“That light [of a firefly] is bright enough to light up a little speck of the night sky so a man can see it a ways away. That’s what God expects us to do. We’re to be lights in the dark, cold days that are this world. Like fireflies in December.”
from Fireflies in December, by Jennifer Erin Valent
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Book Brief - The Great Wide Sea
The Great Wide SeaM. H. Herlong
Viking Juvenile (October 2, 2008)
2009 Texas Lone Star Award book
Fifteen year old Ben is still dealing with his mothers recent death in a car accident when his father suddenly sells their house and announces that he and Ben, along with his two brothers, will sail the Bahamas for the next year. Reluctant, but without many options, Ben and his brothers soon find themselves fighting to survive a fierce Atlantic storm after their father disappears overboard. They do survive only to find themselves stranded on a desert island with all that entails.
“Then I was alone again with the waves and wind. The sun was still high somewhere behind the thick cloud cover – it must have been early afternoon now of the second day – but here on the ocean, the light was dim and there was a new rhythm for me to learn. The race across the top of the waves, the foaming wake, the flying spray, the pull of the rudder against the tiller. Then everything getting slower and slower, quieter and quieter, as we slid down into the windless vacuum of the trough, yawing dangerously at the bottom before slowly climbing up to the top once more.”
This fast paced novel is compelling and moving for all, but particularly for fathers with great insight from the teenage perspective about a fathers love for his children.
“How can anyone be a dad? How can you do all the things you need to do – all day every day for a lifetime?...You saw us crying. You know we’re sad. He paused. I’ll tell you a story….Once upon a time, there was a man who was afraid. He felt safe in his study, but he was lonely. On an island nearby lived a beautiful woman. Sharks circled her island night and day, never resting. The man had a choice. He could close his door, learn not to think of her, and stay lonely. Or he could go outside and jump. He jumped….Its been that way with each of you, he said. The knowing about the sharks and the jumping anyway. Tonight and for a long time to come, your mom and I will be hurting. But we are not sorry we jumped.”
“Then I was alone again with the waves and wind. The sun was still high somewhere behind the thick cloud cover – it must have been early afternoon now of the second day – but here on the ocean, the light was dim and there was a new rhythm for me to learn. The race across the top of the waves, the foaming wake, the flying spray, the pull of the rudder against the tiller. Then everything getting slower and slower, quieter and quieter, as we slid down into the windless vacuum of the trough, yawing dangerously at the bottom before slowly climbing up to the top once more.”
This fast paced novel is compelling and moving for all, but particularly for fathers with great insight from the teenage perspective about a fathers love for his children.
“How can anyone be a dad? How can you do all the things you need to do – all day every day for a lifetime?...You saw us crying. You know we’re sad. He paused. I’ll tell you a story….Once upon a time, there was a man who was afraid. He felt safe in his study, but he was lonely. On an island nearby lived a beautiful woman. Sharks circled her island night and day, never resting. The man had a choice. He could close his door, learn not to think of her, and stay lonely. Or he could go outside and jump. He jumped….Its been that way with each of you, he said. The knowing about the sharks and the jumping anyway. Tonight and for a long time to come, your mom and I will be hurting. But we are not sorry we jumped.”
Rating: Paperback
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
We surf...so you don't have to - June 23
Oh to Have Faith Like a Hebrew Midwife
A great exposition of Exodus 1:17.
Do You Need a Simon Cowell?
A blunt truth-teller.
Don't Just Be Passively Hospitable
Who will you have over next?
A great exposition of Exodus 1:17.
Do You Need a Simon Cowell?
A blunt truth-teller.
Don't Just Be Passively Hospitable
Who will you have over next?
Monday, June 22, 2009
Quote - Soft Christians
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)
"The contemporary moral climate does not favor a faith as tough and fibrous as that taught by our Lord and His apostles. The delicate, brittle saints being produced in our religious hothouses today are hardly to be compared with the committed, expendable believers who once gave their witness among men. And the fault lies with our leaders. They are too timid to tell the people all the truth. They are now asking men to give to God that which costs them nothing.
Our churches these days are filled (or one-quarter filled) with a soft breed of Christian that must be fed on a diet of harmless fun to keep them interested. About theology they know little. Scarcely any of them have read even one of the great Christian classics, but most of them are familiar with religious fiction and spinetingling films. No wonder their moral and spiritual constitution is so frail. Such can only be called weak adherents of a faith they never really understood."
