Terribly Interesting

Mondays With My Old Pastor brings you into the story of a burned out pastor who is seeking answers and solace for his broken spirit. Jos é  Luis Navajo tells us that a strange exhaustion persisted in his soul and was difficult to explain or endure. This is where our story picks up. Jos é 's wife encourages him to go and meet with his old pastor. Through visiting his pastor each Monday we see the healing that focusing on Christ instead of success can bring. The story takes us on an amusing, thought provoking, gut wrenching time of discovery. This is a book for anyone looking for hope. I cannot give this book enough accolades. This is exactly the kind of thing that we do as pastors and missionaries come to seek solace in our respite. These are the same type of words of hope we give them. Somehow, those of us who work in the church have a tendency to focus on our personal successes and failures so much that we lose sight of the fact that God loves us and wants to pursue us. W...

Well, friends of Gomer, I have no idea where the last few days of my life have gone. It has been wild and crazy. It seems that every spare moment of my life has been taken up with small children, lovely friends, and counseling. That's good with me. I just missed writing in this space. I missed all of you dear people. You won't believe this, but I'm a little tired. I know. How could I be tired? My belly is growing more and more each day. I love it. Babies are a rich blessing. Things are crazy around here as always. There has been some intense warfare this week at all of the camps. I obviously can't go into details for you, but we would all covet your prayers. May God's healing grace abound. We have two and a half weeks left here at camp. Getting away from the day to day grind at our house is always productive for me. I can think about fundraising and pray fro direction and clarity without being in the thick of the project. I'm thankful for that. It als...

This amazing conference is going on in San Antonio this weekend. I cannot attend because we are at camp, but they have live streaming of the conference and messages available until the end of July online for $35. I am doing it. I am hoping to make some huge changes in our family during this next year.  Live Stream Now About the Event You do it three times a day, seven days a week and fifty-two weeks a year. If you live to be 85 years of age, you will experience it more than 90,000 times. It is called food, and it was designed by God as the fuel of life. But to describe food merely as fuel falls short of the depth and breadth of the biblical message. Frankly, there are few subjects which are addressed as often in the Bible as food. Hundreds, if not thousands of Scripture verses, incorporate various types of food, directions about food and spiritual lessons in which food is an element. In food we see the love of Jesus Christ for His Church, the wisdom of God as Creat...

It has been pouring here for the last week. For The Wild it has been pretty rough since their roads in to the new camp are not finished. For me, it's a true delight. I love the rain. It makes the heart reflect. Rain tends to allow the spirit to grieve or rest. It has added to the contemplative nature that has gripped my summer. I have been asking God what He would desire me to do for the next year. Obviously, caring for our newborn and our family. The one thing that I feel like I am supposed to do is be home. I would love to see our house finished and our gardens started. This is hard to do when there are three little kids running about, but it is our goal. Over the next year, I think our concentration will be on raising funds and getting volunteers. I want to work every day. I want to immerse myself in the neighborhood more and more. I am currently praying about what I need to give up in order to make this happen. I am contemplating giving up my year at my favorite Bible study ...

I often thank my husband for wearing normal clothes that fit him. You may think that this is an odd thing to thank your husband for, but as a worship leader, it's really an abnormality. Now, I'm not the morality police, but the trend for male worship leaders is getting quite disturbing. When the skinny jeans first gripped the male worship leading scene it didn't bother me. I like different and seeing a little European flare is always a fun thing. As will all trends though, a little is never enough. So the pants get tighter and tighter. They got so tight that I was wondering if all these guys were trying to get side jobs in the ballet. Seriously, there are some sights that you don't need to see when the guy singing praise songs in front of you is on stage with his mid-section at eye level . Then, for some reason, people started combining that thug look of having your pants halfway down your derriere with the skinny jeans. Now, we get to see the package and the...

The whole of My desire toward you is not that you would have perfect control over yourself, but that you would come to Me. Success is not the issue that I have with My children. My heart is for you to be with Me. Cling to My Son. Yearn for Christ. Wrap yourself in the fluidity of His being and linger in His shelter. The things you try to force are a gift He gives. Jesus heals the heart. Jesus speaks into the deep recesses of pain that you cannot reach. Let Him do the work for you. Rest. Cling to grace. "He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3 For more on this segment, see this  post .

This book takes you into the autobiographical journey of the time when Andrea departed from her faith to figure out who she really was and what she truly believed. We can follow her through turning to literature, alcohol, men, and her career to seek solace in. She uses great amounts of candor. She even speaks of having a  mé·nage à trois  on her journey away from her faith. Of course, she begins to find her way home to the church or there would be no book to publish.  Let me preface this review. I like most every book I read. I enjoy story told by others. I want people to find their way. Unfortunately, this was not the case as I read this book. I kept trying to give myself a pep talk into liking it. Her story is amazing. She spend the first part of her life in Kenya with her parents who were medical missionaries. She was given so many opportunities for growth and unique fellowship. The tone of the book was just plain whiny, however. I kept thinking how nice it woul...