Booking Through Thursday: Memorable Books Meme

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Barbara Harper

The weekly Booking Through Thursday question for today is

I saw this over at Shelley’s, and thought it sounded like a great question for all of you:

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

1. The Bible
2. By Searching by Isobel Kuhn
3. In the Arena by Isobel Kuhn
4. Climbing by Rosalind Goforth
5. Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur by Frank Houghton
6. Changed Into His Image by Jim Berg
7. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
8. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
9. A Path Through Suffering by Elisabeth Elliot
10. Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
11. Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
12. Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien
13. Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
14. Rose From Brier by Amy Carmichael
15. Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot

It was hard to stop at 15, and on another day the list would vary a little, but overall these are books that have deeply influenced my thinking and that I go back to time and time again, either rereading or thinking about something I read there.

Feel free to join in and use this as a meme whether you particpate in Booking Through Thursday or not, but if you’d like to see what others listed, check today’s post there.

Odds ‘n ends

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Barbara Harper

The colors in the dress I am wearing today…

CIMG2824

…remind me of sherbet.

I am up to almost a half-hour at a time on the Wii Fit. When I started I was doing good to last ten minutes.

I told Jason and Mittu that if they wanted me to I would address the wedding invitations to our church folks and our side of the family. Then I decided I wanted to print the envelopes on the computer because my handwriting, I’m sorry to say, is awful. I’ve printed envelopes before. but these were a non-standard size, and though I configured all the dimensions, the printer kept saying there was a size or type misfeed. I got lost in the online “help” instructions that popped up and called my computer expert, Jeremy, and he did everything he knew to do, and it still wouldn’t work. So he tried it on my husband’s computer and printer and finally got it to work there. Somewhere in that hour’s wasted time and frustration, the thought occurred to me, “You know, all of these people have seen your handwriting before.” Oh, well…once I finally got going, it clipped along fine, and they do look nice, I think.

A couple of weeks ago at the post office I saw a sign for wedding stamps. How timely! There were two designs, one with wedding rings and one with wedding cake. I thought it would be cute to put one style on the outside and one on the RSVP envelope, so I bought accordingly. I didn’t notice until I got ready to stamp the first one that the cake stamps were 61 cents. So I determined to exchange them during my errands this morning. As I dug the receipt out of my purse, I saw that it said at the bottom, “All sales of stamps are final.” “Uh oh — what am I going to do with 61 cents stamps?” I decided to make a try for it anyway (and if you knew me twenty years ago, you’d know I have come a long way to think that. I used to get intimidated when trying to return things, especially if they gave me any trouble about it. One such incident resulted in tears and my poor husband having to return it for me). But I’m familiar with the folks at the local P.O., having been up there repeatedly with ladies’ group packages to missionaries and students. The friendly neighborhood postman did indeed exchange them for me, bless his heart. I asked what the 61 cent ones were used for: he said they were for over-sized envelopes.

Upon returning to the house, I saw our friendly neighborhood garbage truck had once again left our garbage can in the driveway. I don’t know how, when the truck is automated with arms that lift the can straight up, dump it, and then put it straight back down, the can lands a couple of feet from the corner, where we leave it, to the driveway itself. Nevertheless I sent one son, who shall remain nameless, out to remedy the situation. Instead of returning the can back to its place behind the house, since it was now empty, he put it back in front of the corner of the yard, where we place it for pick-up, and he could not understand my incredulity that he would walk all the way out to the curb, move the empty can two feet, and leave it there instead of bringing it back up to the house. Obviously, my work is not yet done…

Book Review: In Trouble and In Joy

Posted on June 2, 2009 by Barbara Harper

The first part of the title of In Trouble and In Joy: Four Women Who Lived for God by Sharon James comes from a line in a hymn by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady:

Through all the changing scenes of life,
In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.

The four women Sharon James writes about in this book exemplify that truth: in varying degrees of trouble and joy, they lived for God.

Margaret Baxter was a rebellious, glamorous, well-to-do teen-ager who became a Christian under the preaching of her Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter. Though he was twice her age, Margaret fell in love with him, and in time her feelings were reciprocated, and they married. The union was a step down for Margaret financially (Richard took care to arrange their finances in such a way that he did not have access to her money so it would not be thought he married her for her money) and socially, but she had found her purpose in life and blossomed. This was a time when “Non-conformists” were persecuted, and when Richard was imprisoned for a while, Margaret voluntarily joined him. Both were, like all the rest of us, very human. Margaret was known for being generous, cheerful (Mrs. James notes, “It is simply not true that the Puritans went around looking miserable. Indeed, Richard Baxter wrote, “Keep company with the more cheerful sort of the godly; there is no mirth like the mirth of believers'” [p. 49]), industrious, competent, capable, patient, supportive — and anxious, fearful, perfectionist, and over-zealous. Yet she was aware of and grieved by her faults, and it was her desire to live a holy life for God.