A.W. Tozer
"The contemporary moral climate does not favor a faith as tough and fibrous as that taught by our Lord and His apostles. The delicate, brittle saints being produced in our religious hothouses today are hardly to be compared with the committed, expendable believers who once gave their witness among men. And the fault lies with our leaders. They are too timid to tell the people all the truth. They are now asking men to give to God that which costs them nothing.
Our churches these days are filled (or one-quarter filled) with a soft breed of Christian that must be fed on a diet of harmless fun to keep them interested. About theology they know little. Scarcely any of them have read even one of the great Christian classics, but most of them are familiar with religious fiction and spinetingling films. No wonder their moral and spiritual constitution is so frail. Such can only be called weak adherents of a faith they never really understood."
A.W. Tozer
Friday, June 19, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Book Review - Fireflies in December
Fireflies in DecemberJennifer Erin Valent
Tyndale House Publishers (December 8, 2008)
In short: A heartwarming, and heartwrenching, novel, that will appeal to all ages as it showcases a practical faith in an evocative setting, rich characterization and a substantive plot.
“The summer I turned thirteen, I thought I killed a man.”
With a great opening line like that your expectations are high. Capturing the flavor of the South and filled with suspense, humor and homespun wisdom this debut novel does not disappoint.
“Momma always told me if people don’t want to be my friend, then they probably ain’t worth havin’ as friends.”
“Daddy takes his thinkin’ walks because sometimes a man needs to be on his own to figure things out and find some peace again.”
“And even though Momma told me time and again that there was no such thing as luck, only blessings, I figured as far as family went, I was one of the luckiest girls alive.”
Jessilyn Lassiter, thirteen in 1932, is having a typical hot summer in small town Virginia when a fire destroys the house of her best friend, Gemma. Her family takes Gemma in to live with them. Gemma, black, and Jessilyn, white, soon learn the Biblical truth of the sin in men’s hearts, as their relationship grows in depth and maturity.
“There’s only so much a girl can take, and I can’t take much more of this heat.”
With a great opening line like that your expectations are high. Capturing the flavor of the South and filled with suspense, humor and homespun wisdom this debut novel does not disappoint.
“Momma always told me if people don’t want to be my friend, then they probably ain’t worth havin’ as friends.”
“Daddy takes his thinkin’ walks because sometimes a man needs to be on his own to figure things out and find some peace again.”
“And even though Momma told me time and again that there was no such thing as luck, only blessings, I figured as far as family went, I was one of the luckiest girls alive.”
Jessilyn Lassiter, thirteen in 1932, is having a typical hot summer in small town Virginia when a fire destroys the house of her best friend, Gemma. Her family takes Gemma in to live with them. Gemma, black, and Jessilyn, white, soon learn the Biblical truth of the sin in men’s hearts, as their relationship grows in depth and maturity.
“There’s only so much a girl can take, and I can’t take much more of this heat.”
“You ain’t got no choice. You ain’t God.”
“I don’t know why God likes to make us so hot.”
“Maybe it’s to remind us why we don’t want to go to hell.”
I laughed at her as much as I could manage on that sleepy day. “You do beat all, Gemma.”
“I ain’t kiddin’! There ain’t nothin’ wrong with rememberin’ what’s bad about hell.”…”Don’t make no sense not talkin’ about hell. It’s a place, anyhow, and we ought to remember how much we don’t want to go there. Makes us remember how good Jesus is.”
“I never said Jesus wasn’t good. I just wondered why He gives us so much heat, that’s all.”
My sharp answer put an end to our discussion. Sweltering heat didn’t make for easy friendships.
“I don’t know why God likes to make us so hot.”
“Maybe it’s to remind us why we don’t want to go to hell.”
I laughed at her as much as I could manage on that sleepy day. “You do beat all, Gemma.”
“I ain’t kiddin’! There ain’t nothin’ wrong with rememberin’ what’s bad about hell.”…”Don’t make no sense not talkin’ about hell. It’s a place, anyhow, and we ought to remember how much we don’t want to go there. Makes us remember how good Jesus is.”
“I never said Jesus wasn’t good. I just wondered why He gives us so much heat, that’s all.”
My sharp answer put an end to our discussion. Sweltering heat didn’t make for easy friendships.
Winner of the Christian Writers Guilds 2007 Operation First Novel contest this heartwarming, and heartwrenching, novel, will appeal to all ages as it showcases a practical faith in an evocative setting, rich characterization and a substantive plot.
