Week in Review: August 30-September 5

ESV Reader's Bible

• Proverbs
• Ecclesiastes
• Song of Solomon
• Isaiah 1-39
• 2 Corinthians
• Galatians (2)
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians

ASV

• Psalms
• Galatians

NIV

• Galatians

NKJV Audio

• Galatians

KJV Dramatized Audio

• Galatians

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: The Most Eligible Bachelor

The Most Eligible Bachelor Romance Collection. 2015. Barbour Books. 448 pages. [Source: Library]

It depends completely on your expectations. If you are looking for premise-focused, almost gimmick-focused, novellas where the focus is 98% romance and 2% history, then this collection of nine novellas may very well satisfy.

The nine novellas are: "A Bride for a Bargain" by Amanda Barratt, "Love's Reward" by Susanne Dietze, "A Doctor's Agreement," by Cynthia Hickey, "The Highwayman" by Shannon McNear, "Four Brides and a Bachelor" by Gabrielle Meyer, "The Most Ineligible Bachelor in Town," by Connie Stevens, "The Archaeologist's Find," by Erica Vetch, "Baker's Dozen," by Gina Welborn, and "The Final Baker Bride," by Kathleen Y'Barbo.

The book starts off relatively strong with Amanda Barratt's A Bride for a Bargain. Of course, at the time, I didn't know it would be one of the strongest stories, and, I remember finding it a bit shallower than I would have liked. But looking back, it is one of the best of the book. Yes, the characters are not as developed as I'd like--in comparison with a full-length novel. But in comparison to most of the stories in the book, the characters are indeed developed. Ada McClane is a poor woman--tending a sick brother--who has just lost her job. Geoffrey Buchanan offers her a job: pretending to be his fiancee for three weeks. The job pays very, very well. Readers can predict that he will fall in love with her, and she with him, but it will take a while for both to declare their love for one another.

Love's Reward by Susanne Dietze was enjoyable enough, I suppose. But the premise didn't sit well with me. A "friend" writes an ad in a paper: WANTED: THE HEART OF SAN FRANCISCO'S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR REWARD OF $1,000 TO THE UNMARRIED FEMALE WHO CAPTURES THE HEART OF DANIEL BLAIR, ARCHITECT, GUARANTEED PAYMENT BY A GENTLEMAN OF INTEGRITY. The problem for me? A gentleman of integrity wouldn't actually ever think of posting an ad like that about a supposed friend...let alone actually do it. And the ad is taken oh-so-seriously, and the readers have to put up with all these women throwing themselves at Daniel. Except for one, of course, who's known him for years and years. The story was slightly confusing at times. At best I feel neutral about this one.

A Doctor's Agreement by Cynthia Hickey annoyed me almost from start to finish. Why did it annoy me so much? I think because the heroine, Sadie, was so very, very stupid AND the hero, Zeke, was just as stupid. Sadie works for her father's newspaper, and, it is her oh-so-brilliant idea to have a contest to marry the town's new doctor off. Five women, I think, will be chosen to actively compete for the doctor's affection. He'll write up his thoughts about the contest for the paper. At the end, he'll choose one to be "the one." Reading the inner thoughts of the hero and heroine was incredibly annoying. She's madly in love with him but just KNOWS that he doesn't care for her in that way at all, that he could never, ever love her in return. And he's madly in love with her and just knows that she could never, ever, ever love him in return. And it's just pure ridiculousness that pushes this story forward.

The Highwayman by Shannon McNear is a story that the twelve-year-old me would have probably found giddy-making and just loved. The adult-me liked it well enough. A shy hero finds courage to court the woman he loves, but, only undercover dressed as a highwayman.

Four Brides and a Bachelor by Gabrielle Meyer was probably my favorite of the book. Probably. Luke Longley was my favorite hero. He is a missionary in need of a wife. There are four women for him to choose from. Most, if not all, are eager to be missionaries themselves and are in need of a husband in order to qualify for the mission field. I actually enjoyed the romance of this one.

The Most Ineligible Bachelor in Town by Connie Stevens was an okay story for me. It features an oh-so-shy hero, Micah North, who is in love with a beautiful young woman, Gabrielle, a woman who happens to already love him in return. She's just waiting for him to speak up and take an interest. The story may not have wowed me, but, it was a good, solid read.

The Archaeologist's Find by Erica Vetsch is an enjoyable novella. I liked this one very much. Definitely in my top three. The hero and heroine share a love of archaeology and an interest in all things Egypt. She's not aware that he's rich and therefore "suitable" according to her mother. And he's not aware that she's rich, so he doesn't think of her as out-of-bounds. He thinks marrying a rich socialite would mean giving up his dream. He wants someone to travel with him and live half the year or more in foreign lands. Overall, this is one of the better stories.

Baker's Dozen by Gina Welborn, what can I say? The hero wasn't very likable at all, in my opinion. And I almost cheered when the heroine, who had been in love with him for years and years and years, refused his proposal and said she was going to move on with her life. But then there was another chapter. This was another story where a LOT of women seem to be competing for a guy, for a proposal. It seemed very calculating. I just didn't care for it.

The Final Baker Bride by Kathleen Y'Barbo was a strong finish for the collection. I liked the way it started especially. But it didn't hold my attention start to finish, that could be more about my mood as reading than the story itself. Overall, I'd say it was definitely good.

More than a handful seem to be "inspired by" The Bachelor, and have women actually competing for the chance of getting the guy--getting a proposal. Many if not most of the women are very forward, let's say, and blunt. I will say, however, that the heroines always seem to be the exception to the rule. Every female character except the heroine from each of the stories, seem to be very forward, very blunt, very pushy, very competitive, more than a little immodest. Is that a generalization? Yes. Is it unfair? Somewhat. Because it isn't true for all nine stories. I know this. But is it true for at least four or five of the stories? Probably. Enough so that it overpowers the book so that that is what you remember.

Another issue I had with a handful of the stories was the stupidity of the main characters. For example, readers are expected to like a hero and heroine so incredibly, INCREDIBLY stupid that it feels like they couldn't recognize their own faces in the mirror.

I personally would have preferred stronger historical setting and details. At times, I thought the characters acted at odds with the times in which they supposedly lived. How they acted. How they spoke. It felt like contemporary characters dressing up, if that makes sense.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Quotes from the Cloud #35

This year, I hope share weekly posts of quotes. These quotes are from authors I'm reading and enjoying from the Clouds of Witnesses Reading Challenge. 

For fellow participants, what I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to see is for people to share quotes from what they're reading. I'd love for you to share quotes occasionally with your readers and let me know about it. If you don't have a blog, you could always leave quotes in the comments here.

“I am the way.” You should learn what this eloquent statement of Christ means. Don’t think of a path that you walk on with your feet. Instead, think of one that you travel on by faith—a faith that clings only to the Lord Christ. There are various ways of walking and wandering through life. First, there are many roads and footpaths for physically walking from one place to another, as cows and horses do. The Scripture teaches nothing about these paths. But there are other kinds of paths in this life. A second kind of path pertains to everyday life. On this path, we lead a good and moral life before the world and seek to preserve government, peace, honor, and order. Over all of these ways is still another path, about which the Scripture and Christ speak here. This third path is the way to get from this life to the next. For this journey, we need a much different way, a much different path. Here Christ is saying, “When you have come to me in faith, you are on the right way. This path is reliable and won’t mislead you.” ~ Martin Luther, "Faith Alone," August 9

All the stories in Holy Scripture, if they are interpreted correctly, point toward Christ. ~
Martin Luther, "Faith Alone," August 12

Whoever understands what it means for the Spirit to be our Counselor will have already won the battle. That person will find nothing but pure comfort and joy in heaven and on earth. Because the Father is the one who sends him to help us, and because Christ is the one who asks him to do so, this sending is certainly not done out of anger. Instead, it flows from a fatherly, heartfelt love. So Christians should remind themselves of this name for the Holy Spirit. He is a counselor, and we are the troubled and timid ones whom he helps. ~ Martin Luther, "Faith Alone," August 16

As I laid down your letter, after reading with interest the graphic account it gives of a very striking scene, I could not help feeling with renewed force a truth, trite enough, yet ever impressive; viz., that it is good to be attracted out of ourselves—to be forced to take a near view of the sufferings, the privations, the efforts, the difficulties of others. If we ourselves live in fulness of content, it is well to be reminded that thousands of our fellow-creatures undergo a different lot; it is well to have sleepy sympathies excited, and lethargic selfishness shaken up. If, on the other hand, we be contending with the special grief,—the intimate trial,—the peculiar bitterness with which God has seen fit to mingle our own cup of existence,—it is very good to know that our overcast lot is not singular; it stills the repining word and thought,—it rouses the flagging strength, to have it vividly set before us that there are countless afflictions in the world, each perhaps rivalling—some surpassing—the private pain over which we are too prone exclusively to sorrow. ~ Charlotte Bronte, 1851

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: The Golden Braid

The Golden Braid. Melanie Dickerson. 2015. Thomas Nelson. 368 pages. [Source: Review copy]

I definitely enjoyed reading Melanie Dickerson's The Golden Braid. I really should treat myself and reread all of her fairy tale romances. I think a second reading would help me see all the possible connections between the books. (The books can stand alone, however.)

The Golden Braid is a retelling of Rapunzel. I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. I loved, for example, how Rapunzel does not start off locked away in a tower like you might expect. Rapunzel's "mother" does seem odd from the start, but, her slip into definite madness comes with the passage of time--over the course of half the book. She does not come across as PURE EVIL from page one. Though, of course, one does know it IS coming sooner or later.

Rapunzel's character was nicely done. Readers learn early on that Rapunzel is eager to learn anything and everything. Well, everything perhaps midwifery! Rapunzel, more than anything perhaps, wants to learn to read and write. Unfortunately, Rapunzel and her mother rarely stay in any town or village long enough for Rapunzel to go about seeking a teacher. Her mother knows that Rapunzel's dreams lean towards learning and not towards romance. But that doesn't stop her from lecturing her daughter day and night about the evils of the opposite sex. Rapunzel holds hope that they will eventually travel to a village or town and her mother will consent to her learning to read and write. It hasn't happened yet, but, Rapunzel holds onto her dream.

The novel opens with mother and daughter about to move again. On their journey, the two are attacked. They are "saved" by a knight. Readers can very well guess that this knight will be THE KNIGHT to save Rapunzel from her tower-fate. But predictability can be a great thing in a romance, particularly a fairy tale adaptation. Gerek is his name, I believe. And the two do not fall instantly in love with one another, which is a good thing, in my opinion. Rapunzel has heard a million bad things about guys, and, she's not ready to give her heart away within seconds of meeting a handsome knight. Rapunzel is curious, but, curious for all the right reasons. He seems smart, well-traveled, like he might know how to read and write in multiple languages. Perhaps he can tell her more about where they're heading, and if there is someone that might be willing to teach her. The two remain guarded with each other. He puts up boundaries because he doesn't want temptations. Boundaries are second nature with Rapunzel.

After Rapunzel ends up saving HIM, he ends up with two broken bones, and a long duration in bed; he stays at a monastery to recuperate. She ends up working--cleaning the women's rooms--in exchange for lessons. Her big dream of learning to read and write, well, it gets off to a good start. Good but oh-so-grumpy start.

But the lessons end up being a BIG, BIG, BIG secret from her mother, and, when she does find out--we all knew it was coming--threats are made. Rapunzel has a BIG choice to make. To stay with her mother no matter what, or, to run away from her only family...

I love that so much of the book is spent away from the tower. The book has familiar touches of the Rapunzel story without a doubt, but, it is unique too.

I would definitely recommend this one.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

My Year with Spurgeon #35

Fear Not
Charles Spurgeon
1857
Isaiah 12:14

I SHALL speak this morning to those that are discouraged, depressed in spirit, and sore troubled in the Christian life. There are certain nights of exceeding great darkness, through which the spirit has to grope in much pain and misery, and during which much of the comfort of the Word is particularly needed.

This much I know, if it be not so with all of you it is so with me. I have to speak to-day to myself; and whilst I shall be endeavoring to encourage those who are distressed and down-hearted, I shall be preaching, I trust, to myself, for I need something which shall cheer my heart — why I cannot tell, wherefore I do not know, but I have a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me; my soul is cast down within me, I feel as if I had rather die than live; all that God hath done by me seems to be forgotten, and my spirit flags and my courage breaks down with the thought of that which is to come.

I need your prayers; I need God’s Holy Spirit; and I felt that I could not preach to-day, unless I should preach in such a way as to encourage you and to encourage myself in the good work and labor of the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, before we can do any great things for Christ there must be a sense of weakness. Secondly, there must be trust in promised strength; and thirdly, there must be fear removed by that promise: “Fear not, for I will help thee.”

Depend on this: God will empty out all that thou hast before he will ever put his own into thee.

Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.

He that thinks, will always think himself little. Men who have no brains are always great men; but those who think, must think their pride down — if God is with them in their thinking.

Give God to a man, and he can do all things. Put God into a man’s arm, and he may have only the jawbone of an ass to fight with, but he will lay the Philistines in heaps: put God into a man’s hand, and he may have a giant to deal with, and nothing but a sling and a stone; but he will lodge the stone in the giant’s brow before long; put God into a man’s eye, and he will flash defiance on kings and princes; put God into a man’s lip, and he will speak right honestly, though hie death should be the wages of his speech. There is no fear of a man who has got God with him; he is all-sufficient; there is nothing beyond his power.

Let us labor to get rid of fear, when we are certain we are serving our Master. And let these be our reasons: Get rid of fear, because fear is painful. How it torments the spirit! When the Christian trusts, he is happy; when he doubts, he is miserable. When the believer looks to his Master and relics upon him, he can sing; when he doubts his Master, he can only groan.

Fear, too, is weakening. Make a man afraid — he will run at his own shadow; make a man brave, and he will stand before an army and overcome them.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Week in Review: August 23-29

KJV Audio Bible (Dramatized)

• John

ESV Reader's Bible

• Psalms
• Acts
• Romans
• 1 Corinthians

NKJV

• 1 Samuel
• John

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: John

John: That You Might Believe (Preaching the Word) R. Kent Hughes. 1999/2014. Crossway Books. 528 pages. [Source: Bought]

This is the second book I've read in Crossway's oh-so-excellent PREACHING THE WORD commentary series. The first I read was Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr.'s Isaiah: God Saves Sinners. I loved, loved, LOVED it. Isaiah is among my favorite books in the Old Testament. (The only other book that might top it is Psalms. I also love Deuteronomy.) John is one of my favorite New Testament books. (I also love, love, love Revelation). I would definitely say that this expository commentary was well worth reading.

It did take me three months to read it all. (My goal was to complete it by the end of August.) I tried to read a chapter or two per week. But it wasn't a chore or a duty to keep on reading it. Far from it. It was a book I picked up with pleasure and joy. For each chapter is packed with information and insight and grace and hope. No matter the chapter, there was always something thought-provoking or engaging. So even if you don't typically read commentaries--consider this one! It isn't so much a commentary--though it does examine every verse and chapter of the book of John--as it is a collection of expository sermons preached from the book of John.
It has depth and substance, but it's oh-so-accessible. Yes, five hundred pages is a commitment. But taken a chapter or two at a time, it's well worth your time. And I do recommend reading it slowly, and, alongside the book of John. (It was my summer project to read the book of John thirty times over three months.)

I think the more of yourself you give to the reading, the more you'll learn. Engage with the text. Consider it. Be willing to ask hard questions and be honest with your answers.

I learned so much from each and every chapter. Here's a small taste of what to expect.

OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH is inextricably bound up with the size of our vision of Christ. Once we get away from a one-dimensional or overly narrow picture of Christ, once we see the fullness and glory of Christ in the Scriptures, our lives will be enlarged. I believe most of us need a bigger vision of Christ.

We learn a great deal about sin in Genesis 3, and we learn much about grace in the first chapter of John. Grace, God reaching out to us in our sin, is best understood when we contrast it with the dark tableau of the garden. It is tremendously important to understand grace since it is the pipeline through which we receive all of God’s tremendous benefits—the greatness of Christ, the greatness of his love, the greatness of the gospel.

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, is a concept that has been so overworked that many today preach and follow a Christ who has no resemblance to the Christ of the New Testament. That Jesus is an idol, drained of his deity—a weak, good-natured deity whose great aim is to let us off the hook. Do not get me wrong. Jesus is meek and mild. In fact, he describes himself in that way in Matthew 11:29 when he invites those who have burdens to come to him. Dozens of Scriptures in the New Testament testify to his gentleness. But we need to balance this with other descriptions of our Lord. For instance, in Mark 3:5, the passage describing the man with the paralyzed hand, Jesus looked around at all those who were questioning whether or not he would heal on the Sabbath, and “he looked around at them with anger.” Jesus’ anger was a swelling wrath. There was nothing gentle in the fierce message he sent to Herod either: “Go and tell that fox . . .” (Luke 13:32), or in his response to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23). I am sure the Pharisees in the temple saw nothing of his gentleness, meekness, and mildness when he said, “You are like whitewashed tombs” and “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matthew 23:27, 33). The scene described in our text is a wild scene! Men were grasping at their moneybags and tables as Jesus applied the whip to those not moving. But the fact is, Jesus was as Godlike here as he was when he hung on the cross. He was revealing as much of God on this occasion as he did at Calvary. He was displaying a great underlying truth: Love presupposes hatred. A love for the downtrodden, the poor, and the oppressed also brings about a hatred for the conditions that caused their suffering.

The measure of someone’s love is how much he is willing to give. The measure of our Lord’s love is the cross!

Do we really know our own hearts? As we get to know ourselves, we find more and more that needs healing. But the question is, do we really want to be healed? I am speaking primarily of bitterness, unresolved conflicts, and things that lie hidden within us. Sometimes when we experienced these things, we were aware of them but didn’t deal with them. We cauterized them, layered them over. But they are realities within us, and they do affect our lives. Even though we cannot put a finger on them, they take their toll. As a result we do not feel God’s power; we do not feel the authenticity of grace we know we ought to feel. We know we should be joyful in all the things we confess and while we are doing the right things—reading the Word and praying—but we have little power or inner peace. The question remains, do we really want to be healed? Do we really want to have those things resolved? I believe with all my heart that if we do and if we take the time to ask God to do his work within us, he will reveal to us the things that must be washed away—the refuse, the filth, the sin.

Abiding begins with being students of the Word of God. If we were to compare the various ages of Protestant church history, we would have to say that today is an age of Biblical ignorance. People do not take the first step in abiding in the Word of God. Yet the importance of basing our lives on the Scriptures is urgent. We all need to know the Word of God. We must be students of the Word—not only the preachers, not just the educated, but all believers. And yet even if that takes place, we are not necessarily abiding. To abide in the Word we must obey it. And that is how freedom comes. We learn the Word of God, we obey it, and then we are free. The exhilaration of that freedom motivates us to study the Word of God more, and when we again obey it, more freedom comes. And on and on and on it goes—from freedom to freedom to freedom. The reason many Christians are not experiencing spiritual freedom today is that while they may be Biblically literate, they are not Biblically obedient.

Prayer is not a means by which we get God to do what we want. Rather, it is a means by which God does through us what he wants.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible