Travelling

My apologies. I've been travelling, which has meant little access to the Internet.

I've been visiting with a friend in Missouri--two friends, really--and hope to share some of my experiences when I have more time to write.

God bless you all!

Margie's Kafe, Vienna, Missouri

The place is deserted--well, it was when I arrived--an elderly couple have just walked in. Margie's is a fairly typical rural place of eating. There are chrome and brown vinyl chairs around square chrome and arborite tables and some forest green vinyl upholstered booths. A young girl serves and when she is asked if she is Margie, she says, "I wish!"

Margie's has a bit more class than some rural diners I've been to. The cinder block walls above the cheap wood panelling has a fresh coat of white on them, trimmed at the top with a strip of Fat Chef wallpaper border and tasteful framed art work hanging between country-style, fluted wall sconces. The windows are large so the place is bright and cheery and the wood laminate floors are clean and relatively new.

I could have ordered Country Ham from the one-page, laminated menuy for eight dollars, but the specials on the white board attracted my attention: BBQ Pork Steak for $4.50 including two sides. I have neer seen such sides offered anywhere: Egg Drop Soup, Mashed Potatoes (okay, that's fairly standard), Green Beans (a southern favourite, I've been told), Applesauce, Cottage Cheese, Peaches, Slaw, Beets and Fries. When I travel, I like to try new things so I ordered beets and peaches with my pork steak--not that I've never had either, but it's so unusual to find them served with a meal. The peaches are from a can--that's okay--but the beets were interesting: sliced, cold and with some sort of flavouring added. Were they pickled? I enjoyed them. It's so easy to not get enough fruit and veggies when travelling and eating in restaurants.

It's 3:00 p.m. I had planned to eat earlier but a little "tour" of Jefferson City (capital of Missouri) turned up nothing but standard fast food chains. No thank you. Linda's not going to be too happy when I show up on her doorstep in an hour or two with not much of an appetite, but it's better than arriving so hungry I'd eat anything in front of me. Besides, my eyes needed a break from driving.

US 63 south of Jefferson City is narrow, winding and hilly, providing several vantage points from which many miles of the vast valley below can be seen. In winter the view is rather barren but in the summer or fall, I think the forest of deciduous trees would be spectacular. One cool thing about winter is that with all the leaves gone, bird nests can be seen in the trees. I wonder which birds made the large ones.

The day is delightful and the bright sun in the clear sky is a warm companion. The local radio is calling the weather "bitterly cold," but compared to what I left back home yesterday, I find the weather delightful with not a snitch of snow anywhere--though I did see large icicles hanging along the side of a bluff against the road. That was cool.

My two-day drive to Cuba, Missouri is nearly over. It will be nice to see Linda again and spend the evening chatting. Maybe I'll get the chance to beat her in some board or card game. Then again, we'll probably talk so much we won't have time for a game tonight. The games will have to wait for another day. I brought my own so I have a chance at winning at least a couple games. She always beats me at online Scrabble but my time is coming. Soon.

The afternoon lull must be ending; a crowd of young teen boys just burst into the room, followed by a fatherly chaperone. Are they a sports team of some sort? It's hard to tell.

It is time for me to leave. There's a friend impatiently wondering where I am.

I'm on my way, Linda!


(Written January 15, 2009 but posted January 21, 2009 and backdated to January 15.)

Winter on the Highway

Forty below zero with the promise of dropping temperatures is not the way to start on a road trip, even if you're travelling south to warmer climes, but it was the morning planned, so it was to be. I had wakened at 3:00 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep so I figured I may as well get going. But I'm a slowpoke about some things, and it was nearly 5:00 before I drove away. Despite my slow pace in the house, by the time I got behind the wheel of the van I was perspiring and, since the car would heat up shortly, I put on no winter gear except my gloves.