“Jessilyn, ain’t no man can’t get someplace he never thought he’d get to. You let enough bad thoughts into your head, you can end up doin’ all sorts of things you never thought possible. Otis let evil into is mind and it took over his heart. We best be on our guard and keep our minds on what’s right and true so we don’t become things we’ll regret.”
His words scared me….I was realizing all too quickly that the human heart is fragile and needs constant attention. I’d seen enough bleakness in my own heart to know my daddy was speaking the truth.”
“That’s why we all need to know Jesus in our hearts,” Daddy said. “Ain’t no one else who can keep watch over our hearts like He can. Ain’t no one else who can take the bad out and replace it with good. You best put thought to that, Jessilyn. Ain’t no more important decision you can make, you hear?”
Rating: Hardback
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Book Brief - The London Eye Mystery
The London Eye MysterySiobhan Dowd
Yearling; Reprint edition (May 26, 2009)
2009 Texas Lone Star Award book
Ted’s brain “is wired differently than others.” He takes things very literally.
“I wondered if I should start a conversation. But what about? Small talk or big talk? I remembered what Mum had said when I started at secondary school last autumn. When you meet new people, Ted, keep the talk small. I’d asked her what this meant. Did it mean to use only words of one syllable? She’d laughed and said no, it meant sticking to everyday subjects.”
It turns out he is the best person to solve the mystery of his missing cousin Salim who disappeared while riding in a sealed pod on the London Eye, the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe. His sister Kat is along for the “ride” while the police are baffled and his family is beginning to fall apart.
Although never identified in the novel, Ted’s apparent autistic bent is handled appropriately and effectively and adds an interesting perspective to what otherwise may have been a typical children’s mystery novel.
“Kat,” I said, “an hour is a Drop in the Eternal Ocean of ‘Time’.” This is what Father Russell at our church said once about the human lifespan.”
“I wondered if I should start a conversation. But what about? Small talk or big talk? I remembered what Mum had said when I started at secondary school last autumn. When you meet new people, Ted, keep the talk small. I’d asked her what this meant. Did it mean to use only words of one syllable? She’d laughed and said no, it meant sticking to everyday subjects.”
It turns out he is the best person to solve the mystery of his missing cousin Salim who disappeared while riding in a sealed pod on the London Eye, the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe. His sister Kat is along for the “ride” while the police are baffled and his family is beginning to fall apart.
Although never identified in the novel, Ted’s apparent autistic bent is handled appropriately and effectively and adds an interesting perspective to what otherwise may have been a typical children’s mystery novel.
“Kat,” I said, “an hour is a Drop in the Eternal Ocean of ‘Time’.” This is what Father Russell at our church said once about the human lifespan.”
Rating: Borrow
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
We surf...so you don't have to - June 16
Two Accused of lying
Liar, liar pants on fire.
HT: Biblical Christianity
Last Titanic Survivor Dies
"I enjoyed reading this story and thinking through the distinctly Christian vision of sacrificial manhood that must have beat in the hearts of many of the men who went down with the Titanic."
San Diego Tries to Shut Down Home Bible Study
"What country is this?"
Liar, liar pants on fire.
HT: Biblical Christianity
Last Titanic Survivor Dies
"I enjoyed reading this story and thinking through the distinctly Christian vision of sacrificial manhood that must have beat in the hearts of many of the men who went down with the Titanic."
San Diego Tries to Shut Down Home Bible Study
"What country is this?"
Monday, June 15, 2009
Quote - A Snapshot of the South
“If there was anything I knew about the South, it was that everything in the South was slow. People ate slow, talked slow, and walked slow. Heck, people even thought slow.
For example, Mr. Poppleberry, who ran the pharmacy on Second Street, was the slowest thinker I knew. If I asked him where he kept the quinine, he’d put a finger to his chin and say, “Hmm…” for about a minute, and then he’d say, “Miss Jessilyn, I think it’s on aisle three. No…no. I moved it last Friday. Or was that Wednesday? Couldn’t have been Wednesday because I closed up early on Wednesday seein’ as how my back was actin’ up. And it couldn’t have been Friday, neither, seein’ as how I spent Friday afternoon talkin’ to Digger Thompson about his grasshopper problem.”
