Archives For books

Here be gold

August 9, 2011

Wrestling with an angel coverI want to thank God for an amazing little book I am currently reading. The book is Wrestling with an Angel: A Story of Love, Disablity and the Lessons of Grace by Greg Lucas, about insights gained as he raised a severely disabled son by the grace of God. It is very well written, humorous and heart-rending.

A commonly used phrase within Christian circles is ‘in the trenches’, meant to refer to people who are serving God in the midst of tough circumstances of daily life. Greg and Kim Lucas have certainly been doing that and what has been distilled from their years of difficulty and love into this 100-page book is like gold. True wisdom that is never easily gained.

I have spent days meditating on the depth of humility displayed in the chapter ‘Opposition|Humility’, and the excerpt below is from the very first chapter, challenging my perception of how big a load God could place upon me:

Break|Equip

I hear religious-minded people say all the time with good intentions, “God will never place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot carry it.”
Really?
My experience is that God will place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot possibly carry it alone. He will break your back and your will. He will buckle your legs until you fall flat beneath the weight of your load. All the while He will walk beside you waiting for you to come to the point where you must depend on Him. (p14)

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
(2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV)

Thank you Lord that You still write wisdom in books by Your servants ( Ecclesiastes 12:11).

Greg Lucas blogs at Wrestling with an Angel

Gifts I have noticed this week (#549 – #560):

549) Firewood delivered and stacked before the latest storm.
550) God kept the snow away so I could preach my sermon.
551) Kids enjoying collecting pine cones on a freezing cold afternoon.
552) Two-year-old son thinks my pathetic drawing of a tractor is wonderful.
553) The faith and perseverance of others lifting me up.
554) Ability.
555) Cooking dinner for a change, letting my wife rest.
556) Politicians I didn’t vote for.
557) A friend searching for ways to help.
558) Getting to bed at a reasonable hour.
559)  Being pursued to deal with my weaknesses.
560) Those who love me making sure I am helped.

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Image of book cover: Cruciform Press

In Hard stuff , ,
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Reasons for reading

May 19, 2011

 

My "To-read" pile

I love reading. I particularly love reading books. Blogs and websites and short documents are fine, but they cannot compare to the pleasure of reading a good book.

Aside from a general preference for books, there are many reasons why I read. Why I am reading not only influences what I choose to read but also how I read it. Some books are read slowly from cover to cover, others are skimmed, some are dipped into as the mood takes me, and then there are the reference tomes that are only read in small bits as required.

Here are some of the reasons I read:

  • To be reminded: some stuff is just too valuable to leave shut up on the shelf.
  • To escape into a good story for a while.
  • Learning: some books are a challenge for me to read but I know they are good for me.
  • To be jarred and jolted into a deeper view of of being human.
  • Out of curiosity: sometimes a book just makes me want to know what it is about.
  • Someone else recommends the book: I have to admit that this is not always a good reason for me – I’ve slogged through a lot of books that came well recommended but just weren’t of much interest to me.
  • I like the author’s other books: not always reliable, but certainly more useful to me than recommendations from others.

I’m sure there are good reasons I’ve left out, maybe I will add to this list over time. Or you can add your own reasons why you read in the comments for this post.

Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
(Ecclesiastes 12:12 ESV)

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Image of my ‘To-read’ pile: by me.

In Christian thinking ,
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Thank you Ann

February 8, 2011

Dear Ann,
Thank you for your beautiful words. I first began reading your blog (A Holy Experience) in the middle of last year and was captivated by the honest, encouraging and inspiring words you write there. Today your book (One Thousand Gifts) arrived at my door all the way from America and again I am lifted up by your words.

As I have been keeping my own list of gifts given by God, things I am thanking Him for, I also have asked:

“I think how God-glory in a cheese ring might seem trifling. Even offensive, to focus the lens of a heart on the minute, in a world mangled and maimed and desperately empty.”

I have asked the question many times, wondered also if my own list is trite and offensive to those who have so much less than I, who by circumstance of birthplace are ravaged by poverty, exploitation, war or persecution. My answers have been non-answers, feeling guilty, wondering if I should be asking for suffering in order to be a true disciple? I was not ready for the wisdom of your next paragraph:

“I know there is poor and hideous suffering, and I’ve seen the hungry and the guns go to war. I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks for early light dappled through leaves and the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives. Why would the world need more anger, more outrage? How does it serve the world to reject unabashed joy when it is joy that saves us? Rejecting joy to stand in solidarity with the suffering doesn’t rescue the suffering. The converse does. The brave who focus on all things good and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light to all the world.” (p58)

I am such a novice in gratitude and thanksgiving, I am taking small steps unsure where the path is going but seeing enough signs along the way of the leading of Christ that I know He wants me to walk in this.

