Mist of Midnight by Sandra Byrd is a “novel of Victorian Romantic Suspense.” Rebecca Ravenshaw is English but has lived most of her life in India with missionary parents. However, they died in the Indian Uprising of 1857, and Rebecca escaped just with the clothes on her back. She is interred with other refugees until passage for England can be arranged. She looks forward to the safety and peace of her family’s home in Hampshire.
When she arrives, however, she discovers that someone claiming to be her had come some months before her, and died, apparently by her own hand. The servants all seem to think Rebecca is the imposter.
The house is occupied by a Captain Luke Whitefield, a distantly-related cousin. He insists on Rebecca staying in the house while he moves to the guest house until all is sorted out. The family solicitor is called in, but he didn’t know Rebecca or her parents–he is taking over for his deceased father. He’ll have to contact the mission agency in India, but with the upset after the uprising, it may take months to hear from them.
Captain Whitefield generously allows Rebecca funds for clothing and a ladies’ maid and anything else she might need. Rebecca promises to pay him back when her claim is verified. If it’s not, she doesn’t know what she’ll do.
In the meantime, they just wait. Whitefield had some social events already on the calendar, which he invites Rebecca to. Most of the townspeople have never known Rebecca and look at her with suspicion. But they seem standoffish with Whitefield, too.
The more Rebecca learns of her imposter’s death, the more suspicious it sounds. Several people seem to have ulterior motives–Whitefield, her maid, the servants.
I had missed the description of this book as romantic suspense. I was confused at first wondering what type of book it was. Then I reread the description on Amazon and saw mention of Gothic themes. I did get Jane Eyre vibes–not from the imposter and the time in India, but the mysterious master of the house, the odd things going on, the wing of the house she wasn’t supposed to go down. The mists arising from the grounds each night added to the mysterious Gothic feel. I felt the author went a little overboard in telling us the mists were a metaphor for Rebecca’s life–I got that without her having to state it obviously.
There were a few things that didn’t make sense to me. Rebecca questions her sanity at several points, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason to. Something will happen, and she’ll immediately question, “Did that just happen, or did I imagine it?” Of course, she’s undergone several layers of trauma, so maybe that accounts for it. But that didn’t seem to arise organically from the story–it seemed tossed in to make it more Gothic-ish.
Then there are situations like some red flags about her maid. Yet when her maid prepares laudanum for Rebecca one night without being asked, Rebecca wonders if it is safe, but takes it anyway.
The plot is kind of a slow burn, but I liked how it ended up. I appreciated that Scripture and faith elements were brought in naturally, as you’d think would be normal for a daughter of missionaries, though I thought one verse was misapplied. All the questions and mysteries that arise through the story are satisfactorily settled.
I didn’t like that one character seemed to be a supernatural visitor after she left.
I’ve not read Sandra Byrd before. I saw the audiobook was free at Audible at the time (very nicely read by Elizabeth Sastre), so I decided to try it. The audiobook doesn’t include any author notes, but I found this interview with her. I was surprised to read that she had not been to India. This book is the first in a series of three. But I am not that into Gothic novels, so I probably will not read any more.
June has been a pleasant month. Our church had VBS the first week, and we celebrated Father’s Day last week. Our only excursion was to Vintage Market Days.
We actually went out to dinner a few times instead of just getting takeout. But just last week we learned of two restaurants near us that closed. I’ve mentioned stopping by Bojangles for their steak and egg biscuit and blueberry biscuit (they’re the only restaurant I knew that sold those) a couple of times a year when I had fasting blood work done first thing in the morning. But I guess that wasn’t enough to keep them in business. :). They mainly featured Cajun-inspired chicken, which I didn’t really care for. We did really like Ruby Tuesday, though, as an in-between restaurant–beyond fast food but not as expensive as a fancy restaurant. They occasionally had buy one entree, get one for $3 offers that we liked to use. But as we planned to use that offer Friday night to place an order, the web site wasn’t listing our local restaurant. I checked the app–same thing. I looked them up on Google maps, which said they were permanently closed. I asked about it on our neighborhood Facebook app, where it was confirmed. The closest one to us now is 30 miles away. So we’re sad about that but wondering what will replace those two restaurants.
Creating
I made three Father’s Day cards this month. The first is for my step-father, who likes the original Star Trek series. The closest Star Trek-ish thing I could find in my Cricut images looked something like their comm badge.
I looked up Star Trek-type fonts online and downloaded one to make the words here.
This was for Jim. I recently found a camping-themed packet at Hobby Lobby with scrapbooking paper and stickers, so I am sure many future cards will come from that. 🙂
This one was for Jason, inspired by this sticker:
Watching
Someone suggested to me that I share where we watched the shows I mention, and I will try to note that from now on. We watch TV through an Amazon Fire Stick. We tend to rotate between streaming services, watching a series or two on one and then unsubscribing and trying a new one. I do link the title to the show’s listing on the IMDB site, which shares where it can be seen. Some of them can be viewed in more than one venue. Also, if you scroll down on an IMDB listing, the “Parental Controls” is where users can list any problem areas they saw.