Big mistake! There was no heat and the temperature gauge on the van did not move from its coldest position. An hour and a half later, when I reached the US border, there was still no heat and my fingers were freezing. It was still dark, too. I drove carefully, aware that should I land in the ditch, I wouldn't last long. Thankfully the customs officer was taking his time with the car ahead and I had time to shrug on a sweater, hat, scarf and mittens (much warmer than gloves). Only when the sun rose around Fargo, did I begin to feel a bit warmer. Why had I never noticed before that highway driving in very cold weather would keep everything cold? I get heat when driving in the city.

A Minnesota radio station was reporting fifty below (ºF) in its northern towns and I was driving as fast as I could, with as few breaks as possible to find some warmth soon! It's funny, because now that I'm in Missouri and it's only six below, the people around me are complaining of the cold. People! People! People! You don't realize how nice it is! There isn't even any snow on the ground.

There was plenty of snow in South Dakota. The wind was sweeping it across the highway so that, to look in the distance, the highway appeared obliterated. The snow wasn't sticking to the road, however, and so the driving wasn't difficult--except when I came up behind a snow plough. It kicked up more snow that it removed, creating its own blizzard and making it impossible to pass. The drivers behind me were impatient and some decided to chance it, whizzing past me into the cloud of unknowing. I held my breath and prayed, certain they would land in the ditch. They didn't, though I passed numerous cars sunk into the soft snow beside the road. The ploughs were needed, however, because drifts were forming on the shoulders and pushing themselves into oncoming traffic.

God is good. I travelled over 1,000 kilometres yesterday without any problems--not even after filling the tank with fuel clearly marked, "Not gasoline--use only in flex cars." Oops! Thank you, God!

I'm sitting in a large atrium, sun pouring into my eyes and keeping me warm. For a Super 8 Motel, this place has class with a large brass chandelier hanging from the ceiling, polished blonde oak trim framing the large windows and doors and marching up the stairs to the second-floor balistrade and the heavy solidness of the tables and chairs in the breakfast nook. There has been a fair amount of camaraderie amongst the men who have passed by. They must be a work crew of some sort, staying here until the work moves them on to another motel.

I too must move on. It's after 9:00 a.m. and I have another five and a half hours of driving before reaching my destination. I have no plans to hurry--I did enough of that yesterday--but I don't want to spend my day sitting here either, as pleasant as that could be. My apologies for not writing here more in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully that pause is now over.

The Tenth Circle

The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

I read this in a day (as I did with Mercy), but stayed up the entire night and part of the morning to do so. Like Mercy, The Tenth Circle is too steamy for my tastes but so well written that I couldn't put it down.

What a combination Picoulti has put into this tale! Trixie's mom is a university professor who, among other things, teaches a course on Dante's Inferno. That grabbed my attention because I recently bought a beautiful edition of Dante's Divine Comedy (of which Inferno is a part) with pen and ink illustrations by Gustav Doré. I haven't read Divine Comedy yet, but I plan to. Apparently, Dante describes nine levels or circles of hell but Trixie's dad has discovered there is yet another--the tenth circle.

Trixie's dad is a comic book artist, so Picoult (through Dustin Weaver) adds several graphic novel pages before each chapter, weaving the plot of her story with Dante's to create the comic book drama. This idea appealled to me because of my son Erik's interest in graphic novels and his ability to draw.

The story not only travels to hell and back, but also from Maine to Alaska and gives such a good description of winter life in the north I have to wonder if the author has been there. I don't live in Alaska, but Winnipeg's winters can be as cold, so I felt a camaraderie with that part of the book.

As Trixie followed Jen out of the Long House, winter smacked her with an open hand. It wasn't just cold, the way it got in Main in December. It was bone-deep cold, the kind that wrapped around your spine and turned your breath into tiny crystals, the kind that matted your eyelashes together with ice. Snow was piled on both sides of the walkway, and snow machines were parked at right angles in between a few rusted trucks.