Finally, after I’d heard about every day, he’d figure out which day it was by saying something like, “Now, that’s it, Miss Jessilyn. It was Tuesday. So it was. And it was about three o’clock because that was when Mrs. Sykes came in for her heart pills.” About five minutes in, I’d finally be shown to the quinine. And that was how it went when I wanted foot soak for Momma or bandages for Daddy’s blisters or anything.”
from Fireflies in December, by Jennifer Erin Valent
For example, Mr. Poppleberry, who ran the pharmacy on Second Street, was the slowest thinker I knew. If I asked him where he kept the quinine, he’d put a finger to his chin and say, “Hmm…” for about a minute, and then he’d say, “Miss Jessilyn, I think it’s on aisle three. No…no. I moved it last Friday. Or was that Wednesday? Couldn’t have been Wednesday because I closed up early on Wednesday seein’ as how my back was actin’ up. And it couldn’t have been Friday, neither, seein’ as how I spent Friday afternoon talkin’ to Digger Thompson about his grasshopper problem.”
Finally, after I’d heard about every day, he’d figure out which day it was by saying something like, “Now, that’s it, Miss Jessilyn. It was Tuesday. So it was. And it was about three o’clock because that was when Mrs. Sykes came in for her heart pills.” About five minutes in, I’d finally be shown to the quinine. And that was how it went when I wanted foot soak for Momma or bandages for Daddy’s blisters or anything.”
from Fireflies in December, by Jennifer Erin Valent
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Book Brief - Be Skillful: Tapping God's Guidebook to Fulfillment
Be Skillful: God's Guidebook to Wise LivingWarren W. Wiersbe
Cook Communications Ministries (2004)
A former pastor, Warren W. Wiersbe has written 27 books in the "Be" series. The "skillful" referred to here is in "the lost art of making a life" as defined by God in the book of Proverbs. Approaching Proverbs in a thematic fashion Wiersbe relates the major themes of Proverbs while "skillfully" applying them to our lives in a practical fashion. He includes an outline and study questions which prove very helpful in organizing your thoughts while studying Proverbs.
"...the first essential for an effective study of Proverbs is faith in Jesus Christ so that you can honestly call God your Father. You can't make a life until you first have life, and this life comes through faith in Jesus Christ."
He has some very relevant application from the Proverbs that we would do well to heed.
"I note that many modern parents sacrifice time and money to help their children excel in music, sports, and social activities; I trust they're even more concerned that their children excel in knowing and obeying the Word of God."
"The all-seeing camera moves into the bedroom, the barroom, and the courtroom and enables excited viewers to enjoy sin vicariously. Movies and TV are instructing generation after generation of children how to ridicule virginity, laugh at sobriety, challenge authority, and reject honesty."
The chapter on "Enjoying God's Guidance" is the weakest chapter of the book with questionable, if not incorrect, advise on decision-making, which, unfortunately, is what the book of Proverbs is designed to help us with.
Although I would have preferred a verse-by-verse approach (this is, admittedly, difficult for the book of Proverbs as the narrative flow is not really linear), this is a good beginners guide to the rich truths found in "God's guidebook for a fulfilled life."
"People are willing to work diligently in their jobs because they know they'll earn a paycheck, but what about applying themselves diligently to God's Word in order to gain spiritual riches that are more valuable than gold and silver and jewels, riches that will last forever?"
Rating: Paperback
Friday, June 5, 2009
Would it work?Thursday, June 4, 2009
Book Review - The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust BowlTimothy Egan
Mariner Books (September 1, 2006)
In short: A well written story with so much visceral detail you can feel the "predatory dust" of the "black blizzards" in this extraordinary tale of survival during "the worst hard time" in our nation's history.
Untold or not, this book certainly puts flesh on the bones of the Dust Bowl and, peripherally, the Great Depression. Egan tells of the families that stayed behind, less familiar to us, perhaps, than those who moved on, a la "The Grapes of Wrath".
"One of nine kids, Ike Osteen grew up in a dugout. A dugout is just that - a home dug into the hide of the prairie. The floor was dirt. Above ground, the walls were plank boards, with no insulation on the inside and black tarpaper on the outside. Every spring, Ike's mother poured boiling water over the walls to kill fresh-hatched bugs. The family heated the dugout with cow chips, which burned in an old stove and left a turd smell slow to dissipate. The toilet was outside, a hole in the ground. Water was hauled in from a deeper hole in the ground....Ike Osteen's life spans the flu epidemic of 1918, the worst depression in American history and a world war that ripped apart the globe. Nothing compares to the black dusters of the 1930's, he says, a time when the simplest thing in life - taking a breath - was a threat."