A Small Light is a series about Miep Gies, the secretary who helped hide Anne Frank and her family along with a few others. Anne’s, father, Otto, was Miep’s boss, and she and her husband, Jan, had become close family friends to the Franks. The title comes from something Miep would often say as she spoke to groups after the war: “Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, in their own way, turn on a small light in a dark room.” There were a couple of scenes we had to fast-forward through with Miep and her husband, but otherwise it was really good. I think we saw this through Amazon Prime.
An American in Austen was a fun, light-hearted film which was much needed after the intensity of the above series. Harriet is an aspiring novelist with a boyfriend who wants to marry her. But in her mind, he doesn’t live up to Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. She falls asleep on an Uber ride to wake up in a jostling carriage in England as the American cousin visiting the Bennet family. At first she thinks someone has put on an elaborate hoax. But then she realizes that somehow, she’s really there in England in the 1800s. There are parts of it she likes (the clothes, the house, Mr. Darcy) and parts she doesn’t (corsets, carriages, social restrictions). But her actions begin to upset the plot of the story, and she tries to make it right. The only negative here is some way too low necklines.
Patience is a British series about a young woman who works in the Criminal Records section of a police station. She is autistic and socially awkward. When the lead detective asks her for some records on a case, Patience includes another case as well. At first the detective thinks Patience has made a mistake, but then she catches a similarity between the two cases. She begins to ask Patience for more connecting cases, eventually appreciating her different way of looking at details which others miss. But the relationship has its ups and downs as the detective squad and Patience learn to interact. The only negative I remember here is that a new character in the second season uses “Jesus” and “Christ” in vain a lot. I think we saw this through a PBS Masterpiece subscription we had at the time.
Foyle’s War is another British police procedural, this one set during WW2. Detective Chief Superintendent (DCS) Christopher Foyle wants to help in the war effort, but various circumstances keep him in Hastings, where he has an uncanny knack for solving cases. The last couple of seasons take place after the war where Foyle is recruited by MI6. We particularly liked his driver, Sam (Samantha) Stewart. It’s been a few weeks since we finished this one, but I don’t remember any major problems with it. I think we may have started it with Masterpiece or something else, but saw the last few seasons on Acorn TV.
The Other Bennet Sister is a series based on a book by the same name, which I loved and reviewed here. The main character is Mary, the bookish, plain, awkward middle sister in Pride and Prejudice. The first part tells some of the events of P&P from Mary’s point of view. Then the other sisters all marry, and their father dies, leaving Mary with her overbearing mother. Mary goes to London to stay with her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, for a while when their governess goes on an extended vacation. Mrs. Gardiner graciously draws Mary out to experience new things and think new ways and meet new people. But just when Mary is starting to emerge, her mother calls her back home. This was a really sweet series. It’s been a few years since I read the book, so I don’t know how closely the series followed the book. I do remember some of the scenes, but not all–and there are parts from the book that weren’t incorporated or were only touched on lightly. The only major negative that stood out was a scene early on about the parents trying to produce a male heir, showing a man’s bare shoulder for a couple of seconds, but nothing else. I was frustrated that was included, but thankful that was as far as we went. We watched this on Britbox, which we just subscribed to.
A Great Awakening is a new film about the friendship between Ben Franklin and preacher George Whitefield. We thought it was quite good. I wasn’t conscious of the upcoming 250th July 4th celebrations as I watched, but afterward thought it was timely to view it in that context. We really loved a hymn titled “Awaken Us Today” that was sung and played throughout the film and thought it must have been an old newly discovered one. But it was written for this film. We rented this from Amazon Prime.
Reading
Since last time, I have finished (titles link to me reviews):
Playlist Theology: If not Unison, then Harmony by Ben Everson, nonfiction. A frank, balanced, and gracious discussion of issues involving Christian music, sorting between what the Bible actually says and evaluating what others have said. Very good.
You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong: How to Make Your Bowel Movements a Joy by Trisha Pasricha, nonfiction. Not reviewed. Entertaining, but not as helpful as I had hoped.
The Lumber Baron’s Wifeby Lynn Austin, fiction, audiobook. A couple making a new start buy an older home, which used to belong to the doctor of a town whose main industry was lumber. The woman, Ashley, learns that the main lumber baron’s wife disappeared, and her fate was never discovered. With the local library and a few history buff friends, she seeks to find out what happened. Excellent.
