About Barbara Harper

https://barbarah.wordpress.com

Review: Be Decisive (Jeremiah)

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Pastor and Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe shared his thoughts and insights on the book of Jeremiah in Be Decisive (Jeremiah): Taking a Stand for the Truth.

Jeremiah had a tough job. God’s people had worshiped idols for decades. They hadn’t obeyed His laws. They had also gone to other nations for help instead of God, in spite of the fact that He had provided for them and delivered them time and again. He sent prophets at various times to point them back to Him. But they refused.

The time came that God had to deal with them more severely. He was sending punishment in the form of the Babylonians, who would conquer their nation, destroy their temple, and take most of the population back to Babylon.

God would not annihilate them completely. He would preserve a remnant. He would keep His promises to maintain David’s lineage and bring forth the promised Messiah. “The purpose of chastening is that we might seek the Lord, confess our sins, and draw near to Him (Heb. 12: 3–13)” (p. 140). But for now, they were to go to Babylon, make their homes there, and settle in for seventy years.

God called Jeremiah to give this message to His people. They didn’t listen any better than they had before.

The false prophets preached what the people wanted to hear, but Jeremiah preached what the people needed to hear (p. 134).

The civil and religious leaders of Judah preferred the pleasant messages of the false prophets to the strong words of God’s true servant, because the human heart wants to rest, not repent. It wants peace, but it wants it without having to deal with the basic cause of unrest—unbelief (p. 211).

Further, Jeremiah’s instruction to actually submit to Babylon sounded like treason.

Jeremiah is sometimes called the “weeping prophet.” Though he had to point out the people’s sins in order to try to bring them to repentance, and though he knew they deserved what was coming, he still had compassion on them.

At least sixty-six times the word heart is found in the book of Jeremiah, for he is preeminently the prophet of the heart (p. 16).

We call Jeremiah “the weeping prophet,” and he was (9: 1), but he was also a courageous man who faced many dangers and trials and remained true to the Lord (p. 22).

Like many of us, Jeremiah balked at first at God’s calling.

Jeremiah hesitated as he looked at the work before him and the wickedness around him, and when he looked at the weakness within himself, Jeremiah was certain that he wasn’t the man for the job.

When it comes to serving the Lord, there’s a sense in which nobody is adequate. “And who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2: 16) asked the great apostle Paul as he pondered the responsibilities of ministry. Paul then answered his own question: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (3: 5).

When God calls us, however, He isn’t making a mistake, and for us to hesitate or refuse to obey is to act on the basis of unbelief and not faith (p. 20).

At the end of Jeremiah’s ministry, it may not have looked like he accomplished much.

By today’s human standards of ministry, Jeremiah was a dismal failure. He preached to the same people for over forty years, and yet few of them believed him or obeyed his message. He had few friends who stood with him and encouraged him. The nation he tried to save from ruin abandoned their God and plunged headlong into disaster (p. 213).

Jeremiah may have thought he had failed, but God saw him as a faithful servant, and that’s all that really counts (p. 213).

Jeremiah is one of Scripture’s greatest examples of faithfulness and decisive action in the face of physical danger and national decay (p. 20).

Some other quotes that stood out to me:

Any theology that minimizes God’s holiness and tolerates people’s deliberate sinfulness is a false theology (p. 52).

That on which I center my attention and affection and for which I am willing to sacrifice is my god, and if it isn’t Jesus Christ, then it’s an idol. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5: 21) (p. 60).

The remedy for idolatry is for us to get caught up in the majesty and grandeur of God, the true God, the living God, the everlasting King. An idol is a substitute, and you would never want a substitute once you have experienced the love and power of the Lord God Almighty (p. 60).

That, however, is what faith is all about: obeying God in spite of what we see, how we feel, and what may happen. It’s well been said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence but obeying in spite of consequence” (p. 153).

Lamentations, the book that follows Jeremiah in the Old Testament, is thought by some to also be authored by Jeremiah. Whether it is or not, I thought it would be included with this commentary, because its author laments the devastation that has come to Jerusalem after the Babylonian invasion. I looked at the table of contents of Wiersbe’s “Be” books on the minor prophets and later historical books, thinking his commentary on Lamentations might have been included with other books. But I couldn’t find it anywhere

The middle of the Lamentations contains some of the most hopeful verses. In the midst of sorrow over deserved chastening, the prophet said:

But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

For the Lord will not
    cast off forever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not afflict from his heart
    or grieve the children of men.

Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the Lord!
Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven.

Lamentations 3:21-27, 31-33, 40-41

Most of the prophets did that: issued warnings, pointed out sins, yes, but also shared God’s love, compassion, and willingness to forgive.

I benefited from reading Jeremiah again, and Dr. Wiersbe’s insights were a great help.

Christianity Is More Than Getting My Needs Met

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Barbara Harper

God, as a good Father, delights to meet the needs of His children. “He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.” (Psalm 145:19).

He knows what we need before we ask. But He wants us to come to Him with our needs. He instructed us to pray even for our daily bread.

He promises “my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

John Newton captured some of these thoughts in his hymn, “Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare“:

Come, my soul, thy suit prepare,
Jesus loves to answer prayer.
He Himself has bid thee pray,
Rise and ask without delay.

Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much.

But the Christian life isn’t only about getting our needs met and our problems fixed. God is not a cosmic vending machine where we insert prayers, make our choices, and receive everything we ask for.

You’ve often heard that Christianity is a relationship with God. That’s true. John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

But even within that relationship, the focus of the Christian life isn’t on us: it’s on God. We acknowledge that He is Lord. We bring our thoughts in line with His. We submit our wills to His.

God created us for His glory: “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:7). He tells us to do all to His glory and to “Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

That might sound strange to us. If we heard a man proclaiming his own glory or asking people to glorify him, we’d wonder who he thought he was.

The difference is, God is the only one who deserves glory. He created the world, the sky, the stars, everything from the tallest mountain to the smallest cell to the farthest celestial body.

He’s not only powerful, He is intrinsically good. He’s not an egomaniac.

He doesn’t need our glory. He has been self-sufficient for all of eternity. He doesn’t need anything from us.

So then, why does He want us to glorify Him? Someone has said that God doesn’t need our glory, but we need to give it to Him.

There are probably a multitude of reasons God wants us to glorify Him, but here are a few:

To give Him His due. He deserves glory, as we said earlier. He’s God. No one can do what He does. ““Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:11).

To express gratefulness. If we were rescued from a burning building by a firefighter, we’d sing his praises for the rest of our lives. How much more should we sing God’s praises for all He rescued us from and all He has done for us?

“You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20, NKJV).

To avoid false worship. If we’re glorifying someone or something else, we’ll be led astray. Nothing else is God. Nothing else can help us.

To be transformed. We’re changed by beholding His glory. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Sometimes we try to change in every way except by looking to Him.

This doesn’t mean that we glorify Him for selfish reasons. But the better we know Him, the more we won’t be able to help glorifying, thanking, and praising Him.

To help others know Him. “They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom” (Psalm 145:11-12).

To keep a right perspective. Even when doing things for God and relying on His grace and power, we can be tempted to feel proud of ourselves rather than give glory to Him. Two passages that help me with that are Psalm 115:1 (“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!) and Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

How do we glorify Him? Once again, there are many ways, but some are:

Acknowledge God for who He is. Romans 1 details the sad decline when people “ exchanged the glory of the immortal God” for lesser things.

Praise. “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me” (Psalm 50:23, NKJV).

Pray in Jesus’ name. “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).

Live honorably. “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12).

Grow spiritual fruit. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:8). Verse 4 says this is done as we “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

Sexual purity. “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

Give cheerfully and generously. 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 tells of bountiful giving to others’ needs which results in their glorifying God.

Suffer in His name. 1 Peter 4:12-19 tells us not to be surprised when trials come, to rejoice when trials come, to trust their souls to a faithful Creator. Verse 16 says, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

Honor God with our choices. 1 Corinthians 10 shares considerations to take into account when Christians differ over what’s right or wrong in areas not clearly spelled out in the Bible (specifically eating meat offered to idols, but the principles apply to various situations). Instead of clinging to our “rights,” we’re to consider others’ consciences and good. Paul concludes with “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (verse 31).

The glory of God is a subject too big to fit within one blog post, but these truths help me keep my interactions with God from being lopsided towards self.