Those of us in the modern, Western, entertained, comfort culture of today have no idea of hard times. No relation I'm sure to the Ike Osteen of above, but I wonder how today's Joel Osteen would spin Ike's story to be "your best life now"?
Egan intersperses the portraits of these hardy families with so much visceral detail you can feel the "predatory dust" of the "black blizzards".
"...the only clean part of her pillow was the outline of her head."
This was a time of no air conditioners, no electricity for some, and forecasting of weather with no satellite pictures from above, thus closer to reporting of the weather than any future prediction of what was coming.
"Dust clouds boiled up, ten thousand feet or more in the sky, and rolled like moving mountains...When the dust fell, it penetrated everything: hair, nose, throat...The eeriest thing was the darkness. People tied themselves to ropes before going to a barn just a few hundred feet away...Cattle went blind and suffocated. When farmers cut them open, they found stomachs stuffed with fine sand."
The catastrophe is almost overwhelming at times. Death from dust pneumonia, no rain for eight years in some places, "snusters" (snow mixed with dust), vision lost when caught in a storm, and clouds of grasshoppers that destroyed any crops that happened to grow during that time. People who were smart enough to save lost it all in the banking collapse (no FDIC insurance at that time) and entire towns went broke, thus shutting down all city services.
This is a well written, extraordinary tale of survival that you will not soon forget and should be read by all today as a reminder of true hard times.
Rating: Hardback
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Book Brief - The Steel Wave: A Novel of World War II
The Steel Wave: A Novel of World War IIJeff Shaara
Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (May 19, 2009)
This epic, fictional account of D-Day is a supreme example of how historical fiction should be written. Detailing the planning of Operation Overlord by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the defense of same plan by Commander Erwin Rommel and the execution of the invasion from the perspective of Sergeant Jesse Adams, a veteran of the 82nd Airborne, Shaara brings to life the history of this crucial battle. The fast-paced prose of the "grunt" level perspective, as opposed to the, somewhat matter-of-fact description of the planning sessions, is the dramatic key to the novel.
The opening chapter of commandoes gathering soil samples on Omaha beach is a gut-wrencher and a reminder of loyalty and obedience. Oh, that we were as obedient to our Savior.
"The lieutenant was up and moving, and Dundee followed, jelly in his legs, quick steps...His chest was burning, hard breathing, and now there were shots, blasts of machine-gun fire, arcing lights streaking over the beach. He wanted to stop, to lie behind the cover of the rocky ledge, but the lieutenat kept moving, and Dundee knew to follow, could not forget the training, "Never stop." The streaks of tracer fire popped close overhead, a shattering of rock behind him."
Monday, June 1, 2009
Quote - Lazy Minds
"How criminal, then, must this voluntary ignorance of Christianity and the Word of God appear in the sight of God. When God of His goodness has granted us such abundant means of instruction, how great must be the guilt, and how awful must be the punishment, of voluntary ignorance!
And why are we to expect knowledge without inquiry and success without endeavor? Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, it does not bestow its gifts to seduce us into laziness. It bestows gifts to arouse us to exertion. No one expects to attain to the heights of learning, or arts, or power, or wealth, or military glory without vigourous resolution, strenuous diligence, and steady perseverance.
Yet we expect to be Christians without labor, study, or inquiry! This is the more preposterous because Christianity, a revelation from God and not an invention of man, shows us new relations with their correspondent duties. It contains also doctrines, motives, and precepts peculiar to itself. We cannot reasonably expect to become proficient accidentally, as one might learn insensibly the maxims of worldly policy or a scheme of mere morals."
William Wilberforce
And why are we to expect knowledge without inquiry and success without endeavor? Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, it does not bestow its gifts to seduce us into laziness. It bestows gifts to arouse us to exertion. No one expects to attain to the heights of learning, or arts, or power, or wealth, or military glory without vigourous resolution, strenuous diligence, and steady perseverance.
Yet we expect to be Christians without labor, study, or inquiry! This is the more preposterous because Christianity, a revelation from God and not an invention of man, shows us new relations with their correspondent duties. It contains also doctrines, motives, and precepts peculiar to itself. We cannot reasonably expect to become proficient accidentally, as one might learn insensibly the maxims of worldly policy or a scheme of mere morals."
William Wilberforce
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