Echoes of a Silent Song by Amanda Wen, fiction, audiobook. A pianist for a high school’s choirs and musical groups feels protective of the students after a revolving door of musical directors come and go. The new one has already said he will only be there a year until his composing muse returns. But they find a handwritten partial score of a beauitful piece and seek to find out more about who they think wrote it–a student named Iris from the 60s. I didn’t like the best friend, and the story seemed slow at first, but I enjoyed it by then end.
All Booked Up by Melody Carlson, fiction, audiobook. A widow about to lose her home decides to take in boarders, all “older” women like herself. Clashes arise but are eventually worked out while a couple of characters discover more about themselves. This was just okay.
I am currently reading:
None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different From Us and Why That’s a Good Thing by Jen Wilkin with a friend.
Insights on Revelation by Charles Swindoll.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. I’m way behind the bandwagon on this one.
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. I actually just finished this, but the plot twist near the end and the rest of the book were so stunning that I looked back at the beginning. I may reread the whole thing or I may just skim parts.
Helps to Remember What You Read from the Bible. We’ve probably all experienced forgetting by lunchtime what we read that morning. These are a few helps to try to retain more of what we read from Scripture.
No Perfect Homes Here. Even at the highest levels, it seems impossible to find a home with all the desired features and no problems. But that’s probably a good reminder that our perfect home is not here.
A Mother’s Nightly Ritual. A rare poem I wrote years ago about checking on my children at night and trusting God for them when they were no longer home.
We’re looking forward to Independence Day, with the kids over for burgers. We don’t have anything planned at this point for America’s big 250th birthday. I imagine special events in town are going to be super crowded.
Jason’s birthday is this month, and I’m planning to meet a friend for lunch. Our church is having a special session for women one Saturday this month. Otherwise, the calendar looks remarkably free. I have several things I’d like to get done.
How was your June? What are you looking forward to in July?
Temple Grandin was diagnosed with brain damage at the age of two in 1949. But her mother found an article on autism symptoms and felt that diagnosis fit Temple better (Temple was formally diagnosed as autistic as an adult). At that time, doctors advised that children like Temple be institutionalized. Her father wanted to follow the doctor’s advice, but her mother did not. Her parents divorced a few years later.
Temple’s mother took her to special needs researchers and neurologists, hired speech therapists and nannies to work with her, tried to make her school environment accommodating, and eventually enrolled her in a specialized school. She taught Temple social rules to help her remember how to interact with others. She emphasized that Temple was “different, not less.”
When Temple was a teenager, she worked at an aunt’s farm one summer. She noticed that the cattle mooed in different ways. When she mentioned that to others, they dismissed its importance. But Temple kept observing. She also noticed that when left to themselves, the cattle would herd themselves in circular patterns away from their handlers. She saw that they got upset by shadows, clothing dangling from a fence, and other distractions. When they got upset, they’d try to get away, causing damage and sometimes death to themselves and other cattle in their panic.
Years later, Temple designed a circular ramp system for cattle to go through the dipping process to protect them from insects. Many didn’t believe her or take her seriously at first. But when they took her suggestions, they found the system was not only more humane and calming for animals, but it saved the ranchers from loss due to animal injury. She went on to revolutionize the cattle industry with other suggestions and inventions.
In the movie Temple Grandin, Temple and her mother attend an autism conference by a leading “expert.” The parents in the audience shout questions to him which he can’t seem to answer. Temple stands to address some of the questions. Someone asks her how old her child is. She says she doesn’t have an autistic child, but she is autistic herself. When she mentions her degrees and her career, she’s flooded with questions until the moderator asks her to come forward to address the group. The parents are filled with hope while hearing someone who understands their children and has successfully navigated her life with autism. She went on to speak and write books about being autistic.
While autism is a different way of thinking and not a problem in itself, from what I understand, it can lead to misunderstandings and even bullying. Though Temple faced a lot of hardships growing up, her different way of perceiving things eventually became her greatest gift. She saw and understood things others didn’t. Her experiences became a beacon of hope to others.
In a similar vein, Joni Eareckson Tada broke her neck in a diving accident as a teenager. She has spent more than fifty years as a quadriplegic, encouraging and ministering to others, advocating for the disabled, supplying wheelchairs to people around the world, writing books, hosting a radio program, and speaking at events. Her words carry weight because of her experiences. We know she doesn’t talk about suffering only from a theological standpoint, but an experiential one.
Pastor John Vaughn’s wife and two-year-old daughter were severely burned in a fire in 1978. Neither were expected to survive, but they did. A few years later, when Vaughn sought for a Christian school to accommodate his daughter’s special needs, he couldn’t find one. He ended up starting Hidden Treasure Christian School, which grew to educate children with a variety of special needs for more than forty years now. One of their mottoes is “God has given each child what they need to accomplish His purpose in his or her life.”
Sometimes the areas in life where we have suffered or experienced pain or problems are the very things God uses in our lives to minister to others. That makes sense. Second Corinthians 1:4 says God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” The areas where we have struggled are the areas where we have learned to trust Him, to depend on Him, to function within the parameters He has given us.
Most of us have not experienced trials this severe, but we’ve all experienced problems. Family issues, death, illnesses, financial situations–whatever God has allowed in our lives, we can empathize with others in those situations and help them with what we have learned. De Witt Talmage has written that our work may be “to stand a lighthouse at the mouth of the bay to light others into harbor; perhaps to show how glorious a sunset may come after a stormy day.”
A poem that I have quoted often here is from an anonymous author and first came to my attention in Rosalind Goforth’s book, Climbing: Memories of a Missionary Wife. The first stanza says:
If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back; ‘Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track; And if, perchance, Faith’s light is dim, because the oil is low, Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.
From our experience with the Lord along the way, we can testify to others, as one song says, “All my life You have been faithful. All my life You have been so, so good.” And we can encourage them that He will be faithful and good in their lives, too, as they trust Him.
I Know God Is Good . . . but is He also Kind? “Like so many who encounter traumatic loss, I naturally responded with questions. I didn’t doubt the core goodness of God. My struggle related to God’s kindness: ‘Lord, I know you are good, but right now, it just doesn’t seem like you are kind.'”
The Daily Deaths We Die. “Life affords many opportunities to practice dying to self so that the treasure of Jesus is made known to others. When relationships are tough, ministry seems unfruitful, life is disappointing, bodies are sick, tired, and weakening, people don’t show up, or losses pile up, here’s how you can die and live in Christ.”
Biblical Self-Examination: Questions for Growth, HT to Challies. “Self-examination is a biblical concept, but we can be swept too far into this introspection. We need to always examine ourselves in the light of God’s truth, keeping the Gospel at the center of our examination.”
The Lost Art of a Wandering Mind. “The technology boom didn’t exactly wind up creating the kind of world we had seen on The Jetsons. Instead of forming a fascinating world of automation that freed us up to pursue noble interests, technology built a new way of thinking that, sadly, has caused us to think less.”
Don’t Let Envy Poison Your Soul, HT to Challies. “In today’s modern culture, we have been conditioned to nurture envy at anyone who is perceived to be ahead of us on the career, economic, or social ladder. Envy is at the heart of our politics on all sides. Envy fuels the marketing machines. Just watch the ads. Someone owns a product/gadget/service that is making them happy, and you don’t have it. That’s not right, we are told to tell ourselves, I must have it.”
Cartel Violence Gripped a Colombian City. Then Came a Soccer Ministry, HT to Challies. “For two years, one of Saldarriaga’s friends had invited him to a soccer practice that he said was ‘different.’ Christians ran it. Saldarriaga finally relented. He had no idea that decision would change his life. And he had no idea he would be one of countless young men across Medellín who found God at soccer practice during Colombia’s infamous decades of drug cartel violence.”
The Quiet Theology of All Creatures Great and Small, HT to Lois. “We started talking about All Creatures Great and Small over coffee. Not in a ‘let’s analyze this’ way, but more like: Why does this show make me feel calmer? Why does it linger after the credits roll? My friend said it felt like a warm cup of tea while visiting her grandparents. And I heard myself say, almost without thinking, ‘It’s because the show believes small things matter.’ And that instinct, I think, resonates with something deeply Christian.”
Is It Immoral to Be a Trillionaire? “So one side claims that this incredible wealth is evil, while the other claims he’s done nothing wrong. What does the Bible have to say about wealth? Specifically, is having lots of money and being rich evil? To think rightly about this issue, we’re going to look first at what it means that Musk is a trillionaire, then we’re going to look at what the Bible has to say about wealth, and then we’re going to end with a few concluding thoughts.”
While unbelief sees the difficulties, faith sees God between itself and them.–Hudson Taylor.
It’s the first official Friday’s Fave Five of summer–though in my mind, it’s been summer all month. And it’s the last FFF of June. I pause on Fridays with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to share the blessings of the week.
1. Father’s Day. We enjoyed having the family over, one of them via FaceTime.
2. July 4th decorations. I love my country and my flag, but I don’t usually have any special decorations for Independence Day–mainly because I don’t like red, white, and blue as a decorating scheme. But I went to Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and found some I liked. They were 40% off, plus I had a gift card to spend.
3. Impromptu date. We went out to Olive Garden, anticipating that they might be busy on a Saturday night. But we were seated right away in a small area with just four or five tables. We really like the smaller seating areas there rather than the restaurant being one big, open, noisy room.
4. Having Tim over while his mom had a doctor’s appointment. After lunch, we just hung out together in the family room. I wondered later whether I should plan something special to do when he’s here. But I think we all enjoy just relaxing together at times, too.
