I'm moving...

My blog has a new address, a new look, and a new name but I haven’t changed. I want you to check out my new website the Grace Post.

In the past few months I’ve been staying busy doing book reviews in addition to my own Bible studies. I have been wanting to make it easier for the reader to differentiate between Reviews and Bible Study, this new site provides that to you. I also plan to add a list of resources I find useful in the hopes that they will be of use to your personal study.

If you have any ideas that could make the Grace Post better post a comment and I’ll see what I can do.

I have enjoyed getting to know you through grace for women and I hope you will follow me to the Grace Post!

The Blame Game

The other night I was sitting at the table with my Mom and the boys and we had out the game Aggravation. As usual this game is a lot of fun but can be quite, well, aggravating. I don’t know if any of you have ever played that game but it has marbles and a dice and you move your colored marble around the board. They each had insisted on bringing a stuffed animal to the table so Furry and Puppy Bear were also joining us for this event. Ethan has now reached an age where he can actually play this game. So we started a game and were letting Micah “play”. I told Micah “do not move the marbles around just roll the dice.”

For the first few rounds he very intently rolled the dice and was doing just right but then he started messing around with his own marbles and then moved on to the marbles which were actually being used in the game. My mom looked right at him and said “Micah, no-no, don’t mess up the marbles.” Without missing a beat Micah replied “Puppy Bear did it.”

We dealt with the situation and told him not to blame “Puppy Bear” but it brought to mind Adam and Eve. Their first sin was pride and disobedience to God. Then when they are confronted with their sin they start the blame game. Just like I did not teach Micah to place blame on someone else for his disobedience, no one taught Adam and Eve to blame each other for what they had done wrong. It is sometimes the natural reaction when we are faced with our own shortcomings.

I think as adults we often think we are more sophisticated than Micah or Adam and Eve. It is easy to tell ourselves that we aren’t blaming anyone for our shortcomings when we actually are.

Have you ever been sitting in your office at work and there has been some time of malfunction and the boss comes in angry wondering what went wrong? Isn’t one of the first things to go through the mind “who’s fault is this?” In our pride we want to blame someone else even if we are responsible. Our hearts might even deceive us into believing it is someone else’s fault.

All too often instead of asking the Lord and our brothers and sister’s in Christ to forgive our wrong doing we think of someone else to blame.

The Lord took the blame for us. If we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin. So don’t play the blame game. Repent and be grateful for what the Lord has done.

Search me O God and see if there be any wicked way in me.

10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe, by Larry Osborne: Book Review

So I just picked up this book simply because of the title Ten Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe. I went into the library to pay a massive fine, or “stupid tax”. Anyway I saw this book and decided to see what this author had to say. I had never heard of the author, Larry Osborne before so I had no preconceived ideas about his beliefs. 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe was a book that intrigued me.

Synopsis
This book covers “Sunday School” myths that many Christians hold as truth from God’s Word. I know that I have been guilty of this in the past. Mr. Osborne writes to debunk these commonly held myths with the truth from God’s Word. He gets right to the point with the first chapter “Faith can fix anything.”

He covers a wide range of topics which many Smart Christians had dumb ideas about. At the end of the book he provides a discussion guide so you can discuss the myth along with the truth from God’s Word with a small group. It would also work as a personal study guide if you want to read this book on your own.

Strengths
This book does not sugar coat the truth. It just presents the truth from God’s Word. This to me makes a Christian growth book good. I like that he points out the difference between a proverb and a promise. He comes back to this point a few times. In his chapter “A Godly Home Guarantees Godly Kids” this point is incredibly relevant. He gives two examples of parents with rebellious children. One set of parents suffers from extreme guilt over what they think must be poor parenting. The other set of parents is filled with unfounded hope that their child will absolutely return to the Lord because of the verse Proverbs 22:6. He uses practical examples like this throughout the book to illustrate the myths we believe from the truth of what God’s Word actually says.

Each chapter provides the reader with several reasons why the widely held belief is false and what the truth actually is in the correlating situation. At the end of each chapter it asks the myth in the form of a question like “Can Christians Ever Judge?” and then answers with a Scripture passage. I love that feature of this book. After you read all his thoughts on the topic you are given a concrete answer from God’s Word to answer the question.

Weaknesses
The author uses lots of Scripture throughout the book, but they are not clearly listed. Often he makes a point or paraphrase and then there is a footnote number. However they are not actually footnotes. They are notes at the end of the book. So if you want to read through this book and read the corresponding passages it takes quite a bit of time. I would have preferred actual footnotes so I wouldn’t have to constantly flip back and forth.

Phrases like “Jesus made a mean Merlot” are unnecessary to me. I understand that Jesus turned water into wine, this type of phrasing doesn’t add anything to the message.

Conclusion
This is a well written book. When I read about the author at the end of the book I was not at all surprised that he has a congregation of 7000 people. He is an excellent communicator and he speaks the truth in love. These chapters speak clearly against widely held beliefs. I am sure he knew that some of his truth would be offensive to some but he confidently presents the facts and I admire that in a person.

I especially appreciated the truth of chapter 10, “Dead People Go to a Better Place”. This is not true unless the deceased person has believed on Christ. He uses the illustration of the rich young ruler who wanted his stuff instead of the Savior. This chapter encouraged me in evangelism. I do not evangelize like I should.

This book is a good read. I think this would be a good book not only for the believer to have good answers to these common questions. I also think it would be a good read for a new believer so they start out with the right answers to what they’ve always heard about Christianity.

The Prodigal Son: A story of pride and humility

I am studying the book Humility: True Greatness with a group of ladies at my church. Of course the opposite of humility is pride. Pride is the root of sin; it is what Lucifer committed in his heart. It was the demise of mankind. When I started studying Biblical characters that were destroyed by pride I came up with several examples, however one has stuck with me. It is a story that gives us a full picture of pride and humility, The prodigal Son in Luke 15.

Rebellious Pride

The younger son who asks his father for his inheritance is showing his pride. He wants to be on his own he does not want to wait until his father is near death. He wants his money now and he wants to be on his own. We often see this type of pride manifest itself in rebellion in young children. From what we can tell from this story it seems as though the father is loving to his children. Yet he wants his independence. He wants to be footloose and fancy free. So his father grants his wish and the son leaves.

The young son goes out and the Bible tells us that he “squandered his property in reckless living.” This young man is enjoying the freedom to have lots of fun that instant wealth can bring. Yet when a famine strikes the land and all his money is gone he is left feeding pigs. This young man experienced the natural consequences of his rebellion. His pride and rebellion led him to destruction.

Repentance to Humility

So as the son is sitting with the pigs he begins to think of his father. His heart is softened by his circumstances and he decides to go home and beg his father to let him be a servant in his house. His father treats servants better than his is living now. He is broken and humbled. It takes humility to say you are wrong. It takes real humility to go back to the person you wronged and ask them for anything. A truly proud heart would stay in the pig pen where at least they were “on their own.” He knows he needs help and so he takes a chance at repentance to his father. He has been suffered because of his pride but once broken has changed his heart toward humility.

Real Humility

As the son comes home his father sees him from a distance. He runs to his son! This type of act for middle eastern men would have been unheard of. Most men would scorn their son which is why this young man was going with the intention of begging his father to let him be a slave. He expected resistance to his repentance but he was instead met with arms open wide. The father loves his son and is so thankful for his repentance. He does not put a stone wall up against the one he loves.

As the son begins to ask for forgiveness the father doesn’t even seem to hear, He simply calls for the best robe and a celebration to be held because his son has come home.

This father gives us a picture of what Christ did for us. He humbled himself and took suffered on the cross. He gave up His Glory to reach down to us. He runs to us when we come to us. He does not hold our wickedness against us forever. He banishes it as far as the east is from the west. He grants forgiveness. He allows us to spend eternity with Him. Heaven will be unbelieveable to our minds. He does not give this gift begrudgingly, He wants us to be with Him. Why else would He have humbled himself and come to earth? He did it because he wants our repentant and humble hearts.

We as sinners must are also sitting in the pig pen of our own sin. We must come to the Lord with humble and repentant hearts and believe on Him. Humility is something we cannot ignore.

So the party begins for the repentant and now humble younger son. Joy has filled this father’s heart. His son is home.

Repressed Pride

Everyone is not happy at the repentance and return of the young son. No, in fact anger is brewing in the heart of his older brother. This brother did everything right. He had stayed and done what he was supposed to do. His father should have liked him better. He should be having a party because he has been faithful to his father through his actions.

This son reminds me of Jonah, he doesn’t want the Ninevites to be saved he wants justice. That is what this older son wants for this younger son; justice. As Christians I think this type of pride is often our downfall. It is the pride that we deserve Christ because of our service to Him. we are serving him. When a “real sinner” comes back to Christ this type of pride manifests itself in an unforgiving spirit.

It seems from this passage that sometimes pride is not as flagrant as that of the younger son. The pride is present but we conceal it. This type of pride is buried deep within our hearts but just like the Bible tells us “as a man thinks in his heart so is he” is so true. You might be able to hide your pride from those around you but that doesn’t make it any less real. Eventually that sin will be exposed.

Reflections on humility

At the end of this I feel conviction. Often I’m a person with repressed pride. Since we know all people are sinners I think it is safe to say that we all struggle with pride in some form. What is necessary is to ask the Spirit to probe our hearts and point us toward repentance in areas where we are proud and don’t even realize it.

Once we are aware of pride in our own hearts we can ask the Spirit to help us change. We can then grow in humility.

Truly, we have nothing to be proud about in our own lives. It is because of Christ that we will live.

Fearless: Imagine your life without fear. by Max Lucado

When I got the news that I could get an advanced copy of Max Lucado’s newest book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear I was thrilled! Max Lucado was probably my first real exposure to Christian Living literature. I first read his work in college and I just couldn’t believe how his words were so grounded in God’s Word and yet so relatable.

It had probably been 7 years since I had read one of his books, probably just the insanity of newlywed to new mother. So when I picked up this book it was like hearing from an old friend. You and the friend have grown over the years but you still can relate. That’s how it was for me when I picked up “Fearless”.

Synopsis
Fearless takes us from the primary reason for our fear, which is sin. the fears we face, and the fear we need to have. He takes the reader on a journey through fear.

The first chapter is an explanation of why we are afraid. I love that he takes the time to explain this concept. What impressed me most about these chapters were the Scripture passages he uses. Toward the end of the chapter he lists 13 verses where Jesus told His followers to be fearless. He then uses the words of Christ to open the following chapters.

The book continues with chapters that detail common fears and ways to change our thinking towards courage in the Lord. I appreciated his candor when dealing with the subject of fear of death. He details a dream he had where he dies but he has courage in death because of Christ. I loved the story and then he details his own brush with death during a heart surgery. I think that is one of the things I like about Mr. Lucado. He is honest about his own struggles and it makes me take his counsel seriously.

Other fears he touches on include the fear of not mattering, of not protecting my kids, of violence and other relevant topics (obviously you can read the table of contents)

He ends with what he calls “The One Healthy Terror” which details our fear of God. We must always fear Him for He is Holy.

Strengths
One of the best parts of this book is that it uses Scripture as the premise of the author’s assertions. That is important to me. It is not a book that makes points and then finds Scripture to back up his points. It is the other way around, Scripture is the base and everything else falls around that. The first chapter lists 13 verses where Christ instructs His followers not to fear. The following chapters are based largely on this list of passages making the book a cohesive unit.

I alluded earlier to Max Lucado’s candor throughout this book but I can’t reiterate enough how much I appreciate a transparent author. This is not the kind of book where the author spends 200 pages telling you all the great things he has done. Instead he points out his own fears and how these Scriptures help him in his daily walk.

The book includes a discussion guide which is excellent. It includes several thought provoking questions for each chapter as well as lots of Scripture to back it up! Each chapter’s discussion guide has 3 areas of focus: “Examining Fear, Exposing Fear, and Battling Fear.” This would be a great book discussion for small groups at church. When it focuses on Examining Fear it is filled with thought provoking questions like “What are you prone to – dread of failure, rejection, or calamity? What does that indicate about you?”
Exposing Fear is filled with God’s answers to our fears. It lists several bible verses to combat the fears you discover about yourself through the first section. Battling Fear includes a section of reflection and a meditation for the week.

WeaknessesI wish this book went deeper. I think it does a great job of skimming the surface of these issues of fear but the middle chapters where specific fears are listed seem to short. The discussion guide does make up some for this lack of depth in my opinion.

Conclusion
I do recommend Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear. It gave me a lot to think about in my own life. Fear is something that can plague a person. It is something I have struggled with and for those of you who usually read my blog you know that about me. Max Lucado delivers his message in an easy to read manner that is appealing to large audiences. If you are reading this book on your own I encourage you to do the discussion questions as study guide questions after each chapter. Do a chapter each week and meditate on Scripture from the chapter and the probing questions of the study guide. I think it will help the reader get a lot more from this book than simply reading the chapters. This book would also make a great book for small group discussion at church or local Bible studies.

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear is a great resource for any Christian, whether they are oppressed with fear or not. We all need to remember that because of Christ we have every reason to be “Fearless.”

100 Bible Stories 100 Bible Songs book review

100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs
Written by Stephen Elkins Illustrated by Tim O’Connor

The cover of this book just draws kids into its pages. The art on the cover is a fantastic example of the art throughout this book. It is happy and colorful. The songs are also just as bright and happy.

This children’s Bible goes from Genesis through Revelation. Like most children’s Bibles these stories are paraphrased and give just a brief overview of the story. A unique feature of this book is that it comes with 2 CD’s with a simple children’s song to go along with each story. The back cover says that your child will Read it! Sing It! And Learn It! This book gives parents the extra tool of music to reinforce a Biblical truth which is a neat feature.

It includes an extensive table of contents in the front of the book which includes the Story, Bible Verse, Bible Song and Page. It also separates the stories by Old Testament and New Testament. Each story is just two adjacent pages. The page on the right has the story and song title and the body of the story. The left hand page has the illustration, Bible verse paraphrase, and a truth your child can learn from the story.

What your child will like

Your child will enjoy the bright illustrations and catchy songs that go along with each story. The stories are easy to understand and the truths are simple for very small children to grasp and put into practice. My boys loved singing the songs some of their favorites were “Only a Boy named David”, “His Banner Over Me is Love”, and “My God is So Big”. My older son (age 4) liked that the stories are short so that we could read several in one sitting.

What the parent will like

These stories and songs give the parent a short version of a story that they can explain to their child. It is often difficult to read a long story to a small child and then have them accurately understand a truth. I think as a parent you will find this book enables you to bring back these truth’s to your child and they will remember the story and song. The songs are a big part of this book and I think it works well with a child’s natural ability to remember and sing songs. Often it seems children will more easily remember a song than a story. As a parent you might enjoy the fact that most of the songs are very familiar classics. It is a joy to introduce these wonderful songs to our children.

My conclusion

This book is beautifully illustrated and presents the Bible accurately. However the stories are very short so the focus of the story is very simplistic. This is good for the very young child, probably under the age of 4. Children older than 4 might find this book too simple for their growing minds. The truth that the book presents is a paraphrase as well. For me, I would like the truth to be an actual Scripture verse with the reference. The book does tell you what book of the Bible the story is from, but the truth presented is not always an actual Bible verse. As a parent you might want to incorporate an actual Bible verse with these stories if you are using them for a devotional time with your child.

I think the CD’s can stand alone apart from the book. We have listened to the CD’s more than once and the kids have enjoyed singing their favorite Sunday School songs at home. If you buy this book I think you will find the CD’s worth the price. I know that some of my readers have fairly conservative views on music. If that is the case you might find some of the songs on the CD’s a little too peppy.

If you are looking for a first Bible for your very young child I think this book is a good starting point.

A Good Witch

I love being in musical theatre. I’ve loved acting and singing from a young age. My parents would tell you that I got my first taste and love for the stage at the age of 2. It was my first time to sing with the little kids in the Christmas program. The Sunday School teacher put me on one of the back rows of the risers. Well once we started singing I pushed my way through the other kids to the front and stood below the mic and just held on to the bar and tried to sing right into it. My parents were mortified and I was in love.

So, now that I’m an adult I still like to think about acting and singing. On Sunday I always look at the audition section and think about what I would sing or what part I would want to be. I know, I have now shared another small piece of my weirdness with the world.

During my Sunday ritual a couple of weeks ago I noticed that there would be auditions for “The Wizard of Oz” with a local community theatre. I immediately thought I could be Glinda the Good Witch. Now that I’m a mother I thought I could really understand that role. Plus it’s a great part but not a main role. I figured I would have the time to do that. I also thought Ethan (4) could be a munchkin in the production and we could do this activity together. I had the perfect plan. After all these years of wanting to get back into musical theatre I knew this was my time to get back into the scene.

So this week I was excited to audition. I watched YouTube videos of the Good Witch and I was ready. Yet tonight before I was about to leave I started feeling like I wasn’t going to have the time to commit to it. I talked to Daniel (my husband) and he really thought I should go try out and see what exactly was involved. So I drove over there and I still just felt unsettled. I started to pray that the Lord would clearly open or close this door for me. It might seem silly to pray about something like a low budget community theatre play but that’s what I did.

I got there, filled out the paperwork and looked over rehearsal schedule.

Instant disappointment.

I knew I could not audition for this play because I cannot commit to the rehearsal schedule. I start to feel bad for myself. “Why do I have to be a work-week-widow?” Why can’t anything ever work out for me? Why can’t I do something that makes me happy?”

Self-pity was creeping in and taking over, and then I remembered my prayer. The Lord had shown me something clearly. Yes, the answer was “No” but it was still a clear answer. I wasn’t left wondering what to do. I wasn’t waffling in my decision. I knew what to do. The Lord heard me and He answered.

The verses from Ecclesiastes came to mind “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose;a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate;a time for war, and a time for peace.”

This just isn’t the time for me. That doesn’t mean the time won’t come again, but that’s hard to keep in perspective when I’m disappointed. Yet it’s true. Life is in a constant flux of phases. I will probably be able to be in a play next year but I can’t focus on what might be. I have to enjoy the time that is today. I must redeem the time like it is a gift. There is no point in self-pity. It just makes me, well, pitiful. And who wants to live like that?

I won’t be playing Glinda the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz, but maybe my kids won’t mind if I pretend to be the Good Witch here at my own personal Oz.