Lisa notes

Books I recommend – September 2015

By LisaNotes September 22, 2015 Books I Recommend 25 Comments

BOOKS I RECOMMEND

1. The Word Exchange
by Alena Graedon

An intriguing dystopian novel based on the “death of print” and the written word. (Let’s hope it remains fiction.) Great for word lovers. The chapters aren’t numbered, but alphabetized. The protagonist works with her father in printing the last edition of the North American Dictionary of the English Language, when things go awry and “word flu” hits. Parts of the novel were difficult to read as the characters grew sicker and lost their vocabulary and had to make up their own words. (You’ll see the word aphasia often.) But you could always figure out their intent (proof of an intelligent author who is good with words herself!).

“When I got back here, I had to lie down. Zat a headache that could have killed a dog. And gwy, I slept for hours and woke up suffering, my head hot and huge, like a pluke, my throat sookh. Zabad achy and stomach sick. I should probably visit a clinic. See if I trebbow more medicine.”

2. Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

I started this classic Russian novel in June, and I just now finished! The intermingling of storylines with very minimal tangents for a novel of this era kept me hooked until the very end. As usual when I read novels like this, I had to read SparkNotes alongside it to help me keep the characters straight. (The worst thing? In a totally unrelated non-fiction book I was reading a month ago, the first line of that book revealed the ending of this book! Ugh! I guess they assumed everyone should know the ending of Anna Karenina by now? I didn’t.)

3. The Invisible Girls
A Memoir
by Sarah Thebarge

This relatively young author (27 at the time) shares this memoir of her struggle with breast cancer (so sad) and her finding purpose again after encountering and befriending a family of Somali refugees on the subway in Oregon.

“I was going to start writing my story—because writing helped me process my experiences, and because crafting a narrative out of my losses was a way of redeeming the pain.

And I was going to try to find God again. Or maybe give Him the chance to find me? I still wasn’t sure who had lost whom.”

4. A Quest for More
Living for Something Bigger than You
by Paul David Tripp

Mixed reaction to this one. Tripp’s writing can get repetitive, and I disagree with some of his theology (i.e., I don’t believe in the “anger of grace”). However, his main point is a great one—that big kingdom living is much more satisfying than settling for my little self-kingdom life.

“We can do big kingdom things (ministry to others) with little kingdom motives (for respect or acceptance).”

5. Feathers
by Jacqueline Woodson

Frannie is an African-American elementary student in 1971 when a new white boy enters her classroom, the Jesus Boy. This Newbery Award winning novel shows how Frannie’s world becomes enlarged as she starts seeing life from others’ viewpoints. It’s a short book but it will give you a lot to think about.

I’M READING NOW

6. Life in Motion
An Unlikely Ballerina
by Misty Copeland

Even if you’ve only seen Misty Copeland dance on this commercial, I’m sure you’ll agree she’s amazing. She’s the first (and only, so far) African-American ballerina soloist with the American Ballet Theatre, which is a huge accomplishment. Her memoir chronicles her winding journey there.

7. A Curious Mind
The Secret to a Bigger Life
by Brian Grazer

The author is a Hollywood producer who determined early in life to have numerous “curiosity conversations” with accomplished strangers who were not involved in Hollywood movie-moving.

“Curiosity is itself a form of power, and also a form of courage.”

8. Knowing God
by J. I. Packer

Encouraging, challenging, and sometimes controversial, this theological classic makes you think. A group is reading two chapters a week with Tim Challies and sharing our thoughts on a Facebook group. I’m posting weekly summaries here.

* * *

Once a month we share what’s on our nightstand at 5 Minutes for Books.

What are you reading this month? Please share here.

My books on Goodreads
Previous reading lists

Does God toy with us in his wisdom?

By LisaNotes September 17, 2015 Knowing God, Knowing God_J.I.Packer 17 Comments

In elementary school, my friends and I invented our own alphabet code. We meticulously took each letter of the alphabet and connected it to a new symbol.

We would then write notes to each other using that code, despite the hours it must have taken us to decode it on both ends.

Why?

It was fun to have a secret language, something no one else could understand even if they saw it.

Does God toy with us that way?

I don’t think so. In reading J. I. Packer’s chapters 9 and 10 this week on God’s wisdom, I heard hints (perhaps incorrectly?) that God intentionally keeps us in the dark about things—uses his own secret code without disclosing the key—so that we’ll stay humble about our own limitations and will lean more dependently on his strengths.

“The God who rules [the world we live in] hides Himself. Rarely does this world look as if a beneficent Providence were running it. Rarely does it appear that there is a rational power behind it at all. Often and often what is worthless survives, while what is valuable perishes.”

~ * ~

“For the truth is that God in His wisdom, to make and keep us humble and to teach us to walk by faith, has hidden from us almost everything that we should like to know about the providential purposes which He is working out in the churches and in our own lives.”

I disagree. While I do agree that we should be humble about ourselves and that we should be dependent upon God, I don’t think God has to hide himself to make us seek him for his wisdom.

It’s just reality. We are less. He is more. The longer we live, the more we experience the gap between the limitations of man and the power of God. We see there’s more we don’t know than we do know. We discover that God redeems the circumstances and relationships in our lives to show us that he does indeed know more than we do, if we’ll pay attention to him.

He doesn’t have to intentionally send us troubles to do it. Each day brings enough troubles of its own. We wouldn’t do that to our own children—create suffering so they’d have to call on us for help. Since God loves us much more than we’re capable of loving our kids, how much less likely is he than we are, to manufacture additional trouble for us in order to gain our trust. I just don’t think he operates that way.

Am I misreading Packer? It’s likely. I’ll stay open to changing my mind.

But I still agree with Packer on more than I disagree with. Such as,

Wisdom is both moral and intellectual
Wisdom is more than mere cleverness or cunning
Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose the highest goal
Wisdom is the practical side of moral goodness
Wisdom is at its fullest in God

I also appreciate Packer’s list of benefits we receive when we recognize God’s wisdom:

We are more humble
We are more joyful
We are more godly
We are more quick to do his will
We are more resolute to do his will
We are less bewildered by life

Perhaps my confusion with this chapter is simply more proof I lack wisdom. We are not wise enough to understand God’s ways. We’re incapable of handling the whole plan up front.

But God doesn’t have to intentionally create a secret alphabet code to keep us away from insider information. We wouldn’t grasp it anyway.

He just is too wise, too big, too powerful for us to understand.

And that’s okay. It’s enough to know that God sees all, and that we can see God.

We’re just to follow God today. Stay focused on the road in front of us. Be present with him now.

That sounds like wise living to me.

“The kind of wisdom that God waits to give to those who ask Him, is a wisdom that will bind us to Himself, a wisdom that will find expression in a spirit of faith and a life of faithfulness.”

* * *

Your thoughts?

We’re reading through Knowing God via Challies. Grab a copy and read along.

Previous chapters:

Why do you want to know God? (chapters 1-2)
What does it mean to know God? (chapters 3-4)
You know God & Jesus. But the Holy Spirit? (chapters 5-6)
Is reading the Bible worth it? (chapters 7-8)

Next chapters:

Chapter 11, “Thy Word is Truth”
Chapter 12, “The Love of God”

Who will open the door?

By LisaNotes September 16, 2015 My stories, Now 25 Comments

We knock once. Wait. Knock again.

If you don’t answer the second time, depending on whether you’re typically at home or not when we come by on Wednesday afternoons, we’ll probably leave your supper by your door, with a neighbor, or else mark an X on our list.

Mr. M is always at home. He always answers his door. On the first knock.

But two Wednesdays ago, it took two knocks. And when he did come to the door, he was disheveled. Not his typical neat self with clean dress pants and belt and shirt tucked in. Kay and I both noticed it was a little odd, but didn’t think too much about it. He was still friendly. Always thankful.

Then one Wednesday ago, he didn’t answer the door at all. We even knocked a third time. Still nothing. We set the Styrofoam-packed dinner near his door in a chair and moved on.

Then on Friday a few days later, I read a name just like Mr. M’s in the obituaries.

I’m hoping it’s a coincidence.

But I suspect it’s probably not.

I’ll find out tonight when we return to his apartment building.

I’m not sure I want to know.

The hardest thing about working with older people and/or sick people is that you lose them more frequently. (How do you in health care handle such frequent losses?)

A month earlier, Kay and I noticed Mrs. W’s name was no longer on our list to receive a meal delivery. Did she move? Taking a trip? We always had spent longer than allocated in a hearty conversation or prayer with her.

But when we asked around, we were shocked. She’d died. Suddenly. Her niece said her aunt hadn’t been feeling well and wanted to take a nap. When she later went to check on her, she had already passed.

Who won’t answer the door this afternoon? Whose name will be off the list? It’s only a matter of time for all of us. We know this. But we still don’t like it. And I haven’t gotten used to it.

People pass through our lives quickly.

On the level of humanity, I want everyone to stay here with no more losses or pain.
On the level of eternity, I want everyone to escape into a trouble-free, Jesus-saturated life over there.

So in a few hours, I’ll discover if Mr. M has indeed crossed the chasm or not. I’m hoping he’ll answer our knock.

But if he doesn’t, I’ll look forward to seeing him later on the other side. Where he’ll be whole. Fully visioned. And won’t need our help.

To whomever opens the door next in his old apartment? Welcome. For however long or short our time together may be.

* * *

Has anyone slipped quickly out of your life lately? Please share in the comments.

Receive the gift of story

By LisaNotes September 14, 2015 My stories 20 Comments

We were going for one thing. We got another.

I’d just met Mrs. K. It had been a long haul from Alabama to Texas. I had ridden with Jeff to keep him company on his journey to buy Cushman parts from Mr. K. Feeling too old for the hobby now, Mr. K. was cleaning out.

What I expected to see was a lot of old metal and Cushman memorabilia and story-swapping between Jeff and Mr. K. And I got that.

But what I didn’t expect was Mrs. K’s story.

Two years ago on April 17, 2013, she and Mr. K, having finished a day’s work, put on pajamas and were settling into their recliners in their living room in West, TX. They’d heard sirens earlier. Probably another wreck on the highway, they assumed.

But no. Around 7:45 p.m., totally out of nowhere, their world caved in on top of them.

Literally.

Mrs. K said she may have passed out momentarily when the ceiling fell on their heads. She’s still not sure of that part. But once she was lucid again, she remembered thinking, “This is it. And I’ll never know what it was.”

She was wrong. She stayed alive. And she found out what happened.

After the initial explosion had blown out windows and lifted up their roof, Mr. and Mrs. K hurried outside. Their neighborhood street was full of people running here and there. The city of West only holds 2,800 people, but more had already begun gathering, and far more would arrive before all was said and done.

That’s when they found out what happened: The local fertilizer plant two blocks away—West Fertilizer Company—had just exploded.

Remember hearing and seeing the story on the news? It was only two days after the Boston Marathon bombing.

West, TX, was where it happened. And where we were standing had once been part of the rubble.

April 18, 2013 in West, Texas. Photo by CNN

Mr. and Mrs. K returned inside to quickly gather a few valuables. They were told to leave. And leave quickly.

When they arrived at a hotel, enough blood had pooled on Mr. K for the hotel clerk to urge Mr. K to go to a hospital. But he refused. He knew worse had happened to others. And what could have been fatal to them, had not been.

Ten days later, they defied martial law and snuck back down their road. They had to see their house again. It was bad. But it was repairable.

So now, two years later, the only tangible evidence I saw of the explosion was the photographs that Mrs. K showed me.

And the intangible evidence of her stories. Stories of a night that wasn’t supposed to happen. Stories of survival from a tragedy that 15 people didn’t live through.

I hadn’t come to receive those stories.

We think we know what we’re coming for. But we leave getting more.

Everybody has their own collection of stories. And everybody’s stories are valuable.

We all collect a story along the way. Sometimes it’s a story aching to be told. Sometimes it’s an “oh, by the way” kind of thing.

But however or why ever we hear a story, it’s a gift. It’s to be handled with dignity. And it’s meant to travel back home inside us.

When Jeff finished packing up the Cushman parts (and wow, did he pack it in!), Mr. and Mrs. K pulled a special clock off their wall—one that had sustained the explosion without a scratch—and gave it to him as a gift. He was grateful.

But we were even more grateful to come away with a little piece of this family’s history, a glimpse into a season of their lives, a slice of their amazing story.

* * *

Whose story has made an impression on you lately? Let’s talk in the comments.

Are we ever the persecutors?

By LisaNotes September 10, 2015 Discrimination, Guest posts 2 Comments

Blessed are the persecuted.

That’s us, right? (Or at least us in the broad sense. I make zero claims of suffering persecution in my comfy American lifestyle.)

Yet whenever I think of persecution, I always side with the persecuted, not the persecutors.

But are we ever on the other side of persecution?
Do we ever make others suffer?
Do we ever treat people wrongly because their beliefs (or race/politics/orientation/fill in the blank) differ from ours?

Can we also be persecutors?

Read the rest here: When we are the ones who persecute

* * *

I’m writing today at Do Not Depart for our “Blessed Are the Persecuted series.” Will you join me there?

Is reading the Bible worth it?

By LisaNotes September 7, 2015 Knowing God, Knowing God_J.I.Packer, Now 26 Comments

Reading the Bible can be a lot of trouble.

We don’t understand its original language.
We’re far removed from the lands and peoples it includes.
It’s confusing.
It wasn’t even written directly to us.

And just because it says it’s true, that doesn’t make it true.

“It all seems very far away. It all belongs to that world, not to this world. We feel that we are, so to speak, on the outside of the Bible world, looking in.” – J. I. Packer

Packer sets up some of these arguments in chapter 7, “God Unchanging,” in Knowing God. Surely we’ve considered a few of these ourselves.

So why is reading the Bible worth the work?

It’s not because we’ll discover our own world there. It’s because we’ll find the same God there. The God spoken about in the stories of the Bible is the same God we can know today in our own time, in our own lives.

“The link is God Himself. For the God with whom they had to do is the same God with whom we have to do.”

Our languages change. Our cultures change. Even people change.

But God stays the same.

Packer quotes A. W. Pink as saying,

“[God] cannot change for the better for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worse.”

What was true about God in Bible times is just as true of God today. Packer gives this list . . .

God is everlasting.
His character is always merciful and gracious.
His truths stand forever.
His purposes remain the same.
His Son Jesus is also the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The details of our stories will differ, the characters move in and out, but the Creator who guides us through the events never changes.

God is always love, always mighty to save. Read it in the Bible. But live it now.

* * *

Do you ever find the Bible hard to understand? What makes it worthwhile reading to you? Please share in the comments.

We’re reading through Knowing God via Challies. Grab a copy and read along.

Previous weeks:

Why do you want to know God? (chapters 1-2)
What does it mean to know God? (chapters 3-4)
You know God & Jesus. But the Holy Spirit? (chapters 5-6)