In another place (that I couldn't find when I went looking for it), Picoult explains that it is so cold you can throw a cup of water into the air and the water will shower down as ice. We've done that from our front door when it's minus 40 outside and it's very cool to watch--I'm easily amused.

Picoult's books seem to focus in contemporary issues. In The Tenth Circle, the issues are not only rape, drugs, self-injury and suicide but of fidelity, trust, responsibility and hatred. Trixie says she's been raped by her ex-boyfriend. Was she? Is it rape if a girl is "coming on to" all the guys all evening? If she's too drugged to say no to sex, can it be assumed her answer is yes? How does a girl deal with betrayal? What do parents do when to leave their child alone is to risk her bleeding to death in the bathroom? Can one remove all instruments of self injury to protect a child intent on self-harm? What does a girl who has been so violated do to deal with what's happened and to process it? What does a protective, angry father do? How does a small town respond when the rapist is the local hockey hero whom everyone adores?

I underlined a few places in the book:

...we are never the people we think we are. We are the ones we pretend, with all our hearts, we can't become.

Three rules Trixie's dad learned while growing up amongst the Eskimo:

...thoughts and deeds were inextricably linked.

...individual thoughts were less important than the collective knowledge of the elders.

...words were so powerful they had the ability to change someone else's mind...even if they remained unspoken.

At one point, Trixie is speeding through the dark across unmarked snow on the back of a snowmobile when a storm comes up. She and her "driver" must stop until it blows over:

Trixie felt her eyes get damp, and that was awful, because almost immediately her lashes sealed shut again. She thought of the ladders she'd cut on her arms, the way she'd wanted to feel real pain instead of the hurt gnawed on her heart. Well, she'd gotten what she wanted, hadn't she? Her toes burned like fire; her fingers had swollen like sausages and ached. The thought of that delicate razor blade being drawn across her skin seemed, by comparison, ridiculous, a drama for someone who didn't really know what tragedy was.

Maybe it took realizing that you could die to keep you from wanting to do it.

Her mother is thinking through a lot of things, like how Trixie had suddenly and unexpectedly grown up when her parents glanced away for a moment:

It wasn't what you didn't know about the people you loved that would shock you; it was what you didn't want to admit about yourself.

So true. So very, very true.

Picoult's novels make me think. How would I behave in this situation or that? She exposes grey areas where it has been easy to believe that it's only black and white. What is real? What is true? What is honourable? What is right? They can be difficult questions and they're all things we must face at some point in our lives. Thank you, Jodi, for making me think.

Mercy

Mercy by Jodi Picoult

Give me a book of fiction and it's hard to pull me away from it. I read Mercy yesterday, from start to finish. I didn't have to stay up much past midnight to do it either, even though I didn't begin till the afternoon.

Picoult is a very good writer, though at least some of her books, including this one, are a bit steamier than I prefer. "Mercy" is something that is needed for more than one character of the story. Jamie has mercy on his beloved wife who is dying slowly and painfully from cancer and ends her life at her request. Cameron, Jamie's cousin, police chief of the town and titular laird of the Scottish clan that settled in this town generations ago cannot show mercy to Jamie because he must uphold the law. Allie, Cameron's wife, is overcome with mercy for Jamie and does what she can to help him. The judge shows mercy in the bail set for Jamie, but will the jury have mercy at the end of the trial? Should they?

Allie hires Mia to assist her in her floral shop but Allie's husband falls in love with Mia and Mia with him. What kind of mercy will Allie have when she finds out? Cam certainly isn't being merciful to his wife by having this affair. Mia leaves town with no forwarding address as a way of showing mercy to Allie and her marriage but can she stay away? Can Cam have mercy on Allie when he discovers how she reacted to the realization of his affair?

The story is about more than mercy. It's also about love. What would you be willing to do for the sake of or in the name of love? Would you kill? Would you lie, steal, cheat? Is it healthy for one marriage partner to be doing all the giving? What is love when it's extra-marital? Can there be a true foundation for extra-marital love? On what is that love based? Can it last?

There are times when I long for Pearl and wish she was still part of my life but this story answers that longing very well. I'm going to quote a passage from Mercy, but reading it could spoil the story for you so, for those who don't want it spoiled, I will make the text white, so you cannot see it. For those of you who want to read it, simply highlight the space below with your mouse.

He reached out for her. Cam felt full of Mia, ripe to bursting with her, and he didn't know how he could ever go back to living halfway. "I'm serious. You'd come away with me, wouldn't you?"

Mia felt her breath return to her. This was familiar, this was their game. "To Turkey. To Greenland. You name it," she said.

Cam shook his head. "I mean I'm going to leave--" Mia reached out to cover his mouth, but he said the word anyway, and it tangled obscenely in her fingers. "Allie."

Mia sat up, pulling the sheet with her so it left Cam bare and flaccid, exposed. "Don't say that," she murmured.

He rolled toward her, placing a hand on her leg. "What else could you possible want?"

You, she thought, the way you are. The life you have. She thought of Cam traveling with her in her rental car, Kafka [the cat] sleeping in his lap during the long stretches of driving. She tried to picture him working as a hired hand on big farms in the South, or dispatching delivery trucks in the cities, just to make ends meet. She tried to picture him without a name, without a position, without a family. She tried to picture him and she saw herself.

If Cam packed up his duffel bag and went home to Wheelock and filed for divorce, he would not be the man she had fallen in love with. If people passed him in the street without calling a greeting; if he slept beneath the stars with her and ate Chef Boyardee for three weeks because it was all he could afford, he would not be the man she'd fallen in love with. And how long would it take before he turned against her for taking away the criteria by which he'd always defined himself?

Sobering thoughts! It's one of the problems of adultery. The person you fall for is not the same person you would have if you and she/he left everything else behind for each other. Moses "chose ____ rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time" (Hebrews 11:25 NIV). "The pleasures of sin." They are very real. Both Cam and Mia were caught up in the ecstasy of being together and nothing had ever felt so good. But the pleasures of sin have a short life. They don't last. Are they worth it?

Return to Fiction Read in 2009

Connecting with God

Connecting with God: A Spiritual Formation Guide by Renovaré

I decided to take a break from The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers to spend time with other authors of spirituality. Richard Foster, founder of Renovaré--a non-denominational Christian organization dedicated to fostering and developing spiritual formation and disciplines, is perhaps best known for his Celebration of Discipline, first published in 1978. I admire his strong but gentle call to developing our spiritual lives and so, when I saw a series of spiritual formation guides in the Wheaton College bookstore two summers ago, I knew I had to buy them. I bought a lot of books that summer, so it's taking me time to get to them all--especially since so many of them are full of good meat.

Of the three Spiritual Formation Guides, Connecting with God seemed the logical one to begin with since it seems to be more connected to the Old Testament than the New and, of course, the Old came before the New. So far, I've read only the first four of twelve chapters or studies. The each study consists of a devotional reading--a short passage written by a Christian with a familiar name such as Billy Graham, Philip Yancy or Teresa of Avila, a spiritual exercise intended to be done over the course of a week, a Scripture reading, several commentaries and applications along with questions to consider and ponder.

I haven't gotten a great deal out of the studies yet. Perhaps it's because I'm not spending a week with each exercise before moving on to the next. Perhaps I'm impatient. Perhaps the first four studies are familiar ones to me and some later ones will grab me. The questions would work well for group discussion but sitting alone with them doesn't stir much thought for me.

Still, I like the idea of spiritual formation guides and hope that something later in this book or one of the two others I have will stir something in me, giving me new insight or understanding of the God I love. If I have more comments as I continue making my way through the book, I will add them here.