Which of these reasons for glorifying God most resonates with you? Are there other reasons you can think of, or other ways the Bible tells us to glorify Him?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on August 10, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here are some of the good reads found this week:

Everything Short of Hell Is a Mercy, HT to Challies. “Everything short of hell is mercy. This one truth should change the way we view our hardships and frustrations, no matter how terrible they may be. If we, as sinners, are not facing the wrath of the infinitely Holy God at this moment, our life is better than we deserve. That is true for every Christian and non-Christian alive right now.”

What to Say to Dave About Regular Bible Reading, HT to Challies. “Few of us have it fully sorted, and so we don’t feel qualified to tell others what they should be doing. I certainly don’t feel like I can speak from anything other than the wisdom that comes from regular failure. But failure is a good teacher, even if I’m not a good student, so here are five tips I might give to Dave.”

Should You Send Your Kids to Catholic School? HT to Challies. Some considerations.

In a Day’s Work: God’s Pattern for Productivity. “I’ve been studying the book of Genesis in depth, and something struck me recently about how God structured the days of creation. I think there may be something in this pattern that we can imitate in our own work.”

How Vocational Stewardship Leads to Human Flourishing, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “By ‘vocational stewardship,’ I mean the intentional and strategic use of one’s vocational power (skills, knowledge, network, position, platform) to advance human flourishing.” I would add that those things can be done on a smaller scale with neighbors, relatives, and church members.

The Porcelain Room. “Do I worry so much that I’ll forget to give them something they’ll need that I forget to point them toward the Lord who knows what they’ll need—and who will make sure they have it? Am I so preoccupied with the thorns and thistles of life that I allow them to crowd out the good growth of the gospel in our family?”

The Best a Man Can Get, HT to Challies. I enjoyed watching the American men’s gymnastics team win their bronze medal, the first US men’s team to medal in some time. This article about the team was great, too. “It’s a quintessentially American success story about a quintessentially American team, made up of distinct, memorable characters. The phrase ‘Diversity is our strength’ has become a cheap leftist nothing, but there are times and places when it actually means something, and the Olympics is one of them.”

The Curse of Knowledge, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “Have you ever had a teacher who was very smart but terrible at teaching? An expert who used so much jargon you could not follow their explanation? This is called the ‘curse of knowledge.'” The author shares ways to bridge the gap.

The Quiet Grief of Caregiving: Four Balms for the Overburdened, HT to Challies. “I forced a smile, swallowed down the tightness in my throat, and struggled against the tide of grief that’s become as familiar and worn as a tattered coat. It’s a mantle common to many who walk beside the hurting — the heaviness that presses upon the heart when we’ve witnessed others’ suffering over and over and over.”

Church Skills: Use Them or Lose Them, HT to Challies. “You might not think you have church skills, but you almost certainly do. You will have developed ways of making conversation, showing interest in people, caring for them, serving in all sorts of ways and lots of other such things. But as with anything we have learnt to do, if you don’t keep using it, you will lose it.”

I’ve experienced His presence in the deepest darkness hell that men can create. I’ve tested the promises of the Bible, and believe me, you can count on them.” — Corrie ten Boom, survivor of Ravensbruck concentration camp after helping hide Jewish people during WWII

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on August 9, 2024 by Barbara Harper

The first full week of August has been a hot and busy one. I’m pausing with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to deliberately look and be thankful for the good things of the week lest we overlook them.

1. A baby shower for a family at church. This is the first one I’ve been to at this church–actually, the first one in a long time. It’s fun to get together with ladies outside of church and oooh and aaaah over all the baby things.

2. A new handrail. One day this week as I stepped out onto the ramp from our house into the garage, I almost fell. I didn’t trip or stumble–I just started sliding like Tarzan’s tree surfing in the animated movie (though without his style). Jim heard me yelp, and I told him what happened. We’ve had that ramp since we moved his mother here over ten years ago, and that has never happened before.

The next day I opened the same door and found Jim installing a handrail alongside the ramp. ❤

3. Lunch with Melanie at Cracker Barrel. We always enjoy both the meal and the talk.

4. Ruby Tuesday’s rewards. We don’t get take-out from there often, but every now and then we want something besides fast food. When Jim suggested it, I looked through my e-mails from them and found a buy one entree, get another for $3 offer.

5. Jim’s help. My oldest son is coming in this weekend, so we’ve been in flurry of cleaning. He’s lived in my less-than-spotless house and even helped clean it for company. But someone coming in provides a good time to get to some of the housecleaning tasks I don’t do every week. (The problem is . . . I still have all the regular weekly things to do. 🙂 ) Jim surprised me by cleaning all the bathrooms, and did a much more through job than I could have (he’s got a scrubber thing that he uses with his drill–the showers have never been so clean!) Then I asked him if he would clean the ceiling fans–my little Swiffer wasn’t getting all the dust off. So he did that and went to the store for me as well.

Bonus: Jason and Mittu celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary this week!

That’s my week. How was yours/

Review: Shadowed Loyalty

Posted on August 6, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Shadowed Loyalty by Roseanna M. White is set during the Roaring Twenties. Sabina Mancari is the daughter of Chicago’s mob boss, but she never thought much about what he did. She’s engaged to Lorenzo Capecce, the son of her father’s lieutenant.

Lorenzo, known as Enzo,was one of the few in their families who took his faith seriously. Everyone thought he’d become a priest. But he chose law. He told Manny, Sabina’s father, that he didn’t want to go into the family business, and Manny agreed.

Lorenzo had seemed distant to Sabina for the last couple of years. So when another man, Roman, showed her some attention, she readily fell for him—until he led her into a gunfight and threatened her father with her life if she didn’t surrender. As it turned out, Roman was with the Prohibition Bureau and had just been using Sabina to get to her father.

Sabina called Lorenzo to help her father, putting him in a difficult position. Manny had agreed not to involve Enzo in their cases, but Sabina didn’t know that. Enzo couldn’t refuse her, so he took on Manny’s case, to the detriment of his own reputation.

Then Sabina and Enzo had to work out the situation between them. Did he still love her? Could he forgive her indiscretions with Roman? Did she still want to be engaged to him?

I’ve only read a couple of books from this era, and I don’t think any of them had to do with the mob. It was an interesting consideration—as Sabina’s conscience awakens, she becomes conflicted about what her father did. Yet she loved him as her papa, and didn’t know how to reconcile her feelings.

Unfortunately, this is the first book of Roseanna’s that I was a bit disappointed in. Usually her stories and characters grab me right off the bat, but that wasn’t the case this time. The writing was such that I thought this must be one of her earlier books, but it was published in 2022.

Some of the theology was a little wonky.

With this book dealing with a mob family, obviously they’d be involved in some gritty pastimes. I accepted that as part of the story. I didn’t mind that a couple of prostitutes were characters—prostitutes figure in a couple of Bible stories, as well. But there was one scene that went a little too far for my tastes, though nothing explicit was shown.

So, I have mixed feelings about this one. It’s still a good story overall, but I’d recommend discernment.

God’s Solutions Are Better

Posted on August 4, 2024 by Barbara Harper

A man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years laid beside a pool in Bethesda. An angel was said to come down and stir the waters occasionally, and whoever stepped into the pool first was made well. This man had tried several times to get to the pool, but someone always got in ahead of him. But still he came, or was brought, to wait beside the pool.

One day a stranger approached him and asked if he wanted to be well. He explained that he hadn’t been able to make it to the pool in time. Perhaps he thought this stranger would help him get there.

Instead, the stranger said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

From a human standpoint, we wouldn’t have been surprised if the sick man said, “But, sir, that’s exactly what I cannot do.” Instead, before those thoughts could even form, the man found that he could stand. Not only that, he could carry a load. No physical therapy, no reawakening atrophied muscles, just instant, complete healing.

This story, as you probably know, is from John 5. I had read it many times over the years before something stood out to me.

The lame man was fixated on one solution to his problem, and had been for a very long time. His one focus was to get into that pool, and he kept trying despite repeated failed attempts. He didn’t recognize that the stranger standing in front of him could provide another solution, much less be a better solution. And the invalid did not even realize that the healing of his body was not his primary need. When Jesus found the former invalid later, Jesus told the man to “Sin no more.”