5. Good conversations, one with a friend, one with the folks around our table at our Wednesday evening get-together at church.
All Booked Up by Melody Carlson centers on Riva Owen, a widow in her early sixties. Her husband passed away more than a year before and left her with a lot of medical debts. She’s contemplating selling the Victorian home where she grew up. But one thing holding her back is her book collection in what she calls her library. She still has all her husband’s books there as well. She just can’t bear to get rid of them–they are like friends to her.
When a friend mentions that Riva could make good money renting out her upstairs rooms, Riva has to think long and hard about whether to take in boarders. Doing so would allow her to keep her house. But it would disrupt her quiet lifestyle. She finally decides to give it a try and ends up with four women renting out rooms in her home. She only knows one of them, Laurel. Windy is a new acquaintance with a hippie background, Kitty is Laurel’s hairdresser, and Fiona works at a nearby cafe.
Things start off well, but soon the different personalities clash. The rest of the book is taken up with the issues that come up and how they are worked out.
I enjoyed reading a book about “older” women. I think they were all in their sixties except Kitty. I liked the bookish references but felt there could have been more, given the title and description of the story. I also appreciated the discussions about grief.
Melody has written over 200 books, and I have enjoyed the few that I have read, mostly Christmas novels. But this book was a disappointment to me in some ways. I felt the book took a while to get where it was going, but then the ending seemed rushed. The resolution of the biggest “problem” housemate seemed unrealistic to me.
I got frustrated that everyone kept telling Riva she was repressed and inhibited, pulling her into experiences she really didn’t want to get into. I wanted her to stand up for herself and quit giving in and going to these outings where she then tried to sneak out early. She tells the group later that she was stuck after her husband’s death and thanks them for nudging her out of her comfort zone. True, it’s good to try new things some times. But I felt the friends would have been better to encourage and suggest rather than push and insist.
Two of the women like Windy’s brother, Marcus, and seem totally childish in their jealousies.
Though this is Christian fiction, anything of a Christian nature is only mentioned sporadically until near the end.
Some reviewers felt as I did, but others loved the book. So don’t let me discourage you from trying it. You might like it, too, and I’d love to hear what you think of it.
I’ve read and enjoyed several of Hannah Anderson’s books. So when I saw she had written a Bible study titled Life Under the Sun: The Unexpectedly Good News of Ecclesiastes, I put it on my wish list. After I received it, I put it on my literal “to be read” stack, thinking I’d use it the next time I read through Ecclesiastes.
I forgot I had the book until recently when I rediscovered it while looking for something else. As it turned out, my pastor had just started a series on Ecclesiastes. So I decided to go through this Bible study as a companion to the preaching, to reinforce what I was learning on both fronts.
Ecclesiastes is unique in that it seems somewhat cynical on first reading. Solomon, who many feel is the author of the book, uses a word nearly forty times that is translated as meaningless, vanity, or useless. He talks about the frustration of things like working all your life only to end up with nothing or leaving your money and possessions to someone who may not manage them well; finding injustice in the very people who are supposed to promote justice; sometimes it seems like good people suffer calamity while wicked people have it easy; life seems like an endless cycle of the same old thing, and so on.
But that word translated meaningless or vanity is the Hebrew word hevel, which means something more like vapor, smoke, or mist. Solomon speaks of chasing after the wind: you can’t catch it, and if you could, you can’t hold on to it. Life seems like that sometimes–endlessly pursuing but never grasping anything of permanence. Life is also as brief as a mist that disappears, language used elsewhere in the Bible as well.
Ecclesiastes is part of what we call both the wisdom literature of the Bible as well as its poetical books. Rather than straightforwardly telling us what it means, like Paul does in his epistles, the wisdom books use figurative language. Hannah says this “forces us to slow down and consider the truth being presented. And thus, it seeks not only to inform, but to transform” (p. 21).
The study is divided into eight weekly sessions of five days worth of reading in each. The first couple of lessons discuss the author and the nature of Ecclesiastes.
But then the rest of the book is laid out topically, covering wisdom, goodness, work, community, justice, and time “under the sun.” I suppose that makes sense in a study like this, because Solomon doesn’t lay these out in a neat and orderly outline. He seems to scatter them throughout the rest of the book. Hannah says that is due to the chaotic nature of life as represented in Ecclesiastes. But I have also read that Eastern literature is not laid out in a linear fashion like Western literature is: it’s more cyclical. Perhaps both ideas come to bear here.
But I felt like the topical nature of the study had us hopping around all over the place and seemed like we were missing some parts of Ecclesiastes. Our pastor is going through the book section by section, which I prefer.
As a whole, I felt this was a little lightweight compared to other Bible studies I have done. I liked her other books much better. That’s not to say this study was without merit: it’s very good as far as it goes. I did glean some good points throughout, and the topics often did intersect with what my pastor was preaching or what the church’s podcast on Ecclesiastes covered, even though they may all have been in different parts of the book.
