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What’s On Your Nightstand: April

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Barbara Harper

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

Since last time I finished:

A Walk In the Park by Barbara Andrews, a very sweet and tender story about a sculptor who easily talks to “his girls” that he sculpts but can’t seem to talk adequately to a real, live one — until he meets Maddie.

A Long Walk Home, also by Barbara Andrews, which gives the back-story of the housekeeper of the sculptor in the first book and then ties the two stories together at the end. Both Andrews books are reviewed together here.

Faithful by Kim Cash Tate, reviewed here, about three friends in various situations who learn what being faithful means. That sounds like a bland description, but it was a very enjoyable and beneficial, hard-to-put-down read.

10 Gospel Promises For Later Life by Jane Marie Thibault, reviewed here. Sadly, I cannot recommend this one because of serious doctrinal problems.

An Unlikely Blessing by Judy Baer, not reviewed, a pleasant but not riveting read about a new pastor of two churches in a rural town. Similar in many ways to Mitford but not quite as charming.

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter compiled by Nancy Guthrie. Excellent. I read and reviewed it last year and read it again in the weeks before Easter this year.

A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. I just finished it — I’ve read it at least twice before. but it had been a number of years. Loved it, loved it. ~~Hope to have a review up soon~~. My review is here.

Selfishness: From Loving Yourself to Loving Your Neighbor by Lou Priolo is just a 31-page booklet, but, wow, it packs a punch. Very convicting. I shared some quotes from it yesterday.

I’m currently reading:

A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction — bit by bit in between other books.

Women’s Ministry in the Local Church by Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt

Leaving by Karen Kingsbury, a new series with Bailey Flanigan from previous series.

Up next:

The Judgment by Beverly Lewis, second in The Rose Trilogy

Love Finds You in Camelot, Tennessee by Janice Hanna.

What are you reading?

The Week In Words

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here are some that ministered to me this past week:

From Counterintuitive Words of Comfort for the Hurting at Wendy Alsup’s Practical Theology for Women:

I am beginning to see that the primary point of long periods of silence by God during our earthly sorrows and suffering is that we show His worthiness of our belief and trust based fully on who He is and not on what things He gives us. Satan can’t believe we would trust God just based on His character and not on the blessings on earth He gives us. That’s Satan’s taunt–“They only worship you because you are good to them. They’d never worship you if you didn’t answer their prayers and take care of them like they expect.”

From a booklet titled Selfishness: From Loving Yourself to Loving Your Neighbor by Lou Priolo:

Thine own will is a corrupt and sinful will, and therefore unfit to be thy governor: What! Wilt thou choose an unjust, a wicked, an unmerciful governor that is inclined to do evil?…To prefer self will before the will of God, is, as the Jews, to prefer a murderer, Barabbas, before the Lord of life…When God is content to be your governor, prefer not such foolish sinners as yourself before Him ~ Richard Baxter, The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, Vol. 3, pp 400-401.

Very convicting and eye-opening.

And from p. 16 of the same booklet:

We are so selfish — that is, our love of self is so strong — that a love much stronger than our own is required to overpower it.

If you’ve read anything that particularly spoke to you that you’d like to share, please either list it in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below. I do ask that only family-friendly quotes be included. I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder.

And please do comment even if you don’t have quotes to share!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. John 11:25.

The strife is o’er, the battle done;
The victory of life is won;
The song of triumph has begun:
Alleluia!

The powers of death have done their worst;
But Christ their legions hath dispersed;
Let shouts of holy joy outburst:
Alleluia!

The three sad days are quickly sped;
He rises glorious from the dead;
All glory to our risen Head!
Alleluia!

He closed the yawning gates of hell;
The bars from heaven’s high portals fell;
Let hymns of praise His triumphs tell!
Alleluia!

Lord, by the stripes which wounded Thee,
From death’s dread sting Thy servants free,
That we may live, and sing to Thee:
Alleluia!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

~ Author Unknown

May you have a wonderful joyous, blessed Easter remembering the resurrection of our Lord and Savior!

