Mommy Brain

Although we may have brought forth some fruit and have a joyful hope that we are abiding in the vine, yet there are times when we feel very barren. Prayer is lifeless, love is cold, faith is weak, each grace in the garden of our heart languishes and droops. We are like flowers in the hot sun, desperately needing the refreshing shower. In such a condition what are we to do? The text is addressed to us in just such a state. “Sing, O barren one…break forth into singing and cry aloud.” (Isaiah 54:1) But what can I sing about? I cannot talk about the present, and even the past looks full of barrenness. I can sing of Jesus Christ. I can talk of visits that the Redeemer has paid to me in the past; or if not of these, I can magnify the great love with which He loved His people when He came from the heights of heaven for their redemption. I will go to the cross again. Come, my soul, you were once heavy-laden, and you lost your burden there. Go to Calvary again. Perhaps that very cross that gave you life may give you fruitfulness. What is my barrenness? It is the platform for His fruit-creating power. What is my desolation? It is the dark setting for the sapphire of His everlasting love. I will go to Him in my poverty, I will go in my helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding; I will tell Him that I am still His child, and finding confidence in His faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud.

~from Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

We just got back from the fair and I’m pooped. I’ve been entertained out this summer, I think. Vacation was wonderful - so fun - but I have no desire to do anything else. I want to start school and have normal life back! But, that won’t happen until after Tuesday, because on Tuesday, I’m taking the kids here. I don’t want to. at. all. But, the kids read their 10 hours each (over and above normal school reading time) to earn their free tickets, so I kinda half to, or I’d be a really mean mommy. Sigh.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow night. All three boys are going for a sleepover at Michelle’s house in honor of her Jacob’s birthday, and Natalie is heading south to Grandma and Papa’s for the night. So Kevin and I are going to go out to dinner and have an evening all to ourselves. Then Saturday afternoon, he’s taking Josiah on an overnight camping trip, just the two of them. It’s Josiah’s turn for time with Daddy.

It’s been a great week, book-wise. I received a review copy of…

The Grift by Debra Ginsberg

…and an ARC of…

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway.

I also ordered the first four books in the History Lives series, which are books for young readers that tell the history of the church from St. Paul through John Wesley. (Book 5 continues the story from there, and is due out later this year.) Westminster Books has the first four books for only $25.17 - 30% off! The series is written by Brandon and Mindy Withrow, whose blog I’ve enjoyed for a couple of years now. Anyway, I’m going to read these aloud to the kids for part of our Bible studies.

Well, Kevin’s come upstairs and wants to watch a DVD, so I better get to the links.

~ Angela Hunt posted this Urban Legend Amalgam. If you’ve ever received a forwarded e-mail, you gotta click over.

~ Confused baby sea turtles - I would have loved to be there for this!

~ If you’ve read or heard anything about the “revival” going on in Lakeland, Florida, this is a must-read.

On April 3, 2008 Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley was invited to speak to the Ignited Church of Lakeland, FL. Though he was only scheduled to be there for 5 days, he remained for 3 months during what he considered to be the biggest pentecostal revival since the Azusa Street revival. To put it mildly, the “Lakeland revival” has been controversial. Claims of people being raised from the dead? Violent healing? Now it appears Bentley is stepping down after filing for separation from his wife and admitting to an inappropriate relationship with another woman…

(snip)

Yet, when I see things like this, it is just hard not to ask: does anyone still have a Bible and some common sense?

Let me add: I do not think this is a Pentecostal issue. That is why the title is, “Evangelical Gullibility.”

In other words, all kinds of Christians are forwarding emails about the FCC’s phony plan to ban religious braoadcasting, signing up to have emails sent to the loved ones after the rapture, and watching Christian television for its theological depth. For that matter, I have just as many odd people come up to me with “something they discovered in the Bible that no one has ever noticed” after I speak at a Baptist, Wesleyan, of non-denominational meeting as I do when I speak at a Pentecostal one. Furthermore, many Pentecostals and Charismatics HAVE expressed concern about this movement– including some when I visit the Assemblies of God office a couple of weeks ago.

I just have to wonder with Grady if Christians really are just gullible.

~ If you need some Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince buzz to tide you over until the movie’s (new) release date of July 17th, EW has an article with some scoop about the film.

