1. What is the Kingdom of God.
• 2. The Kingdom is tomorrow.
• 3. The Kingdom is today.

In addition he gives a good exposition of how to understand the parables of Kingdom and an excellent section on how to understand the Sermon on the Mount.

• He takes the difficult passages of Jesus’ sermon and answers the questions what does Jesus mean that one should “cut off your hand” or “gouge out your eye” if necessary to enter the Kingdom.
• It is a practical book as well which calls Christians to commit all to the advancement of the Kingdom of God and the role that God wants all of us to play in its institution.

It is easy to read and extremely informative. I could not reccommend it more highly.

Alright, here’s another good one. Do you have any thoughts on this?

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll

Historian Mark Noll wrote this book 12 years ago. According to Christianity Today this book shaped evangelical thought more than any other book… “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind” was his main critique.

If he were to write the book today, he says, “It would have a different tone:

• More hopeful than despairing,
• More attuned to possibilities than to problems,
• More concerned with theological resources than theological deficiencies.

Christianbook.com says this about the book:

• In this treatise on the state of the intellectual status of the evangelical movement, Mark Noll reminds us that ‘modern evangelicals are the spiritual descendants of leaders and movements distinguished by probing, creative, fruitful attention to the mind’ and challenges us to reclaim that heritage.
• Noll argues that if Christians are to serve God with their minds, they must do their homework, and think intellectually.

So, have you read this book? I confess, I haven’t - yet.

Out of the Saltshaker and into the World by Rebecca Manley Pippert

“Christians and non-Christians have something in common,” author Rebecca Pippert noted. “We’re both uptight about evangelism.” Out of the Saltshaker helped generations of fearful students (and other would-be evangelists) to loosen up.

I read this book years ago. I remember it helping my fear issues with out-in-the-open evangelism. I’m more of a love-em or friendship-them-to-the-Lord type of evangelism.

Recently I was looking at Out of the Saltshaker and thinking about hosting a small group to go through it. Anyone interested for the Winter quarter?

Pippert speaks frequently on the theme of sharing our faith in ways that are natural and consistent with who God made us - themes that are taken from Out of the Salt Shaker.
According to her website, she address such issues as:

• How do we communicate sin in a therapeutic age?
• How do we reveal the uniqueness of Jesus to New Agers?
• How do we defend the truth of the gospel in a culture that doesn’t care if what we say is true?
• What is the role of the Holy Spirit in evangelism?