Interestingly, only yesterday I was considering my gratitude list and what it is about. I realized that in participating in a community of people all recording similar lists of thanksgiving it is easy to slip into something of a numbers game and seek simply to lengthen my list out of pride rather than true thankfulness and rejoicing in Christ. On the other hand, I am sure that items make it onto my list for which I am truly thankful but have others utterly mystified as to what I even mean, let alone why I’d be thankful for them. Then there are all the things which I thank God for deeply and a few words on a numbered list simply cannot capture the depth of gratitude and dependence of hope which hang upon them.

Therefore I am going to reduce my concern over how many items are on my list and go for depth. My list may grow more slowly but hopefully my soul will grow more deeply. I want to ponder why I am thankful as well as what I am thankful for. I want to make it more explicit to myself at least that these ‘little’ things I thank God for are given by Him for my joy – a concept that my heart is reluctant to hold onto.

Gifts I have noticed this week (#238 – #240):

238) My eldest daughter asking so many questions about God, the Trinity, how the Holy Spirit helps us, and what limits have been placed upon Satan. I feel inadequate attempting to answer her questions – I think I understand in my head but it comes out all garbled when trying to express the ideas to a nine-year-old. Yet it is so encouraging that she is curious, is concerned and knows that Jesus is all-mighty. It helps me read the Bible with new eyes to be reading it to a child who is eagerly trying to figure out who and how God is. Most of all I am greatly encouraged that she is thinking all this through for herself rather than just believing what she is told in order to keep her parents happy.

239) Encouragement to continue counting gifts.

240) Grandma and Poppa reading bedtime stories:

holy experience

In Eucharisteo , ,
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Interrupt your 'To-Do' list

January 24, 2011

Having been away on holiday for a week the idea of returning to a schedule full of stuff to do does not appeal! (not that my own schedule is particularly busy compared to that of my lovely wife).

While we were away I read an amazing book by Ingrid Betancourt, Even Silence Has an End which tells her story of being held as a hostage in the amazon jungle for six years. She comments several times about the torment of being forced to waste so much time out of her life and resolved to spend more time with her family if she ever escaped captivity. This seems to be a fairly common resolution when people are separated from those they love, but I recently encountered a strikingly different resolution from Billy Graham when asked what he would do differently if able to live his life over again:

I would study more, pray more, travel less, take less speaking engagements. If I had it to do over again, I’d spend more time in meditation and prayer and telling the Lord how much I love him and adore him and looking forward to the time we are going to spend together for eternity.  -Billy Graham (Quoted on the Prayer Journal blog).

Then I read a cutting-to-the-heart post by Ann Voskamp on stopping to pray in which she finds the connection between work, time and idolatry:

“You okay, Mom?” Josh’s washing dishes, sleeves rolled up, elbow-deep in suds.

I whisper it out the window, ashamed … appalled… “The only thing that prevents me from praying more is me.”

The sparrows line the hydro wires out by the mailbox.

“It’s my own inflated sense of self-importance, the elevation of my work, of my agenda, that keeps me from prayer-communion.” I turn to face him.

“That’s called idol worship. I don’t pray enough because I’m practicing idol worship.”

It is so easy to treat prayer as another thing I should do, like exercising or learning a foreign language, something I know would be worth the effort if I could find the time.

However, the most important principle of ‘time management’ that I have learned over the years is that the list of stuff ‘needing’ to be done will always expand beyond the time available to do it. Therefore it is a fallacy to think in terms of getting rid of that ‘To Do’ list and then having time for the important stuff in life such as praying. The list is never going to end! To find time to pray I have to interrupt the list with what is more important.

So please excuse me, I have important things to be doing!

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
(Romans 12:12 ESV)

In Simple faith ,
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Faith and horror

December 31, 2009

In his book ‘Crazy Love‘, Francis Chan says he is writing for those who would rather die before their convictions do (p21), a sentiment that greatly appeals to me – reminding me of Philippians 1:21. Chan challenges Christians to move beyond a lukewarm faith and start giving our best to God rather than offering the leftovers of our lives to our creator.

I read another book over Christmas, about a teenager with deep devotion to God. The book is ‘Night‘ by  Elie Wiesel, who was 15 when he arrived at Auschwitz. He writes:

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never.

Reading ‘Night’ has rocked my perception of the world and causes me to have grave concerns about the nature of my faith – what would suffering truly do to my faith? Reading ‘Crazy Love’ deepened my concerns – is my faith real? If it is real, why is there so little fruit?

In Simple faith
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