I appreciated Hannah’s discussion of reading biblical poetry. She brought out some aspects I had not heard before. Some of the other quotes that stood out to me:
One benefit of studying Ecclesiastes is that it helps us realize our questions need to be refined. Again, it’s easy to come to the Bible demanding answers. It’s much harder to let the Scripture change our questions before answering them. But part of coming to Scripture honestly means letting it rework and restructure the way we think (p. 26).
If God invites us to enter His kingdom like little children, I have to believe He means for us to come with all the curiosity and audacity of a child trying to make sense of her world. And just as we would never shame a child for trying to understand the life she inhabits, so too, our heavenly Father does not shame us when we ask similar questions (p. 26).
What kept David from despair [in Psalm 27:13] was his confidence that he would experience the goodness of the Lord in this life–here, in the land of the living. Here, under the sun. He believed that despite all the difficulties, life still held the promise of goodness because it still held God. So instead of trusting in goodness itself, we should trust in the God of goodness, believing He who made the world good will continue to fill it with His good presence (p. 72).
While God’s work does not depend on us, our work does depend on Him. He has given us good work to do, and we must pursue it in order to find fulfillment (p. 104).
Applying wisdom to relationships often begins with confusion. While proverbs are neat and contained, the problems of life require us to puzzle through them. Wisdom happens in the process (p. 138).
Though we grieve the state of our world, a crooked world holds its own kind of hope because a crooked world hints to the fact that a straight one exists. The fact that we long for life to be other than it is tells us we know it should be something more. The fact that we instinctively know life is not fair confirms we know it should be fair. In fact, this reasoning is what eventually brought Oxford don and author, C. S. Lewis to faith (p. 152).
While Ecclesiastes might seem cynical or pessimistic at first, the book reaches the conclusion to enjoy God’s good gifts in a fallen world, live for Him, obey Him, and trust that He will work everything out in the long run. Or, as Hannah put it:
Ultimately, for the Teacher, the secret to life under the sun was found in remembering what life can and can’t give us. Rest from “hevel” comes from confessing our limits and remembering God’s limitlessness–including remembering our need of His limitless grace and mercy. So that when we run up against our own injustice, pride, and arrogance, we learn to run to Him. Time and time again, in each new season of life, we can run to Him confessing our need and surrendering ourselves to His loving hand (p. 205).
I strongly believe in paying full price for books. Authors work for months, sometimes years, to get their books finished and published. Most don’t make a living at writing unless they’re mega-best-sellers. The Bible says, “The laborer is worthy of his hire.” It’s good and right to reimburse them for the goods and services they provide.
Paying for a book is a good value. A specialty coffee drink only lasts an hour or so. A good book may cost twice as much but lasts ten-twenty hours.
Plus, selfishly, investing in authors we love enables them to write even more books. If I want them to keep books coming, I need to support them.
For many of us, however, our reading appetite outpaces our budget. We can read more books if we can find deals on them.
Here are some ways I’ve found to get more books for my reading dollar.
Free books. The library is a wonderful institution to make books available to the public. They may not always have what we want, or there may be a waiting list for the most popular books. But they are a good first resource. If they don’t have a book you want, many of them have a form you can submit to request it.
Librivox has audio versions of books in the public domain. Some are excellently done, but some are read by volunteers who don’t use inflections or character voices. But it’s easy to take a chance when the book is free.
Net Galley will send readers free books in return for an honest review. I haven’t tried them yet, but I am looking into them. I think there are similar sites that do the same thing. Sometimes authors will send out a few of their newest books for that purpose as well. The reviews don’t have to be all five-star–in fact, it looks a little suspicious if every review is the highest rating. Reviews also don’t have to be long and involved.
Sales. Yard sales, thrift stores, library sales, and used book stores will sometimes yield great books at good prices. They may have some damage or markings. Even Amazon will list some used book options. Most used books I’ve bought have been fine. There have only been one or two that were so damaged or icky that I regretted buying them.
Some sites online will curate book sale listings. Gospelebooks.com and Inspiredreads.com list current Christian books sales for the Kindle app, but I mention them with caution. I would not agree with everything they recommend, so some discernment is needed. Tim Challies also curates a list of mostly Christian books but also a few general market ones. I’m much more willing to take a chance on a new author or a book I am not sure about when I can get it for a couple of dollars.
Of course, many booksellers have regular sales as well. Following them online or signing up for their catalogs or emails will keep you informed.
Also, if you follow your favorite authors on social media, they’ll often list when one of their books is on sale.