We have a tendency to fixate on our own solutions, too, don’t we? If we can just marry that guy, land this job, get that loan, treatment, or whatever, life will be perfect. We’ve looked at the situation from every angle, and, yes, this is what we need. And we overlook Jesus in the process.

Too, while we’re so focused on that one area of desire, we can miss the greater need: the need of our hearts for forgiveness and a closer walk with Jesus.

There may be nothing at all wrong with what we want. It may, in fact, even be the Lord’s will to provide us with that very outcome. But it might be God’s will to bring that answer about in a different way than we had planned, or to provide a different (and better) outcome, or to withhold the answer we wanted while providing grace to deal with it.

There’s nothing wrong with planning and seeking solutions. In fact, the Bible often commends planning. But instead of presenting our agenda to God for His stamp of approval, God’s Word encourages us to seek Him, His guidance, and His direction.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that”(James 4:13-15).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

And then sometimes we feel like Jehoshaphat when he faced a bigger army than his own. He confessed, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.“

God sees the big picture. He knows what’s ahead. He knows all the ramifications of all our choices. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. He knows what we need more than we do. And He is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

The “cares of this life” can choke the seed of God’s Word. By God’s grace, let’s not overlook the Lord in our desperation to get our needs met. Let’s not neglect our spiritual needs while trying to fulfill our desires. Let’s seek Him first.

(Revised from the archives)

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on August 3, 2024 by Barbara Harper

It turned out to be a busy week, but here are a few good reads I saw online:

How Can a Writer Survive When Chaos Is All Around? “Some days I’m not certain living unruffled is a possibility for someone as flawed as me. Anytime life throws me a curve, I begin reacting to the busyness instead of concentrating on walking with God through the chaos.” Good thoughts, not just for writers.

The World Tells Us How It Really Feels. “What should we say, then, to the world which so regularly mocks Christianity, blasphemes Christ, and hates Christians, especially if they dare preach the gospel?”

Driven by Fear to the God Who Casts Out Fear. “Whether it’s a career goal, a desire for a child, or an avenue of service to God, it’s easy to allow the sheer size of the dream to overwhelm us with fear. By grace, may we let our fear drive us to the One who casts out all fear.”

The False Identity of Vanity, HT to Challies. “Vanity is often defined as someone who has an excessive love of themself—an over-the-top, prideful attitude that thinks, “I am the fairest.” Vanity is certainly not less than this. There are many who live in self-admiration of the way they look or in excessive pride over their gifts and talents. . . . But there is another aspect to vanity that is equally harmful.”

The Crooked Apple Tree, HT to Challies. “There’s no way that tree could ever hide the fact that it has seen terrible trouble. And yet, for all that, the tree still fills up with apples every year. The old crooked apple tree beside my friend’s home in a restored ruin encourages me. Living in this broken world brings trouble to humans, too.”

Words That are Fitting, HT to the Story Warren. “Suffering is uncomfortable—certainly for the person enduring it, but also for those who witness it. We can feel uncomfortable with a friend’s expressions of grief or anger or agony, so we may say things to her to cheer her up or calm her down that does the opposite of what we intend—our words hurt rather than heal. We may even say things that are ultimately true but said at the wrong time.”

Seasons of a Reading Life, HT to the Story Warren. “In some seasons, reading happens as easily as breathing. It is the thing I will prioritize and order my free time around. In other seasons, reading is more work. I find myself giving way to other demands on my time, to other things that take higher precedence.”

The Issue of Wealth in the Bible, HT to Challies. “We examined every case in the Bible where an individual was identified as having substantial material possessions and the means of acquiring these goods was disclosed. We found that in the twenty-one cases meeting these criteria, the means of acquisition was a reliable indicator of whether a person received approval or disapproval”

Mom, Will You Hold This? Just as kids ask us to hold their stuff while they play, so we hold their imaginations. Sarah Dixon Young shares ways to both guard and foster children’s imaginations.

My quote for today is longer than usual, but it was so good, I wanted to share it. I heard it on Chuck Swindoll’s Insight for Living program on BBN Radio on August 1. I had trouble getting such a large quote to fit with the program I use (WordSwag).

“I may, I suppose, regard myself, or pass for being, as a relatively successful man.
People occasionally stare at me in the streets–that’s fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Internal Revenue–that’s success.
Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to,
may partake of trendy diversions– that’s pleasure.
It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time–that’s fulfillment.
Yet I say to you — and I beg you to believe me–multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing–less than nothing, a positive impediment–measured against one draught of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty,
irrespective of who or what they are.”
– Malcolm Muggeridge

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Barbara Harper

This is one of those weeks where I get to the end, sit down to write a Friday’s Fave Five post, and think, “Wait . . . what did happen this week?” 🙂 I try to keep a running list of things to mention on Friday, but failed to this week. I appreciate this weekly exercise in gratefulness with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story. Sometimes I have to look and think a little harder, but there are always blessings to be found.

1. Internet issues fixed. We’d been having weird Internet issues for a while now. My husband replaced a part–a signal distributor, I think. But everything works fine now.

2. An updated bathroom. We’ve been in this house almost fourteen years, and the whole interior needed repainting. Jim did two bedrooms and our bathroom while he was still working, but decided to save the rest til retirement, when he could work without having to stop and start on weekends or evenings. This week he painted what we call the “guest bathroom” and replaced the flooring there. It looks so much brighter! The old walls were a yellowish kind of beige, and he’s covering them with a light grey.

I didn’t take a before picture, but here’s after:

3. Hashtags. I don’t do a lot with my Instagram account besides post a link back to my Sunday posts and some books reviews. But it always took a long time to add the appropriate hashtags. I finally did something I’ve thought about for a while: I made groups of hashtags for different posts (blog post, quotes, book reviews, Bible verses memes) in the Notes app on my phone. Now I can just copy and paste them.

4. The Olympics. I’m not terribly interested in athletics most of the time, but I do like watching some of the Olympics. We just see the NBC coverage in the evenings. As I said in my end-of-month post, I only saw the last hour of the opening ceremonies, so I missed the controversial parts. But I heard about them the next day. Though I experienced several emotions, I didn’t feel I needed to boycott watching the coverage. It’s not the athletes’ fault that the program directors did what they did.

5. Avoiding rain. I was going to run errands Tuesday afternoon, but then we were hit with thunderstorms. More were in the forecast Wednesday, but I had to get things done, so I headed out, hoping for the best. Thankfully, I only caught a few raindrops between the car and a store.

That’s my week. How was yours?

July Reflections

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Although July flew by too quickly, we enjoyed it while it lasted. It’s been hot, but not as much as it can be this time of year. A few showers the last week have cooled things off a bit and relieved my husband of daily watering plants.

The guys went on a camping trip right at the end of last month, and Jason, Mittu, and Timothy went to see Mittu’s family in OK. Jim helped someone from church move, but I’ve stayed pretty much indoors except for church, lunch with a friend, and dinner out with the family one night. The flowers we planted last May are blooming profusely, and we’ve harvested and even given away some of Jim’s squash and zucchini.

We enjoyed celebrating the fourth of July and Jason’s birthday this month.

Creating

This was for Jason’s birthday:

Watching

I read Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber a few years ago. It’s her story of going to Oxford to study and being surprised at running into people of faith there. She had no desire to become a Christian, but couldn’t escape being confronted with it. I had seen that a film was made of the book, but forgot about it til recently, when Jim and I watched it. Although the movie focuses more on the romance than her faith journey, the latter is still there.

We were surprised in may ways. I had thought of Oxford as a hotbed of leftist and “woke” thought, like many colleges. But that didn’t appear to be the case when this book was written (at least, if it was there, it hadn’t snuffed out conservative or religious thought completely).

There were a couple of bad words and “off” comments, but otherwise we enjoyed this movie quite a lot.

We also enjoyed Belle and Sebastian, a French film dubbed with English voices. It was based on a book, I think by the same name. A boy finds a stray dog which villagers thinks has attacked their sheep. But the boy, Sebastian, makes friend with the dog and names it Belle. They end up helping members of the French resistance fighters escape across the mountains.

I didn’t turn on the opening ceremony of the Olympics until about the last hour or so. I didn’t know until the next day about the controversial content. Part of me is shocked. Part of me feels like, “Well, yes, the world hates the truth of Christianity, and they are getting more blatant about it.” I’m still processing it, but I don’t know that I’ll say any more about it. I’m sure just about everything that could be said has been.

I’ve seen several Christians call for a boycott of the Olympics. Of course, each should follow their own conscience in the matter. Personally, I don’t know how much good that would do. But more than that, I feel the athletes are not at fault for what the program directors did. I may not watch the closing ceremony, in case it’s more of the same stuff as the opening ceremony—I haven’t decided yet.

Reading

Since last time I finished:

Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (audiobook). A father pins all his hopes and dreams on his young son following him into business, but the son dies as a child. The father has little use for his daughter, who is the one person who truly loves him. The father’s pride brings him low, but the story is ultimately redemptive.
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, the family of The Sound of Music fame. Not surprisingly, real life was different from the movie.
Read This First: A Simple Guide to Getting the Most from the Bible by Gary Millar. Good resource for those new to reading the Bible or those who have struggled with reading it.
A Month of Summer by Lisa Wingate (audio). Novel about a woman who has not seen her father for thirty years, but now needs to see to him, her developmentally-delayed step-brother, and her step-mother who has just had a stroke. Very good.
When We Were Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor, a fictitious account of a true situation where a school for missionary children in China was taken over by the Japanese during WWII. As a story, it was good, but I struggled with how some facets were handled compared to what I had read in missionary biographies.

I’m currently reading:

Be Decisive (Jeremiah): Taking a Stand for the Truth by Warren W. Wiersbe
Help for the Hungry Soul by Kristen Wetherell
Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own by A. J. Harper
Shadowed Loyalty by Roseanna M. White, audiobook
Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance
A Boy’s War by David Michell

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

Are You Thirsty? Those who trust in the Lord have a continual source of refreshment and nourishment.
“All Sunshine Makes a Desert.” As much as we would like all our days yo be sunny and bright, we’d dry up without rain. The same is true spiritually.
Assorted Stray Thoughts, some serious and some silly.
Be Careful of Your Strengths. We run to God for help in our weakness. But we can easily fall when trusting in our own strength as Uzziah did. He was “was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction.”
Fading with Age. Hair color and some abilities fade out as we age. But as long as we’re breathing, God can use us.
One Book That Can Speak to Everyone. Writers are instructed that their books can’t be for “everyone.” Publishers want them to narrow their focus to a specific audience. But there is one book that truly can speak to everyone.

I didn’t remember my eighteenth blogging anniversary was this month until WordPress sent me a notice about it. Out or curiosity, I looked at my stats to see what my most- viewed post was: Coping When Husband is Away. The most-viewed in the last year was Mary’s Three Encounters with Jesus’ Feet.

I’ve been so blessed to get to know many of you virtually (and a few in person). Thank you for your kind and encouraging comments! And thank you for reading. I pray you’ve been blessed here.

Writing

I’m in the phase of revising my first draft, which is much slower work than initial writing. I got a big chunk done this month, which felt really good.

As we turn toward August, the calendar is pretty full. My oldest son will be coming to visit soon, and we’ll celebrate both his and my birthdays.

How was your July? Are you looking forward to anything in August?

Review: When We Were Young and Brave

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Barbara Harper

The day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Chefoo school for missionary children in what is now known as Yantai in northern China. They allowed the school to operate and keep to its schedule, though they rationed food and policed activities. Almost a year later, the Japanese took over the school buildings completely and sent the staff and students to an abandoned missionary outpost known as Temple Hill, keeping them under Japanese guard. In September 1943, the staff and student were transported to an interment camp known as Weihsien with 1,500 other people from various walks of life. They remained Weihsien until it was liberated by Americans in 1945.

Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, had founded the Chefoo school in 1881 for the children of CIM missionaries. A few children of other Europeans also attended the school.

I had read of the Chefoo school and its capture in various missionary biographies and in David Michell’s memoir of his time as a Chefoo student in A Boy’s War. So I was interested to learn that Hazel Gaynor wrote a fictional account of the school’s interment in When We Were Young and Brave.

