Review: Create: Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Stuff

Posted on April 9, 2024 by Barbara Harper

In Create: Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Stuff, Stephen Altrogge contends that creativity is not just for the artistic. We’re all creative in different ways because we were made in the image of God, who is the ultimate Creator. He gave us whatever creative bents we have, so we should set aside fear, pride, or whatever else trips us up and create for His glory.

However, just because God made us creative doesn’t mean we create masterpieces from the get-go. We will grow in whatever skills we have as we exercise them. “We tend to treat creativity like magic: we should be able to summon it at will. But that’s not how creativity works. Creativity is a muscle that gets stronger with use.” We turn out a lot of bad stuff with glimmers of promise before we grow skilled enough to turn out good results. We shouldn’t get discouraged; that’s just part of the learning process.

We also need to remember our identity is not in anyone else’s opinion, good or bad. Not that others’ opinions don’t matter or aren’t helpful. But ultimately our identity is in being a child of God and our purpose is to please Him.

Also, to create anything, we need to be “filling your brain with ideas,” with creative fuel, by taking in creativity: reading if we’re writers, music if we’re songwriters or composers, etc.

All in all, I appreciated what Stephen had to say. Having read this type of book before, there wasn’t a lot that was new to me. But I need these reminders in my own creative journey.

My biggest problem with the book was its tone, which you can pick up from the subtitle. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t just read Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson (twice in a row because it was so good). Andrew’s tone is warm, gentle, and encouraging. One of my friends described Stephen’s book as a kick in the pants. Some people like that style; I prefer coming-alongside encouragement.

However the book is only 56 pages, and the Kindle version is on sale for 99 cents at the time of this writing. So if you feel your creativity needs some inspiration or prodding, this might be the book for you.

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

A Gradual Dawning

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Barbara Harper

We don’t think of Isaiah as an evangelistic book. We perceive evangelism as a New Testament concept rather than an Old Testament one.

Yet we find many admonitions in the OT for Israel to be a testimony not just to its own people, but to the nations.

Our ladies’ Bible study is going through Isaiah using Tim Chester’s book, Isaiah for You, as a springboard. Chester says this about evangelistic encouragement in Isaiah:

They [Israel] were to live under God’s rule expressed in the law in such a way that the nations would see that it is good to know God (Deuteronomy 4: 5-8). Isaiah himself uses this kind of language in Isaiah 2: 2-5: “Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Why? So that “many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord’”. The people of Israel were to attract the nations to God.

The ladies discussed how we can do that in our day, when many people don’t seem to want to hear it. There was a time in the USA when people were more open to Christianity. But now, we feel like we’ll get a negative reaction if we try to share Christ with others.

A verse that came to mind during that discussion was Psalm 119:130: “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple” (NKJV).

Even if someone says they don’t believe God’s Word, it can shine God’s light into their hearts.

That light is not always a blinding Damascus Road experience like Paul had. Sometimes people understand fully when they are first presented with the gospel. But I would guess that doesn’t happen often.

When I spent the night with my best friend in high school, her mother would often wake us up in the morning by coming in with a cheery voice while throwing open the curtains.

Going from darkness and sleep to bright light was not welcome. It was a shock to the system, though perhaps in some cases it’s necessary.

When I wake up these days, I look toward the bathroom, where the nightlight is on, to get my eyes adjusted to a bit of light. Then I turn on my phone to guide me to the bathroom. Then I turn on the bathroom light, usually squinting in the process. Gradually my eyes get adjusted so I can take in the full light of day.

I think sharing God’s light often works the same way. We receive a little, get our spiritual eyes adjusted, and then we’re able to receive a little more.

When I was in college, a new family came to my church who I became very close to. I called them my adopted spiritual family. The father told us once that when he was younger and not a Christian, he took an acquaintance home from a school function. As she tried to talk to him about the Lord, he answered her gruffly.

When he dropped her off, she probably felt her efforts had failed. But he thought to himself, “What was she talking about, anyway?” That conversation was a catalyst to his finding out more and eventually coming to know the Lord.

Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:19, “We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

As we share God’s Word, we can trust that He will use it to open understanding. We may not see any response at first, or we may see a negative one. Not everyone will receive His light. But for those who do, perhaps the light will gradually dawn like a slow sunrise until they see clearly.

The entrance of God's words give light and understanding.

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here’s another weekly round-up of good online reads.

Sacrifice Is the Beginning. “Maybe the giving up, the surrendering, is not the end at all. Maybe it is the very beginning of something new, something bigger, and more purposeful.”

Longing for More, HT to Challies. “On a soul level, whether in our highest or lowest moments, we know from our earliest memories that something critical is missing. And God shows us in all kinds of ways that He is that vital ingredient.”

Resurrection Sunday Hope for a Tuesday Afternoon. “While we can’t ride the Easter high every day of the year (the jelly bean supply just can’t keep up!), the hope of the resurrection never wanes. You can have hope, joy, and peace in the middle of your Tuesday doldrums or Thursday despair because Jesus is our risen Savior.”

Is the Lord’s Supper a Feast or a Funeral? HT to Challies. “When we approach the Lord’s Supper we should do so with an attitude marked primarily by joy, and not sorrow. We come singing and rejoicing, not mourning or weeping. Yet, how can this be if the thought of death pervades the very foundations of the sacrament? The answer lies in the gospel.”

Is the ‘Silent Treatment’ a Godly Approach to Conflict? HT to Challies. Though I agree with the writer that silence and withdrawal shouldn’t be used as punishment, some quiet time lets emotions cool down and helps us process what the conflict was all about and how to deal with it.

10 Reasons to Hate Hospitality and 10 ways to rethink it.

Jesus destroyed sin by letting it destroy him.

That he, the God of life, should conquer death by embracing it.
That he should destroy the power of sin by letting it destroy him.
Joni Eareckson Tada, When God Weeps

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on April 5, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Every week seems to have up and down weather lately, but we hit extremes of 80s one day and 30s the next this week. I’m glad we can adjust heating and air conditioning inside so easily, but I am really ready for cold weather to be done til next fall. We’ll get there eventually.

Meanwhile, it helps to stop and count one’s blessings. That doesn’t usually happen unless we deliberately look for them, so I make it a point to do so on Fridays with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Easter. I enjoyed meditating on Christ’s death and resurrection the past few weeks by rereading Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter complied by Nancy Guthrie. We had a good church service, great dinner with the family, and a fun Easter egg hunt.

2. Camping. Jim, Jason, Mittu, and Timothy camped out a few days at a state park about half an hour from here. Jesse and I drove up to join them for lunch and dinner Friday. Mittu had made these neat foil packets with fish and vegetables, and Jim grilled his yummy burgers.

3. Time alone. If you’ve read here for long, you know I love my family. But I do love time alone sometimes as well. Camping is not my favorite thing for a number of reasons, some of them due to physical issues. Going for a few hours one afternoon gave me some of the camping experience while getting to sleep in my own bed at night. 🙂 While everyone was away, I got Mexican food take-out one night, watched a movie, and got a good chunk of writing done.

4. April Fool’s Day is not something we’ve ever done much with as a family. But I was amused to hear that Timothy pulled his first April Fool’s Day prank. Jason opened the egg carton one morning to find that Timothy had replaced the eggs with confetti eggs he had gotten for Easter. Jason said Timothy was pretty proud of himself. 🙂

I also smiled, after some initial confusion, when the Connections word game showed pictures that day instead of words.

5. Getting an appointment over with. I have mild sleep apnea. The only reason I sought treatment for it was that one doctor told me sleep apnea could cause atrial fibrillation (which I have, even after having an ablation), and any number of ablations wouldn’t help unless the sleep apnea was treated. Using the CPAP machine requires a once-a-year in-person visit to the sleep center. That visit really could be phoned in. In fact, one year they had a telehealth visit on the phone because they were moving to a new office the day of my appointment. I asked if we couldn’t do that all the time–it only took about ten minutes whereas the in-person appointment takes about an hour by the time I drive there and back. They said no, insurance requires that it be in-person unless they have extenuating circumstances like they did that year. This year it had to be rescheduled a couple of times. So it was good to be done with it for another year. Also, as appointments go, it wasn’t bad: the people were very pleasant, their new building was much more spacious than the cramped, maze-like building they used to have. Their bathrooms were right outside the waiting area instead of being back in the maze somewhere. My only problem with it was the hour it took. But since I have to do it, I need to have a better attitude about it.

I hope you’ve had a good week as well.

Review: Always On My Mind

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Always On My Mind is the fourth novel in the Christiansen family series by Susan May Warren.

Casper is the fourth child and middle son of the family. The previous book, When I Fall in Love, focused on his older sister, Grace, but also shared Casper’s budding relationship with a new girl in town, Raina.

After a big blow-up near the end of that book, Casper, an archeology major, accepted an invitation to a dig in Honduras. He’s always felt overshadowed by his brothers and wants to do something to stand out on his own. But this dig is going nowhere. Even a side project yields no results. He can’t get Raina off his mind. He decides to forgive the past, go home, and tell Raina he loves her.

But when he gets home, he is surprised to discover that Raina is pregnant and shocked to learn who the father is. Further, Raina wants him to go away and leave her alone.

Raina still loves Caspar, but feels she is damaged and no good for him.

Casper goes back to Deep Haven to help at his family’s resort and work in town until he can decide what to do next. He also helps out at the town Historical Society, where he’s surprised to discover that Raina has come back to Deep Haven, too. Their work throws them together, so they form a tentative friendship.

Caspar is dismayed when Raina starts dating Monty, a bully he knew from high school. But Monty turns on the charm with Raina, and she delights in feeling special in his eyes.

One subplot involves Casper’s discovery of clues from an old local legend about a missing gangster and the steel bonds he supposedly left hidden somewhere.

Another involves oldest brother Darek, featured in the first book in the series, who has taken over running his parents’ resort after they retired. But the responsibilities of repairs and projects and the lack of customers and therefore income weigh heavily on him. His long hours away from home start taking a toll on his family. He wonders if he should go back to firefighting.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not keen on romances. But I do like good stories where people learn, grow, and overcome. Susan’s stories don’t have the silliness and physicality that some romances do. Plus, I got invested in the family in the first book, and since the series was free at Audible for a time, I decided to follow through.

Susan had written here that part of her reason for writing this series was that she and her husband were in the season of parenting adult children, and she wanted to write about “watching, hoping, praying your adult children into a legacy of faith.” The Christiansen parents, John and Ingrid, are somewhat background characters in the books, but emerge to share a word of wisdom, guidance, or encouragement here and there.

Each story begins a beautiful letter that Ingrid has written to the child featured in that book.

Susan writes that part of her focus in this particular novel is “What do you do when you love someone who seems bent on self-destruction? Worse, when they seem incapable of listening to reason? Pray. Hope. Love anyway.”

There’s kind of an obvious symbolism between Casper’s hunt for lost treasure and Raina being a type of lost treasure.

My only difficulty with this story is that I didn’t care for Raina at first. I didn’t have a problem with the fact that she was a “broken soul,” had a lot of baggage, and needed redemption. I just didn’t see any qualities that would cause Casper to fall in love with her. But by the end of this story, I did.

On a side note, for some reason, the audiobook covers are different from the e-book and print covers. I like the book covers much better.

Review: A Noble Scheme

Posted on April 2, 2024 by Barbara Harper

A Noble Scheme is the second novel in Roseanna M. White’s Imposters series. The first book, A Beautiful Disguise, established that The Imposters were a private investigation firm in the early 1900s. Siblings Yates and Marigold Fairfax learned that their father’s spendthrift ways had left no money. One of his whimsical purchases had been an entire circus which stayed at the estate when not traveling. The circus performers and animals became close friends of the Fairfaxes. Yates and Marigold had learned acrobatics, theatrics, and other performance tricks from them. They decided to use these skills to support themselves and their circus friends by maintaining their place in society and secretively, in disguise, investigating matters for high-end clientele.

However, in A Nobel Scheme, a waiter comes to them–someone who could not afford them. Yet when they hear that his son has been kidnapped, mistaken for his almost identical wealthy cousin, the team accepts the case pro bono.

Gemma Parks is also part of the Imposters. She writes a society column as G. M. Parker and fills in however she can. She keeps her ears open in society functions and sometimes masquerades as Marigold so Marigold can look for clues.

Graham Wharton is the Fairfaxe’s distant cousin who came to live with them when his parents died. He’s an architect who can help the Fairfaxes find tunnels or keeps or hiding places in old houses.

Graham and Gemma had grown up together and fallen in love. But in the last book, they were estranged. Several references were made to what had happened between them, but that situation wasn’t explained until this book. It’s a pretty big reveal, so I won’t spoil it.

Gemma avoids Graham as much as she can, but they try to put aside their differences for the cases they are working on. This particular case throws them together more than normal. Graham hopes to win Gemma back, but she can’t forgive him. He, in turn, blames God. He acknowledges his foolishness in what happened, but God could have prevented it.

I love that this series is different from the usual historical fiction fare. The themes of faith and forgiveness are woven in naturally. Roseanna is one of my favorite authors, and this book didn’t disappoint.

Some of my favorite quotes:

The more she wrote for herself, the more herself she became.

Words were wily things—but they were miraculous too. They created, they shaped, they breathed life. God had used them to form the universe, and Christ had come as a living Word to write Himself onto the hearts of humankind. Was it any wonder, then, that words had pulled her from the brink of darkness and delivered her, however slowly, back to the Light?

I enjoyed the audiobook nicely read by Susan Lyons. Sadly, the audiobook didn’t include any author’s notes. But I found this interview in which Roseanna shares how she came to write about nobility hosting a circus and investigating in disguise.

The Tomb Is Empty that We Might Be Filled

Posted on March 31, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Some people only think about Jesus at Christmas. Perhaps they are inspired by sweet paintings of a mother and child and promises of peace on earth and good will to men.

But Jesus is no longer in the manger.

He grew up to be a man, led a righteous life, kept all of God’s law in our place, and died on the cross for our sins. His death on the cross canceled our sin debt, demonstrated His love, reconciled us to God, took the punishment for our sins, made it possible for us to be saved, and more.

But Jesus is no longer on the cross.

Some of His last words were “It is finished.” He had done everything necessary to make it possible for people to be saved.

He was taken down from the cross and buried in a borrowed tomb.

But Jesus is no longer in the tomb.

When friends came to care for His body, instead they found an angelic messenger declaring, “He is not here; He is risen, just as He said.” “God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death” (Acts 2:24, CSB).

Jesus’ resurrection testifies that Jesus is the Son of God, validates His claims, removes death’s sting, gives hope in sorrow, show’s God’s power, and so much more.

Now Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, praying for us, and preparing a place for us to be with Him. Yet He also dwells in our hearts through faith. “Christ in us” is “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

The manger, the cross, and the tomb are all empty—that we might be filled with His presence, pardon, power, and peace.

Emptied that Thou shouldest fill me,
A clean vessel in Thy hand;
With no pow’r but as Thou givest
Graciously with each command.

Witnessing Thy pow’r to save me,
Setting free from self and sin;
Thou who boughtest to possess me,
In Thy fullness, Lord, come in.

Mary E. Maxwell, “Channels Only”

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

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Him will live though he dies.

This post was inspired by a short piece written by Terry Rayburn.

I often link up with some of these bloggers.

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 30, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here’s my weekly list of good reads:

Jesus Was No Victim. “It was physically dark, as the very sun refused to shine on the crucifixion of its Maker (Matthew 27:45). And it was morally dark, as a collection of bitter rivals joined to commit history’s most grotesque crime, the murder of the Son of God. Scripture holds Jesus’ murderers guilty for their crime (Acts 2:24, 36; 3:13-15; 4:10, 27). And yet, it would be wrong for us to see Jesus as the victim.”

The Silence of the Lamb. Adrian Rogers discusses why Jesus did not explain or defend Himself during His trials before crucifixion. One of my favorite parts of this: “If Jesus had risen up in his own defense during his trials, I believe that he would have been so powerful and irrefutable in making his defense that no governor, high priest, or other legal authority on earth could have stood against him! In other words, if Jesus had taken up his own defense with the intention of refuting his accusers and proving his innocence, he would have won! But we would have lost, and we would be lost for all eternity.”

How to Protect Your Kids from Sexual Abuse, HT to Challies. “Parents, educators, caring adults, and the church have grown more alert to the need to teach kids tangible ways to stay safe from abuse. Since concerned adults like you and me can’t always be with children, we must educate them in concrete, child-appropriate safety skills.”

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, HT to the Story Warren. A mother reflects on what her son has taught her about Jesus’ love on World Down Syndrome Day.

On Whales, Menopause, and Thanks to God, HT to Challies. “In God’s good design, we humans share this somewhat rare life stage with only six other species on earth. Humans, however, are the only creatures who are able to reflect upon the experience of menopause, and even (stay with me here) thank God for it.”

Talk to God About What Hurts, HT to Challies. “When life is painful, God invites us to talk to Him about it. He wants us to cry out to him in humility–to talk to him about what hurts–that we might grow in our childlike trust in Him and His Word.”

Just Checking In: How’s Your Bible Reading Plan Going? HT to Challies. “I want to give a little encouragement for those who are trying to read through the Bible this year.”

Does God Care How You Cook Your Goat? The verses in the Old Testament about not boiling a baby goat in its mother’s milk are puzzling, both from the standpoint of why it was a law at the time and how it applies to us today. Tim Challies shares a couple of interpretations and applications.

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection,
not in books alone but in every leaf of springtime.
Martin Luther

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on March 29, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here we are at another Friday and the end of another month. Time just keeps marching on, doesn’t it? That’s why it’s good to pause occasionally and reflect on the blessings of the week before they pass out of memory. I’m joining with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story. You have a standing invitation to join in!

1. Ladies’ Brunch at church. This is the first ladies’ function I’ve been able to attend at this church. I love brunch foods. They played a variation of speed friending. I enjoyed getting to know the ladies at my table as well as talking with people I hadn’t crossed paths with yet during the game. Through the game, I found a number of other readers, as well as some who liked the classics!

2. A good visit with a new doctor. I was sad that my former gastroenterologist retired last year. He had done some testing and ruled a few things out, but hadn’t really figured out yet what my issues were. I wasn’t looking forward to starting over with someone new. But I was impressed that the new (to me) doctor actually read my file before coming in to see me. It seems like, usually, no matter what’s on file or what you’ve written in the multitude of forms you have to fill out, the doctor still wants you to start from the beginning. But we were able to jump right in. She recommended a couple of things to try that were non-prescription (which I was thankful for), and I am supposed to check back with her in six months.

3. My husband has done most of the grocery shopping since he retired in December. I was feeling guilty about that, but he assured me he doesn’t mind. Then this week he took some things to the post office for me and ran some other errands.

4. Family text threads. We have a group text for our immediate family where we share everything from family news to funny memes to pictures of weird things we see out and about. Then my siblings and I have a group thread on Messenger.

5. Sunshine. We’d had cold, overcast, rainy days, so it felt good to see the sun again.

I wish you all a blessed Easter remembering God’s great love in giving His Son to die for our sins so we could be forgiven and have a relationship with Him.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2 Corinthians 5:21)

March Reflections

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Barbara Harper

We have a few days of March left, but this was the best time for me to post my monthly recap.

Spring and winter are still going back and forth, as they always do. Even though we’re past the first day of spring, we’re still having cold nights. I’ve been tempted to update our front planters, but thankfully I resisted.

Family

We enjoyed celebrating my husband’s birthday and Pi Day. We got Jesse moved into his new house, and he’s planning to have us all over for dinner soon. We got his fairly new washer and dryer since his new house had stackable units in a closet. That entailed Jim having to put in an electrical line since our previous dryer was gas, but he did a great job.

We had a couple of lovely quiet weeks, with no appointments or activities. It was nice to catch our breath after the last couple of months.

Creating

I only made one card this month, this one for Jim’s birthday.

The “Happy Birthday” and drawing were on the Cricut–evidently people can submit their designs to the Cricut Design Space. This was one sent in by a user. The Cricut sends the drawing part to the computer and then cuts around it. The original card was just the size of the drawing, with the “Happy Birthday” in the white space. But I wanted it a little bigger. I was happy to find the “camping” scrapbook paper in my files.

Then Mittu and Jason (mostly Mittu, he said) drew this card for Jim, which I thought was so cute.

We didn’t know the other was going with a fishing theme, so it was fun to find out we both did.

Watching

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit was a nice film, even though it was in another language and we had to rely on subtitles. I didn’t know til the end that it was based on a book which was based on a true situation. Judith Kerr wrote the book for children, telling about her family’s experiences as refugees from Germany from her viewpoint as a child. The title comes from a beloved stuffed bunny she had to leave behind. Then she learned later that the Nazis took everything left in their house. I want to read the book itself some day.

While looking up the trailer on YouTube, I also found this video with Kerr talking about this book as well as another she was working on for children about widowhood.

Reading

Since last time I finished (titles link to my reviews):

Be Skillful (Proverbs): God’s Guidebook to Wise Living by Warren Wiersbe.
Proverbs for Life for Women compiled by Lila Empson. A little lightweight, but it had some good spots.
Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life by Nick Vujicic, who was born without arms and legs. Very good, inspirational.
Dandelion Summer by Lisa Wingate, fiction, audiobook. An unlikely friendship forms between a retired, conservative, curmudgeonly white man and a streetwise black teenage girl. Very good.
It Had to Be You by Susan May Warren, fiction, audiobook. The second in Susan’s Christiansen family series. In this one. oldest sister Eden has been on the sidelines cheering everyone else’s accomplishments. But her dream of being a reporter hasn’t materialized: she’s stuck in the obits department. She clashes with Jace, her brother’s hockey team captain, for not being a better example. But she doesn’t know Jace has his own struggles between his health and what the team owners want from him.
When I Fall in Love by Susan May Warren, fiction, audiobook, the third Christiansen family story. Middle sister Grace is a homebody who loves cooking and wants to go to culinary school one day. Her family surprises her with a cooking school vacation in Hawaii. Besides all the fears involved with that, she’s humiliated that they’ve arranged for their brother’s hockey teammate, who is going to the same school, to help her out. She doesn’t want him to “babysit” her. He doesn’t want to, either. But when they meet, they hit it off. However, he’s promised not to get involved with anyone due to a health issue he doesn’t want to discuss.

I also finished rereading Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson. I immediately started reading it again after finishing it earlier this year.

I’m currently reading:

Be Comforted (Isaiah): Feeling Secure in the Arms of God by Warren W. Wiersbe, nonfiction
Isaiah for You by Tim Chester, nonfiction
Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter compiled by Nancy Guthrie, nonfiction, a reread
Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes, fiction
A Noble Scheme by Roseanna M. White, fiction, audiobook

Blogging

Do You Have Access? The Old Testament emphasized how great a divide there was between the holy God and sinful people. But when Jesus died on the cross, the veil into the holiest part of the temple was torn in two, signifying that we can have access to God through Christ.
The Power of Words. Some say we don’t need words to show love or share the gospel. We do need actions as well as words, but not instead of words.
We Won’t Understand All, But We’ll Trust More. “I don’t know if we’ll ever understand all the mystery of God, even in heaven. But when we see Him, we’ll be ‘lost in wonder, love, and praise,’ as the hymn says. When we see Him, whatever doesn’t make sense to us here won’t matter. Our faith will be sight. Our trust will be perfect.”
What Did Jesus’ Death on the Cross Accomplish? We know He died for our sins, and that’s huge. But His death accomplished a number of wonderful things.

We’re looking forward to Easter this weekend and my grandson Timothy’s birthday next month.

How was your March?