Book Review: O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: Facing Death With Courageous Confidence in God. Edited by Nancy Guthrie. 2011. February 2011. Crossway Books. 160 pages.

This is the fourth book in a series of essay collections edited by Nancy Guthrie. The first, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus (2008) is perfect for Advent. The second, Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross (2009) is perfect for Lent. The third, Be Still, My Soul (2010) is about pain and suffering. The fourth, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go (2011) is about death and dying. These essays--these sermons, these writings--are to instruct and encourage Christians. They examine what the Bible says about death and resurrection.

From "Only When You Know How To Die Can You Know How To Live" by J.I. Packer

It has become conventional to think as if we are all going to live in this world forever and to view every case of bereavement as a reason for doubting the goodness of God. We must all know deep down that this is ridiculous, but we do it all the same. And in doing it, we part company with the Bible, with historic Christianity, and with a basic principle of right living, namely, that only when you know how to die can you know how to live. (15)

From "Death's Sting Is Removed But the Bite Remains" by Michael S. Horton

The hope of the gospel gives us the freedom to expose the wound of our human condition because it provides the cure. (20)

Bring him your doubts, frustration, and even anger. He can handle it. Remember the cross and God-forsakenness of the Beloved: God, too, knows how to sing the blues. (22)

From "Not of the World" by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The more I try to live this Christian life, and the more I read the New Testament, the more convinced I am that the trouble with most of us is that we have never truly realized what it is to be Christian. If only we understood what the Christian really is and the position in which he is placed, if only we realized the privilege and possibilities of that position, and, above everything, the glorious destiny of everyone who is truly Christian, then our entire outlook would be completely changed. (35)

To be of the world can be summed up like this--it is life, thought of and lived, apart from God. In other words, what decides definitely and specifically whether you and I are of the world is not so much what we may do in particular as it is our fundamental attitude. It is an attitude toward everything, toward God, toward ourselves, and toward life in this world. In the last analysis, to be of the world is to view all these things apart from God. (36-37)

From "Finishing with Few Regrets" by Randy Alcorn

The key to spirituality is the development of little habits, such as Bible reading and memorization and prayer. In putting one foot in front of the other day after day, we become the kind of person who grows and endures rather than withers and dies. (57)

Renewing our minds requires conscious, deliberate effort. (56)

When our life here is over, what will we wish we'd done less of and more of? (62)

From "Rubbing Hope into the Reality of Death" by Timothy Keller

Nobody who knows you completely can love you completely. There are people who think you're great because they don't really know you. There is nobody on the face of the earth who could know you to the bottom and love you to the skies. But we want that.

When someone likes you but doesn't know you, it's not that satisfying. And when someone knows you and doesn't like you, that certainly isn't satisfying. What we want is to be utterly known and utterly loved.

And on that day, at the coming of the Lord, we'll finally get what we've longed for--from him and one another. We'll be utterly known and utterly loved. Yes, the future is a world of love, the kind of love you want, a personal love. (89-90)

Contributors include J.I. Packer, Michael S. Horton, John Piper, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, B.B. Warfield, Joseph Bayly, Randy Alcorn, R.C. Sproul, Abraham Kuyper, John Eaves, Jeremy Taylor, Timothy Keller, John Owen, Richard Baxter, Martin Luther, Thomas Boston, Joni Eareckson Tada, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, R.L. Dabney, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and Richard Sibbes.

I didn't love this collection as much as previous ones in the series. But I still really liked it. I found it good being rich in truth, and easy to understand. The chapters are short and relevant. Reading several chapters a day, this makes a nice devotional book.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Pinocchio

Pinocchio. Carlo Collodi. Translated by Emma Rose. Illustrated by Sara Fanelli. Candlewick Press. 192 pages. (Collodi's Pinocchio was published in 1883.)

Once upon a time there was...
"A king?" did I hear you cry?
But if you did cry "King," children, you were wrong. Because once upon a time there was...
...a piece of wood.
It wasn't a piece of fine mahogany. It was an ordinary log, just like the logs you burn in your fireplace to warm your toes in the winter.
Now, one day this piece of wood ended up--don't ask me how--in the workshop of an old carpenter whose name was Antonio--although, an account of the tip of his nose always being red and shiny, everybody knew him as Mr. Cherry.

Pinocchio may have been a log once owned by Mr. Cherry, but he ends up a wooden puppet carved by Geppetto. After Geppetto's disappearance--in which Pinocchio is partly at fault--Pinocchio receives intermittent attention from the blue fairy. (Though she takes different forms throughout the book.) He listens when it suits him. He tries to be obedient when it suits him. But for the most part, it is HARD work to love Pinocchio. Because he is so resistant to love, to discipline. The book tells his MANY adventures. (The Disney movie only captured a fraction of the story line of this one. The Pinocchio of the book isn't just foolish, isn't just ignorant. He's mean, he's cruel, he's deliberately wicked.) The stories are moralistic, a bit didactic in places. At least I imagine most modern readers would find them so. But I liked some of the stories very much.

What an odd little book this is! How best to describe the character Pinocchio? Well, he's wicked, foolish, selfish. Rebellious from his first breath. Arrogant in thinking that he knows better than his maker. Rejects discipline and authority. Wants to be the boss of his own life. A liar through and through. Easily led astray. Even when he's *trying* to be good, he fails. Sound familiar?! Pinocchio is a deeply moral tale, a fantasy about man's depraved nature perhaps?!

Pinocchio's creation:

Now that he had found a name for his puppet, he set to work on the head, briskly carving out hair, forehead, and eyes. Once the eyes were finished, he stood back, amazed. They were moving. First they looked around a bit, then they stared at him, so intently that he felt quite annoyed.

"Hey! What are you looking at, wooden eyes?" he asked.

There was no reply.

Next he carved the puppet's nose. The moment it was finished, it began to grow. It grew and grew, so that in just a few minutes it was the longest nose he'd ever seen. Poor Geppetto kept trying to whittle it down, but the more he tried, the longer that mischievous nose became.

Next, he carved the puppet's mouth, but it wasn't even finished before it began to laugh and jeer at him.

"Stop laughing," Geppetto snapped. He might as well have been talking to a brick wall. "Stop laughing," he shouted, "or else!"

The mouth fell silent, but stuck its tongue out instead. Geppetto thought it wise to pretend he hadn't noticed. He went on to carve the puppet's chin, neck, shoulders, stomach, arms, and hands.

The moment the hands were finished, Geppetto felt something being whisked off his head. He looked up, and what do you think he saw? His yellow wig in the hand of his half-finished puppet.

"Pinocchio!" he yelled. "Give that back this instant!" The puppet did nothing of the sort. Instead he plonked the wig onto his own head, where it sank down over his eyes.

This was such insulting behavior that Geppetto felt more miserable than he'd ever felt in his life.

"You naughty, naughty boy!" he said. "You're not even finished yet, and already you show your father no respect! I'm disappointed in you, I really am." And as he said this, he wiped away a tear.

Last of all Geppetto carved the puppet's legs and feet. The moment they were finished, he received a sharp kick on the end of his nose.

"It serves me right, I suppose," he sighed. "I should have known that would happen. No use complaining now." (15-16)

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: A Heart Most Worthy

A Heart Most Worthy. Siri Mitchell. 2011. Bethany House. 384 pages.

On May 2, 1918, a short article appeared in the Boston Globe. It was only three sentences long; not an article really. Just a mention. It appeared on page twenty-four on the outside column, where most people hold onto a newspaper. I'm sure you wouldn't be very surprised to know that few people noticed it as they read the paper that morning and several people smeared jam on it as they turned the page. Only a very few read it. 

A Heart Most Worthy is the story of four women whose lives touch in Madame Fortier's dress shop. There is Madame Fortier herself, a woman with more than a few secrets. Then there are her three Italian assistants: each one quite different from the others.

Julietta Giordano, a young woman attracted to bad boys, a woman who should know better, but is content to live life in the moment--and oh the fun moments that can be stolen when she's away from her parents' watchful eyes. Her bad boy of the moment is Angelo Moretti, but he may be more than she can handle.

Annamaria Rossi, a dutiful oldest daughter, a woman as obedient as can be on the outside, but on the inside she's longing to rebel. For what Annamaria wants more than anything is a life of her own, a family of her own. She's been told, been taught, that she cannot marry until her parents have died. For as the oldest, it is her job, her duty, her privilege, to care for her parents as long as they live. Why does she have to be the only responsible one in the family? So when she falls in love--with the boy from the wrong side of the street--she'll have a difficult choice to make!

Luciana Conti offers the most drama perhaps. For her father was murdered, and she knows his murderer, and he too has settled in Boston! Her life could be at danger if he discovers that she is there. She finds refuge in her work--for it is the first time she's had to work--what she didn't expect was to fall in love with one of the client's sons!

I loved this one. I just absolutely LOVED it. I loved each of our heroines. I enjoyed the three young narrators very much. While there were some dramatic moments, there were plenty of lighter moments as well. Moments that were sweet and satisfying and oh-so-right. (Personally, I loved Annamaria's romance the best. I loved how she fell for the boy on the wrong side of the street, a Sicilian shopkeeper's son, Rafaello Zanfini. I loved watching this romance blossom. It was just wonderful!!!) I also enjoyed learning more about Madame Fortier--a woman with a sad past doing the best she can.

I thought the book worked really well. I found it fascinating and satisfying. I would definitely recommend this one!!!

© 2011 Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Hearts Aglow

Hearts Aglow. (Striking a Match #2) Tracie Peterson. 2011. Bethany House. 368 pages.

"Deborah, wake up! Deborah hurry!"

Deborah, our heroine, has dreams of becoming a doctor. A dream encouraged and supported by Dr. Christopher Clayton, her love interest. But Deborah knows that this journey won't be an easy one, for there are many who believe that women should not be doctors. And that's not all her town is small-minded about. No, Deborah is shocked and angered by her town's lack of concern over racial violence. There are a group of men (in white sheets presumably) terrorizing local blacks--including the blacks that work for the family, that work in the family's lumber business. Sissy is part of the family--there's never been a time she wasn't considered such. So when her husband and son are murdered--lynched--and when she herself is beaten close to death,  the Vandermark family is rightly angered. But is there a way to bring the case to justice? It doesn't seem likely. Not that Deborah is willing to accept that as an answer. And that's just one of many injustices presented in the newest title in the series. There is plenty of conflict, plenty of drama.

Hearts Aglow is the sequel to Embers of Love. This historical romance is set in Texas in the 1880s.

I would say the jacket description/jacket summary is quite misleading! It's not that I didn't recognize it as the book I read--but it took a bit of stretching to get it there!

Did I love it? No. Do I have to love every book I read? No! I enjoyed it enough to keep reading. It may not be--for me--an oh-so-magical read, but for the right reader, this one may prove quite satisfying.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday Salon: Week In Review: February 27-March 5

What a difference a week makes! This week I decided to STOP reading the New Living Translation that I was less than enthused with, and start reading in another translation--the KING JAMES VERSION. (I am still committed to the Bible-in-90-days-Reading-Guide, however, at least in theory).

From the Old Testament:

Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

From the New Testament:

John
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
Ephesians
Matthew
Galatians
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Hebrews
James
Philippians
Colossians
Mark



© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Faith in Susan Beth Pfeffer's The Last Survivors Trilogy

I recently reread Susan Beth Pfeffer's Last Survivors Trilogy: Life As We Knew It (2006), the dead & the gone (2008), this world we live in (2010). I believe the books offer much food for thought. (Much like the book of Job offers food for thought.) While not exactly 'religious' in nature, these books do offer readers a fictional look at the end of the world. The catastrophic events do prove challenging, beliefs are being tested. In a way, each book offers a 'to each his own' philosophy when it comes to matters of faith, belief, religion.



FAITH IN LIFE AS WE KNEW IT

Megan's religious fervor can be hard to take in Life As We Knew It. Her readiness to face death makes, if anything, a negative impression of Christianity. But for better or worse, she has decided that to die is better than to live. She has confidence and assurance that a heavenly mansion awaits her. It doesn't help that her minister is questionable. How much do we really know about him? Is her church really focused on 'selling' their pastor over and above Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior? Well, we only get Miranda's view of things. And she is angry that her friend has found God; a God that from her perspective frowns on fun. Is Megan the absolute best witness to the faith? Are any of us when it comes down to it? Her friends, Sammi and Miranda, thinks she is taking this sin-thing, this God-thing much too far, much too literally. I do believe that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) I do believe we are called to repent. Now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:30) Where it becomes tricky is in presentation. Does Megan give a full account of the gospel? That it is by grace, that the faith by which we are saved comes through God-given-grace? Or is the focus more on works? on obedience? on being good enough? Because one half of the gospel coin is sin and repentance or the threat of hell looms large; the second half, the half that completes the picture, is full of faith and hope and love and redemption. Romans 5 comes to mind: For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And Ephesians 2: But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. So it's certainly possible that Megan's pastor is horribly, horribly selfish, misguided; an example of a wolf in sheep's clothing, a false preacher. Our one glimpse of him--his conversation with Miranda--doesn't go well for him being one of the good guys. But I have a harder time dismissing Megan's faith--even if it does burn a little too strongly. (Without this crisis, would she have matured in her faith, would she have come to a better understanding, become a better witness?) I agree with Megan that God is sovereign, that humanity is fallen, that we've been called to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. On smaller points, we might have disagreed. But we don't get a complete picture of every little thing Megan believed to be true about Christianity. If Megan's gospel is work-oriented, I would have to disagree with that. But still, I'm glad that Pfeffer was willing to go there, to offer one view of how a Christian might face these tribulations. Is it the only view? Is it the right view? Well, that's for readers to decide. It's important to remember that--at best--we see Christianity portrayed imperfectly through two individuals, two sinners who may or may not be true believers.

Miranda, the heroine, is skeptic in matters of faith. One of those that believe that if God exists why would there be so much suffering? If God does exist, he wouldn't--couldn't--be as good as Christians profess because how could God create a world and then not care when something this horrible, this awful happens. So God's existence is one big IF for Miranda. It would take a LOT to convince her at this point.

Mrs. Nesbitt. Readers, as far as I remember, are never told what--if anything--Mrs. Nesbitt believed about God, about the afterlife. But I can say this, she died well. She faced death bravely. She was prepared to die; and she did what she could to show her love to Miranda, Jon, Matt, and Laura (their mom). She loved sacrificially and unconditionally. Part of me wants to believe that she believed in God. That this is a godly example, a godly portrayal. But there is no text to support this at all. So who knows?!

FAITH IN THE DEAD & THE GONE

If religion was portrayed negatively in Life As We Knew It--or perhaps ambiguously is the better word--then readers are left with a completely different perspective after reading the dead & the gone. In this second novel, the focus is on how the Catholic church became Christ's hands and feet during these trials and tribulations. It may be the end of the world, but the Catholic church is still going strong offering hope, salvation, and even food! Maybe not to everyone, maybe just to their parishioners, to their students, and maybe just so long as supplies lasted. But still. You don't get the image of them hoarding their provisions, of them being selfish. There were so many great scenes of this faith-in-action. Where people were responding with their hearts in faith as opposed to acting out of fear and anxiety. It's courageous and wonderful.

The Morales family star in this one. Alex, Bri, and Julie. While each of the siblings has their own reaction--response--to the crisis, none loses their faith, none lose hope completely.

God save their souls, Alex prayed. God save ours. It was the only prayer he could think of, no matter how inadequate it might be. It offered him no comfort, but he repeated it unceasingly. As long as he prayed he didn't have to think. He didn't have to remember. He didn't have to decide. He didn't have to acknowledge he was entering a world where no one had laid out the rules for him to follow, a world where there might not be any rules left for any of them to follow. (65)