Sarah Edwards had eleven children as the wife of Jonathan Edwards in the early 1700s. The Edwards were known for their “uncommon union,” their great love and respect for each other, and Sarah’s hospitality. Sarah thrived as a wife and mother, but the Edwards’ faced their share of difficulty as well when Jonathan was dismissed from the church where he pastored and some of their children died.

Anne Steele lived in a small English village in the 1700s, never married, suffered from poor health most of her life (with what is thought now to have been malaria), published two volumes of hymns and poems, and was known for her cheerfulness and faith. It was expected at that time that young women would marry and have a family, and there is some correspondence of teasing between Anne and her sister about Anne’s unmarried state even though the sister admitted her life was not all rosy.

Frances Ridley Havergal lived in the Victorian 1800s and is best known as the writer of hymns such as “Take My Life and Let It Be” and “Like a River Glorious.” Her father was a pastor and she was very active in the ministry of the church, thriving in personal work, one-on-one discussions with others about the gospel and spiritual truth. When her father died, her step-mother made unusual demands and seemed to even be mentally unstable, but Frances did her best to honor her. She did travel a lot and kept running, amusing accounts of her experiences: letters from her travels to Switzerland were gathered together in a book titled Swiss Letters. She turned down several proposals of marriage, though she “once wrote of the sense of ‘general heart-loneliness and need of a one and special love…and the belief that my life is to be a lonely one in that respect…I do so long for the love of Jesus to be poured in, as a real and satisfying compensation'” (pp. 193-194). She was a prolific writer of hymns and books. She “loved life, enjoyed people, revelled in nature, and laughed a lot” (p. 200).

The book deals with each woman individually, detailing her historical setting, the story of her life, her character and significance, and excerpts from her writing. Mrs. James’ style of writing is somewhat academic, more like teaching a class than telling a story: that’s not a bad thing, but I had picked up this book because I had read and enjoyed her earlier one, My Heart In His Hands about Ann Judson, and I don’t remember it being quite that way, though it has been years since I read it.

I didn’t agree with all of Mrs. James’ conclusions about why the women did what they did or the few things for which she criticized them: for example, she faults some of the women for not being more socially active. She wrote of Frances: “Although she was always ready to give benevolent help on an individual level, there is little evidence that Frances had strong feelings about the blatant social and political inequalities of that time” (p. 201). Some of us feel that dealing with individual hearts, resulting in a true heart change, will take care of the larger issues, and that Christians are called to share the gospel and make disciples, not necessarily battle the culture itself (though it’s not wrong to fight social ills). Mrs. James does go on to say of Frances, “And yet the ‘limiting’ of her vision to gospel issues meant that she was extraordinarily focused. Her mental and spiritual energies were not diffused into many different areas,” allowing a greater concentration on vital issues of “salvation, consecration, and worship” (p. 201). These women had their hands full enough with what they did do to warrant criticism for what they didn’t do.

I did appreciate Mrs. James research, insight, and masterful compilation of the details of these women’s lives. There is much about each woman’s life to instruct Christian women. To give just one example, one of Frances’s letters tells of the hostility and “appalling service” she received at an inn in Switzerland. Where most of us would be fuming and calling for the manager, Frances reacted patiently and finally said to the angry, spiteful woman, “You are not happy. I know that you’re not.” the woman was startled, “tamed…made a desperate effort not to cry” and listened while Frances spoke to her “quite plainly and solemnly about Jesus.” She received a tract, promised to read it, and thanked Frances over and over. Frances concluded, “Was it not worth getting out of the groove of one’s usual comforts and civilities?” (pp. 250-251). I have to confess that was a rebuke to me: I rarely think of such situations as a means of service to others.

Mrs. James concludes:

They had different personalities and varied situations, but each of these four women lived focused lives, wanting to praise God through days of trouble as well as joy. As is true of many women, they had to juggle all sorts of responsibilities. Pursuing holiness did not mean running away from these responsibilities: it involved living every day wholeheartedly for God (p. 253).

(This review will be linked to Semicolon’s Saturday Review of books and Callapidder Days’ Spring Reading Thing Reviews.)

