Don't Check Your Brains at the Door

by Josh McDowell & Bob Hostetler

1992, 2011

If you’re interested in Christian apologetics, but don’t have the energy for a major brain work-out, Don’t Check Your Brains At The Door is the book for you.

Written for teens, this book offers short, easy to read chapters that respond to some of the major   
criticisms people have against the Bible and Christianity.

It also delves into many of the ideas about life and self that are rampant in today’s culture.

So what topics are addressed? Here are a few examples:

Is the Bible accurate?

Is God real and personal?

Is Jesus the Son of God?

Is the Resurrection real?

Is there truth?

Is money necessary for true happiness?

Is it all about me?

Is premarital sex okay?

This book was a really great read from start to finish and I was both entertained and educated. 

I am sure an "adult version" would contain a lot more apologetic detail, but frankly this book was just enough for my brain power. 

I also really appreciated the book's layout as it is possible to read topically or from cover to cover.

Sigh, 

So much good information, I just wish I could remember it all.

Reading on… 

Improving Your Serve: The Art of Unselfish Living

 

by Charles R. Swindoll
1981

 

Recently I taught on the subject of “serving within church-life” at a women’s bible study.

What an amazing and encouraging topic.

 

As part of my prep-work I read Chuck Swindoll’s book, Improving Your Serve: The Art of Unselfish Living.

A book that I had always meant to read, but had, in fact, left on our bookshelf untouched for over 10 years.

 

Check that one off my list.

 

Did I miss out by not reading it those many years ago?
Most certainly.

I found Improving Your Serve to be a really useful book.

Though not so much from a teaching perspective,

More from a whole life perspective.

Mr. Swindoll didn’t just stick to servanthood within the Church, instead he stressed it as an integral part of our Christian walk.

 
And, wonder of all wonders,

Did you know that unselfish living does not come naturally?

 
Really!

In my life, nothing demonstrates this insight more than motherhood:

I grumble when I am late out the door and my child needs help with a zipper.

I grumble when I am just settling in to my coffee and am called to bathroom duty.

I grumble when I am looking for a little peace and a recess mis-adventure needs reporting.

 

And why do I grumble?
Only one reason,

I am selfish and want things to proceed my way.
In my own timing.

 
But, just as Jesus came to be a servant to all, so am I called.

Mr. Swindoll says, “[God] is engaged in building into His people the same serving and giving qualities that characterized His Son.”

What a difficult task.
What an impossible task.

 

It’s a good thing that God is the God of impossibilities.

 

So,

What does a servant look like?
What does a servant act like?

What makes someone a servant?

 

-         Transparency, willing to accept responsibility

-         Humility, giving the credit to God

-         Accountability, willing to be confronted

-         Sensitivity, awareness of another’s need

-         Honesty, absolute integrity

-         Giver, in anonymity and personally

-         Self-denial, it’s not always easy

-         Forgiver, to not is hypocritical

-         Forgetter, don’t keep score

-         Vulnerability, accept help and be teachable

-         Determination, persevere

-         Renewed mind, think differently than the world

-         Gentleness, strength under control

-         Hunger for righteousness, long to be filled by God

-         Peacemaker, preserve unity and build up

And the really biggies,

SEE OTHERS AS CHRIST SEES THEM.
NO ACT OF SERVICE IS TOO SMALL.


This certainly is not me most, if not all, days.

This list is huge and is at the outer reaches of impossibility. 

It’s a good thing I am not left to live it alone.

When I open up myself to the Lord, place my life at His feet, and pick up my cross,  

He will teach me these things.
The Holy Spirit will work in me.

Everything I experience in life God will use and has designed to prepare me for serving others more effectively.

Everything.

 
Like a potter with a fresh lump of cold, damp clay,
So am I in His hands.

So are you.

Isaiah 64:8, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

 

 

Reading on…

Reshaping It All

by Candace Cameron Bure with Darlene Schacht
2011

 

Having grown up watching Candace Cameron on the family sitcom, Full House, it was only natural that I be curious about her book.

Especially as I’d been told she was a Christian.

 

Basically, Reshaping It All is about self-discipline.

Physical, emotional and spiritual.

 

In all aspects of life.

 

Reading about self-discipline is always a good thing for me as there are areas in my life where I am in want.

Think Easter.

Think Easter Crème Eggs.

Enough said.

 

So, what were the take-home messages for me in this book?

 

“…hard work [is] not only a prerequisite for success but…it [is] also a prerequisite for strong character. Struggling for the things we get teaches us the all-important lesson of self-discipline while it strengthens our body and spirit.” (pg 37)

 

I often struggle with hard work.

And, hard work that needs time?

Forget it!

 

If I am being honest, I am all about instant gratification and little work.

Not that I consider myself lazy, a mom of four busy kids has no time to be lazy, but for instance: I am scheduled to run a “5 k” in a few months, and have I started training?

No!

Time is certainly a factor, but so is self-discipline. Frankly, I am not excited about the effort involved!

 

So, why don’t I practice self-discipline?
(Even if it means the "lack of" will produce a collapse at the “3 k” mark.)  

It’s easier not to - even if I know that certain undesirable (ie, collapse at the “3 k” mark) outcomes are inevitable.  

 

Pick your area: exercise, sleep, food, spending or daily devotions.

Or Easter Crème Eggs.

 

How are you with self-discipline?

 

The Bible speaks very clearly about this elusive yet desirable quality,

Proverbs 10:4, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.”

 

A life of self-discipline not only produces self-respect but also respect from others.

Proverbs 25:28 says, “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.”

 

Self-control = self-discipline.

 

Really,
What is the big deal if a city has broken walls?

Back in the day, cities had thick walls to provide protection from enemies, humans and animals alike.

If the walls were broken, the enemy could get in to destroy the city and its people.

 

Without self-discipline, how am I like a broken city?

 

From what I can tell, self-discipline provides protection.

Protection from wrong choices, wrong thoughts, and wrong actions.

 

When the walls of self-discipline are broken or missing, I can be destroyed.

To make matters worse,

When I am not self-disciplined in the lesser areas of my life, I am probably not self-disciplined in my relationship with God.

 
And, if I am not self-disciplined in this relationship, I won’t have the means to fight.

With no walls and no weapons,

I am not protected.

Like the city,

My heart will be destroyed.

Maybe not right away, but remember the inevitable, undesirable outcomes?

Heady stuff.

 

Reading on…

Redeemed and Restored: The Stories of Twelve Ordinary Women Transformed by God’s Extraordinary Power

2006

This book is actually a compilation of testimonies...  

Twelve women.

Twelve stories.

Twelve ordinary, mixed up lives saved solely by God’s grace.

Twelve pastors’ wives reaching thousands for Him.

God is good.

Reading on...

Faith Is Not a Feeling

by Ney Bailey

1978

A product of my book buying habit, I can’t even guess how long Faith Is Not a Feeling has been on my bookshelf. 

And what a book.

I wish I had read it years ago.

Author, Ney Bailey, has been on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ (now called Power to Change) for more than 46 years and I’m sure she has many stories to share about what God has done in the lives of others.

However, the real story is hers.  

A Christian since she was fifteen, a testing point in Ney’s faith came on the evening of July 31, 1976.

On that day, Ney was attending a retreat with thirty-four other Campus Crusade women at a ranch in the Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado. 

Suddenly, there was a call for immediate evacuation of the ranch.

The Big Thompson River was flooding.

The women scrambled and confusion ensued.

Any clear instructions lost in the chaos.

Four cars went one way, two in another.

The outcome?

Seven out of nine women in the two died.

All women, including Ney, in the four survived.

Ney writes that, in the midst of the flood and the days that followed, she had to make a decision.

Would she believe what her circumstances dictated or would she believe what God said in His Word.

The choice wasn’t easy.

Circumstances spelled fear, panic, weakness. The unknown.

The desire to understand. 

All completely natural responses.

God’s Word says trust Him. He is in control.

He works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Nothing in our lives happens except for what God allows.

All completely unnatural responses.

Ney chose the unnatural.

To believe God.
To trust Him.

To live by faith...

Do I live by faith?

