Lisa notes

What’s on your nightstand? August ‘13

By LisaNotes August 27, 2013 Books I Recommend 25 Comments

Can you tell I went to the library this month? Variety bumps up when I do.

It’s the 4th Tuesday, so here’s what I’m reading. See what others are reading too.

JUST STARTED

Nothing to Envy
Ordinary Lives in North Korea
by Barbara Demick

I’m already uncomfortable. If you ever think you have it bad, just read how others live. But also be encouraged at how people find joy even in difficult places.

Joshua
by Joseph F. Girzone

This Christian fiction is a story about Jesus returning in the flesh to our modern-day world through the character of Joshua. I’ve read it before (and its sequels) and it increased my love for the real Jesus, so I’m reading it again this year in light of my One Word 2013: Jesus.

The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working
by Tony Schwartz

It’s about how we’re rushing through life at a great cost. Demand exceeding capacity isn’t working out so well for us. It’s directed toward the business world, but I’m drawn to books like this nonetheless because we can apply the same principles to whatever our daily work looks like.

Walking in Freedom
A 21-Day Devotional to Help Establish Your Freedom in Christ
by Neil T. Anderson

Great truths here about our identity in Christ. My special friend Selwyn gave this book to each in our small group after we finished a study on its root book last year. I’ve intentionally been saving it for a fresh season and this is it. It’s good!

Transforming Grace
Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love
by Jerry Bridges

This is another book I’ve been waiting to read. I’m only 6% in (on my Kindle) and I’ve already highlighted lots of passages. We can never get too much grace, right? Or books from Jerry Bridges.

FINISHED FROM JULY’S NIGHTSTAND

The Honest Truth about Dishonesty
How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves
by Dan Ariely

Loved it. Similar to his Predictably Irrational (which I also loved), Ariely shares results from experiments to see just how honest people really are in a variety of situations. It was a little discouraging to see that most people will be dishonest (but only to the point they can still rationalize feeling good about themselves), but also encouraging to see we’re not as bad as we could be. A fascinating book and I recommend it.

Unless It Moves the Human Heart
The Craft and Art of Writing
by Roger Rosenblatt

The overall gist is good—write what moves you—but the setting of a classroom of writing students got laborious at times. Trying to keep up with the personalities of the students, who was who, was distracting to me. However, it was still excellent in spots so it was a worthwhile read.

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl
Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World
by N. D. Wilson

I didn’t like this book. I wanted to. Many people love it. But I couldn’t get past the style. Wilson is obviously gifted with words, but his stream-of-consciousness writing was too haphazard for me. He does make excellent points about beautiful ways of seeing God, if you can get pass the crazy flow. (I should have realized this from the title, huh?)

This Beautiful Mess
Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God
by Rick McKinley

McKinley shows how the kingdom of God looks in our world and in our culture now. And how it has the potential to look if we’re willing to make some shifts in our thinking and behaviors. A good read. [My review here]

Woe Is I
The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English
by Patricia T. O’Conner

If you like grammar for whatever reason, you know who you are, you’ll like this book. Just when I think I know grammar inside out, I read a grammar book and discover otherwise. There’s always more to learn (not to mention that sometimes the rules actually change too). A fun book and full of facts.

Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me
A Memoir…of Sorts
by Ian Morgon Cron

It’s a story. But a true one. Ian tells about life with an alcoholic dad who also just happened to work undercover with the CIA (Ian himself didn’t even know for a long time). It’s sad but redeeming. I’m very glad I read it. [My review here]

Grace Walk
by Steve McVey

Excellent, excellent. McVey has a way of explaining grace that always sounds new and exciting to me. He urges us to live our lives fully embracing God’s grace and see what a difference it can make. He interweaves his own journey from a life of legalism to a life of grace.

Understanding Jesus
A Guide to His Life and Times
by Stephen M. Miller

After several months, I finally finished this extensive work on not only the life of Jesus, but on the life around Jesus. It contained a lot of material I did know (stuff straight from the Bible) so I particularly enjoyed reading the stuff I didn’t know, extracurricular facts about the times Jesus lived in.

God’s Favorite Place on Earth
by Frank Viola

Viola does a good job here of narrating the intersections of Jesus with Lazarus, Mary, and Martha in their little town of Bethany. He tells first-hand stories as if spoken by Lazarus, then follows each section with his own commentary, eventually convincingly concluding that we need to be the real Bethanys of today—sweet homes for Jesus to live in.

Reviving Ophelia
Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
by Mary Pipher

Moms (and dads) of daughters—read this. Those working with adolescent girls—read this. It’s been out awhile, so the examples are dated, but the message is very relevant. It’s eye-opening to the struggles that today’s teen girls experience. (And there’s a movie. I haven’t seen it—I’m guessing it’s fairly different from the book.)

GAVE UP

Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand

I tried. Really. But 267 pages in, I still cared nothing about the main characters or their problems. With over 800 pages still remaining, I cut my losses and closed the book. I have a hard time letting go of a book once I start one, so I’m proud of myself when I quit.

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What’s a good book you are reading or want to read?

My books on Goodreads
More nightstands

Let the body worship

By LisaNotes August 26, 2013 Church, Worship 42 Comments

Sometimes you just know it. On Sunday morning, I knew it.

God was in the house.

I know he’s always in his children. And wherever his children go, there goes God.

But our awareness of his presence can vary from day to day.

On this day, we were made aware. And we were moved.

I grew up being still during singing with the church. The only motion we made was flipping through the hymnal. Maybe stand up and sit down as directed. That was it. And that was fine. Still is fine now.

But also fine is letting the body participate.

When the church body was singing this yesterday,

Something’s moving
Something’s changing
See His glory
Feels like heaven on earth

I looked over the audience and saw this:

faces smiling
bodies swaying
arms lifting

And when we moved to the next song,

Jesus awesome in power forever
Awesome and great is Your name
You overcame

I felt chill bumps.

Because God was in the house.

His house.
In multiple bodies.
Including my own.

When God is in the house, how can a body contain him?

Our mouths spoke with Pastor Mark, thanking God in advance for the works he’s going to do.
Our hands opened to receive the blessing of encouragement prayed over us.
And our hearts overflowed with gratitude for who God is and what he’s already done.

If God lives in the body, the body can’t help but move.
So go with it. Use it.
Let the body worship.

That’s what he made it to do.

* * *

In what ways do you use your body to worship?
(Does washing dishes count? Certainly! Just ask Brother Lawrence.)

Related:

This Beautiful Mess – Book review

By LisaNotes August 23, 2013 Book reviews 6 Comments

The shift that’s needed, I propose, is for kingdom people to become the sent people of God, to shift from coming to going.
Rick McKinley

No book can be outstanding in every chapter, profound on every page.

But usually somewhere is something that makes the reading worthwhile.

I found it in Appendix 2, “Kingdom Shifts” of This Beautiful Mess.

What, then, might be required for the people of the kingdom to make a shift from protection to proclamation?

For one thing, we will need to reexamine how Christ has called us to interact with the world. The gospel calls us to live as aliens and strangers in the world. Yet I don’t see this call requiring that we legislate our moral differences as much as proclaim our love for Jesus and the love He has given us for the world.

Some may disagree and say, for example, that the motive behind the Defense of Marriage Act is a love for God. I don’t doubt that, yet I’d ask, Does your love for God move you to love others with an expression of love that they can understand and experience?

If the answer is probably not, then we’re moving further away from our most important value, not closer.

I believe we must choose to be proclaimers of God’s love over being protectors of morality.

…Our failure to love the world is our sin to own.

You may agree or disagree with author Rick McKinley’s example, but it’s hard to disagree with his point: If how we think we’re showing the love of Christ to others is not in reality showing the love of Christ to others, we need to adjust.

But there’s far more to this book than that. The premise is that the kingdom of God is here and now, and as believers, we need to live in that truth. As McKinley puts it,

I hope this book feels like a permission slip from Mom for you: get out of religion free. You see, Someone knows and really likes you. Someone wants you to find that larger, freer experience of being that you sense is out there just waiting for you to live it.

He reminds us how focused Jesus was on telling about the kingdom. The gospel of Matthew contains “the kingdom of heaven” 31 times. In Luke and elsewhere, “the kingdom of God” comes up 65 times. Preaching the good news of the kingdom was of primary importance.

His insight about advancing the kingdom versus being in the kingdom was helpful to me.

When Jesus talked about the kingdom, He never talked about our building it or advancing it. Never. He said, “The kingdom is…” He simply invited His followers to see it, embrace it, believing in the unfading reality of it, and join in what His Father was already doing in the world.

Being kingdom people. I love that and I hate it.

He goes on to explain he loves it because of the discoveries involved in understanding it. But he hates it because being is sometimes harder than doing.

Elsewhere in a chapter about going through hardships in the kingdom, he relays a poignant conversation he had with Celestin, his friend from Rwanda.

I was struck by our global friends’ compassion toward the Western church. In many ways, they feel sorry for us. They see our arrogance toward the rest of the world, our addiction to pleasure and comfort, our culture of sensuality and excess, which make it hard for us to fathom many of Christ’s teachings. They see these not as evidence of superiority but as proof of disadvantage and poverty. They mourn our deep losses and have told us that they pray for us about these things.

“We see what you’re up against,” Celestin said. “When you have medicine for the dandruff in your hair and for the fungus in your fingernails, it’s hard to believe that you need God on a daily basis. That’s a difficult thing to be up against.”

Thought-provoking passages like this and others made this book worthwhile reading to me. Is it the most thorough book on the subject of the kingdom? No. But is it a good and relevant one for our time? Definitely.

* * *

My thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah
for the review copy of this book

When pain gets too noisy

By LisaNotes August 21, 2013 Pain 44 Comments

I walked into the doctor’s office Friday morning thinking I’d be strong.

I knew the EMG and NCV tests would be painful (I’ve had them before), but this time I was older, more centered, more experienced with blocking out outside stimuli.

Yeah, right.

I cried. It hurt.

But I didn’t cry too long. And I never said stop (although I did ask if I had that option; I did). And I recovered quickly once they finished.

Yet I still resented having to have it done in the first place. I don’t like having a body with broken spots. And I don’t want to turn into one of those people who talk about their ailments for hours.

I don’t want my body to hijack my soul.

I’ve seen physical pain (and emotional, mental, whatever) override the peace God promises. I’ve seen it steal joy; quench hope.

I know God never promised total protection for our bodies. But he did for our souls. And I need him to protect my soul from my body.

So as I awaited results from the tests (they came yesterday—all normal!), I prayed a little more pointedly he’d keep my eyes on the prize, my focus on surrendering, and my desire for his presence.

Because regardless of how noisy my body can get, I don’t want it to drown out the voice of the Shepherd. I want his voice to be the loudest, decibels over the clatter around me. His words the sweetest. His message the strongest.

I may live my life in this body . . .
but may this body never become my life.

* * *

When has pain grabbed your attention the most?

Classic Memory Verses

By LisaNotes August 19, 2013 Guest posts, Memorization 19 Comments

Maybe you learned these gems as a child. Or maybe you’re just now discovering them.

This summer at Do Not Depart we’ve been taking a week each with these classic Bible scriptures to plant God’s truths about love and grace deeper into our hearts.

If you’d like the list for yourself or to teach your kids or a Bible class, here’s a printable of all the verses on one page. (Click on the image then download or print.)

Below is a list of the individual posts from each week, or view them all here.

CLASSIC MEMORY VERSES

What’s the most famous Bible verse?
John 3:16

UnPsalm 23: What not to tell yourself
Psalm 23:1-3

A light in the shadows
Psalm 23:4-6

Whose plans?
Jeremiah 29:11

3 things to do with the Lord’s Prayer
Matthew 6:9-11

How do you end the Lord’s Prayer?
Matthew 6:12-13

Who is this for?
Romans 8:28

Too good to be true?
Ephesians 2:8-9

What is love? What is it not?
1 Corinthians 13:4-5

Talk to yourself
1 Corinthians 13:6-7

What are you trusting in?
Proverbs 3:5-6

The most misused verse in the Bible
Philippians 4:13

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What’s one of your favorite memory verses?

Quotes from “Help Thanks Wow”

By LisaNotes August 16, 2013 Book reviews, Prayer 13 Comments

There are many reasons to love an Anne Lamott book. You’re guaranteed to laugh out loud, to learn spiritual truths, and to be inspired by her brutal honesty.

I love Help Thanks Wow for all three reasons.

It’s supposedly about three essential prayers—and it delivers!—but it’s also about depending more on God and growing in intimacy with him.

When we do that, these three conversations—asking God for help, telling him thanks, and exclaiming wow to him—will happen quite naturally and more frequently.

Here are some favorite lines I want to remember, all typical Anne-style.

If I were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are so ruined, and so loved, and in charge of so little.

But beautiful pre-assembled prayers—like the Merton, the Lord’s Prayer, the Twenty-third Psalm—have saved me more times than I can remember. But they are for special occasions. They are dressier prayers, the good china of prayers, used when I have my wits about me enough (a) to remember that they exist, and (b) to get into a state of trust. This would be approximately seven percent of the time.

A sober friend from Texas said once that the three things I cannot change are the past, the truth, and you. I hate this insight so much.

My priest friend Bill Rankin said that through prayer, we take ourselves off the hook and put God on the hook, where God belongs. When you’re on the hook, you’re thrashing, helpless, furious, like a smaller kid lifted by the seat of his pants by a mean big kid. Jesus, on the literal hook of the cross, says to God, “Help,” and God enters into every second of the Passion like a labor nurse.

Saying and meaning “Thanks” leads to a crazy thought: What more can I give? We take the action first, by giving—and then the insight follows, that this fills us. Sin is not the adult bookstore on the corner. It is the hard heart, the lack of generosity, and all the isms, racism and sexism and so forth.

* * *

Do you have a favorite Anne Lamott book?