Category Archives: Books

Fall Into Reading Wrap-Up and Reviews

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Katrina at Callapidder Days has hosted a Fall Into Reading challenge which ends today, Dec 21. She asks us a few questions, which I’ll answer, and then I’ll post just a short comment or review about the books I have read for this challenge.

The best book you read this Fall:

Without a doubt, In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham. I wrote about my impressions here.

The book you could have lived without:

The Bachelor’s Bargain by Catherine Palmer. I have enjoyed most of her books. I don’t really like romance-just-for-romance books, but I like good stories that have a romance in them. This seemed more like the former with way too much time spent with “will-they-or-won’t-they” consummate their marriage of convenience. It was “ok” — and the characters did learn good things along the way. But I could have lived without it.

Whether or not you read more than you would have without the challenge:

That’s hard to say, because I do read often, but I think I did read more. There were evenings I was going to turn on the TV to wind down and instead got out a book on my list. I know I did read things I would not have if I hadn’t put them on my list.

The best thing about joining in the challenge:

Finally getting to some those those books I have always wanted to get to “some day.”

If you discovered (and enjoyed) a new book or author after reading someone else’s list:

I did notice several unfamiliar author’s names cropping up on other people’s lists, but I failed to make a note of them when this started (maybe because I already had my list made). But when I read everyone else’s wrap-up posts, I am going to make a list as I go!!

Any other insights, enjoyments, thoughts, or impressions!

I think I will add those as I go with the reviews.

The books on my original list:

General fiction:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I am so glad I finally read this, and want to put other Austen books on my list.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. I had known there were several books in the series, but not that there were thirteen!! They go pretty quickly though, and are fun reading. I only read the first one but want to finish the series.

Christian fiction:

Before I Wake by Dee Henderson. Dee does know how to write can’t-put-’em-down page-turners!

The Brethren by Beverly Lewis. This is the conclusion to the “Annie’s People” series, and, as always with Beverly’s books, very good.

Family by Karen Kingsbury. Family is the fourth in the “Firstborn” series, which is a spinoff of the “Redemption” series. Karen Kingsbury is probably not the best writer in the technical sense, and I think she overplays sometimes the emotional aspects of a story, but she does know how to write a good story and likeable characters and draw you in to the story.

Winter Birds by Jamie Langston Turner. Mrs. Turner is in some ways the opposite of Karen Kingbury in the sense that she is a great writer in a technical, literary sense, but the story doesn’t really just grab me and draw me in. I do like where the characters end up and what they learn. Her books are more subtle and have more depth (I probably shouldn’t compare the two authors, but I did read these right after each other). I’d love to discuss these impressions with someone else who has read her books.

Bible study:

That I May Know Him by June Kimmel. This was a good Bible study: I enjoyed it.

A Look Within by Faith Alvis Taylor. This was great: I greatly benefited from it and want to suggest it for our ladies’ Bible study.

Non-fiction:

For Women Only, What You Need To Know About The Inner Lives Of Men by Shaunti Feldhahn. I really had ambivalent feelings about this one. I told my son I was reading this book, and he said, “What does a woman know about the secret lives of men?” Well, she did a survey to research a character for a book, and was so intrigued that that led to a more detailed survey. Most of the information wasn’t new to me. I kept getting frustrated, though, and had to remind myself that it wasn’t meant to be a balance between men’s and women’s needs (there is another separate book about women). The author seemed to lay a man’s well-being and spiritual success on his wife, but I don’t think she really meant to. If I can turn this around, one of a woman’s needs (at least that you read in the books) is security, and a wise husband takes that into account. But a wife has to realize that her ultimate security is in the Lord, and when the circumstances seem most insecure –unstable job situations, etc. — rest on Him and not fall apart, blame her husband, etc. The same is true of a man’s needs. No one person can ever meet all of our needs: only the Lord can do that. And I think the author would agree though she did seem to place great weight on a wife’s meeting her husband’s needs. I haven’t read the companion book about women, but as I skimmed over the contents, I thought, yes, it would be helpful if men understood these things about women. So if I took this book the same way and kept it in perspective that it was just an explanation of how men think and what is important to them, then it was ok.

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. This is the only book I didn’t finish, I regret to say. I should have and could have if I had read it before adding on the others: I just tend to gravitate toward fiction. 🙂 But I am determined to finish it now. I was actually kind of bored with the first few chapters, because I felt like I already knew what he was explaining, until I remembered Lewis’s background: he was an atheist before becoming a Christian, and he starts off by the logical evidences and conclusions for believing in God. We know “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17) rather than logic, but sometimes these types of discussions and apologetics can help remove some of the weeds that would choke off the seed of the Word (Matthew 13:1-23). I am only a few chapters into the book.

In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham, mentioned above, reviewed more fully here.

Added to my original list:

A Spouse in the House by Richard Armour. I had discovered one of his poems in another book and was so taken I searched for others, and found a great wealth of them on a variety of topics at amazon.com. Most, if not all, are out of print and can be bought used for under $5. I commented on this one here.

Leaves of Hope by Catherine Palmer. A young woman named Beth with an adventurous spirit is daughter to a very safe, predictable mother who doesn’t like change. Then Beth unexpectedly finds out she is adopted. I’ll let you discover the rest of the plot. 🙂 Overall a good book: I enjoyed it. I did disagree with some of Beth’s ideas that one had to be more like her personality to be Christlike — God had many servants who “stay by the stuff.”

The Bachelor’s Bargain by Catherine Palmer, mentioned above.

A Woman’s Place by Lynn Austen. I liked the historical aspects of this story of four women working in the same ship factory during WWII, and I am sure many of the types of discussions in the book about “a woman’s place” really did take place (and still do!) But I felt that the author overall painted “housewives” in a very demeaning light, so that was a big disappointment. I wrote more about that here.

A Victorian Christmas Tea by Catherine Palmer and others. Just finished this one. It wasn’t what you usually find in novels with “Victorian” in the title. It contains four novellas of different people in different circumstances. I enjoyed it.

Katrina has said that she probably won’t sponsor a winter challenge but might do one for spring. I think, after the holidays, I will make a winter reading list for myself. Those cold winter nights are some of the best for reading. 🙂 I want to continue on in Jane Austen’s books, the Lemony Snicket series, whatever my favorite authors come up with in the next few months, and any interesting books I see on other people’s lists.

A book review and a bit of a rant

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Lynn Austin’s A Woman’s Place was not on my fall reading list — I don’t think I have read anything of hers before and was unaware of this book until a few weeks ago when I saw it on the shelf of our local Christian bookstore. It caught my eye, but I bypassed it a couple of times before finally deciding to give it a try. It’s the story of four women who, for various reasons, find themselves working at a shipyard during World War II. I don’t want to give away many of the details and spoil it for those who might want to read it, but it covers a lot of ground for one book: the individual stories of each of the women and how they came together, the negative attitudes toward women in the work place, the fate of the husbands, brothers, family members, and friends fighting overseas, the resistance to African-American workers, and journeys of faith. Overall the story was good and I learned a few things I had not known about that era in time.

There were two elements of the book, though, that disturbed, saddened, and frustrated me — it especially disturbed me to find them in Christian fiction from a Christian author.

The first was the demeaning attitude towards housewives. To be fair, I do understand that in a work of fiction the characters are going to hold to and espouse views that are not the author’s and that that provides some of the conflict and plot development in the book. I’m sure that the issues raised were ones that were discussed many times over by people in those situations at that time (and they still are being discussed today). Yet this attitude was presented over and over by most of the characters in many situations, with the phrase “just a housewife” being used over and over, the attitude that one could not be fulfilled or find herself by being “just a housewife,” the attitude that there were many occupations worthier and more important than being “just a housewife.” There was only one female character who had anything positive to say about being “just a housewife” and who viewed it as a ministry of loving God and others.

In all honesty, I hate the term “housewife,” because I am not married to my house. I prefer the word “homemaker” because that is what I see as my first ministry: making a home for my loved ones, a home not just in the physical sense of cleaning and cooking (though that does make up the bulk of the work), but a home where my loved ones can find respite, where they can be nurtured and can grow. Realistically, no, it’s not always romantically idyllic, and, yes, there are moments of drudgery. I think many homemakers do have times of feeling unnoticed and unappreciated as Ginny did in the book. But I think that occurs in any occupation. I don’t think the only solution to that is to go find something more “important” and “fulfilling.” I think the solution is to do everything, even the most humbling tasks, as unto the Lord, to find ways to incorporate beauty and creativity and mental stimulation into everyday life, to reach out to others and find ways of ministering. I wouldn’t say that no Christian wife and mother should ever work outside the home. But I do find my God-given role as a wife and mother both important and fulfilling.