Pre-orders. There are a few authors (Amanda Cox and Amanda Dykes, to name a couple of my favorites) whose every book I buy. Since I have read all their books so far and loved them, there’s a good chance I’ll like their new books as well. I got both of their soon-to-be published paperbacks at 25% off plus free shipping for pre-orders. Publishers like pre-orders because it gives them some idea of how much interest there will be in the book, so they’ll often offer incentives like a discount price and/or free shipping or some little gifts if you order early.
Rewards. We have an Amazon credit card which gives me “points” every time I buy something with it–especially something from Amazon. Sometimes it will let me use my Amazon points for book purchases.
I’ve only ordered a few books at Thriftbooks, but apparently they have some kind of reward system, too.
Audiobooks. My Audible subscription is $14.95 a month, which nets me one credit, good for one book. However, they often have 2-book-for-one-credit sales on selected titles. They also rotate some titles for free in what they used to call their “Plus” catalog. Now, at the top of the Audible site, those books are listed under a tab titled “Included.” (I would suggest listening to the free audiobooks you choose right away, because when they are rotated back into the general circulation, they’ll no longer be available in your Audible app.) Plus, they’ll have many of their regular titles marked down if you want to buy them for cash rather than a credit. I save my credit for the more expensive books but occasionally buy audiobooks for a few dollars. I’ve found many classics there for just a dollar or two.
Audible also just started a rewards program. But even before that, they’d sometimes offer a $5 coupon for listening to three audiobooks within a certain time period.
I mentioned at the beginning the desire to support authors. Does it lessen their support to get books on sale or for free? As I said, I like to pay full price for books often. But I think many authors would rather their books be read on sale or from the library than not at all. Many offer sales on their own books at times. I’ve often started reading the rest of an author’s books after trying one that I found for free or on sale.
Plus, we can also support authors in other ways. Requesting and checking out their books at the library helps keep their books available there.
One of the best ways to support an author is to leave reviews of their books, especially on Amazon but also on sites like GoodReads or on our blogs. Even a mention on social media helps. Many book sales are generated by word of mouth these days. Not only do our reviews help promote books among other readers, but publishers look at them closely as well. I’ve read that Amazon doesn’t put a book in its promotional algorithm until that book has at least fifty reviews.
Have you found ways to read more books than you can afford? Please share with us in the comments.
Since I wrote about Brave Mothers of the Bible on Mother’s Day, I thought it only fair to write about fathers of the Bible for Father’s Day. I think my audience is mostly female. I have women in mind as I write, but I don’t mind if men read, too. But even as women we can learn from and be inspired by fathers.
Noah experienced a lot of firsts. He was the first person to build a boat the size of the ark, as far as we know. His family was the first to experience a worldwide flood–the only ones, in fact. He and his family had to start civilization all over again, not in the garden of Eden like Adam and Eve, but on an earth recovering from devastation. I can’t imagine what all they faced. Noah displayed some faults later on. But Hebrews 11:7 commends him: “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” By faith he believed and obeyed and was saved.
Abraham was also not without fault. Actually, no earthly father is–or mother or anyone else. That’s encouraging to us, though, because if God could work in and through these people, He can work in and through us. Abraham obeyed God by leaving his home and all that was familiar, “not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). I don’t pretend to understand everything that was involved in God’s asking Abraham to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac. But “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews 11:19). Though God does not call anyone else to give up their children in that way, there is a real sense in which we need to yield them to Him. We’re reminded over and over that they belong to Him; they’re just ours temporarily. We’re not to hold them to our dreams and plans for them, but yield them to His.
David was a man after God’s own heart. He failed miserably at times, and some of his children suffered for it. But he repented (Psalm 51). Much of the counsel David’s son, Solomon’s, shared in the book of Proverbs came from David. In the last stretch of David’s life, he did everything he could possibly do to enable Solomon to build the temple that David was not allowed to. I think I wrote David’s words to Solomon on each of my son’s yearbooks or graduation cards, or at least the first part of it: “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever” (1 Chronicles 28:9).
Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather, is one of the unsung heroes of the Bible. When his bride-to-be was found pregnant, he knew he was not the father. So he arranged to break their engagement quietly. But God sent an angel to tell him the baby Mary carried was the Son of God and it was okay for them to marry. Later, when God instructed Joseph to take Mary and baby Jesus to Egypt to flee from Herod, and then a few years later to bring them back to Israel, Joseph obeyed unquestioningly. We’re not told what he thought or felt. His life was not turning out as he had thought it would. But he accepted the responsibility God placed on him and fulfilled it faithfully.
Jairus came to Jesus, “and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live'” (Mark 5:22-23). This was a desperate father, urgently seeking the best help for his child. Jesus agreed to go with Jairus. But on their way, Jesus was stopped by a woman who’d had an issue of blood for twelve years. The Bible doesn’t say what Jairus was doing while Jesus talked with the woman. But I probably would have been pacing and growing more frustrated by the moment.
And then a messenger cameto tell Jairus his daughter had died. What agony he must have been in. But Jesus told Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe” (verse 36). When they got to Jairus’ house, Jesus raised his daughter from the dead.
Talk about a roller coaster of emotions that day. When we’re desperate, when the answer is delayed, when hope is gone–we still don’t need to fear. God doesn’t always deliver–sometimes He gives grace to endure instead.
Jesus said of another person He healed, a man who was born blind, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). Sometimes we’re caught up in our own or our family’s daily needs and forget there are larger issues at stake. God might allow something to happen in our family so that others might see Him.
What can we learn from these fathers?
God uses flawed people. We’ll make mistakes, but God can forgive and use us for His glory.
God uses ordinary people. Most of these giants of the faith came from humble means: David was a shepherd; Joseph was a carpenter.
God requires and honors faith. In some ways, it has taken more faith to trust God for my children than for many other things.
God requires obedience, but He gives grace to obey.
God is faithful when life spirals out of control.
God’s goal is not just for us to have a sweet, happy family, but to live for His honor and glory. Sometimes that happens through hardship and pain. The end of Hebrews 11’s “hall of faith” says that both those who experienced great deliverance and those who suffered were commended for their faith, even when they didn’t receive what they were promised in their lifetimes. But this lifetime is not the end. Earlier in Hebrews 11, God said His people searched for “better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” verse 6).
We can trust God with our parenting and with our children.
These are just a few faithful fathers in the Bible. Do any of them or any biblical fathers I haven’t mentioned inspire you?
What to Do When You Really Mess Up. “Have you ever really blown it–made a sinful choice with the potential to destroy your life and possibly the lives of those around you? The story of David in 2 Samuel 11 and 12 offers insight into what we should—and should not—do when faced with our own moral failures.”
When Faith Seems to Fail. This is the summary, outline, and transcript of a message by Adrian Rogers that I heard parts of this week on the radio (the overview and audio are here). The part that especially grabbed my attention was how in Hebrews 11, the first part of the chapter tells of the faith shown by Abraham, Moses, Noah, and others. But then verse 36 says “Others suffered . . . ” mocking, flogging, imprisonment, stoning, death, wandering. Verse 9 says all of them were commended through faith. As Rogers put it, “Some escaped by faith. Some endured by faith.”
We Don’t Hate and Then Harm–We Harm and Then Hate, HT to Challies. “We live in a world of ceaseless conflict. And when we look for the source of that conflict, we often assume it’s hatred. We hate people and then treat them poorly. It’s because we feel contempt toward others that we sin against them. But that’s only half the story. Often it’s the other way around. First, we hurt someone, and only then do we begin to hate them.”
6 Expressions of God’s Kindness in the Prodigal Son Parable. “The father’s response in this parable overflows with compassion, forgiveness, and generosity and mirrors our heavenly Father’s heart toward all of us. No matter the depth of our wandering, God rejoices when we come home. The father’s kindness isn’t expressed in a single moment but unfolds again and again in deliberate and tender ways throughout the story. Jesus gives us a picture of what God’s kindness looks like in motion, revealed through the father’s actions.”
The Gift of Finitude, HT to the Story Warren. “You might accomplish a few more of your goals with a sensible routine in place. But you still can’t do it all. And that’s ok. Finitude is not fallenness. Adam and Eve were created with finitude, and they were declared good. Finitude isn’t a bug of being human; it’s a feature.”
Technology Is Fast, Sanctification Is Slow, and Claude Can’t Do It for You. “What if the inefficiency of creativity is a benefit rather than a drawback, a feature rather than a bug? What if the purpose of creativity is greater than merely generating the output? What if creativity fosters a kind of inner formation that is every bit as important as the work that eventually results from it? What if we turn over to AI a process that is an important part of what it means to be human, and one that is genuinely good for us?”
In It Together. “Almost everything that men and women experience together, we experience differently, but through patience and understanding, listening and talking, through expressing care in all the ways we can think of when we just don’t know how to help each other, we continually send the message, over and over again, through all kinds of trials and troubles: I’m here. We’re in this together.”
Making Family Devotions Work. “While my parents often prayed with us before bed, for the most part anything beyond that wasn’t a part of our normal rhythm of life. I never really understood why not, until I had a family. Then I realized how challenging it is to maintain family devotions.”
10 Phrases to Eliminate from Your Bible Teaching. These are good reminders not only for teaching Bible, but for any kind of speaking or writing and even everyday conversation. Of course, we need to be gracious listeners. Some of these phrases sneak in unaware when the speaker is trying to gather his thoughts. But when we can eliminate them, we make ourselves much easier and more interesting to listen to.
A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to take us there, but a guiding light whose love shows us the way. Author unknown.
Stray Thoughts 