That Day at Calvary

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Barbara Harper

I stood one day at Calvary,
Where Jesus bled and died.
I never knew He loved me so;
For me He was crucified.
And as I stood there in my sin,
His love reached down to me;
And, oh, the shame that filled my soul,
That day at Calvary.

I knelt one day at Calvary,
My eyes were filled with tears,
To think such love I had refused
Throughout these wasted years;
And as I knelt I heard Him say,
“I did it all for thee”;
And, oh, the love that filled my soul,
That day at Calvary.

I prayed one day at Calvary,
“I’m Thine forevermore;
Forgive me, Lord, for all my sin,
My lost estate restore,”
And as I prayed, to me He gave
Salvation full and free;
And, oh, the peace that filled my soul
That day at Calvary.

~ Walt Huntley

(You can hear a snippet of this by going to this site and clicking on “That Day at Calvary.” I tried to find it on Youtube but only found a different song by the same name that was jazzier and didn’t seem to fit the words.)

Face the Cross

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Barbara Harper

I posted this about a year and a half ago, but it seems fitting contemplation for this Easter week. I first heard this beautiful hymn on the Wilds CD Creator, Redeemer, and King, and it literally stopped me in my tracks. You can hear the full version here.

Upon the cross of Jesus my eye at times can see
The very dying form of One who suffered there for me.

Face the cross, He hangs there in your place.
See the Lamb upon the killing tree.
Stand and look into the Savior’s face
As on the cross, He dies for you and me.

Face the cross and see the dying Son.
See the Lamb upon the killing tree.
See His anguish and His tears of love.
Face the cross, He dies to set us free.

Turn not away, turn not away.
His nail-pierced hands are reaching out to you, to you.

Look upon the One without a sin,.
Spotless Lamb upon the killing tree.
Feel His pain and love from deep within,
So great a price, yet paid so willingly.

Turn not away, turn not away,
Face the cross, face the cross.

Face the One who suffers in your place,
See the Lamb, upon the killing tree.
Light of the world, now clothed in darkness grim
As on the cross, He hangs in agony.

Face the cross and turn not away, turn not away.
His nail-pierced hands are reaching out to you.

Turn not away, behold His wounded side.
Turn not away, behold the crucified.
Face the cross, He hangs there in your place.
Face the cross, and see the King of Grace.
Face the cross, face the cross.

– Words by Herb Fromach, music by David Lantz

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Joyce From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge of questions for fun and for getting to know each other.

Here are the questions for this week:

1. What are your plans for Easter Day/weekend?

I’m not really sure yet — this will be a different kind of Easter for us since my oldest son now lives out of state and my middle son and daughter-in-law will be out of town to visit her mom and attend a friend’s wedding. We likely won’t have our usual egg hunt (with money in plastic eggs) with just one teen-ager at home. I don’t know if we’ll do Easter baskets. I do know our church is having a special, longer Sunday morning service and no evening service. And we’ll have our usual Easter dinner of ham and some kind of potatoes.

2. Besides Jesus, what one person from The Bible would you most like to meet and why?

I’ve been thinking about this question off and on since I saw them yesterday (Joyce posts the questions a day ahead) and have found it very hard to choose one, but I think I’d choose Martha. I tend to be like her and would love to hear more about how she balanced serving with worship.

3. What is one modern day convenience you didn’t have as a child that was easy to live without?

That’s hard to say as I lived without them easily seeing I didn’t know about them then. 🙂 But I have gotten quite dependent on my dishwasher, microwave, cell phone, computer, and GPS. And fast food. But I think one feature of many modern conveniences that I could easily live without is the beeping signals. The microwave, washer, dryer, coffeemaker, and I don’t know what all else beeps or buzzes when they are done and it drives me buggy. With most of them I know when they are about to be done, and if I don’t come running immediately it isn’t a disaster. Thankfully most of them have an option to turn off the signal. I can hardly eat in some fast food places because of the incessant machinery noise.