The second recurring theme that bothered me was the defiant, argumentative “standing up to” people, especially people in authority. Now, again, I want to be balanced: I do believe in standing up for what one believes, standing up against injustice, etc. Near the end of the book one of the characters, the wife of a rather domineering and authoritarian husband, says, “The Bible says I must honor you, and I always have. But that doesn’t mean that I must always agree with you. And it doesn’t mean that I can’t tell you what I think.” I do agree with that. But I don’t agree with the spirit that manifested itself in many characters and situations in the book. I think it was wrong for Ginny to defy her husband’s wishes by continuing to work. It’s not that I objected to the plot line, but it bothered me that everyone, even the professing Christians, encouraged her to do so. I’ve been taught that wifely submission is not just the idea that “If push comes to shove…,” “If he insists…,” “If he makes me…, ” then I have to do what he says, but rather it is a voluntary arranging oneself under the husband’s leadership. The only time I could see Biblical justification for a wife to outright defy a husband’s wishes would be if a Scriptural principle were involved (Acts 4:18-20). Again, if this just came up in this one plot line, it would be one thing, but this “standing up to” people with a defiant attitude came up so often it seemed to me to be a theme rather than just an individual plot line.

Those are my impressions, having just finished the book this morning.

In the Presence of My Enemies

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One of the books on my fall reading list was Gracia Burnham’s In the Presence of My Enemies. I had heard of it and seen it a few years ago and somewhere read an excerpt from it, but I avoided reading it. I couldn’t face it. I’m not sure why: maybe because it was too fresh, maybe because the people responsible for the Burnham’s captivity were still alive (maybe not the specific people, but the extremist Islamic groups are still active), maybe because in the portion that I read, Gracia was having to deal with something that I struggle with. But our youth pastor saw a DVD presentation of Gracia sharing her testimony at another church where he was ministering and recommended it to me. I ordered it, watched it, and was so touched on so many levels. I then felt that I had to read the book.

For those who might not be aware, Martin and Gracia Burnham were missionaries in the Philippines: he was a missionary pilot who reminded me a lot of one of my church’s missionaries who also pilots a small plane. They had gone for a quick weekend get-away to celebrate their anniversary at a resort. They didn’t usually go to the “touristy” areas, but decided to go this once. During their stay, an Islamic extremist group stormed the resort and took guests and a few staff members hostage. Several of the hostages were able to arrange for ransom and were released after a few months. Some were killed along the way. The Burnhams were held for over a year. Martin was killed in a rescue attempt by the Philippine military and Gracia was wounded.

I don’t want to take away from what she shares on the DVD or in the book, so I won’t go into the details of the story here. I do want to mention just a couple of impressions, though.

As the Burnhams struggled with negative thoughts and attitudes toward their captors, I kept finding myself thinking at first, “But they had a right to feel that way!” I knew better, but that was the thought that kept coming. They had to put into practice the Bible’s teaching about loving their enemies, praying for those who were despitefully using them, in a very real way and only by God’s grace.

I also was grieved that I did not pray for them more. I don’t recall if I prayed for them at all. Often when I hear reports of stories like theirs on the news, I try at least to pray right then in the midst of loading the dishwasher or driving or whatever I am doing. I may have prayed for them in that way, but I don’t remember. The scripture came to mind to remember those in bonds as if bound with them, and I failed to do that for the Burnhams, but this caused me to determine not to neglect that ministry again.

I was also struck by the Muslim group’s twisted sense of logic. They wanted Islam to rule the world so it would be ruled by “righteousness.” They advocated the cutting off of someone’s hand for stealing — but excused their own stealing because they “needed” the stolen items for their cause. When people died in the course of what they did, it was “their destiny.” They had a strong sense of “justice” but saw mercy as a weakness. When discussing that last point with one of their captors, Martin said, “You know, I hope my children don’t take up the attitude you have. I hope they don’t ever shoot some Muslims because of what you have done to us.” The man to whom they were speaking looked shocked. “Done to you? What is my sin against you? I have never done anything to you.” Martin and Gracia could only look at each other incredulously.

Gracia tells of her very human struggles, like depression, anger, and resentment over their situation and the realization that not only was her attitude not helping, but it was hurting. She writes, “I knew that I had a choice. I could give in to my resentment and allow it to dig me into a deeper and deeper hole both psychologically and emotionally, or I could choose to believe what God’s Word says to be true whether I felt it was or not.” That was a turning point for her as she chose to believe God and handed over her pain and anger to Him. I thought how often we get tripped up over pain, resentment, and anger over much lesser things.

She shares also how the Lord provided for them in unexpected ways, how she and Martin encouraged each other, how they had to battle a captive’s mindset, how they were able to talk about the Lord with their captors and other hostages, as well as the details of how she and Martin originally came together as a couple and what happened in the aftermath of her captivity.

One final impression: God’s Word is true no matter what, and thankfully He doesn’t see fit to put all of us through that kind of experience., but when someone who has been through what she has speaks of God’s goodness and faithfulness, the truth of God’s Word and the reality of His Presence….it rings true. There is an authenticity about that person’s testimony. Their faith, their beliefs have been tried in the fires of testing.

I Peter 1:6-8:

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory…

Book poll

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I saw this book poll at Callpidder Days, and, being an avid book lover, wanted to participate:

1. Where do you most often buy your books? Online? Secondhand stores? Big name bookstores?

I most often buy them online or at our local Christian bookstore.

2. If you buy online, which do you prefer – B&N or Amazon.com? Ebay? Christianbook.com? or elsewhere?

I usually check Amazon.com and Christianbook.com against each other and buy from whichever one is cheapest at the moment. I just never think to check other places unless I’m looking for a hard-to-find or out-of-print book.

3. Do you put your name in your books? If so, are you a bookplate or stamp person?

I don’t usually, but if I do I just write it in. Occasionally I’ve put a return-address label on the inside cover.

4. How do you feel about loaning books to others?

I love to share good books and am probably more eager to loan them than people are to take them. 🙂 I have been “burned” just a few times by not having valued books returned, so if it is one I especially treasure or one that is irreplaceable, I might think twice or take pains to try to graciously convey to the person how important it is to get it back.

5. Do you highlight or mark your books as you read?

I usually use a pencil so I can see it but it isn’t glaring or distracting. I don’t often underline passages unless they really strike me, but I do put a mark beside the line or paragraph in the margin. I often also put little slips of paper at the pages where I want to be able to look something up easily. I’ve also been known to turn down the corner of the page if I don’t have anything else handy. 😳 But I really don’t recommend that.

6. How often do you visit your local library?

We used to go often when my kids were younger, but we don’t go often any more. I went a few weeks ago to get a few books on my Fall reading list, but that was the first time in ages.

7. Do you collect any certain kind of book?

For a while I was collecting classics, especially children’s classics. But I am the only one in the family who reads them. 😦 When I mentioned to my husband a while back that I needed new bookcases, he suggested maybe I needed to get rid of some books instead. 🙂 (I have two full bookcases, some shelves with double rows, and two half-bookcases full.) Now I try to only keep the ones I think I might seriously read again or the ones I might realistically read to a future grandchild (I’m keeping those kid’s classics and hoping I have a real bookwormish grandchild some day!)

I’ve also collected missionary biographies — they’ve had such a profound influence on my life — and books by favorite authors. I think I have all of Janette Oke’s books and most of Elisabeth Elliot’s, Amy Carmichael’s, and Isobel Kuhn’s.

8. What do you do when you’re done with a book and no longer want it?

I used to pass them along to my mom and mother-in-law, but my mom passed away this last year. I still send a great many on to my mother-in-law. The ones I don’t think she’d like or that I wasn’t impressed with I usually pass on to Salvation Army and take a tax deduction. I’ve thought of checking into selling some on E-bay or someplace like that, but just wasn’t sure if it would be worth the hassle for the amount of money you’d get for them.

9. Do you keep a list of or catalog the books you own?

No — never really had a need to, except for insurance purposes, I guess.

10. Any other weird book habits you’d like to share?

I can’t think of any that are “weird.” I do take a book with me when traveling or when going to any kind of appointment. I have a book-in-progress in each bathroom. 🙂 One of my favorite times to read is Sunday evenings. We do like to make Sundays a day of rest as much as possible and make it a little different from the other days of the week, so we usually don’t have the TV on that day unless we watch “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” So Sunday evenings after church I’m often stretched out on the couch reading while everyone else is using computers.

I won’t tag anyone specifically, but let me know if you do this poll on your blog, or you can answers the questions in the comment section.

(Book photo courtesy of the stock.xchng.)

I finally watched “End of the Spear”

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The story of the five missionaries — Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Fleming — who were killed by the Ecuadorian Indian tribe they were trying to reach in the 1950s, whose families later reached out to those same Indians, is one of the most beloved and inspiring in recent Christian history. I first encountered the story in the late 70s while in college. I read Elisabeth Elliot’s Through Gates of Splendor, then her publication of her late husband’s journals and Shadow of the Almighty. Some years later I discovered Rachel Saint’s The Dayuma Story, and later still Unfolding Destinies by Olive Fleming Liefeld. Last year, at the fiftieth anniversary of the story, Steve Saint’s book End of the Spear was published as well as a film based on the book.

I enjoyed the book very much. I enjoyed reading Steve’s perspective and finding out what the Waodani (formerly known by the outside world’s designation of them as Aucas, meaning, if I remember correctly, “savages”) that I had come to know and love through the other books were up to now.

I heard much criticism of the film, which I’ll discuss in greater detail. I wanted to see it for myself rather than taking the word of either side. I just rented it and saw it for the first time this weekend. I had seen the documentary based on the book, Beyond the Gates of Splendor, and would highly recommend it. It explained more than the film did and had wonderful interviews with the five widows and several Waodani.

Here are my thoughts:

  • I thought the film itself was well-done. I don’t know what it is, but there is generally something lacking in Christian films — perhaps because they are generally low-budget or lacking in professional expertise or something. As we watched this, my oldest son said, “It’s good to see a Christian film with good production values.”
  • One of the biggest controversies when the film came out was the casting of Chad Allen, a homosexual activist, as Nate Saint. I do think this, and the resulting negative controversy, was unfortunate. Nothing against Chad Allen personally — I thought he did an excellent job. But it was dismaying that someone so opposed to Nate Saint’s beliefs and lifestyle would portray such a revered character. On the other hand, looking through the cast list at the imdb entry for the film, I would guess that probably few, if any, shared the beliefs or values of the people they portrayed. I hope that their contact with the story and the Christians involved planted seeds that will find “good ground.” And, although I agreed with the stand and understand the zeal for righteousness involved, I was dismayed at the way many Christians handled their criticism, forgetting to “hate the sin but love the sinner.”
  • One of the other major criticisms by Christians was the lack of clarity of the gospel in the film. By contrast, several secular reviewers decried and scoffed at the gospel presentation. Though I wish it would have been made clearer for those who were unfamiliar with the truth of the gospel (especially the fact of faith, not just not killing and living well), I was glad to find there was more gospel there than what I had heard others say was there. I would say it was recognizable by people who know it, both in the few phrases dealing with it and the way the lives of those who embraced it changed, but those who don’t know the gospel might just attribute it to turning over a new leaf.
  • I don’t think I would have understood a lot of what was going on in some parts if I hadn’t already been familiar with the books, but I understand the filmmakers dilemma in trying to decide what to include without making it too long. I hope the film spurred an interest in reading any of the books about the story.
  • There has been criticism of missionaries in general for evangelizing “Stone Age” people groups. One thing interesting about the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor was an interview with two anthropologists who studied the Waodani. They said that they were on the verge of extinction because their only means of dealing with any conflict was spearing. The Waodani themselves acknowledged this saying something to the effect that when before Rachel Saint and Elisabeth Elliot came to them, they had almost been down to two. They weren’t literally down to two, but they recognised that they would be if something didn’t change. Why would anyone object to their being shown a better way and saving them from extinction? We go to great measures to save the spotted owl and such from extinction –why not a whole people group? I have read some absurd charges about missionaries “forcing” conversions or only helping those who convert, and that’s all they are: absurd charges.
  • Another criticism I remember reading was that the film made Jim Elliot look “buffoonish.” I wouldn’t use that word exactly, but I did think he was portrayed as somewhat silly. I’m just speculating here, but it’s almost as if the filmmakers wanted to take a character that was highly revered and esteemed and bring him down off the pedestal a little bit. On the other hand, Steve Saint did know him…..on the other hand, that was back when Steve was 8 or 9, so his perceptions of him then wouldn’t be what they would have as an adult. I don’t know. Jim was a very passionate man, and other people I know like that are as passionate — or maybe enthusiastic would be a better word here — in their humor as they are about everything else. Plus, those of us who feel we “know” him from his writings probably didn’t see a lot of his humor there, as his journal writings were serious ponderings of soul. So…I don’t know. I don’t have any idea whether the representation of Jim was accurate or not, but I was a bit disappointed in it.
  • We watched the first 50 minutes wondering why there were no subtitles for the native dialogue, when my son fiddled with the controls and got them on. 🙄 Usually English translation subtitles of the foreign words just show up with having to adjust the setting — I’m not sure why this was different. But be forewarned that if you watch it and you’re not seeing subtitles for the native speech, you may need to adjust your settings. (I am saying “native” rather than Waodani because I read that the language used was actually that of another tribe who were also “extras” in the film, but I don’t remember that tribe’s name.)
  • I had already learned this in the book, so I knew it was coming, but I was dismayed that the big dramatic scene between Steve Saint and Mincayani near the end was not something that really happened. Well, I am not dismayed that it didn’t happen, but I am dismayed that it was invented and inserted when it didn’t happen. I understand it was meant to symbolize the struggle Steve went through in coming to terms with the loss of his dad. But that’s one of the things I hate about making films out of books.
  • As I read several secular reviews of the movie, I was saddened and sickened by the picking apart and criticising of the story by those who knew nothing about it, as if it were a fictional film.
  • I’ve read of several Christians who feel that Christians don’t need to be making these kinds of films. I don’t know….I think we’re living in an increasingly visual age. Personally, I’m a book person — you get more of the real story and more depth from the book. A film is condensed and compressed, and most times a film just doesn’t accurately portray the story. But….this is a film-watching generation, and I do think there is a place for well-made films of this type. I think they will always be between a rock and hard place, though, between the criticism of Christians and the scoffing of the secular reviewers.

So…there you have some of my thoughts about the film. I’d highly recommend the books, especially Through Gates of Splendor and End of the Spear, and the documentary, Beyond the Gates of Splendor. I wouldn’t say “don’t” watch End of the Spear, but I just think you’d get a fuller picture in the books and documentary.

Edited to add: I got to thinking I might better forewarn people who might think of watching this film that there is what my pastor calls “National Geographic-style nudity” in the film. They do have the actors wearing more clothes than they did in real life when the events of the story were unfolding, and everyone’s essentials are covered up, but there are many bare-bottom scenes. Just thought some would like to know that ahead of time.

Also, I wanted to mention that there is a bit of a different perspective as to “why” the Waodani attacked the missionaries between Elisabeth Elliot’s book, Olive Fleming Liefeld’s book, and Steve Saint’s. I don’t see that as a conflict — there were probably many layers to the “why” of it, and probably more came to light over time as language skills and relationships improved. Steve said that he had been instructed early on not to ask about it, and the things that were shared with him only came to light in recent years.

Lastly, I wanted to mention that one of my favorite parts of the book and the documentary (just a little glimpse of this is shown during the credits of the film) is Mincaye’s impressions of life in America when he came to visit. (Mincaye is his real name; Mincayani is the character’s name in the film, who is based on Mincaye but is also a conglomeration of characters.)

Richard Armour

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Some years ago I came across a poem by Richard Armour in a book that was a collection of quotes and poems about home and family. I just loved his poem — it was both sweet and funny. I began to research to try to find out more about Amour and to find the book this poem came from. It turns out he was a prolific writer who used to have a newspaper column called “Armour’s Armory.” He’s written about home and family, history, Shakespeare, and a lot of other topics. Unfortunately most of his books appear to be out of print, but fortunately you can find many at amazon.com for a dollar or two plus shipping. I ordered three in order to try and find this poem (plus one book on a different topic, Going Like Sixty. No, I wont be sixty for a while yet, but thought this book would be funny, and wanted to get it while it is available).

I did finally find the poem I was seeking in The Spouse in the House. The book jacket calls his verse “playful” and “human as well as humorous.”

Here’s the poem that first intrigued me and started my search:

Teamwork

A splendid team, my wife and I:
She washes dishes, and I dry.
I sometimes pass her back a dish
To give another cleansing swish.
She sometimes holds up to the light
A glass I haven’t dried just right.
But mostly there is no complaint,
Or it is courteous and faint,
For I would never care to see
The washing job consigned to me,
And though the things I dry still drip,
She keeps me for companionship.

Here’s another:

Down the Tube

I’ve seen my wife with anger burn
At something that I never learn:
The toothpaste tube I squeeze and bend
At top and middle, not the end.

She scolds me, pointing out my error,
Makes use of scorn and taunts and terror,
But I forget and go on squeezing
The toothpaste tube in ways displeasing.

In larger things we are convivial:
What causes trouble is the trivial.

I’ve marked a few more, but I don’t want to bore you by going on too long. I’ll leave you with the last one in the book:

Well, Come In

You can have your Welcome mats.
I ask for just a little more
When I come home from work, and that’s
A Welcome mate inside my door.

That’s a bit convicting to me — too often I’m a distracted mate.

Of course, since as far as I can tell he is not a saved man, there might be some objectionable things in his writings. I haven’t found any yet beyond an occasional mention of alcohol, but I wanted to be careful with a disclaimer in case someone else finds something.

The book was such easy reading that I finished it in a few days and added it to my fall reading list in my side bar. I’m looking forward to reading the others I bought and probably even buying some more. Hope you enjoyed them, too — you might be seeing more quotes from Armour in the future. 🙂

Amy Carmichael: Victory During Illness

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God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
Genesis 41:52b

For the last twenty years of Amy Carmicahel’s life she was an invalid, yet she remained in India as acting head of the Dohnavur Fellowship. What had begun with the rescue of one child from being sold into temple prostitution grew to orphanages and a hospital and a full-fledged compound. In Frank Houghton’s biography of her, Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur, he prefaces this section of her life with the following poem by C. A. Fox, which has been a great blessing to me:

Two glad services are ours,
Both the Master loves to bless.
First we serve with all our powers–
Then with all our feebleness.

Nothing else the soul uplifts,
Save to serve Him night and day,
Serve Him when He gives His gifts–
Serve Him when He takes away.


One day Amy received a shipment of tracts for the ill. As she read them, they just did not do anything for her. As she pondered that, she realized it was because they were written from well people telling sick people how they ought to feel. Over many years she had written notes of encouragement to various ones in the Dohnavur Hospital (named, in the descriptive Indian way, Place of Heavenly Healing), and some of these were compiled in a book titled Rose From Brier. They are rich in their
spiritual encouragement and insight, partly precisely because they were written by one who had shared in the fellowship of sufferings.

In another of Amy’s books, she wrote the following:

This prayer was written for the ill and for the very tired. It is so easy to fail when not feeling fit. As I thought of them, I also remembered those who, thank God, are not ill and yet can be hard-pressed. Sometimes in the midst of the rush of things it seems impossible always to be peaceful, always to be inwardly sweet. Is that not so? Yet that and nothing less is our high calling. So the prayer is really for us all.

Before the winds that blow do cease,
Teach me to dwell within Thy calm;
Before the pain has passed in peace,
Give me, my God, to sing a psalm,
Let me not lose the chance to prove
The fulness of enabling love,
O Love of God, do this for me;
Maintain a constant victory.

Before I leave the desert land
For meadows of immortal flowers,
Lead me where streams at Thy command
Flow by the borders of the hours,
That when the thirsty come, I may
Show them the fountains in the way.
O Love of God, do this for me;
Maintain a constant victory.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
II Corinthian 1:3-5

Amy Carmichael: A Chance to Die

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A little more than a week ago, I started a “series” of answers to prayer from the lives of classic missionary biographies. That series was supposed to run every day for a week or so — and that hasn’t quite happened. 🙂 I have one more anecdote in that category I’d like to share, but in the process of looking back over several missionary stories, I found a few other things that have spoken to my heart over the years that I wanted to share. I’m just going to post those as opportunities arise and as I feel led. Here is the first one:

Amy Carmichael was one of the first missionaries I ever read much about, and her life has had a tremendous impact on me as well as on most who read about her. She would have been appalled at the thought of any attention directed toward her, but a look at her life is reveals what it is to walk closely in love and obedience to God. She was a missionary from Ireland who worked in India from 1895 to 1951 without a furlough.

One of the lessons from her life that has stayed with me over the years (in my mind, at least: it is still far from being worked out in practice as often as it should be) comes from her earliest days in India. In Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur, author Frank L. Houghton records that Amy wrote that one of the group of missionaries was

unfair and curiously dominating in certain ways and words. One day I felt the “I” in me rising hotly, and quite clearly — so clearly that I could show you the place on the floor of the room where I was standing when I heard it — the word came, “See in it a chance to die.” To this day that word is life and release to me, and it has been to many others. See in this which seems to stir up all you most wish were not stirred up — see in it a chance to die to self in every form. Accept it as just that — a chance to die.

Often we think of dying to self in the big, martyr-like ways. Yet it is in those everyday situations where, as Amy aptly put it, the “I” in us “rises hotly” that we need to deny self .

How a well was a testimony

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“The sinking of a well broke the back of dark religion on Aniwa,” wrote John Paton. He wrote his autobiography in three parts at three different times in his life. Benjamin Unseth used about one-fifth of the material in the three parts written by Mr. Paton to form a shorter biography simply titled John Paton, part of the Men of Faith Series published by Bethany House.

John Paton is the source of one of my all-time favorite missionary quotes. After a struggle, “dreadfully afraid of mistaking my own emotions for the will of God,” he offered himself and was accepted as a missionary to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu). Most, including his pastor, were dead set against his “throwing his life away among the cannibals.” In a classic exchange, one “dear old Christian gentleman repeatedly exhorted me, ‘The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!’ At last I replied, ‘Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is to soon be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms. I confess to you that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms. And in the great day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.’”

John and his wife, Mary Ann , arrived on the island of Tanna in 1858. The Tannese were curious about them and the Patons had to learn to communicate by gesture and trial and error until they learned the language. They found the people scantily clad, friendly but deceptive, thieving, glorying “in bloodshed, war, and cannibalism,” superstitious, and worshipping nearly everything. When the Patons began to teach them that God wanted them to ”throw away their idols and stop their wrongdoing,” persecution began.

Mrs. Paton and their baby boy died in the same month in 1859. “But for Jesus, and the fellowship He gave me there, I would certainly have gone mad and died beside that lonely grave.”

After a time some men came, like Nicodemus, at night to talk to John. A few believed, but persecution was the norm. John was in danger of his life many times. Sometimes he was led to hide somewhere, but other times, while men were facing him with spears, he kept on about his work as if he didn’t notice them, and God restrained their hands. Once he even directly challenged them to go through their rituals by which they curse people by making incantations over a piece of food from which that person has eaten, to prove that his God was greater than theirs, and God prevailed. He did have to leave the island eventually, escaping for his life. He went to Australia and Scotland to report to churches there. He came back with a wife and many new missionaries. The islanders were amazed that missionaries would return after the way they had been treated, and said, “If your God makes you do that, we may yet worship Him too.”

John and his new wife settled on the island of Aniwa. Though they faced some of the same problems as in Tanna, the Lord did bless them with a fruitful harvest there. Amazingly “the sinking of a well broke the back of dark religion on Aniwa.” The island did not receive much rain and much of the drinking water was not good. John decided to try to sink a well; the islanders thought he was mad. “Rain comes only from above. How could you expect our island to send us showers of rain from below?” The chief was afraid that Paton’s “wild talk” would cause the people to never listen to his word or believe him again. They were also concerned that he would die in the hole he was digging, and then the next Enlgish shape that came by would hold them accountable. He was able to persuade them to help him by offering fishing hooks for labor. They gladly labored, though they still thought he was going mad, until one side of the well caved in; then they were afraid and worried and would help no longer.

Jogn was able to shore up the side of the well and take precautions against another cave-in. He had prayed about the location of the well and struggled with the fear that they might find salty water rather than fresh.

Finally the day came that he broke through and found good, fresh water. He filled a jug, climbed out of the well, and called the people ove to taste it. They were amazed at the water he found and grateful that he would share the well with them. They offered to help him finish it in earnest. Later the islanders tried to sink several wells in various villages, but they either came to coral rock they could not penetrate or to salt water.
Chief Namakei asked if he could “preach” one Sunday. The book records one of the most beautiful sermons I have ever read. The essence of it was that, though they laughed and disbelieved when “Missi” (teacher) said he would find “rain coming up through the earth,” yet Jehovah God answered his prayers. “No God of Aniwa has ever answered prayers as the Missi’s God has done….The gods of Aniwa cannot hear, cannot help us like the God of Missi.” He felt that since what the Missi had said about the invisible water under the earth was true, then what he said about the invisible God was true, too, and he would worship Him. “He (Jehovah) will give us all we need for He sent His Son Jesus to die for us and bring us to heaven. This is what the Missi has been telling us every day since he landed on Aniwa. We laughed at him, but now we believe him.”

There followed a great burning of idols of many of the islanders and many were converted. They began to come to the church services and were baptized. John wrote, after a communion service, “At the moment when I put the bread and wine into those hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to Jesus, I had a foretaste of the joy of heaven that almost burst my heart in pieces. I will never taste a deeper bliss till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus Himself.”

(This is the fourth in a series of missionary anecdotes focusing on specific answers to prayer. Previous posts in this series were about Rosalind Goforth, Jonathan Goforth, and Amy Carmichael.)

Missionary anecdotes: prompted to pray

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Continuing a series about answers to prayer in missionary biographies, today’s entry focuses on a couple of remarkable incidents when folks were prompted to pray for a missionary. The following came from Goforth of China by Rosalind Goforth.

Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth were missionaries to China in the late 1800s and early 1900s. When they first went to China, Jonathan had a terrific struggle with the language, though he put in many hours studying. When he preached, the Chinese would point to his colleague, Mr. Donald McGillivray, and ask him to preach because they couldn’t understand Goforth. Things came to a crisis one day. Jonathan told his wife, “If the Lord does not work a miracle for me with this language, I fear I may be an utter failure as a missionary!” Rosalind writes that he looked heartbroken, then picked up his Bible and started off to the chapel.

Two hours later he returned, saying, “Oh, Rose! It was just wonderful! When I began to speak, those phrases and idioms that would always elude me came readily. The men actually asked me to go on though Donald had risen to speak. I know the backbone of the language is broken! Praise the Lord!”

Rosalind goes on to write, “About two months later, a letter came from Mr. Talling (his former roommate, still in Knox College), saying that on a certain evening after supper, a number of students decided to meet in one of the classrooms for prayer, ‘just for Goforth.’ The letter stated that the presence and power of God was so clearly felt by all at that meeting, they were convinced Goforth must surely have been helped in some way. On looking in his diary, Mr. Goforth found the students’ prayer meeting
Knox coincided with the experience recorded above.”

She goes on to say, “Some years later, Dr. Arthur H, Smith, one of the best speakers and keenest critics of the spoken language, said to Mr. Goforth, ‘Wherever did you get your style of speaking? For any sakes don’t change it! You can be understood over a wider area than anyone I know!’”

In the same book Mrs. Goforth tells of another incident when Mr. Goforth was on furlough. “While in London, he was taken to see an invalid lady. She told Mr. Goforth that when she heard of his proposed meetings in Manchuria, she felt a great burden laid upon her to pray for him. She then asked him to look at her notebook, in which was recorded three dates when a special sense of power in prayer had come upon her for him. A feeling akin to awe came upon Goforth as he recalled those dates as being the very days when he had witnessed the mightiest movements in Manchuria.”