Gaynor’s characters are fictional. She focuses mainly on a ten-year-old girl named Nancy, nicknamed Plum, and and two of her friends as well as one teacher, Elspeth Kent and her friend. The chapters switch back and forth between the point of view of Nancy and Elspeth, so we get both the adult’s and child’s view of events. One of Nancy’s friends, Joan, aka Mouse, gets one chapter late in the book.

The story begins with the everyday workings of the school with the Japanese occupying the surrounding area. The Chefoo school was fairly self-sufficient, so they didn’t fear the Japanese, though they disliked the tension of having them nearby.

Everything changed, however, when Japan declared war on Great Britain. Now everyone at Chefoo school was the enemy.

Thankfully, many students were away for Christmas break at the time of the Japanese occupation. Those at the school over the holidays were unable to be with their parents due to lack of safety to travel.

As the years wore on, the strain became harder to bear with lack of proper food and the increasing fear of the Japanese guards.

The school staff tried to keep everyone’s spirits up by maintaining classes and Girl Guides (similar to Girl Scouts in the USA). But they all faced various hardships.

The book opens and closes with the adult Nancy, thirty years after liberation, reflecting on her experiences.

The book is well-written. The characters are relatable and well-developed. As a reader, I felt the weight of what they were going through.

A few quotes stood out to me:

Our war wasn’t one of battles and bombs. Ours was a war of everyday struggles, of hope versus despair, of courage against fear, strength over frailty (p. 198).

In the most peculiar circumstances imaginable, their interment had insured that they were capable beyond their years (p. 243).

War and interment are part of their lives now, part of their story, part of who they are. . . . I actually think life is meant to have its share of difficultly and struggle. That’s when we find out who we really are, what we’re really made of, not when everything’s going along all jolly and straightforward and terribly nice. We come alive in the dramatic bits, don’t we; in moments that make us gasp and cry (p. 285).

But a few factors marred my enjoyment of the book.

First, Gaynor often refers to the children as “privileged.” Since most of them were missionary children, this was not a posh, expensive boarding school for the higher classes. There was probably some sense in which the children were more privileged than some of the Chinese nationals, who had been fighting Japan for a while already. But it wasn’t necessary to infuse the same sensibilities as one would have for a standard elite British boarding school.

Secondly, the school was established as a Christian school. According to David Michell, the school still provided “a truly Christian education for body, mind, and spirit” when he was there. But there is little mention of Christianity in Gaynor’s book. When Elspeth only took two books with her when they left Chefoo, she chose her Girl Guide Handbook and the Buddhist scriptures a Chinese servant had given her, not a Bible. She mentions struggling all her life to believe in God and says a budding sunflower gave her “more strength and hope that any prayer ever had” (p. 118). The teachers’ encouragement is the British stiff upper lip, “Keep calm and carry on” variety rather than anything of a spiritual nature.

Then, Elspeth feels that the children’s parents put their mission above their children by sending them away to school. That was not usually the case. Though teaching at home predates institutional learning, home schooling was not the industry then that it is now. Parents might have been able to teach their children at home on the mission field for their early years, but likely would not have had the material to do so as they got older. Plus, the children would not have had the credentials to go to college. Thankfully, these days, many mission boards work with parents to teach their children at home.

Additionally, some of the missionaries worked in remote areas with very few other Christians. Isobel Kuhn wrote that the tribe they worked with didn’t worship idols: they worshiped demons. When her son got old enough that she couldn’t keep him at her side all day, she feared what he would be exposed to as he interacted with people on the village. For many parents, sending their children away to school was for their protection.

Gaynor wrote that she drew from some of the internees’ own accounts at Weihsien Paintings and the Chefoo School Archives in London as well as other books. But all her characters were invented (except Olympic runner Eric Liddell, who was a missionary to China, and was interred at the camp. He died there of a brain tumor). Her characters and their interactions largely came from imagining what her own children might do in this situation, what she would have felt like as a parent at the time, and her grandmother’s war-time experiences. So I struggled a bit with not knowing was was real in the book and what came from the author’s imagination.

At some point, I set aside what I knew of the school and just read the book for what it was: a fictionalized account of people enduring and overcoming great, sustained hardships. I enjoyed it much more after that. But it spurred me to get David Michell’s book to reacquaint myself with the real story.