4. Are you more right brained or left brained? If you don’t know what that means there is an interesting little quiz here.

According to the quiz, I’m 56% left-brained and 44% right-brained. Some of the analysis seemed fairly accurate, some a little “off,” but that’s the way with most of these types of quizzes. According to this list (just googled it and found this chart, not clicking on the weird links!), I’d say I am more left-brained. But the analysis of the quiz mentions a lot about math, and I am not a math person, and says I am not very verbal, whereas I would say I am.

5. What is something you intended to do today but didn’t? Why?

I need to send some cards that I have been meaning to sign and address for days now. I’m not sure why I haven’t gotten to them yet — just distracted by other things, I guess.

6. Cadbury Creme Eggs or Reeses peanut butter?

Reese’s!!!

7. Who was your favorite cartoon character when you were a child?

Underdog.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

My knee was hurting to the point of hardly being able to walk on it last night, but thankfully it is better today except in certain positions (which I am trying to avoid.) My knees were x-rayed some time last year before we left SC, because they do give me trouble some times….but I don’t remember the results of the x-rays. 😳 I think it just indicated beginning arthritis. I’ve had a fear of someday needing knee replacement due to age and weight, and after hearing about what was involved from a friend who had both knees replaced at the same time, I want to avoid that! Last night I was all set to call the doctor first thing this morning, but I am thankful for a reprieve! This is the first time they’ve given me much trouble here since our new house does not have stairs. I do have a physical scheduled soon, so I’ll mention it then. (Edited to add: I may have spoken too soon about it being better — it just started up again just before lunch time. 😦 Hoping ibuprofen nips it in the bud.)

Just popping in to say hello…

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Barbara Harper

This has been an odd day. I’ve had a few post ideas in mind, but none would coalesce into a post. I was very tired and sleepy (and therefore cranky… 😳 ) yesterday, but when I tried to take a nap, I couldn’t get to sleep, and every time I dozed off in my desk chair, something would happen to wake me up. This morning when I was falling asleep in my chair at 9 a.m., I climbed back into bed, and I think I’m caught up on my sleep now though I slept much longer than intended. I’m in a much pleasanter frame of mind, anyway! But my thoughts still aren’t coming together enough to say anything of importance.

I’m not sure what the deal is, but I have noticed that when I have a very busy period of time, it takes me longer to “recover” — I seem to have a few days of malaise after having a few days of intense busyness. So I’ll just assume that is what is going on, and hopefully I’ll be back up to par tomorrow.

But now I need to try to salvage the day and go get something accomplished!

(Blog cartoon from We Blog Cartoons.)

The Week In Words

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Barbara Harper

I thought I’d share a few quotes related to Easter this week. Many of them have appeared on my blog in past years.

God expects from men something more…at such times, and that it were much to be wished for the credit of their religion as well as the satisfaction of their conscience that their Easter devotions would in some measure come up to their Easter dress. — Robert South

People say the cross is a sign of how much man is worth. That’s not true. The cross is a sign of how depraved we really are, that it took the death of God’s own Son. The only thing that could save a people like us was the death of God’s own Son under the wrath of His own Father paying the price, rising again from the dead. Powerful to say, this is the Gospel of Jesus. — Paul Washer

We greatly need the cheer of this precious Easter truth. We make too little of the place our Lord has gone to prepare for us. We rob ourselves greatly when we try to reduce heaven to a mere state of ecstatic feeling. We need the cheer which comes of having the eye of faith fixed on the better country and the city that hath the foundations. Such a certainty of an inheritance that is real and that cannot fade away goes far to mitigate the pangs which come of the fires and floods and disasters and frauds which so often despoil God’s people of their earthly possessions; for we know that the things seen are temporal, but the things not seen are eternal, and they are only a few heart-beats away. – E.P. Goodwin

