Terribly Interesting

Jared Wilson is quickly becoming on elf my favorite authors. The reason is very simple. He doesn't get carried away with signs or wonders or the inner workings of a story. Of course, it all has meaning. That meaning is to preach the gospel. The point of everything is Christ. It is the deep, bloody, resurrected Christ that is the power of our salvation. Our finite minds are so often distracted by what we should be doing or prophets or gifts. That is why it is always such a gift for someone to simply remind my heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your encouragement, Jared. Thank you for speaking to my heart about the one thing that matters. Thank you for reminding me to not be distracted by the signs and wonders I see and lose my focus on Christ.  Thank God for the gospel. 

I really enjoyed this little book on Paul. I thought it was perfect for young readers and adults alike. It is full of everything you would want to know about Paul in smaller doses and more simple language for the young audience. The layout was great. It had simple graphs, charts, and maps that were easy to follow along. The author did a great job compiling this little book about Paul. I highly recommend it. This book was graciously provided by Thomas Nelson Publishers for review.

Hi friends of Gomer, I am still battling infection and running at about half throttle, but I have managed to stain some things downstairs this week. I also have rods in my closet because my man put them in. Closet rods are awesome. I have been living out of totes for, oh, two years. There is always so much to do that you can't do it all, but today, I can hang some stuff up. Don't take your closet rods for granted, y'all. Tidy storage is a gift. My closet is still the size of a normal hall closet, but it has majestic and wonderful rods in it now! I have also been painting a bunch and trying to get ready for two events next week. I have also been sketching up a t-shirt design for the 100 year anniversary of Gomer. I'll let you know when they are available. My sweet friend Tina had twenty of these awesome mugs donated for the Southern Picnic fundraiser as well. You can get one here on October 11th. Please come and support our ministry. Our heat and ac died so we ...

I was riding in the back seat on an eleven hour drive home from Gulf Shores Alabama. I had finished the book I was reading. I was sitting there trying to think of a book I might like to download to read on the way home. Otherwise, who knows what kind of tomfoolery I might get in on the inter webs. Right then, I received a text from a dear friend who is having me speak at their September meeting. The MOPS theme this year is "Be You Bravely." That made me think of Annie Downs new book which I had seen popping up all over social media.  We pulled into a Starbucks for a pit stop and I was going to download the book on my iPad. Right when we pulled in, a transformer blew. I couldn't download my book, but they gave me a free cup of coffee (because they couldn't ring us up without power). I realized that it would be several hours before I was able to have wifi again so I took the plunge and download the book on my phone. Yes, I read this entire book crammed in the bac...

Almost a decade ago, I started thinking about Gomer a lot. Gomer is the prophet Hosea's wife. If you don't know the story, she was a prostitute who left him multiple times for to sell herself to get drugs or whatever she felt she needed. She had children by other men and Hosea took them in. He kept taking her in. She came to the point where she hit rock bottom. She was trying to buy the affection of theses men. She ended up sold into slavery and God told the prophet Hosea to go buy her back. He scraped up what he had and obeyed. He could have brought her home and made her a slave, but he chose to restore her as his wife.  I have read as many commentaries as I have found on the book of Hosea. I've learned more than I would want to know about cultic prostitution. As I watched my brothers struggle with addiction, I wondered if this is what Hosea took on. Did he have to go through detox with her? Did he have to daily guide her heart to the right way of living and loving he...

I'll just tell you that I wasn't excited to read this book. I was expecting it to be another pep talk about doing more awesome things for God. That is not what I found at all. It was a hard book to read because of the extreme content. I was forced to think line by line about the things impacting people who do not live in the quaint life we are generally accustomed to here in America. We feel that we have plenty to complain about, but this wake up call for us, for the church will smack you with some real perspective.  The book is written by a man who runs an orphanage in Brazil. The true stories that he tells left me very often holding my breath. It is very hard to wrap my mind around a culture that prostitutes eight year old girls. The girls often think nothing of it because it is a natural part of growing up there. Sometimes they have it done to them and sometimes they choose it themselves. I cannot even begin to recount for you the depths of what I read. You simply mus...