~ Why is it that Dan Brown could publish The Da Vinci Code, a fictional novel which offended many Christians by stating that Jesus was married and had kids, but Harper Collins won’t publish a fictional novel about one of Mohammed’s wives?

“Random House made the decision to cancel its US publication of the novel ‘The Jewel of Medina’ after much deliberation and with great reluctance,” a statement from the publisher sent to AFP said.

“The decision was based on advice from scholars of Islam, among several creditable sources, that publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community and could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.”

~ If you want to watch a slideshow and some video clips of our vacation, head over to Kevin’s site.

~ Hey - it turns out I’m raising three future surgeons.

~ This video of the a cappella group Naturally 7 is pretty awesome.

~ It’s time to sign up for this year’s Pizza Hut Book-It Program.

~ Homeschool stereotypes vs. public school realities - a must-read at Principled Discovery.

At Books and Movies this week:

~ The Sunday Salon

~ Musing Mondays

~ Teaser Tuesdays

~ Review of The Great Debaters

~ Booking Through Thursday

Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman appeared on Good Morning America this morning to talk about losing their 5-year-old daughter, Maria. You can watch the interview on YouTube.

I had intended to post about the rough day we had at our house. Somehow, after watching that, a delay in moving to a bigger house and a broken air conditioner are nothing. Nothing. I am so blessed. How dare I complain?

99 degrees yesterday. 99 degrees today. Which made it a perfect weekend to spend one afternoon at the lake, and the other in an air-conditioned theater.

We headed up to the lake yesterday, bringing lunch and a van-load of floaties. Another family from our church was there, too, so Natalie was able to swim with a good friend, and we were able to get to know her parents a little better.

I’ve been having a hard time getting involved at our new church. Kevin’s not even attending much. I’ve posted before about our history with churches, and I don’t want to get into all of that again. I just wish we could find a church where politics and staying in a denominational bubble weren’t the norm.

Anyway, it was nice to get to know another couple from church. We’ve met some really nice people, and the children’s ministry has welcomed our children with open arms. I suppose that will have to be enough for right now.

Today, Mom and I took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda (my review). The kids loved it, and I enjoyed myself. And it was cool. What more can you ask for, right?

Michelle’s two boys, Jacob and Nicholas, are here for the weekend, which means many Orcs will be killed, Pokemon battles fought, Nascar races won, and Madden NFL games played. The boys are ODing on gaming this weekend before we have our 2nd Annual Two-Month Game Free Break. That’s right - June and July will be game-free at our house. At least for the kids. And me, but I don’t game anyway. I don’t think it’s likely Kevin will completely give up Call of Duty 4, but he limits his gaming to evenings anyway. The kids and I will be spending lots of time at the park and the pool, and enjoying the good weather before the unbearable hotness known as August in Eastern Washington descends upon us.

So, anyone watch the Lost finale? Man, that was good.

While the boys are gaming this weekend, I plan to finish Gone and Tigerheart and then start and make a good dent in New Moon (the sequel to Twilight), which came yesterday.

Here are a few links for your weekend surfing:

~ Volumes to Go Before You Die - the NYT on 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.

Assume, for the sake of argument, that a reasonably well-educated person will have read a third of them. (My own score, tallied after I made this estimate, was 303.) That leaves 668 titles. An ambitious reader might finish off one a month without disrupting a personal reading program already in place. That means he or she would cross the finish line in the year 2063. At that point, upon reaching the last page of title No. 1,001, “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro, death might come as a relief.

~ In case you’re curious about which books are actually on the list, you can find all 1001 of them listed here. The above quote says that a “reasonably well-educated person will have read a third of them.” I am definitely not “reasonably well-educated.” I counted 39 that I’ve read, 29 that are on my to-read list, and 2 that I started, hated, and didn’t finish.

~ Spunky has blogged about the embarrassment that is being called Subwaygate. She sums up my feelings nicely. Here’s a snippet:

Let’s be a bit more adult about it, accept their decision, and if you must quietly remind them that you exist too, but then it’s time to move on. Let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot clamoring for a boycott. Marketing expert, Ned Barnett said that Subway made a marketing blunder with this contest, but this outcry makes us appear arrogant and immature. Do we really want to cultivate that image?

I’m actually surprised that Tennesse state officials can tell homeschoolers in that state that they need not apply to any government job and there is nary a peep from the homeschool community, but let a company exclude homeschoolers from an essay contest and the homeschool community cries foul, demands their right to enter, and starts eating at Quiznos!

I say, let Subway exercise their right to hold a contest and allow the entrants to be of their choosing not ours. It’s not fun to be excluded from a contest, but the alternative is to limit their freedom based on our choices. As homeschoolers, is that the message you want to send out to the watching world?

~ Our worship leader showed this video at church on Sunday - pretty wonderful stuff. I love to see creative ways to express worship.

~ I’ve decided to give Twitter a try.

What will you be doing this weekend?

It’s been a wild and crazy week. On Monday, Kevin called from work and said he wasn’t sure if his van would make it home, so please stay by the phone in case he needed picked up. This wasn’t a surprise. His van is a 1992 Grand Voyager with close to 200,000 miles on it - he’s pretty much driven it into the ground. It needs thousands of dollars of work, but isn’t worth even a thousand.

So, Tuesday, we went out and bought a new van - you can see a picture at Nan’s blog. Actually, it’s not new - it’s a 2003 Plymouth Voyager, but that’s the closest to a new vehicle we’ve ever come. He will take my 1995 Ford Windstar, and I get the new one! I love the color - and the best thing is that it only has 31,150 miles on it. Oh, and it has sliding doors on both sides, so when I go shopping and there are too many bags to fit in the back, the kids can get out without cracking the eggs.

Other than that, nothing much is happening around here. We’re still plugging away at school, and enjoying the nice warm days amid the rainy, thunder-and-lightning ones.

~ My brother-in-law Hans just completed a composition course at Moody Bible Institute in preparation for starting at Covenant Theological Seminary in August. His final paper was titled “For Goodness’ Sake: How a Particular Longing for Purity Can Undermine the Spread of the Gospel”. You can read it here - it is very well-written and he makes some great points about engaging culture.

~ Chris at Book-a-rama posted this YouTube video of various BBC actors playing Consequences with the books they are reading in honor of the 2008 National National Year of Reading.

~ Michelle e-mailed me the link to this blog that is all about bookshelves. Be sure and scroll through the past pages, there are some amazing and bizarre ways to shelve books.

~ Entertainment Weekly has posted a slideshow list of 24 Bad Romantic Comedies. Hat Tip to Robin Lee Hatcher. Okay, I’ll tell you which ones I really like - or even love - if you’ll share, too. I liked Maid in Manhattan, Nine Months, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, I Love Trouble, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I LOVED Fools Rush In, Father Goose, and Two Weeks Notice. I guess I’m just a sucker for a romantic comedy. Anyone have a bad one that should have made their list?

~ Switchfoot has recorded a song for the closing credits of the upcoming Prince Caspian movie. You can watch the video - which has scenes from the movie - here. Hat tip to Challies.

~ Think you can trust Amazon reviewers to be objective and unbiased - the common person’s review? Think again.

Full disclosure: It was late at night, in a fit of furtive self-Googling, that I discovered the first Amazon customer review of my debut book of fiction. “Superb,” wrote Grady Harp of Los Angeles. “Fascinating … addictive.” Not to mention “profound.” Such extravagance should have aroused suspicion, but I was too busy basking in the glow of a five-star rave to worry about the finer points of Harp’s style. Sure, he’d spelled my name wrong, but hadn’t he also judged me “a sensitive observer of human foibles”? Only when I noticed the “Top 10 Reviewer” tag did I wonder whether Grady Harp was more than just a satisfied customer. After a brief e-mail exchange, my publicist confirmed that she’d solicited Grady Harp’s review.

~ If you’re nostalgic for the ’80s, check out this collection of the Top 15 Most Awesome Celebrity Mullets. Hat tip to Cindy Swanson.

Have a great weekend, everyone - and Happy Mother’s Day to all of my mom readers.

I found a white hair on my head yesterday. Now, that’s not news - they’ve been showing up for a while now. The news is that this one had managed to make it to the length of the rest of my hair. Normally, I pluck them as soon as they spring from my scalp, wiry and slightly bent and refusing to blend in with the rest of my hair.

I’m only 35, and so far I haven’t had to deal with any of the worse symptoms of aging - except the normal stretching and falling of body parts that comes with four pregnancies. However, I have friends who are older than me, some of them much older, and watching as they suffer some of the more difficult aspects of aging is heartbreaking.

I lost a dear friend to abdominal cancer three years ago. (I posted about Beve here, here, and here.) She was about the same age my parents are now.

My mom and dad will both turn 60 this summer. Sixty is not old, right? But when my grandfather died at 64, when I was in college, I don’t remember ever thinking that he was so young to die. Now, with my parents entering that decade, I realize how premature his death was.

Today, I learned that a friend from our former church was just diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Joyce is in her early seventies, though you would never know it. She is vibrant, active, sharp as a tack. In 2002, Joyce and her husband Bill took a trip across the US in an RV. They visited historical sites, watched a space shuttle launch, and Bill went birding to his heart’s content. In 2004, not content with staying home and enjoying their retirement, Joyce and Bill headed to China to teach English. Joyce ended up playing piano at a house church and leading a Bible study in their apartment. I wish you could all meet her, hear her teach Bible study, know how smart and charming she is, so that you could understand how devastating the thought of her losing her memory, her identity is.

Joyce and Bill’s daughter, Jan, is also a dear friend. She’s not much older than I am. When I think of what the years ahead will be like for her, I can’t stop crying.

Joyce loves Jesus. Jan loves Jesus. There is comfort in that, but this situation seems horribly wrong. Our bodies are fallen, our world is fallen, and aging and disease is a result. I can be logical about all of that until it hits someone I love, like today. Then it feels unjust and ugly.

Please pray for Joyce and Bill, Jan and their other three children, and their many, many grands and great-grands.

In Deaths of Five Children, a Friendship is Born of Forgiveness - NY Times.

For more than a quarter mile, Clifford Helm veered in his pickup truck through a grassy median and oncoming traffic. What finally stopped him was another pickup truck, the one carrying Jeffrey Schrock and his five children.

Carmen, 12, Jana, 10, Carinna, 8, Jerryl, 4 and Craig, 2, were killed in the collision. Mr. Schrock, who had been taking the children to join their mother on some errands, had multiple broken bones.

Now, more than two years after the accident, Mr. Helm has been acquitted on charges of vehicular homicide. Mr. Schrock says he has accepted that he may never know exactly what happened or why. He also says he has a friend he did not have before, Mr. Helm.

“The primary bond there is the accident,” Mr. Schrock said. “We’re both injured by that, physically and mentally.”

Last month, when Mr. Helm went to trial, members of Mr. Schrock’s extended family sat with members of Mr. Helm’s family in the courtroom. The Schrock family is Mennonite, and the head coverings some women wore stood out.

“Some people were praying for his acquittal,” said Mr. Schrock, 40.

He and his wife, Carolyn, made a different request. “We were praying that God’s will would be done,” Mr. Schrock said, “because we really didn’t know what God had in this whole thing.”

Friendship under such circumstances is complicated, Mr. Schrock said, like pretty much everything else that has happened since the accident. For him, the challenge has been to forgive Mr. Helm without expecting resolution, and to build a friendship regardless of the forces working against it.

“It’s what the Bible teaches,” Mr. Schrock said.

This accident occurred less than 100 miles south of us. My parents live in Chewelah, the town the Schrock family is from, and my parents’ church was one of many local congregations to reach out to the Schrocks in love, prayer, finances, food, and other areas. I remember weeping when I heard the story; weeping again as I prayed for Mr. and Mrs. Schrock.

It is amazing acts of forgiveness like this that will draw unbelievers to Christ. I do not know if I would have the obedience and strength to walk this out in the same way as the Schrock family. They are a truly remarkable example of living in Christ.

Have a blessed Easter.

When Katy at Fallible announced that she now had an agent to help guide her literary career, I was so very happy for her. I also started reading her agent’s blog. She gives great writing advice (like this), and she’s also hosting The Yo-Dawg-Show-Me-What-You-Got Double Decker CHALLENGE. There are two parts to the competition: submit the first line of a novel - a first line that will make her want to keep reading; second, after she chooses the winning first line, submit the first 300 words to go with the winning first line. If you’re a writer, the prize is something all unpublished writers pine after, so please click over and check out all the details. The deadline for the first phase is Saturday at midnight her time, so don’t wait.

Now, onto a totally different and completely unrelated topic: colonoscopies. Yes, I know, not what you expect from my blog. However, I read this funny and important column by Dave Barry about hist first colonoscopy - and why, after avoiding it for 10 years, he finally had it done.

OK. You turned 50. You know you’re supposed to get a colonoscopy. But you haven’t. Here are your reasons:

1. You’ve been busy.

2. You don’t have a history of cancer in your family.

3. You haven’t noticed any problems.

4. You don’t want a doctor to stick a tube 17,000 feet up your butt.

Let’s examine these reasons one at a time. No, wait, let’s not. Because you and I both know that the only real reason is No. 4. This is natural. The idea of having another human, even a medical human, becoming deeply involved in what is technically known as your ”behindular zone” gives you the creeping willies.

Now that I’ve shown you how humorous even this topic can be, click over and read the column. And, if you’re over fifty and have yet to be screened (yes, Dad, I mean you), make an appointment.

And, since it’s Good Friday, I leave you with this:

I read of Christ crucified,
the only begotten Son
sacrificed to flesh and time
and all our woe. He died
and rose, but who does not tremble
for His pain, His loneliness,
and the darkness of the sixth hour?
Unless we grieve like Mary
at His grave, giving Him up
as lost, no Easter morning comes.

~from The Way of Pain, by Wendell Berry

What are you doing this New Year’s Eve 2007? I am sitting on the couch with my new laptop, watching the kids jump and sing and dance along with their High School Musical game on their new Playstation 2. They are happy, especially since their daddy told them they could stay up until midnight to welcome the New Year. Without asking their mommy. He’s the crazy one - I’ll probably head in to bed, and he’ll be up. And he’s still getting over the flu. He did, however, take a long nap in a quiet house this afternoon while the kids and I were visiting at Michelle’s.

I’m also listening to the song Revival from the CD Revival in Belfast by Robin Marks. We found a new church home this year. It has been nearly two years since we left our old church home. And yet, as soon as this song comes up on my MP3 player, I am fighting back tears. This CD came out when I was worship coordinator at that church, and we did many of these songs on Sunday mornings. Hearing this song brings me right back, and I am sad again. How long until that goes away?

I remember when New Year’s Eve was an occasion to stay up late, party hard and celebrate. I must be getting older, because it is now just fine with me to stay at home with my family, and mentally reminisce about the past year and plan for the new one, while they party around me.

My heart is full tonight, and I want to get these thoughts down before they are gone in the flurry of the rest of the week.

I have many things to be grateful for as I look back on 2007.

We were able to refinance our house and get out of debt. Because of that, and in spite of the fact that Kevin still faces the possibility of unemployment this year, we are better off financially than we were last year at this time. God is good.

I wish you could see what I see right now. Josiah is laying on his back with his ankles crossed, hands under his head. He looks like he should be laying in a hammock. He’s watching his sister and brother sing and compete, and when each song ends, he jumps up and shouts, “You got an A!” (The game grades you on your performance of HSM songs.) And on my MP3 player is playing the song This is a Moment Made for Worshipping by Steven Curtis Chapman. “This is a moment made for worshipping, because this is a moment I’m alive…”

I’m grateful for a husband who believes in my writing to the point that he would buy me a brand new laptop because I need something better for my work. And a husband who bought me a second MP3 player for Christmas, because he remembered that I jokingly said in passing that I needed one for music, one for audiobooks. And he indulges my book obsession.

I’m grateful for friendship. We’ve lived in this town for 10 and a half years now, and during that time I have made many good friends. They have all been exactly what I needed at the time, but each friendship has been for a season. And now, for the first time since I was in college, I feel like I have a true best friend. God ordained that Michelle would move here for me; you’ll never convince me otherwise. Our friendship is still relatively new - although I can hardly believe we just exchanged Christmas gifts for the second time - but I have no doubt that our friendship is for a lifetime. Some things you just know.

All right, answer me this: how can I go from lovingly gazing at my children having fun and thinking about how wonderful it is to be their mother to being completely annoyed that they are interrupting my blogging? My blogging about how grateful I am? For them? (The song on my MP3 player is now Fabulous from High School Musical 2. I’m not as selfish as Sharpay, honest.)

I’m grateful for happy, healthy kids. Other than the occasional cold and flu, my kids are healthy. They are also good kids. Yes, there are days when I want to pull my hair out, but there are also days when the receptionist at the orthodontist’s office tells me how much she enjoys it when we come in, because she knows my kids are well-behaved.

I’m grateful for Natalie. My 11-year-old. Just typing those words makes me sigh. She is changing so fast, from an adorable little girl to a beautiful young lady. She is goofy, feminine, able to break a board with her foot while blushing over the cute boy at Tae Kwon Do, and - most importantly - she has a strong desire to follow Jesus.

I’m grateful for Noah. He’s 9. When Kevin gets the pictures off the camera and onto my computer, I’ll post the picture Kevin snapped while we were opening gifts Christmas Eve. Noah has always been a joy to watch open gifts - he is thrilled with each and every one. And though he loves the Playstation and his camera, the gift that got the biggest smile was Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide of the Fantastical World Around You.

I’m grateful for Jonathan. He’s 8 and his energy is astonishing at times. He is like contained electricity; he buzzes with it. I love the fact that he is now an accomplished reader, and likes to share with me what is happening in his book. It makes me laugh to see how fast he can go from picking on his sister to defending her honor. (Now, I’m listening to Long Train Running’ by The Doobie Brothers: “Without love, where would I be right now?” Yes, my musical taste is varied and odd.)

I’m grateful for Josiah. He’s 6 and still comes running up to me to say, “I know what you need, Mommy. You need a snuggle from me.” And he’s right; I do. As he has completed the familiar pages in Abeka’s Letter and Sounds this year, it has been startling to realize that this is the last time I will be leading a child through this phonics program, the last time I will watch a child experience the joy of reading for the first time. I am now the mother of four readers.

I’m grateful for parents who live close enough that we can watch football games and go to the movies together. I’m grateful that we found a church that our kids love. I’m grateful that there is a (however tentative) peace with our neighbors. I’m grateful that my kids have good friends. I am grateful that we are on our sixth year of homeschooling, and I still enjoy it and I am still convinced that it is the best path for our family. I’m grateful for weekly phone conversations with my sister Andrea, chatting online with my other sister Debra, and visits with my sister Marni while she still lives close enough. I’m grateful for quiet evenings with a book, a glass of Pinot Grigio, and dark chocolate. I’m grateful for 24, Numb3rs and Ballykissangel on DVD. I’m grateful for all the blogs on my blogroll - and some I haven’t added yet - for making me think and laugh, for giving me encouragement, and for suggesting some brilliant books.

May your New Year be filled with books that make you think, friends you can be “you” with, and days bright with joy and laughter.

This evening, our house will be swarming with girls as Natalie celebrates her 11th birthday. That would make our weekend busy enough, don’t you think? But we also have a dress rehearsal for the kids’ Christmas program at church on Saturday morning, church with another rehearsal Sunday morning, and then the program itself Sunday night. I’m tired just thinking about it!

Saturday afternoon will probably be spent with Natalie taking a long nap, and hopefully, some downtime for me. Kevin wants to take the kids out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate our new debt-free status. And I am trying to figure out how to talk him into taking the kids to church Sunday morning for their rehearsal, so I can stay home and watch the Seahawks, whose game starts at 10 am - about the same time as church. I am such a heathen - I know. But they’re 9 and 4, have clinched their division, and are heading into the playoffs! It feels a little like 2005 in Seahawks fandom, and that’s a pretty great - but precarious - feeling.

Before I bake and frost a cake, clean the bathroom, run to the video store and the grocery store, and head to Michelle’s for an afternoon playdate - during which I expect to be frequently bugged by Natalie, who will be too antsy to let us visit - I thought I’d leave you with some links:

~ When it goes gray, we need to dream again. - from Mental Multivitamin.

~ My Grown-up Christmas List - from Semicolon.

~ Merry Recycling Day - Michelle pointed me to this article at The Telegraph.

~ Duelity - a very interesting pair of videos, in which the producers present creationism in the language of science, and evolution in the language of religion. I’m not sure what side the creators come down on, but it is a very interesting look at how language and beliefs are connected. The comments on the blog are very interesting, as some people assume a pro-creation position, and others assume a pro-evolution position. Let me know what you think. Hat tip: Think Christian.

~ Very funny Homeschooling Family Video - Hat tip: Donna at Quiet Life.

Blue homespun and the bend of my breast keep warm this small hot star fallen to my arms.
(Rest…You who have had so far to come.)
Now nearness satisfies the body of God sweetly.
Quiet He lies whose vigor hurled a universe.
He sleeps whose eyelids have not closed before.
His breath (so slight it seems no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps to sprout a world.
Charmed by dove’s voices, the whisper of straw, He dreams, hearing no music from His other
spheres.
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes… He is curtailed who overflowed all skies, all years.
Older than eternity, now He is new.
Now native to earth as I am, nailed to my poor planet, caught that I might be free,
Blind in my womb to know my darkness ended,
Brought to this birth for me to be new-born,
And for Him to see me mended, I must see Him torn.

~Luci Shaw

God. Infant - God. Heaven’s fairest child. Conceived by the union of divine grace with our disgrace. Sleep well.

Sleep well. Bask in the coolness of this night bright with diamonds. Sleep well, for the heat of anger simmers nearby. Enjoy the silence of the crib, for the noise of confusion rumbles in your future. Savor the sweet safety of my arms, for a day is soon coming when I cannot protect you.

Rest will, tiny hands. For though you belong to a king, you will touch no satin, own no gold. You will grasp no pen, guide no brush. No, your tiny hands are reserved for works more precious:

to touch a leper’s open wound,
to wipe a widow’s weary tear,
to claw the ground of Gethsemane.

Your hands, so tiny, so tender, so white - clutched tonight in an infant’s fist. They aren’t destined to hold a scepter nor wave from a palace balcony. They are reserved instead for a Roman spike that will staple them to a Roman cross.

Sleep deeply, tiny eyes. Sleep while you can. For soon the blurriness will clear and You will see the mess we have made of Your world.

You will see our nakedness, for we cannot hide.
You will see our selfishness, for we cannot give.
You will see our pain, for we cannot heal.

O eyes that will see hell’s darkest pit and witness her ugly prince…sleep, please sleep; sleep while You can.

Lay still, tiny mouth. Lay still mouth from which eternity will speak.

Tiny tongue that will soon summon the dead,

that will define grace,
that will silence our foolishness.

Rosebud lips - upon which ride a starborn kiss of forgiveness to those who believe in you, and of death to those who deny You - lay still.

And tiny feet cupped in the palm of my hand, rest. For many difficult steps lie ahead for You.

Do you taste the dust of the trails You will travel?
Do You feel the cold sea water upon which You will walk?
Do You wrench at the invasion of the nails You will bear?
Do You fear the steep descent down the spiral staircase into Satan’s domain?

Rest, tiny feet. Rest today so that tomorrow You might walk with power. Rest. For millions will follow in Your steps.

And little heart…holy heart…pumping the blood of life through the universe: How many times will we break You?

You’ll be torn by the thorns of our accusations.
You’ll be ravaged by the cancer of our sin.
You’ll be crushed under the weight of Your own sorrow.
And You’ll be pierced by the spear of our rejection.

Yet in that piercing, in that ultimate ripping of muscle and membrane, in that final rush of blood and water, You will find rest. Your hands will be freed. Your eyes will see justice. Your lips will smile, and Your feet will carry You home.

And there You’ll rest again - this time in the embrace of Your Father.

from God Came Near by Max Lucado

What’s your besetting sin? I know, I know, we’re Christians, we’re supposed to be perfect and never struggle with anything anymore. But let’s get real for a minute. What is it? Lust? Gluttony? Addictions? Laziness? Worry? Anger? Unforgiveness?

What if someone could give you a magic pill that would make it disappear - you would never struggle with that sin again? Would you take it? Now, think about it for a minute. If you take it, the desire to sin in that area is gone. But, so is your need to trust in God’s grace for that part of your life. That puts a new wrinkle on things, doesn’t it?

That decision is what faces Riley Keep in The Cure. Riley is battling alcoholism, and as devastating as that addiction is, that isn’t his worst demon. He has returned to Dublin, Maine, to seek a mythical cure he keeps hearing about, but he arrives too late to help his best friend, Brice, and that is just one more failure heaped onto a lifetime of failures. He’s lost his wife and daughter, lost his profession, lost his self-respect, and lost his faith. When he meets a strange woman running a homeless shelter, his life is turned even further upside-down. What Riley does with “the cure” brings chaos to a town, and brings him face to face with his past, and his future.

When I read Athol Dickson’s River Rising (my review), I thought that he wouldn’t be able to equal it in a future book. I was wrong. Dickson has a very lyrical, literary style of writing and a terrific sense of setting. He writes characters with just enough description that you can picture them, and sets the mood perfectly.

And, in the end, you’re left with the question: would you take “The Cure?”