Preaching personalities

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Last night we had a guest speaker at church. He wasn’t new to our assembly — he had married one of our girls — but we had never heard him speak publicly before. For various reasons both my husband and I thought this man was going to be a bombastic, in-your-face type of preacher, but we were pleasantly surprised. He wasn’t that way at all. Of course, he was mainly just sharing his testimony and the mission God had called him to rather than preaching a message, but, still, we enjoyed what he had to say and the way he said it.

That reminded me of another time I had misjudged a preacher. Well, actually, I hadn’t misjudged in this case: this man was a bombastic, in-your-face, ranting and raving type of preacher. There was a Christian radio broadcast I used to listen to while cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, and this preacher’s program came on afterward. As soon as he came on I would turn the radio off in disgust. I did that for months, if not years. Then I got convicted that that was a bad attitude. This man did preach truth. I didn’t have to like his style or listen to him, necessarily, but I shouldn’t have that negative attitude toward him. His style wasn’t wrong just because it didn’t appeal to me: God had used him to reach many people — evidently some people like that style. (This doesn’t mean that the end justifies the means and as long as he’s getting “results” it’s all good. I don’t agree with that principle. But there was nothing unbiblical in his doctrine or even in his style.) The Bible teaches that, while preachers are to be held accountable for their doctrine and their lifestyles (whether or not their lives match up to what they preach), we’re supposed to respect them as men of God. So I began to leave his broadcast on while I was finishing up in the kitchen. And on one particular day God used something he said to help me in an area I had been struggling with for years.

One former pastor we had said, while speaking about the Old Testament prophets, that many of them were contemporary with each other (in my ignorance as a young Christian reading the Bible through for the first time, I had thought all the books were chronological), but God had sent the same message out through different men because they each had different personalities that would appeal to different people.

The pastor I had while in the last year of high school and in college and then the one my husband and I were under during the first fourteen years we were married definitely had the gift of teaching. They rarely raised their voices except occasionally for emphasis, they spoke to people and not at people, they taught logically and delibrately through a passage, they didn’t often move around much. That is still the type of preaching I long for and respond to best. I don’t like shouting, ranting, using a verse as a jumping-off point only to express one’s opinions, walking back and forth across the stage (and down the stage and up the aisles — that’s very distracting to me), shooting from the hip rather than logically proceeding through a passage. We’ve had speakers who have done all of those things, and I have to be careful lest my dislike (and criticalness) of those things distract me from the message. There have been times I’ve heard other people talk about how blessed they were by a message, and I think, “Where was I?” Other times I’ve been blessed by a more ordinary talking speaker (or writer) who had perhaps a more intellectual approach, and other people’s response seems to be, “Well, that was…nice.”

The bottom line is I am responsible for receiving the truth I hear despite how it is conveyed.

O hope of every contrite heart

Posted on May 31, 2009 by Barbara Harper

These are some of the lesser-known stanzas from the hymn “Jesus the Very Thought of Thee” by Bernard of Clairvaux: the rest is here.

O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.

When once Thou visitest the heart,
Then truth begins to shine,
Then earthly vanities depart,
Then kindles love divine.

O Jesus, light of all below,
Thou fount of living fire,
Surpassing all the joys we know,
And all we can desire.

Jesus, may all confess Thy Name,
Thy wondrous love adore,
And, seeking Thee, themselves inflame
To seek Thee more and more.

More quizzes

Posted on May 30, 2009 by Barbara Harper

I don’t know why, but I enjoy these silly little things.

You Are a Calculator

No matter what someone tells you, you’re likely to focus on facts and data.

You’re a highly analytic person. You are only concerned with what you can know for sure.

You look at situations objectively, and you have no problem approaching problems from multiple angles.

You would make a good analyst or investment banker. You are confident enough to make tough calls and hard decisions.

What Office Supply Are You?

You Were an Achieving Kid

When you were a kid, people often remarked on how mature you seemed. You acted quite adult.

You excelled at school, and you actually enjoyed it to a large extent. No one had to ask you to do your homework.As a kid, you were probably a bit picky. You liked structure, schedules, and organization.

You had trouble being friends with regular kids. You probably were only friends with other serious children.

What Kind of Kid Were You?

Pretty accurate except my friends were all “regular kids.” I think I was, too — just more bookish. But I loved to play as well.

You Are a Playwright

You are a highly literate wordsmith. You love both reading and writing.

You are also a natural storyteller. You can turn a mediocre anecdote into a riveting tale.You find people and all aspects of life fascinating. No topic is off limits for you.

In modern times, you would make a good filmmaker or novelist.

What’s Your Medieval Profession?

That’s encouraging! I like to write and have often thought about “doing something with it” beyond blogging. I don’t know about turning the mediocre into a riveting tale, though — I’d like to be able to do that, but I have to fight against the tendency to tell every little detail that makes people’s eyes glaze over before getting to the point.

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites.

1. Some of the friends my middle son, Jason, had worked with at camp last summer were in town for a wedding. One stayed with us and the others were over one day playing the Wii Fit. I enjoyed meeting them!

2. Lunch at the Golden Corral. Sometimes for lunch we get take-out boxes, which they let you fill up from the buffet and then charge you by weight. We had plenty for lunch Thursday and Friday. I love their meat loaf, pot roast, and chocolate chess pie. I am so looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch!!

(My list seems to always include food items!)

3. The last day of school today!!!! I am going to miss my quiet hours at home, but I am going to love not having to set the alarm clock ad having a more laid-back pace.

4. My semi-annual closet changeover. I had gotten a few springy clothes down from the attic a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t until this week that I transferred the winter clothes up to the attic and the summer clothes down to the closet. It was almost like getting together with old friends. 🙂 I love the lighter look in my closet!

5. This quote I scribbled across a church bulletin and rediscovered when cleaning out my Bible. I neglected to put down who said it: I don’t remember if it was my pastor or a guest speaker:

Doubt puts circumstances between us and God. Faith puts God between us and circumstances.

Bonus: I saw this cute routine on TV some years back and just rediscovered it on You Tube:

Sin

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Barbara Harper

On my way home from taking Jesse to school, I caught the very end of a radio broadcast in which the speaker read a letter to the editor in which the author said he was sick of hearing about sin and wanted only a religion that taught things like gentleness and tolerance.

That’s understandable: no one really likes hearing about sin, especially their own. But that attitude is a bit like going to a doctor and saying, “I just want you to teach me about wellness and health: I don’t want to hear anything about this mass that you’re going to tell me needs to be removed.” What kind of doctor would be doing his patient any favors by telling him only the positive and neglecting to deal with the unpleasant negative of the ailment that will destroy him?

What exactly is sin? Besides detailing specific sins, the Bible speaks of these broader characterictics:

1. Falling short of God’s glory

Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

2. Failure to believe God

Hebrews 11:6: But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

3. Failure to do good

James 4:17: Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

4. Unrighteousness

I John 5:17a: All unrighteousness is sin

5. Acting against conscience, acting apart from faith

Romans 14:23: And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin

6. Transgressing the law

I John 3:4: Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

We might think, well, sure, defined like that, yes, we’re all sinners, but my sin isn’t as bad as other people’s. Going back to our patient analogy, that’s like saying my illness isn’t as bad as the other guy’s, so I don’t have to worry about mine. According to Romans 3:23 mention above, the standard is not how we compare to others: it’s how we compare to God. I heard it once described like this: if we all needed to leap over a 500 foot chasm, some would make it farther than others, but we’d all fall short.

The sin Adam and Eve engaged in which plunged the rest of the human race into sin was not what we would call gross sin: they simply did what God told them not to do. Jesus said the greatest commandment is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” It follows, then, that the greatest sin is to fail to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds.

So, a sinful nature is there within all of us. We can’t ignore it. It’s too destructive. We know it’s destructiveness and painfulness when others sin against us. It separates us from God: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:2. Psalm 38 details the physical and mental anguish resulting from sin, not to mention the eternal punishment.

Thankfully there is a remedy: I Corinthians 15:3-4: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

Isaiah 53:5-6: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Because the Lord Jesus, who was inherently sinless and who is God Himself, took on our sin and the punishment for it, when we believe on Him, all our sin can be forgiven. Even after becoming believers, on the basis of Christ’s death and resurrection, when we sin we can come to Him and have the slate wiped clean. I John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

When He has cleansed our sin away, dwells within us, and given us a new nature, then we are enabled to show forth love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22-23)– all the good and positive qualities that are a blessing to other people.

I hadn’t planned to write about this today: I had two other posts in mind and was trying to decide which one to go with when I heard that bit of a radio broadcast, and as I thought meditated on what I had heard, some of these other truths came to mind, so I felt that perhaps this was what I should write about today.

Proverbs 28:13: He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

(Un)expected company

Posted on May 27, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Several weeks ago my middle son, Jason, told us some of his friends from Castlepoint were getting married in a nearby town, and another friend, Paul, was driving down from Indiana for the wedding, and then had to go to NC to the camp where he’s be working this summer, and Jason wanted to know if Paul could stay here during those days. We said sure, that would be fine.

