love to paint

In August, I noticed that two new devotional books were going to be published by Crossway in September.  One is entitled God's Mighty Acts in Creation and the other is God's Mighty Acts in Salvation , both by Starr Meade.  I was very curious what these two books would be like.  I've read many books for kids that try to engage kids by either watering down the truth or simplifying concepts so that much of the Bible's truth is missed. God's Mighty Acts in Creation is about how all of Creation points to God.  In our culture, children are inundated with the belief that man has made everything that we have created our own world.  Science sets out to prove that God doesn't exist.  As parents, we need to help our children see God in the world around us.  Rather than proving that God doesn't exist, science points to all that we don't know and the amazing complexity of His Creation, our world.  But, we need to help them see this.  This devotional i...

This summer I reviewed a Children's book about church history by Stephen J. Nichols and Ned Bustard.  Reading that book made me realize how little I understood about church history and how much I really did want to know and understand.  So often names come up in conversations with my husband that I know who they are, but can't seem to keep straight.  So, I started looking for a book to help me fill in the blanks. In college, I took a class called the History of Christianity.  It was absolutely boring and the textbook was dry.  That's why I thought the history of the church wasn't something I wanted to know anything more about.   But, my mind has changed about that.   This summer I started reading another book by Stephen J. Nichols titled P ages From Church History .  The book starts with an introduction about why we should care about history.  I love this quote on page 13-14 "Without meaningful connections to the past, the soul does not...

It is difficult to find fun fiction to read that I feel good about reading.   But, I picked two books up recently and enjoyed them both.   They were light hearted.   I got to escape--in a good way--for a little while and simply enjoy the good stories. The first is In Every Heartbeat by Kim Vogel Sawyer.   Storyline:   The storyline is about three young adults heading off to college from an orphanage where they've grown up together in 1914.   They all have different stories and hurts.   As the book progresses, the story centers around the family of one of the three and what happens when finds them. Writing:   The writing is good and easy to read.   It isn't very distinct, but it is enjoyable. Plot:   The plot works.   There are twists and turns that make the story interesting and fun to read.   Honestly, this book is what I expect of historical fiction.   What I liked best about it was that the romance didn't overtake ...

A month ago or so, I reviewed a devotional.  One of the entries addressed trials and suffering.  At the time, I couldn't articulate as well as I wanted to why one of the entries didn't seem biblical.  The author wrote that the purpose of suffering is so that we will be more happy.  The author went on to say that we have hope--though it wasn't exactly clear that the hope she was speaking of is our hope that we have in Christ--in heaven.  Please forgive my paraphrasing, I do not have the book in front of me. This morning I read this quote by Jerry Bridges in The Fruitful Life and it expressed much better what I think the author of the other book meant... "In His infinite wisdom, God allows trials in order to develop perseverance in us and cause us to fix our hopes on the glory that is yet to be revealed...Our faith and perseverance can grow only under the pain of trial." p. 79. In the midst of daily trials and struggles, I often lose sight of the why of every...

I have often been disappointed in movies that I have seen, but as is often the case--the bad makes you appreciate the good all the more.  My husband and I have been talking a lot lately about what movies we'd like to show our kids next.  We are having to admit to ourselves that they are growing up and won't be content with Curious George forever. This week I watched a new movie coming out by Lionsgate, The Least Among You .  It is inspired by a true story.  Inspired can mean many things, but at the very least it has given the producers of the movie the idea for the movie's story.  I tried to research what the truth is of this movie to no avail, so I'm not sure how factual it is. My plain and simple view of this movie is that it's good--actually, it's very good.  The acting and script hold your attention from the beginning.  It never feels too slow or too fast.  There are several recognizable actors in it including Louis Gossett, Jr., William D...

About two years ago, a friend of my husband's asked if I had ever read God, Marriage, and Family by Andreas Kostenberger.  At the time, I hadn't.  I looked it up and it sounded interesting.  When a revised edition was published this summer, I was excited to read and review it.  Mark Driscoll recommended this book some time ago in a sermon series that he did at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  I can understand why.  It seems as if our convictions about marriage and family as believers are attacked every day--whether through television, or what we experience at work or school, or by what we overhear at the grocery store.  We have to be prepared to defend them.  We need to know what we believe and why or else it will be easy for false teachers who twist the truth and the world we live in to convince us otherwise. That is where this book comes in.   From the first page of this book, it is very clear that it is different than other Christian ...

Though there are Life Application Study Bibles for the NLT, NIV, and KJV, the Life Application Bible Studies are specific to the NLT translation. Over the past two years, I've posted several times about Bible translations.   It was this Bible study that challenged me to really examine what the differences in the NLT are and discuss them with the person I most trust when it comes to discussing translation--my husband.   He has wisdom about the Bible that I don't have and he has much better retention of information that he has learned than I do.   He's like my back up drive for the computer in my head.   I know that I've learned things, but often I can't find them in my head so then I go to him for the back up. =) At the beginning of this study, there are several pages that first explain the New Living Translation.   Next, there are several pages that explain the Life Application Bible content and structure.   Then, comes the text from 2 Corinthians and the...

Yesterday, when I was driving in the car, I had the chance to listen to part of Dan Rodrick's midday show.  He was interviewing Bill Clegg, who wrote a book called  Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man  (which I have not read).   It was very interesting to me to hear his definition of what an addiction is. I'm paraphrasing this from my memory, but basically, the author said that an addiction is something that you crave and desire to satisfy so much that you sacrifice all else in the quest to satisfy that desire--that which you are addicted to.  At the expense of an addiction, one's enjoyment of other things wanes and it is even difficult to engage and enjoy the other things in your life. That may sound like a very strong definition, but I stepped back and brought it to a lower level.  We can become addicted to anything--tv, chocolate, talking on the phone, exercise, etc.  These are not bad things in and of themselves (unlike cocaine), but when th...

One of the best books that I've read in the past two years is Love in the Driest Season by Neely Tucker .  It is a memoir about adopting a girl in zimbabwe, the foreign press, racism in America, biracial marriage, and many other things.  It opened my eyes about why we should care about Africa.  Before I read that book, I was very ignorant about why the United States helps Africa to the extent that we do.  I am thankful that God helped open my eyes with that book. Since reading that book, I've read several more memoirs hoping for a similar eye opening experience.  I enjoy reading about people's lives and what they've learned along the way.  Sadly, I have read several disheartening memoirs since that first one.  But, I've still held out hope that I'd find another enjoyable one to read. And I did. Two weeks ago, I sat down with Choosing to See, written by Mary Beth Chapman with Ellen Vaughn .  Two years ago, the Chapmans youngest child Maria di...

My girls crack me up.  We have many interesting conversations.  Sometimes Autumn tells me that she doesn't want to become a Mommy when she grows up because it's too much work.  I explain to her that being an adult is work.  Being a Mommy is a good thing.  Sami then asked what surgery you can have so you won't have children.  I asked her why?  She said that she wants to be a construction worker and she can't have children if she does that.  I explained to her that she could, but that she'd have to take a break while she is pregnant.  So, then the conversation switched to who they would marry. Sami said she would someday marry her brother Eli.  I explained to her that she couldn't.  She asked why.  Well, because you can't.  You're not supposed to.  It's wrong.  None of those explanations worked.  So, finally I said.  "Because God didn't plan it that way.  He has another man for you to marry someday...