Next

Return to Non-Fiction Books Read in 2009

The Size of God

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26 NIV

Have you ever considered the size of God? Look to the sky! Look at it at night in a place untouched by the lights of civilisation. The stars are innumerable. Imagine reaching out your hand and grabbing hold of a fistful. How many fistfuls would fit in the basket you are carrying? Hundreds! Thousands!

Now remember how large each star really is. Our sun is so large that even at a gazillion miles away, it burns us. Imagine a basket large enough to hold hundreds just like it! On the day of creation, God was carrying that basket. He reached in, removed one star at a time and put them just where he wanted. How big his hands must be! How big he must be! He could have a few worlds tucked into his pocket and not even notice them! Imagine the power and strength that would accompany Someone so large!

We are smaller than flecks of dust to God yet he knows and loves each of us. He became one of us! My mind cannot comprehend it all.

Thank you, God, for who you are.

Reviews of Searching for Love

If you have read the book, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. You may e-mail me at debbiehaughland@gmail.com or post them in the comments section below.

A Real Testimony

I finished your book. A real testimony to what God does for us.
Leona

March 3, 2009

I Had Tears Coming

I sat down to read it about a week later and ended up finishing it the same night. At first I admit I was a little bored and thought that the whole book was about a battle all in your mind, but as I continued reading this creeping thought came over me of a different...struggle in my own life, that I would never in my right mind have shared with anyone accept maybe God. I've mentioned your book to a few people because it stirs up age-old controversies that I have myself argued and wondered about, namely about whether or not homosexuality can be cured or just managed like alcoholism--you just have to stay away from temptation. I noticed at the end of your book that your struggle story was not like a fairy-story happily ever after ending, but a real life being an "overcomer" in Christ while living with the "thorn in the flesh". By the end of the book I had tears coming, because I agonized with you and better understood the pain others (so many) go through trying to change something so deep in their subconsciousness.

Rose
February 25, 2009

Wealth of Knowledge

Your book is very very good. I’m half way, and continue to be blessed by your insights, your transparency and your thirst for God. Also, you are a wealth of knowledge – your references to scripture and to other authors, etc… You are a student of life and love. Thank you for sharing your story with us as your reading audience.

Gerry Goertzen
Director
Riverbend Counselling
December 27, 2008


Was hooked immediately

I purchased this book recently, started reading it and was hooked immediately. It's so well written, but it's so real and heartfelt right from the beginning.

This is a very insightful look into the healing power of God and what he can do with a broken and confused life when one turns that life over to him. Without going into all the lurid details of the relationship, the author gives the reader hope for healing of ANY PROBLEM, no matter how big or how small. She brings to life a God of our hearts who longs to heal the deepest parts of our being, and in doing so frees us to be truly his, showering on us all the affection and love that we have longed for all of our lives.

It doesn't matter what your struggle is in life, and most of us have them, this book will help lead you down a path of healing and restoration with the living God.

Linda Dodd
Review at Amazon.com
December 18, 2008

Periodicals Read in 2009

Added January 2, 2009:
National Geographic January 2009

Fiction Read in 2009

August 27, 2009

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

July 4, 2009

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult

The Lighthouse by P. D. James

The Private Patient by P. D. James

Obsessed by Ted Dekker

The Sigma Protocol by Robert Ludlum

April 9, 2009

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Ten-year-old Sarah's family is wakened in the early morning by the French police rounding up Jews on behalf of the Nazi occupiers. Thinking they'll be gone only a few hours, she manages to hide her four-year-old brother in a hidden, locked cupboard with promises that she'll return soon. Continue Reading.


The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
I have always enjoyed the writings of Sue Monk Kidd, so when I saw Secret Life of Bees on the shelf, I was eager to add it to my collection of books to read. I first discovered Sue Monk Kidd in the Guidepost magazines we used to subscribe to and came to highly respect her after reading When the Heart Waits. She’s an excellent writer and I began crying on the first few pages of Bees, continuing as I read it non-stop in one afternoon. Continue Reading.

February 12, 2009
House: The Only Way Out Is In by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker

I love novels that make me think. House is one such book. Two couples become stranded at night on a back road in Arkansas. The inn in which they take refuge turns into a house that seems alive as it changes its inner configuration at will. Consider the following quotes and the questions they aroused in me: Continued

Saint by Ted Dekker

Imagination:
Of the books I bought last weekend, I said Saint would be the first I would read and it was. I finished it yesterday. What an incredible story! I want more. Thankfully, there are sequels.

Carl has lost all identity except what has been fed to him through the manipulation of drugs, torture and the intensive demands of two people who hold his life in his hands. He's being trained to be an assassin--the best in the world. If he succeeds, he lives. If he fails, he dies. He cannot fail. Continued

Love:
Another topic that hit me in this book is the connection of worthlessness to the ability to give or receive love. I see myself being described here: Continued

February 8, 2009
New Books
I have a hard time resisting good books and I just finished spending an entire weekend promoting my own book in YWAM's bookstore at Missionfest in Manitoba. The cool thing about books for sale at Missionfest is that they are books often not available in regular Christian bookstores so this is a good opportunity to stock up on books with a missions theme. While that's true, YWAM has more than just books on missions so I got a varied selection. Continued


February 6, 2009:
Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult











Added January 2, 2009:
Mercy by Jodi Picoult

Give me a book of fiction and it's hard to pull me away from it. I read Mercy yesterday, from start to finish. I didn't have to stay up much past midnight to do it either, even though I didn't begin till the afternoon.... Continued


Updated August 27, 2009

Non-Fiction Read in 2009

August 20, 2009

Terrify No More by Gary A. Haugen

Earlier this year, a man representing the International Justice Mission came to speak to my church. I was so fascinated by what he said that I bought all three books written by the president and founder of IJM. I finished the first two in a week or two. Oh that there were more doing what this Christian organization does! Continue reading.

Death by Love: Letters from the Cross by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears

The book arrived by mail during Holy Week this year and so, fittingly, I began to read it on Good Friday. Each of twelve chapters illustrates a truth about what Jesus accomplished on the cross: victory, redemption, sacrifice, gift of redemption, justification, propitiation, expiation, atonement, ransom, exemplar, reconciliation and revelation.

Each chapter tells the story of a traumatic event that changed one person’s life. These are reflected in chapter titles such as, “Demons are Tormenting Me,” “My Wife Slept with my Friend,” “I Molested a Child,” “My Daddy is a Pastor,” “My Wife has a Brain Tumor.” The story is brief, outlining what happened and how it has affected the person’s life. Continue reading.

Killing Fields, Living Fields: An unfinished portrait of the Cambodian Church--the Church that would not die is written by former Cambodian missionary, Don Cormack and, with gardening and farming imagery, is the sometimes dry and sometimes riveting history of Protestant Christianity in Cambodia, beginning in 1923 with the first converts and continuing until the time the book was written in 1998. Continue reading.

July 4, 2009

Killing Fields, Living Fields by Don Cormack

Sabbatical Journey by Henri Nouwen

Good News about Injustice by Gary A. Haugen

Sarah's Key

Death by Love by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears

Terrify No More by Gary A. Haugen

Behind the Ranges by Geraldine Taylor

April 9, 2009
Maus: A Survivor's Tale a graphic story by Art Spiegelman

Spiegelman makes a number of visits to his elderly, cantankerous father to hear the older man's story of how he survived Auschwitz and World War II. Written in comic format, Spiegelman (both author and artist) tells his story of trying to learn his father's story amidst the father's daily life so that both stories are intertwined into one. Continue reading.


Three Cups of Tea: On Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Greg Mortenson is an avid mountain climber who works night shifts as Emergency Ward nurse, living out of his car and storage locker to save all the money he can for climbing. Coming down from an aborted trip to the peak of K2, Mortenson becomes separated from the rest of his group and finds himself in an isolated village who take care of him and help him reconnect with his porter. When he sees the village children sitting outside in the cold wind, trying to school themselves with no teacher, he promises to build them a school. Continue reading.


February 27, 2009
Expecting Miracles: True Stories of God's Supernatural Power and How You can Experience It by Heidi Baker and Rolland Baker was a disappointment. It was interesting enough that I read through to the end, but it was simply a series of blog posts that seemed very matter-of-fact. I guess I expected more drama or at least a dramatic telling of miracles. It's hard to catch the awesomeness of miracles when they are blithely covered in a single sentence such as "The God who has raised at least 53 people from the dead among our churches in Africa...." p. 89 Continue Reading.


February 17, 2009
To End All Wars by Ernest Gordon

"Our experience of life in death had taught us that the way to life leads through death. To see Jesus was to see in Him that love which is the very highest form of life, that love which has sacrifice as the logical end of its action. To hang on to life, to guard it jealously, to preserve it, is to end up by burying it. Each of us must die to the physical life of selfishness, the life controlled by our hates, fears, lusts and prejudices in order to live in the flesh the life that is of the spirit. This is a basic law that cannot be broken except at great cost." [From the book.] To read my thoughts on the book go here.


Sunday, February 8, 2009
More Books
I have a hard time resisting good books and I just finished spending an entire weekend promoting my own book in YWAM's bookstore at Missionfest in Manitoba. The cool thing about books for sale at Missionfest is that they are books often not available in regular Christian bookstores so this is a good opportunity to stock up on books with a missions theme. While that's true, YWAM has more than just books on missions so I got a varied selection.

House: The Only Way Out is In by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker
[See "Fiction Read in 2009]

Saint by Ted Dekker
[See Fiction Read in 2009]

Vanya: A True Story by Myrna Grant
"This is the true story of Ivan (Vanya) Moiseyev, a soldier in the Soviet Red Army who was ruthlessly persecuted and incarcerated for his faith. Through two years of trial and torture, he never denied his Savior, and he never hestitated to share the gospel with anyone who would listen. Twenty years after his martyrdom, Vanya's powerful testimony--which included angelic visitations and a miraculous appearance of the apostle John--continues to change lives." A young man in the bookstore while I was there said that this is the best book he ever read. You can't get a recommendation higher than that!

To End all Wars: A True Story about the Will to Survive and the Courage to Forgive by Ernest Gordon
"Waking from a dream, I suddenly realized where I was: in the Death House--in a prison camp by the River Kwai. I was a prisoner of war, lying among the dead, waiting for the bodies to be carried away so that I might have more room." I have a particular passion for World War II stories.
Thoughts after reading

Chasing the Dragon: One Woman's Struggle against the Darkness of Hong Kong's Drug Densby Jackie Pullinger
I first learned of Jackie Pullinger in 1989 when Tom and I took our four young sons (ages 2-9) to Hong Kong for a family reunion (Tom grew up in Hong Kong). During our six weeks there, I had one day to myself and went looking for some of the things Tom would never consider important on such a trip, such as Afternoon Tea in an elegant hotel dining room. This particular hotel had a small gift shop and one book caught my eye. It was about the Walled City in the New Territories of Hong Kong, a square mile of land that had become, in effect, one large building of rabbit warrens where no law but crime reigned. Into that most dangerous of places, Jackie Pullinger, a 20-year-old, newly arrived from Britain, entered and began an incredible ministry that continues to this day, over 40 years later.

The book I bought that day was full of photos and told some of her story. A few years later, she came to Winnipeg for a conference sponsored by the Vineyard church I am now attending. I didn't miss a session and was strongly impacted by what I heard, saw and experienced. A number of years after that I bought Chasing the Dragon for a friend, knowing it to be good even though I hadn't read it. Now, finally, I have a copy for myself. I expect to be challenged in many ways by what she has to say.

Expecting Miracles: True Stories of God's Supernatural Power and How you can Experience It by Heidi Baker and Rolland Baker
Is it possible to see real and astonishing miracles today? Many say it is. What would it be like to be part of that kind of work of God? I am hungry to see as much of God as he chooses to reveal to me, including his miraculous power. Authors who have given praise to this book include James Goll and Jackie Pullinger--Christians who hold out to me the possibilities of something more in my walk with God.
Thoughts after reading

Finally, A Spiritual Formation Journal created by Jana Rea with Richard Foster.
I've been collecting books produced by Renovaré because spiritual renewal is something that matters greatly to me. The book is meant to be written in and I usually write on my computer instead of with a pen, but at the very low price I paid for it, I figured the ideas, thoughts, suggestions and quotes would be beneficial. If I keep it clean, perhaps I can pass it on to someone else who does use pen and paper.

I know I have a lot of other unread books waiting to be picked up but many of them require a lot of thinking, praying and engagement--which takes time--whereas these will be quick and easy reading for when I want something a little bit lighter.

February 6, 2009

In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri Nouwen.
A small book with a lot of white space on each page, I read it through in a day. Then I discovered the study guide at the back so each day I'm trying to answer a question during my prayer time. Today's question was about conversation on burning moral and political events. How do these conversations usually take place? How would the conversations be different if the parties involved were "based on 'the experience of God’s first love'” and rooted in the experience of contemplative prayer."

I've seen a lot of antagonism between people with differing views. It's sad because it is possible to share conflicting sides with listening, gentleness, prayer, silence, thought and a willingness to hear. I believe it is possible to do this when we are speaking out of our connection to and relationship with God.

Sabbatical Journey: The Diary of his Final Year by Henri Nouwen.
February 6: I have just started reading this book but already it is intriguing me. Nouwen didn't know it was his final year of life when he took a sabbatical leave from the community he had worked and lived in for nine years but he made a commitment to write in his journal every day. I see a lot of things in Nouwen's journalling and life that I would like to emulate.

Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life by James Bryan Smith
This will need several hours for me to pull out the nuggets to share. Hopefully soon.

Pursuit of the Holy by Corey Russell
I thought I had finished reading this book produced by the International House of Prayer in Kansas City but apparently I haven't. No wonder I can't remember what I read!


January 3, 2009


Connecting with God: A Spiritual Formation Guide by Renovaré
I decided to take a break from The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers to spend time with other authors of spirituality. Richard Foster, founder of Renovaré--a non-denominational Christian organization dedicated to fostering and developing spiritual formation and disciplines, is perhaps best known for his Celebration of Discipline, first published in 1978. I admire his strong but gentle call to developing our spiritual lives and so, when I saw a series of spiritual formation guides in the Wheaton College bookstore two summers ago, I knew I had to buy them. I bought a lot of books that summer, so it's taking me time to get to them all--especially since so many of them are full of good meat. Continue Reading.

Archaelogical Study Bible by Zondervan
I'm on my eighth reading of this NIV study Bible since March, 2006.
It's beginning to fall apart but I've scribbled so many notes on the pages, that I'm reluctant to start using a different Bible. My preferred time of reading is the last half hour before I go to sleep. It's one habit I've been able to develop and keep. Why can't I do that with other things?

January 2, 2009
I started the following two in 2008 but haven't finished them yet:

The Conquering Indian Volume 2 Compiled by Jim Uttley Jr.
Jim has collected a variety of short testimonies of native Indian people. Most of the stories were originally published in Indian Life, a newspaper aimed at native North Americans, and tell of the amazing work God can do and does in the lives of even the most messed up of us. It's a book that would bless not only those walking with God but those who think there is no hope for them with God because of all they've done and been.

The Heart of Female Same-Sex Attraction by Janelle Hallman
February 6, 2009: I saw so much of myself in this book and there is so much to share but I will need several hours to do so--hopefully soon.



Updated August 27, 2009