Living by faith, or taking God at His Word, means that no matter what circumstances surround me I trust what God has said in His Word to be true.

1Peter 1:25

            But the word of the Lord endures forever.

Everything in this world will change.

Everything in my life will change.

But God’s Word will stay the same.  

To quote Ney,

God’s Word is

·        Truer than anything I feel

·        Truer than anything I experience

·        Truer than any circumstance I will ever face

·        Truer than anything in the world

The way I see it, 
I can choose to believe my feelings, thoughts or circumstances, letting them control my life, and consequently live in a state of unrest; or I can choose to take God at His word, letting Him have complete control over my life, and sleep in the shadow of His wings.

Trust that God will take care of the details.

As God is the only constant in life, personally, the choice is easy.
I’d much rather believe Him than be swayed by the ups and downs of my circumstances and emotions.

How about you?

Of course, this decision depends on will.

Choosing with my will to take God at His Word.
Could a four letter word ever be so hard?

The will to trust God.
Exactly what Satan doesn’t want.

Satan uses our circumstances and emotions to make things seem like truth when they're really not.  

1 Peter 5:8 talks of Satan prowling around like a roaring lion looking for the areas where I am especially vulnerable.

So, what should be my response?

Take up the shield of faith against Satan’s fiery darts.

And remember, Satan is a defeated foe.

Jesus already beat him on the cross.

“If we act upon God’s Word, if we take Him at His Word, we will be wise, and our lives will be solidly set on the rock of His words. If we don’t take Him at His Word – if we rely on our circumstances and feelings rather than what the Bible tells us, we will be foolish, building our lives upon the sand.”

Reading on...

Kisses from Katie

by Katie Davis

2011

My attention gravitates to books whose main character has the same name as one of my children. I’ve actually started collecting them with the intent of passing them along at the appropriate time.

That drew me to Kisses from Katie.

Simply put, the author, Katie Davis, is a young, twenty-something girl whose heart attached itself to Uganda and its people after a short high school mission trip. This led Katie to give up her American life and move to Uganda, where she currently serves as a nurse, teacher, cook, and caregiver, among other things. If I can actually sum up her life with those few words.

And, did I mention, she adopted thirteen Ugandan children? 


And I think four are loud at the dinner table.

Katie is an amazing example of a young woman taking up her cross daily and following Jesus completely. One hundred percent.

Kisses from Katie was a compelling read start to finish. I don’t even know where to begin. The stories and experiences Katie shares in her book are so different than what I experience in my everyday life....

So, what impacted me?

Comfort is bad for my soul. Why? With all my creature comforts in place, I am not mindful of my need for a Saviour.

People who believe in God are supposed to share with the poor.

God uses inadequate people and sometimes He stretches them beyond what they ever thought possible, but He always provides the means.

“Do not forget in the darkness what you have been promised in the light” (pg 204).

How can a child, or anyone, accept the Saviour’s love if they don’t know what love is?

In the last twenty-four hours, more than sixteen thousand children died of hunger-related causes.

Hot water in my home is a gift, not a right. (Recently, I was ever so grumpy to go forty-eight hours without it.)

I do not want to forget what I’ve learned through Katie Davis, so I have added her blog to my own homepage, check it out.

Reading on...  

Just a Minute

by Wess Stafford, President and CEO, Compassion International

2012

I had read Mr. Stafford’s first book, Too Small to Ignore, way back in spring 2010 and found it to be incredibly powerful.

So powerful that I picked up copies for the Kid’s Ministry servants at church and encouraged them very strongly to read it. (You can do that when you coordinate the ministry!) 

In Too Small to Ignore, Mr. Stafford tells his story of abuse at the hands of boarding school missionaries and how God used that experience for His purpose in the development of the child advocacy organization, Compassion International.

Though I was moved by all 264 pages, the following hit me hard, 

“Watch carefully the children around you. In precious moments you will catch a glimpse of your Saviour’s face. Listen intently and you will hear His voice. Walk gently among them; His footprints are all around you. Embrace them, for you are embracing Him. Respect them, because they are sometimes God’s agents – exactly the kind of instruments He needs. At such times, only a child will do,” (pg 228).

As I had been impacted so deeply by Too Small to Ignore, when I saw an advertisement for Mr. Stafford’s new book, I quickly placed my order.

Just a Minute did not disappoint.

If you are looking for a book that pours out beauty with ugliness, restoration with abandonment, time with neglect, smiles with tears, this is it.

Filled with stories of passing moments between children and adults, Mr. Stafford’s premise is that how an adult chooses to respond to a child will, in many cases, have a lasting effect on that child's life.  

For the good and for the bad.

For instance, did you know that notorious German leader, Adolf Hitler, was one of five children in an abusive household? As the story goes, a young Adolf decided he would run away from home like his older brother, but not before his father found out and locked him in a room to prevent it....

Adolf tried to escape by squeezing through a barred window, but couldn't quite fit. To make himself smaller, Adolf removed all his clothes and made another attempt. As he tried to wriggle his way out, he heard his father’s approach and quickly moved back from the window, covering his nakedness with a nearby tablecloth.

“This time ... [his father] did not punish with a whipping. Instead he burst into laughter and shouted to [his mother] to come up and look at the “toga boy”. The ridicule hurt Adolf more than any switch...” (John Toland, Adolf Hitler, New York: Doubleday, 1976)

And, as the common phrase goes, the rest is history. Adolf Hitler would never let himself be ridiculed again.

On the more positive side, Mr. Stafford also included an account of the leading animator for many beloved Disney characters such as Ariel from The Little Mermaid, the beast in Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel in Tangled, among others.

This animator’s name is Glen Keane, son of “The Family Circus” creator, Bil Keane. 


When Glen was young, he aspired to draw just like his dad. On one particular day, Glen could not get his sketch of a horse right. Instead of looking like a horse, it looked more like a dog! Glen sought his father’s help.

Despite having his work interrupted for an inconsequential sketch of a horse, Bil Keane stopped what he was doing and helped his son draw the horse correctly. 


In that moment, as Wess Stafford reports in his book, “Glen felt loved and respected,” (page 165-166). Glen obviously went on to be a very talented "sketcher". 

Just a Minute is full of stories like these. 


Stories that made my head swell with shame and stories that made me nod quietly with approval.

This book reminded me that the moments I spend with my children count. 


My words, my expression, my actions. 


They all matter.  


For good and for bad.

As both my sons learned in kindergarten, everyone has a bucket. Am I emptying their buckets or filling them?


When I act with compassion and grace, I am filling.
When I act with anger and impatience, I am emptying.

Sometimes it is only by the grace of God that I don’t dump their buckets right out onto the floor.


And that is the point.

Taking a moment out of the busyness of my life to ask the child next to me about their day, or to laugh at a “non-joke”, or to compliment the use of colour in a scribbled picture isn't always accomplished through my own strength.


Sometimes it is only accomplished through the grace of God given to me.

And I need to remember, I am also a child. A child of God. 


And God takes every moment for me.




Reading on...

Playing Catch Up

Though the keys have been idle, my eyes have not and I have still been reading these last few months. There just hasn't been time to write about it!

Today, I will play catch up with only a few brief thoughts about each book.

Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana 

By Anne Rice

2008

I don’t think I would have pulled this book off the shelf myself, but my husband gave it to me for Christmas. After reading it last month, I am still gathering my thoughts. How should I feel about a book written from Jesus’ point of view?

A book that is not the Bible.

The Road to Cana covers the months leading up to the wedding where Jesus turns water into wine. The Bible doesn’t tell us anything about Jesus during this time, so who knows, perhaps what Anne Rice has suggested really could have happened.

The book appears to have been thoroughly researched. The historical detail, sights, and sounds are all amazing. To me, this makes it a great read, despite everything.

Just one further note, once I finished the book I was left with a curiosity about the author, Anne Rice. I knew her name from the many vampire books she’d written years ago, but I knew nothing of her personally.

Who is she that she can write a book through the eyes of Jesus?

On her website www.annerice.com I discovered a great many interesting things. For instance, did you know she was born as Howard Allen O’Brien  and chose the name “Anne” when entering first grade?
Also, that in 1998 Anne returned to the Catholic Church and, “in 2002 consecrated her writing entirely to Christ, vowing to write for Him or about Him”.

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World

By Joanna Weaver

2000

It was with an intentional heart that I picked this book from my library. I’ve owned it for years, always hoping to read it someday, but never quite got around to it. After being assigned to teach that a woman should be “busy at home” for our Women’s Bible Study at church, I picked it up out of desperation!

I needed some direction...  

The book focuses on the Bible passage Luke 10:38-42 where Martha is busy working while her sister, Mary, sits at Jesus’ feet listening. Martha is worried and upset about her workload and almost chastises Jesus for not caring that she is doing everything while her sister just, well,  sits. In return, Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen what is better.

The book spoke to me in so many different ways, but essentially it comes down to this:

I need to spend time at Jesus’ feet before doing anything else. If I don’t, nothing will work because I don’t have the proper strength, motive, perspective or purpose.

Very powerful, and very useful in my talk.

A Wife After God’s Own Heart

 

By Elizabeth George

2004

Something else to help with the Women’s Bible Study... 

This book covers topics such as growing in your relationship with Jesus, functioning as a team with your husband, money management, keeping your home, raising your children, and making time for fun.

All good things.

Several ideas caught my eye...

• I need to make choices that can help me grow closer to the Lord
• I need to pick the right time in order to discuss issues with my husband, ie not as soon as he walks in the door after work.
• I bring glory and honor to God by keeping my home.
• I need to pray for my children.
• What a joy it is to serve the Lord with my husband.

Nothing really new, but certainly good reminders.

Half-Blood Blues

By Esi Edugyan

2011

This book won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist for The GGs, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Man Booker Prize. I have no idea what these individual contests consider, but I do know they serve as Canada's top literary awards. I guess that’s another topic...

Because this book was recognized so highly, and because I didn't know anything about Blues music during  World War Two, I purchased it at our local big box book store.

So glad I did.

I couldn’t put it down. And because I read it during a family vacation, I didn't have to.

It did take me a few pages to get used to the unique dialogue.  However, once I did, it was beautiful.

The book was so well written and the story so fascinating, I bought it for my dad for Christmas. He also loved it and he’s a fussy reader!

The Best of Me

By Nicholas Sparks

2011

I haven’t read a lot of Nicholas Sparks, perhaps A Walk to Remember and that’s it. So, when I picked up his newest at the library on a whim, I didn’t really know what to expect.

I had an inkling that Mr. Sparks was a good, clean writer, and that he may even be a Christian. Apparently, he is, and according to a website I found, this is what he says...

The author told The Christian Post that his writing never includes adultery or pre-marital sex, although he knows that it happens in real life. He chooses not to write using profanity or sex because it is the higher road to do so, and not the “easy” way to create a conflict in a story.

Sparks says he is comfortable writing about his faith, and just because pre-marital sex does occur, [it] does not mean it occurs in 100 percent of young people. He believes that his exclusion of sex in his writing may encourage young people that “you can be in love and not go all the way.”

Without having this knowledge as I read the book, I found myself going “uh oh” a few times with the choices the main characters made. However, to say any more would ruin the story.

Let’s just say, I gave a sigh of relief at the end and I truly enjoyed the book.

I might even read a few more!

Chronicles of the Kings

(Gods and Kings; Song of Redemption; The Strength of His Hand; Faith of my Fathers; Among the Gods)

By Lynn Austin

This Biblical series follows Judah’s kings from Ahaz to Manasseh. While much of this series is fiction and speculation, the plot follows Biblical accounts found in 1 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Isaiah and probably several others books.

While some readers may regard these books as “light reading”, I thoroughly enjoyed them and found they helped bring the Bible to life.

What was especially interesting for me, is that the first book talks about the building of Hezekiah's Tunnel in Jerusalem in great detail. Well, a group from our church just visited the real Hezekiah's tunnel on their recent trip to Israel. It really does exists!

I would recommend this series in a heartbeat.




I have a few more books to add to this list, but I'll wait for another day...