IF you come to seek His face, not in the empty sepulchre, but in the living power of His presence, as indeed realizing that He has finished His glorious work, and is alive for evermore, then your hearts will be full of true Easter joy, and that joy will shed itself abroad in your homes. And let your joy not end with the hymns and the prayers and the communions in His house. Take with you the joy of Easter to the home, and make that home bright with more unselfish love, more hearty service; take it into your work, and do all in the name of the Lord Jesus; take it to your heart, and let that heart rise anew on Easter wings to a higher, a gladder, a fuller life; take it to the dear grave-side and say there the two words “Jesus lives!” and find in them the secret of calm expectation, the hope of eternal reunion. – John Ellerton

There are many tombs where we may be held if we succumb to the powers of sin and death. Hatred, self-pity, bitterness, resentment–these are tombs. By the power that raised Jesus Christ from that sealed and guarded tomb we may be delivered from whatever seals us off from life. Jesus came to give us life, nothing less than life, “abundant” life….Do you know someone you are praying for who is living in the darkness of such a tomb? Has it seemed that there is no more possibility of getting through to him than to someone buried? Resentment has sealed him off from any approach. Pray for the power of the resurrection to release him. Refuse, by the grace of God, to be held back by his bitterness. Then ask the Lord to help you to meet him next time in the consciousness of Christ risen. Instead of dreading the meeting because of the thought of former disastrous meetings, face it with joy. Christ is risen! Christ is risen! — Elisabeth Elliot, “Death Shall Not Hold Us,” from A Lamp For My Feet

And please do comment even if you don’t have quotes to share!

Waiting For Spring

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Though cloudy skies, and northern blasts,
Retard the gentle spring awhile;
The sun will conqu’ror prove at last,
And nature wear a vernal smile.

The promise, which from age to age,
Has brought the changing seasons round;
Again shall calm the winter’s rage,
Perfume the air, and paint the ground.

The virtue of that first command,
I know still does, and will prevail;
That while the earth itself shall stand,
The spring and summer shall not fail.

Such changes are for us decreed;
Believers have their winters too;
But spring shall certainly succeed,
And all their former life renew.

Winter and spring have each their use,
And each, in turn, his people know;
One kills the weeds their hearts produce,
The other makes their graces grow.

Though like dead trees awhile they seem,
Yet having life within their root,
The welcome spring’s reviving beam
Draws forth their blossoms, leaves, and fruit.

But if the tree indeed be dead,
It feels no change, though spring return,
Its leafless naked, barren head,
Proclaims it only fit to burn.

Dear LORD, afford our souls a spring,
Thou know’st our winter has been long;
Shine forth, and warm our hearts to sing,
And thy rich grace shall be our song.

-John Newton, 1779, from Olney Hymns, vol. 2, hymn 31

Laudable Linkage and Cool Videos

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Barbara Harper

I didn’t have quite as much time for web surfing this week, but here are a few noteworthy things I did see:

The Unsaved Christian. Someone on Facebook linked to this. At first I balked at the title because someone is not a Christian if unsaved, so this seemed like a misnomer, but the article explains what she means and gently but clearly sounds a needed warning.

Winning Your Friends to Christ, HT to Susan.

Grace Spots.

Responding to the Scandal. If you saw the recent 20/20 report on abuse within IFB churches, this is the best response I have seen, HT to my son, Jeremy. I’ve been thinking about writing a post about this issue, but this hasn’t been a week I could have extended thoughtful time at the computer. But Dr. Bauder says just about everything I would say and more, and much better.

Homemade Note Pads are presented as a Teacher Appreciation Gift, but they’d be good for anyone.

Styrofoam Wall Art. I forget where I saw the link to this. I’ve seen similar ideas using canvas, but this would be cheaper.

Timelapse Video of San Francisco-to-Paris flight Captures Aurora Borealis. Neat article and video.

This is pretty funny. I can see how they do some of it, but they do the change-out pretty fast!