Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on October 13, 2023 by Barbara Harper

It’s a deliciously cool morning. I love this cool autumn phase before the cold of winter sets in. We still haven’t seen a lot of fall color in our area, but I trust we will before the leaves disappear. Meanwhile, life goes on, and every week has good things if we look for them. Here are some of mine that I’m sharing with you and Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

1. My husband. Though I always appreciate him, he outdid himself this week. When he runs Saturday morning errands, he’ll often stop by the store for the handful of items on my running list on the refrigerator. This last Saturday, I had quite a lot listed and had planned to go to the store myself in the afternoon. He’ll do the full grocery shopping sometimes, but I hate to ask him when he’s had a full week of work plus other tasks. But he took care of my whole list. Then he got my autumn decorations down from the attic for me. He ran the cleaning cycle on our oven and wiped up the layer of ash that leaves on the oven walls. And one morning when he was out early, he brought me a Chick-Fil-A biscuit.

2. Evenings with the family. Jason and Mittu texted one day that they had gotten some tilapia and offered to come to our house to make and share it and some salad. I had some frozen loaded potato skins to offer as a side. Then Jim suggested we make s’mores on the patio with a little tabletop “oven” he had. It was a fun night. Another night, we watched Timothy while Jason and Mittu went out, and Mittu put together homemade pizza before she left.

3. Out-of-the-ordinary food. Besides the ones already mentioned, I made chicken and dumplings one night. I don’t often because it’s a little involved, plus makes a lot for just the two of us. (I don’t make it for the whole family because Mittu and Timothy are gluten-intolerant. I’ve wondered if the dumplings would hold up with GF flour.) One cool night, chicken and dumplings seemed like just the thing. I made a half-recipe, and it was still a lot, but we’ve almost finished it off.

Then one morning, I wanted something different for breakfast besides my usual weekday oatmeal and indulged in some French toast.

And I used the Crumbl gift card received on my birthday and indulged in their Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookie. So good!

4. A new great grand nephew, the first of a new generation. I had to look online to see what my husband’s niece’s son’s child would be called in relation to us. 🙂

5. A Hobby Lobby excursion to me is like a kid’s outing at a park. 🙂 I needed some fall stems, scrapbooking paper, and a few other items, and had a gift card to get them with.

6. Bonus: Off-season clothes readily available. I used to keep them in boxes and felt I needed to wash them out before putting them in the closet. Now they’re down the hall in the guest room closet, and it’s easy to garb them when needed.

What are some good things from your week?

Writing Pet Peeves

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Barbara Harper

I mentioned a writing pet peeve in a recent book review, and some were curious about it. I have more than one. 🙂 So I thought I’d share them and see if others thought the same as I do.

Let me say first that I am an avid reader and love books and authors. I have great respect for authors, especially while trying to become one myself and seeing what’s involved.

I know writing is hard work. Plus we’re only human, and typos and grammar errors and other mistakes will filter through no matter how many people edit a manuscript.

But I share these in the hopes that any author who sees them will take them as constructive and not nit-picky criticism. I’m avoiding grammar and punctuation issues because there are tons of articles about those.

Conversations left hanging. Character A asks a question, and before Character B answers, the author fills in a lot of description, explanation, or backstory. A sentence or two is fine, but sometimes it feels the characters are just standing there in awkward silence waiting for the narrator to finish. In the book review I mentioned, the character wasn’t conversing but was asked to step up and give her presentation. Then there were seven paragraphs, partly backstory, partly description of the room and people, before the character spoke. The point of view was from this character, so it felt like her audience was just waiting and watching while all these thoughts ran through her mind before she spoke.

Characters with similar names. One book I read had a Kari and a Kali–a difference of only one letter. In another (from one of my favorite authors), two characters had two-syllable names that started with “Sh” or “Sch” and ended with “field.” One was a good guy and one was a bad guy. I had to keep going back to the first few chapters to remind myself which was which.

Describing multiple reactions at once. Sometimes I’ll see a character’s reaction or expressions with multiple adjectives: for example, “Her pale blue eyes reflected sorrow, grace, and fear.” First, this seems like telling, not showing. Second, how does anyone show that all at once? I could understand surprise turning to fear or something like that, but not several different emotions simultaneously.

Foreign phrases without translation, even common Latin ones. Sometimes you can get the gist of what is meant by the context, but it still takes the reader out of the story if they have to puzzle over an unfamiliar phrase. It does help that you can highlight a word or phrase in the Kindle app and get the translation. But that still takes the reader out of the narrative for a bit.

Overly technical terms. I was very disappointed in a recent article about counseling which used words like “vivify.” We’re often told in writing instruction not to use words the average person wouldn’t know. I got dinged on a manuscript critique for writing “in the midst” and “portend.” I was told, “You wouldn’t say, ‘I was in the midst of. . . ‘” But I say that all the time. This can be a little difficult because a word we think is common might be unfamiliar to others. But generally we need to consider the audience and avoid academic or technical terms (except, perhaps, in science fiction where the term is going to be explained).

Overused plot devices. It’s okay if a character learns vital information by eavesdropping on a conversation, but that shouldn’t happen repeatedly in the same story.

Overused plots. I’ve read that there are only a handful of storylines, and all the books written reuse them in different ways. That may be true. But it seems that a lot of books will have the same basic plot at one time. Lately I’ve seen a lot of books where the main female character has to go back to her hometown or estranged family for some reason (usually the illness or death of a parent) and encounters the boyfriend she left behind.

Giving modern sensibilities to historical characters. It took hundreds of years for society to come to certain understandings.

Modern phrases or slang in historical fiction. I know many historical fiction writers who diligently research language usage in their time period, so there are sources to check for that kind of thing.

Inaccuracy in spiritual truths. One author fussed with me when I said in a review that her book was inaccurate in its partial sharing of the gospel. She dismissed sharing the whole gospel in a book because, she said, one would have to write at a fifth grade level to do so. I’ve read a lot of Christian fiction over the last 40+ years, and I’ve seen the gospel explained in a tasteful and natural way. That’s supposed to be part of the Christian life, so it’s not being “preachy” to explain the gospel.

I agree that not every Christian book calls for a full gospel presentation. It depends on the type of story and characters and the author’s purpose. A Christian story doesn’t require that someone become a Christian during the plot. Often it’s the Christian characters who need to learn or grow in the story. But what is there concerning the gospel or any other spiritual truth should be accurate and not misleading. I go into this more in The Gospel and Christian Fiction.

Probably the inaccuracy I see most is when Christian characters urge a non-Christian to just start praying or doing Christian things, as if they’ll eventually become a Christian that way.

Older books re-released under new titles. It’s maddening when you buy a new book from a favorite author only to realize you read it a long time ago under a different title.

How about you? Do you share any of these pet peeves or do you have others? I’d love to hear them, but please frame them constructively and kindly. Also, I’d like to avoid grammar and punctuation issues in this discussion.

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

How do we share God with a world that doesn’t want to hear?

Posted on October 8, 2023 by Barbara Harper

How can we share God with a world that doesn't want to hear

Our ladies’ Bible study is going through 1 John. John circles through several different themes throughout His letter.

One of those themes concerns false teachers and the unwillingness of the world to hear God’s truth.

Chapter 4 warns us about false prophets and tells us to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
In chapter 3, verse 13, John said, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.”
Then in 4:1-6, John says the people who follow the “spirit of the antichrist” will not listen to us.

Back in his gospel, John recorded Jesus as saying, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (15:18-20).

It’s helpful to take a moment to consider the Bible’s different uses of the word “world”:

There’s the physical world: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3, KJV).

There’s the world of people. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Then there’s the world system that sets itself against God. “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). This system is led by “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). It’s this meaning of “world” that is indicated in John 2, where he tells us “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

What do we do when the world desperately needs the gospel, but doesn’t want to hear it?

My initial reaction is to pull back and not bother them.

But what does Paul say in Romans 1:16? “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The gospel itself has power to open people’s eyes. to convict them of their need.

Psalm 119:130 says, “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.”

God’s Word is powerful.

We don’t share God’s truth like a club, beating people over the head with it. But we share it in faith and love, planting and watering seeds, trusting God to bring them to fruition.

When I was in college, God brought to our church a new family who quickly became my “spiritual family.” I’ve written before of Mrs. C., who became a mentor to me long before that word became so popular. Mr. C. told one time of taking a girl home from an activity when he was a young man. The girl was a Christian and tried to talk to him about the Lord. He blew up at her. But just after dropping her off, he thought, “What was she talking about, anyway?” Though he reacted negatively, God used what this girl said to spark an interest which eventually led to his salvation. I don’t know if she ever knew that. She probably thought the encounter was a failure.

Of course, there are times to pull back. Peter tells wives of unbelieving husbands, “be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct” (1 Peter 3:1-2). He goes on to encourage them to “let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious” (verse 4).

We can’t nag people into the kingdom. But our lives can demonstrate His beauty and grace.

We also share His truth with our love. “No one has ever seen God,” John writes (1 John 4:12). So how do we show them an invisible God? He goes on to say, “if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

How do we share God with a world that doesn’t want to hear?

We share His Word, kindly and graciously, as He gives opportunity, trusting Him to shed light in the hearer’s heart.

We demonstrate a godly character.

And we show His love.

That’s what Jesus did, isn’t it? “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He loved us before we were ready to hear, when we still wanted to cling to our sins instead of turning to Him. He patiently kept drawing us, though we spurned Him so many times, until He finally won us over. “I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love” (Hosea 11:4, NKJV).

Sharing God’s truth may bring a negative reaction at first, as Mr. C. blew up at His companion, as people have persecuted God’s representatives through the centuries, as they mistreated and killed Jesus Himself. But even while Jesus was being tortured and murdered, His death was atoning for His persecutors.

If people persist in not believing God, eventually He will leave them alone. C. S. Lewis has said, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.'”

But while we can, as much as we can, let’s share His light.

The entrance of God's Word gives light and understanding

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on October 7, 2023 by Barbara Harper

I’m a bit behind in my blog reading, but here are some of the thought-provoking posts found this week:

Crowned, HT to Challies. On being a grandparent: “This is miles apart from mothering. At first blush, you would not think so: filling sippy cups, opening snacks, picking up toys, readying baths, reading books, kissing those chunky cheeks, swinging, collecting rocks, frolicking, and singing.”

Your Faithfulness Affects Us All: A Plea to Empty Nesters to Continue to Pursue Their Marriages, HT to Challies. “The problems that are often swept under the rug while the kids are at home have a nasty way of coming back with a vengeance after the kids have left the home. The call to pursue your husband or wife is just as crucial three or five decades into marriage as it is in the first couple of decades of your covenant. Here are three ways to pursue faithfulness in marriage during your empty nest years.”

How to Get the Most Out of Your Pastor’s Preaching. “Do you ever find yourself: Waking up on Sunday morning and wishing you didn’t have to go to church? Having a hard time staying awake in church? Daydreaming during the message, or making a mental ‘to-do’ list while the pastor is preaching?”

Beauty, Goodness, and Truth. “Raechel and Amanda reflected on where in their lives they are seeing beauty, goodness, and truth, and challenged their listeners to consider that too. As I thought about that question, I was surprised by how much it encouraged me.”

3 Times You Should Disobey Authority, HT to Challies. “What are the limits to our moral obligation to submit when someone possesses an ostensibly legitimate authority over us, like a parent over a child? Certainly there are limits. Remember, no human authority is absolute. Authority is always relative to the assignment given by the Authority Giver.”

5 Things at the Heart of a Pastoral Visit, HT to Challies. “Pastoral visitation is a powerful means of spiritual encouragement and a tangible demonstration of the love of Christ to his people. . . . While I have written before about the benefits of visitation to the life and work of a Pastor, this post will seek to lay bare some of the basic principles of visitation which could be of help to those on the receiving end of it.”

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Barbara Harper

We’re a week into October already. Leaves have started changing and falling, but we haven’t seen full autumn color yet. We should in the next week or two! Meanwhile, I am rejoicing in cool mornings and evenings. Here are a few other reasons for rejoicing this week, and sharing with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Being treated to dinner out with new friends. A couple at church invited us out to eat, and we enjoyed getting to know them better.

2. Care group meeting. The church we’ve been attending divides up into smaller care groups, each under an elder. We knew they had them but didn’t really know how they operated or where or with whom. But someone invited us to theirs, which meets every other week, usually in the elder’s home. It’s mainly a way to get to know each other in a smaller group setting, share prayer requests, etc. And have snacks. 🙂

3. A free (sort of) car wash. Jim took my car in to be serviced, get the oil changed, etc., and was offered a free car wash. I’m sure the price was incorporated into service fee, as it seemed rather high. But that’s all the more reason to take advantage of it.

4. A good movie. Last night we watched A Million Miles Away, about Jose Hernandez, who as a child worked with his migrant parents in various fields and grew up to fulfill his dream of becoming an astronaut.

5. Days at home. Though I enjoyed the social encounters over the weekend, I was very glad to spend most of the rest of the week at home with no out-of-the-ordinary outings. I’m not one who can go-go-go a lot.

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

Review: Aftermath

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Barbara Harper

Aftermath, a suspense novel by Terri Blackstock

Terri Blackstock’s novel, Aftermath, opens with three young women at their favorite band’s concert. As the Libertarian political candidate the band was opening for came to the podium, an explosion rocked the stage area. Only one of the girls, Taylor, makes it out alive.

Just minutes after the explosion, policemen pull aside Dustin Webb’s car. They ask to search his trunk, and, having nothing to hide, he agrees. He’s shocked to see plastics for explosives in his trunk. He insists he doesn’t know how they got there and he didn’t put them there. The officers don’t believe him. They got an anonymous tip that he was the bomber, he worked with bombs in the Army, and his security company had a client which had explosives stolen from them. Everything adds up to Dustin being involved in the bombing.

Desperate, Dustin calls a friend from his past, Jamie Powell. She was the only person who believed in him when she lived next door. Perhaps she’ll believe in him now. They haven’t spoken since he went into the Army, but she’s a lawyer now, and he needs a good one.

Jamie drops everything to help Dustin. She has to fight for the right to represent him with the partners of her firm, who fear the repercussions of defending a suspected terrorist.

Meanwhile, Taylor’s fragile recovery from OCD is threatened by the tragedy she underwent. Despite seeing her psychiatrist, starting a new medicine, and being watched over by her sister, Taylor’s grief and guilt over not staying behind to help her friends escalates her symptoms. She feels the only way she can set things right is to find who did this.

I don’t often read suspense novels, but Terri is a master of them. This one had me on the edge of my seat, yet every character drew my sympathy. The faith element is clear and natural and not heavy-handed. If you like suspense—and even if you don’t—I think you would enjoy this book.

When You Can’t Set Everything Right

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Barbara Harper

Long before the Enneagram or the Meyers-Briggs personality classifications, I learned of the four spiritual temperaments: choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, and melancholic. Everything I read indicated I was melancholic.

Melancholics aren’t sad, as the name sounds. But they tend to be quiet, introspective, and perfectionistic. That last trait can cause them a great deal of trouble. One, because they’ll never be perfect, this side of heaven. Two, because no one and nothing else will ever be, either.

One preacher crystallized the melancholic personality for me by saying they want everything to be right.

Well, you might say, what’s wrong with that? Don’t we all want things to be right?

One problem is with the concept of right: right according to whom?

Some things just seem common sense to me, and I wonder that others don’t see them that way. For instance, my local grocery store places the snack-sized fruit cups on a completely different row than the applesauce fruit cups. Why not put all the fruit cups and canned fruit on the same aisle? They also put the oatmeal on a different aisle than the boxed breakfast cereal. I’m ashamed to confess I have wasted a lot of frustration over things like that.

But sometimes someone else’s ideas of right make just as much sense to them as mine do to me, like ways to load the dishwasher, fold towels, or refill the toilet paper roll.

So those of us with a highly developed sense of “right” need to learn humility and forbearance. Others may have reasons for what they do that we don’t know. Who are we to insist everything be done our way? Stewing over little things that aren’t according to our preferences just raises our blood pressure and makes us grumpy.

But sometimes right really does matter significantly. You wouldn’t want your brain surgeon or accountant to be unconcerned whether they’re doing their procedures right.

My husband and I have battled frustration with products and services when someone’s carelessness resulted in great problems. No, they weren’t of brain surgery level importance, but they took hours on the phone to rectify.

We need perspective to know when something not right should be let go or insisted upon.

And we need grace and wisdom to convey the need for the level of rightness, not because it’s our own opinion, but because of the consequences if things aren’t done a certain way.

We also want to set things right when hard things happen to our loved ones. But we can’t. We can only try to comfort and offer aid. God has reasons for allowing hard things, and we have to let His purposes work out. In this case, He is doing what’s best, even if it’s hard to understand and experience.”Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25, KJV). But “though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men” (Lamentations 3:32-33).

Then there are major national and world-level scenarios that are far beyond our scope of influence. I rarely watch the news any more because it leaves me angry, frustrated, and/or sad. I listen to news headlines on the radio. And of course, you can’t scroll social media without picking up on what’s going on in the world.

We’re not alone in these concerns. The psalmists and prophets in the Bible often lamented and spoke out against the injustices and oppression in their time. They called on God to set things right.

The world at large won’t be fully “right” until Jesus comes again to rule and reign. Just one place where this is promised is Jeremiah 23:5: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

Does that mean we keep our heads down and just endure til He returns?

No. We can pray for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, as He taught in “the Lord’s prayer.”

We can speak up at appropriate times and ways. We can let our “light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

We can tell others of His righteousness and how they can be right with Him and each other.

Like the old story about the child who was trying to save starfish on the beach by throwing them back in the water. A man told him, “You can’t possibly save them all.” “No, said the boy, “but I can save this one.”

We can’t set everything right. Only God can do that. But we can be instruments in His hand.

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Barbara Harper

Here’s some of the thoughtful blogging found this week:

The Blessings That Come With Forgiveness, HT to Challies. “Birds fly. Fish swim. Christians forgive.’ My husband made this statement in a sermon on forgiveness a few weeks ago and it resonated with me. With all the authority and confidence that could only be rooted in Scripture, he proceeded to explain how forgiveness is as necessary to the Christian as breathing.”

When You Long to Know the “Why” Behind Your Sorrow. “It is the question that has spurred a world of exploration, invention, and innovation. Why? It is no surprise, then, that when we encounter troubles, when we experience tragedies, and when we find ourselves in situations that grieve us, we ask why.”

Are You Worried that Your Past Might Cancel Your Future? “The past you wish you could hide from the world may be the very thing God will use to qualify you for serving the world he loves.”

Places I Can’t Go, HT to Challies. “I am grateful that the kids grew up and were able to leave home and fly; they are capable and thriving, and I feel excitement and joy for them in each new adventure. But sometimes, when I say goodbye before a long separation, I have a fleeting but powerful yearning for them to be back under my roof.”

Closing the Gap Between Work and Worship. “Too often, we think of work and worship as entirely disconnected spheres of life. But I will argue that more than anything else, your work is your primary opportunity for worshipping God. And the more we can close the gap between work and worship in our minds, the more fulfilling we will find our work, and the better we will worship God through it.”

On Using Your 20s Well, HT to Challies. “It seems like my friend had bought into a common myth: the idea that once you’ve finished college, you should be a fully-formed adult who understands yourself fully, knows exactly what you’re going to do for the rest of your life, and walks confidently into that future with full assurance.”

Five Blessings of Marking Up Your Bible, HT to Knowable Word. I don’t do this as much as I used to, but when I do, it’s usually for the first reason listed. The list of what kinds of things you might want to mark is useful.

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Barbara Harper

Wow, it’s hard to believe we’re at the end of September already. It’s time once again to look intentionally for the good things we’ve been blessed with. Susanne hosts this weekly exercise in gratitude at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Boys’ camping trip. My husband, son Jason, and grandson Timothy went camping for a couple of days last week. Everything went well, and the weather was perfect. Timothy loved everything, from fishing, to sleeping in a tent, skipping rocks, swimming–even getting up early to see the sunrise, when he’s not usually a morning person. Jim took the RV and slept there, offering for the other guys to come in and sleep if they wanted to or if it got too chilly at night.

2. Visiting the camp site. Mittu and I drove up one afternoon to where they were camping. Jim made his wonderful grilled chicken teriyaki, and Mittu brought some cupcakes. An afternoon was about all I wanted of camping. 🙂 But it was fun to see Timothy having such a good time.

3. Connections. Lisa mentioned an online game called Connections. It has four rows of four words each, sixteen all together. You’re supposed to find four words that have something in common. I like that it’s simple and good brain exercise.

4. A dinner invitation. A couple at church invited us to meet them for dinner this weekend. I think that’s the first time we’ve gone out together with someone not family since before Covid. I’m looking forward to it!

5. Impromptu dinner. Mittu texted to ask if they could come over and make dinner last night since we all had plans over the weekend. We enjoyed sloppy joes, fries, zucchini, and chocolate chip cookies and looked over the camping pictures and videos.

How was your week?

September Reflections

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Barbara Harper

The long-awaited fall breezes are finally here! We still get warm in the afternoons, but I love evenings and mornings.

Besides the first day of autumn, September held several pleasant happenings. We enjoyed Jim’s grilled burgers with the family on Labor Day. Jason, Mittu, and Timothy had us over for Grandparent’s Day. We had a lovely meal, some cute cards in which Timothy told what he liked about us, and a couple of thoughtful gifts. Then Jesse, my youngest, turned 30, so we had fun celebrating him together.

I had mentioned earlier in the year that we were visiting churches. We’ve been at the same one for several weeks now and just finished their class for potential members. This church is a little busier than we’re used to. Of course, we don’t have to go to everything, and I’m somewhat limited due to physical issues. But we really like the preaching and are enjoying getting to know folks.

Jim changed his mind about retirement several times, but finally told his company he’ll retire at the end of the year. We’ve had many discussions about what he’ll do afterward. He likes to keep busy, so I’m sure he won’t occupy a rocking chair for long. It’s nice to have options.

Creating

I only made one card this month, for Jesse’s birthday. I did it on the computer, as I didn’t have any ideas for a “handmade” card for a 30th birthday. I found free clip art site with birthday candles in a set of five, so I copied and pasted it enough times to fill up the page.

Watching

One movie Jim and I enjoyed together was Little Boy, about an eight-year-old boy whose father goes off to WWII. Being told that “faith can move mountains,” he sets out to exert all the faith he can to bring his father home. I would not take my theology from the movie. But it was sweet in places, touching and heart-wrenching in others, and did some interesting things with cinematography.

Another was Walking with the Enemy, “based on” a true story about a young Jewish Hungarian man who takes the uniform from a dead German Nazi officer to impersonate him to rescue a friend being held prisoner. But he can’t leave others to die, so he impersonates the officer more often in more daring situations.

We also watched Hanna’s War, based on Hannah Szenes (sometimes written as Senesh). She was a Hungarian Jew who immigrated to Israel during WWII. She was recruited and trained as a paratrooper with the British Special Operations Executive to parachute into Yugoslavia and help rescue Hungarian Jews facing deportation. She was arrested in Hungary, jailed, tortured, and executed. Wikipedia says she is regarded as a national hero is Israel. Though we didn’t do this on purpose, it was helpful that we watched Walking With the Enemy previous to this and knew the situation with Germany’s takeover of Hungary.

Another “based on true events” film I watched by myself when Jim was away was Belle. Dido Elizabeth Belle, the biracial daughter of a Navy sea captain, was brought to his estate to be raised as his daughter and heir, even though by society’s standards she’s not permitted in certain gatherings. Her grandfather was the Lord Chief Justice who has to rule on a case involving slaves thrown overboard from a ship, whose owners then sought to be compensated by insurance. But the details of the film vary from history. You might know of Dido from a famous painting she and her cousin were the subjects of.

Another I watched myself was Dear Viola, where Kellie Martin plays Katie, a spinsterish accountant for a newspaper who submits a reply for the recently vacated “Dear Viola” advice column. Her editor likes it so well, he hires her to take on the column, but she wants to do so secretly. Soon she’s sparring with a male writer who laments his lack of social life since his wife died. The small town eagerly awaits what the next letter will say. But in such a small town, she figures out who the letter-writer is. This was a predictable but sweet romance. It’s clean except for Katie’s friend saying she had hoped Katie would stay overnight during her date.

I’ve not watched The Chosen. I’m wary of biblical fiction in books or films, because invariably the writers have to fill in with extra-biblical details. I think they can help visualize happenings in the Bible if we keep in mind that anything extra is the author’s speculation. For instance, some years ago I saw a film about the crucifixion (not The Passion of the Christ, but I don’t remember what it was). I was struck by the noise of the crowd and the realization of having to bear that along with everything else. The Bible says people taunted Jesus and jeered, but I tended to think of them doing that only when someone was quoted.

However, I usually abstain because I don’t want the non-biblical parts confused in my mind with the real parts, and I don’t want those actors in my mind as I read the Bible.

Recently Adam Blumer shared a video of how the director of The Chosen filmed the scene of Jesus waking on the water. I was intrigued, so I watched the episode containing that scene (Season 3, Episode 8, “Sustenance“). There were some, “Hmm, I wonder why the filmmakers did it that way or threw that in” moments. But that particular scene was very powerful, as was the reading of Psalm 77 at the end in a flashback of Asaph debuting before King David a psalm he wrote. Hearing the last stanza, especially, dealing with water and such verses as “Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen” (Psalm 77:19) just after seeing Jesus walk on the water was really something.

Reading

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

Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry, audiobook. This was my third of Berry’s books and my favorite so far. An older woman reflects on her life in Kentucky.
A Fool and His Monet by Sandra Orchard was a fun whodunnit about stolen art, but had some poignant moments as well.
A Beautiful Disguise by Roseanna M. White, audiobook. Two Edwardian-era siblings whose father spent all their money on entertainment become a private investigation firm called The Imposters to support themselves and their dependents. Excellent!
Bleak Landing by Terrie Todd. An Irish girl is abused by her drunken father and bullied by classmates in her small town in Canada. She runs away as soon as possible. Coming back to claim her father’s property, no one recognizes her except her arch enemy. Very good.
Far Side of the Sea by Kate Breslin, audio and print. A British man who lost his hand and confidence on the front lines in WWI receives word that the French woman who helped him, who he thought dead, needs his help. He travels to France to find the woman’s sister sent the message but thinks her sister needs them. Excellent.
What She Left for Me by Tracie Peterson, audio and print. A pastor’s wife returns home from a mission trip to find her husband has left her for his secretary and cleaned out their accounts. Her only option is to go to her mother, with whom she has not had a good relationship. Very good.
Lament for a Father: The Journey to Understanding and Forgiveness by Marvin Olasky, nonfiction. Marvin’s father was closed off during his lifetime, so Marvin uses his investigative journalism skills to learn more about and come to terms with him. Very good.

I’m currently reading:

Be Exultant (Psalms 90-150): Praising God for His Mighty Works by Warren Wiersbe
Made for More: An Invitation to Live in God’s Image by Hannah Anderson
Elisabeth Elliot: A Life by Lucy S. R. Austen
How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One by Stanley Fish
The Phantom of the Organ, a Kindle Vella series by Susan Braun
Aftermath by Terri Blackstock, audiobook

I’m also going through Jen Wilkin’s Abide Bible study course on 1, 2, and 3 John with a ladies’ Bible study at church. It combines a workbook, group discussion, and video series.

Blogging

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

Writing

I haven’t done anything on the book project lately, I’m sorry to say. But I submitted a devotion for Christian Devotions which was accepted. It won’t appear until next August. And I am working on a piece about my mother-in-law for Remembering Our Parents.

Looking ahead

October is usually a pretty quiet month, a nice respite between “birthday season” and Thanksgiving and Christmas. Jim will be having surgery mid-month, which will keep him out of commission for a couple of weeks, at least.

We’ve had a family dress-up party at the end of October since Covid closed down Timothy’s trick-or-treat options a few years ago. I already have a costume in mind! 🙂

How was your September? What are you looking forward to in October?

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