"She says you've been having bad dreams."
"Aren't you?" Julie asked. "Isn't everyone?"
Alex burst out laughing. "Only sane people," he said. "Okay, maybe not Bri. But everyone else is."
"Are things going to get better?" Julie asked. "Is that why you listen to the news all the time, because someday things are going to get better?"
Alex shook his head. "That's not why I listen," he replied. "That's why I pray but not why I listen."
"Do you think God listens?" she asked.
"Bri thinks so," Alex said. "Father Franco thinks so." (81)

"And what's so special about you that you deserve compassion?" Father Mulrooney said. "You have shelter. You have food. You have family and friends. I'm supposed to feel pity for you because of a cut cheek?"
"You don't understand at all," Alex said. "I have shelter for as long as no one thinks about it. Once they do, once they realize my father is gone, they can throw us out. I have food only if I get lunch here. We're down to almost nothing at home, and I have to make sure my kid sister eats. She is my family right now, because my parents are both gone and my older brother is in the Marines somewhere and I sent my other sister to live at a convent with strangers. My cheek was cut because I got caught in a food riot, with my kid sister, and we ended up with no food anyway. I'm not asking you to pity me. I pity me enough for the two of us. But when one of your students asks you for food, you shouldn't say no and feel righteous about it. That's not what Christ would have done, and you know it." (133)

"What do you have planned for tomorrow?"
Alex shrugged. "The usual," he said. "Checking on the elderly, studying theology, fighting for survival. Same old, same old." (151)

"I know it's wrong to feel that way about God and I know it's wrong to not feel anything. I hate it. I don't hate God. I hate not loving Him." (184)

I believe that this book offers ample opportunities for discussion. What does the Catholic church get right? What would Jesus do in Pfeffer's world? How would he show love and compassion? How would he provide hope and comfort? What would be the Christian thing to do, the moral thing to do? In what ways would you--could you--love sacrificially?

FAITH IN THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN

This World We Live In is the sequel to both Life As We Knew It and The Dead & The Gone. Readers get reacquainted with Alex, Julie, and Miranda--for starters. This one has a large cast of characters. Upon first reading, I didn't notice the role of faith, of religion. Besides THE ENDING OF ALL ENDINGS which, of course, provides food for thought when it comes to discussing ethics and morality, of "deciphering" what is right and wrong. (I don't think it's as simple as I first thought.) But this second reading, I noticed that faith does indeed play a role. For within their home--or perhaps within Mrs. Nesbitt's former home?--a Bible study gets started. They take comfort in God, take comfort in the Bible, take comfort in prayer, in faith, in each other. We're not told what they're reading--what book(s) of the Bible they're studying--but we do see the joy it brings into their lives. To Lisa and Julie--it means a GREAT deal. Now Miranda is still having none of it, but I think faith is presented more positively in this one than in Life As We Knew It.

Verses to reflect on....

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)



© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: A Bond Never Broken

A Bond Never Broken. Judith Miller. 2011. Bethany House. 384 pages.

I had failed. There was no other way to justify our presence at the train station. 

Racial tension plays a role in Judith Miller's latest set in 1917/18. Hatred against Germans is running high, and violent 'patriotic' groups are on the rise too. War has a way of changing things even in Amana Colonies. A Bond Never Broken is narrated by two young women. Jutta Schmidt is returning to Amana Colonies under false pretenses. Her family who owns a bakery in Marengo, Iowa, has been threatened by the Iowa Council of National Defense (American Protective League). They could lose everything--including their freedom, their lives--if Jutta doesn't turn spy and report on the 'unpatriotic' activities of the Amana Colonists. Ilsa Redlich, the second narrator, is the daughter of the owners of the local hotel, the hotel that comes to employ Jutta. She's upset by the war--the fact that her brother has joined the army, the fact that the man she is to marry might be drafted at any time. Their friendship is built on a lie--but it may just prove true and strong nonetheless. For there is someone who poses a danger to the town...and together they may just discover it in time.

A Bond Never Broken is the third in Judith Miller's Daughters of Amana series. The first two titles are Somewhere to Belong and More Than Words. Though these books are part of a series. Each does stand alone. There are different narrators for each, and they're set in different time periods: 1870s, 1880s, 1910s. 

I've enjoyed each book in the series so far. This one was intense and compelling. 

© 2011 Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible