Biblica
This looks like a fantastic way to get a fresh look at the Bible. My friends, Sharon & Keith are reading through these books. It is fun to get my hands on them and be inspired by looking at the Word as an entire narrative. The Word of God is alive and active.

Before the Last Resort
A book about saving one's marriage and the LORD knows that marriages these days are in need of being saved. One reviewer said that anyone who is married can benefit from this book. The subtitle is 3 simple questions to rescue your marriage.

You are not a sinful wretch
My daughter, Grace sent this blog post to me. What an encouragement. The past couple of years, I have been struggling with my identity in Christ. As a Christian, I am to find my identity in the One who has called me his own. In Colossians it says, "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him" (Colossians 1:21-22 ESV) Yes, we still sin but we have been made new by the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus Christ. When we choose the label Sinner over Saved One, then we are identifying with our former condition instead of our current standing in Christ.

So often, I find myself in conversation and getting practical help for living life in the Truth and then I forget, I don't write it down or make a mental note and I fail to take action. I don't want to be that person. There is plenty of trouble in this life but there is also plenty of help. We need each other. Everyday has enough trouble of its own. So often it take a natural disaster like Hurricane Sandy for people to realize that we need each other. It is not something to be ashamed of but rather an opportunity to embrace our humanity every day. We were not created to walk through life alone. When our Creator made everything, he saw that "it was good" after creating all the major elements that make up life but then God said, It is not good that man should be alone.

Remember one another, love one another, be there for others and let others be there for you.

Treasures in my hands

In every room of our home someone has a book going Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott in the bathroom,

Bible wherever I last read it, night stand, kitchen table, on the couch, in my bag

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry on the night stand along with those books that want to be read.

The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges read and waiting to be blogged about

Note to Self by Joe Thorn on the Kindle

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs keeping company with my Bible

A Harmony of the Gospels

To be edited at a later date. Just wanted to post on Leap Day.

Making a house a home
Yesterday, I had a very interesting conversation with my daughter, Grace. She wanted to talked to me about what it takes to be a full time homemaker. Let me say this, she is well on her way in knowing how to run a household. She has missed out on taking care of little ones although she did a bit of that before we left Massachusetts. Our discussion contained not only the practical but also the philosophy and flavor of homemaking.
In some ways, it was hard to be open and vulnerable even though we have always been that way with our children. I guess because the first things that came to my mind were the places where I fall short.
See our home is not so much in the physical place where we live but the way we live together wherever that may be. Our hearts are knit together, we love one another, forgive each other and we are pulling for one another. We laugh and cry together. Living by faith is not just a spiritual saying but we are actually living by faith. One of our loves is the written word. Some would say, "with all those library cards what are you doing packing all those books and lugging them everywhere?" A number of our books are treasures. We had read books together or one of us reads a book and then we pass it around the family. This is probably an aspect of homemaking that might not come to your mind but when I pack or unpack books it touches a place in my heart and my family is right there with me.

The legacy we leave will not be what kind of car we drove, what kind of houses (or apartments) we lived in, which cell phone service or Internet provider we used. It will be about the memories, stories and love we shared. It will be the type character we ourselves possessed and helped to cultivate in our kids. It will be whether we served others or expected others to serve us or whether all our striving was for God's glory or to make a name for ourselves. Home is where the heart is and when our hearts are in the Hands of the King, our nests down here large or small are just little campsites on the way to the Celestial City, our Eternal home.
Pax,
CM