So late Friday evening we get a call from a lady at church, whose daughter had also worked at Castlepoint for several summers and who was also hosting one of her Castlepoint friends who was coming for the wedding. She had been trying to reach Jason but couldn’t because he was working, so she was trying to ask in in a roundabout way about accommodations for Paul, who had traveled down with this other girl, who was her guest. My husband had taken the call, and as soon as I heard the word Paul, I thought….”Oh no! We forgot!”

I even knew Jason had the wedding to attend the next day, but somehow it just hadn’t clicked that that meant Paul was coming in. If I don’t write things on my calendar, I can’t be sure of remembering them, and I guess the conversation about Paul coming must have taken place while we were eating or I was cooking or putting away groceries or something. Even Jason had forgotten.

But we assured Paul that it was fine for him to come over, and I dashed around changing sheets, picking up, and running the vacuum over a few key areas. Thankfully things were still pretty well clean from when we had company a couple of weeks ago for graduation.

Paul was very gracious about our forgetfulness, and I really enjoyed meeting him and some of the other friends from camp who came over Sunday.

Thankfully I had just recently skimmed a post on Hospitalilty vs. Entertaining at Making Home — skimmed because I had read similar things before and had read the book she referred to, so it was more of a reminder than a new revelation to me that hospitality isn’t “showing off” a picture-picture home: rather, it’s about making people feel welcome and ministering to their needs. But I am thankful the Lord put that “heads up” in my path just before I needed it, so I didn’t stew about not getting everything done I would normally get done before company. And it was wonderfully restful and freeing not to have gone into a get-ready-for-company frenzy! I used to feel I had to practically spring clean the entire house before company came, and I tell ya, there is no greater deterrent to having people over than that!

My mom

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Today would have been my mom’s 72nd birthday if she were still alive. I wrote the following a couple of years ago for Mother’s Day and wanted to repost it today in memory of my mom.

My mom and me:

From my earliest memory, my mom was my best friend — not in a way that was too chummy and hindered discipline. But we could talk about most anything, and I always knew that she was for me. I was the oldest of six, and we always enjoyed each other’s company.

She was not the most domestic person on the planet. I remember days cleaning the house together, snack breaks, and jokes about how no one ever came over when the house was clean.

My father was an alcoholic and very jealous and easily angry. She thought that once they got married and he was assured of her love and commitment that much of that would change. A word of warning: don’t ever marry expecting change. I love my dad, too — I’ve written more about him earlier. I wish they both could have come to know the Lord earlier. But there were rough times over the years, and Mom and I were kind of allies during those times. I think she did the best she could to be the best wife she could be, but with continued problems and without the strength God could give, the marriage ended. I struggled with my relationships with both parents during that time, but the Lord helped — it was actually as a result of all this that I was saved — and eventually my relationship with both was restored, as I mentioned a bit in an earlier post.

I always appreciated that, though my Mom didn’t share my beliefs and convictions for many years, she cared about me and tried not to offend and tried to support me in my new way of life.

She loved to give. Her “love language” was definitely giving. She loved to find things that would be “just right” for her kids. She would collect things all through the year to give at Christmas. She always gave generously yet always wanted to give more. She was also a delight to give to. I enjoyed just as much looking through the year for things to give to her.

She loved to call rather than write, and our conversations were easily an hour or more. She would call for special occasions or just to catch up. Since we always lived 1,000 miles away and were rarely together over holidays, phone calls became an unplanned but welcome tradition. Usually we’d talk in the evening after the rest of the holiday’s festivities were over and everyone had gone home. That’s one of the things I miss most during days like today.

When my husband and I first got married and moved away, we traveled there to visit: it would have been hard and expensive for her and my step-father to travel with five kids. But in later years they did come here, and it was a joy to visit with her on my turf. One of the times I enjoyed most was one day when they were visiting and my husband rented a boat to take everyone on the lake. I don’t know when she developed a phobia about the water, but she didn’t want to go, so she and I stayed at the house and I took her out to lunch. That lunch out together with just the two of us is one of my best memories.

She passed away in December of 2005. If I didn’t have faith that God’s timing is perfect, I would have felt it was much too soon for her to go. I don’t know why the Lord chose to take her so soon — I trust He will work all things together for good as He promised. One hope was that some of the rest of the family would be saved as a result, but as far as I know that hasn’t happened yet (if anyone feels led to pray to that end, I would be much obliged. )

I imagine her birthday and Mother’s Day will always carry a bit of a pang for me, but it also carries pleasant memories of my precious Mom.

Before my wedding: