Books of 2019

To clarify, these are favorite books I have read in thus far in 2019, not books that were necessarily  written in 2019.

Pride and Prejudice and Passports by Corrie Garret- Again. Another P&P retelling. In the six months since last writing I have read others but  I chose this one to include because I liked it the best. The ‘Bennet family’ characters are immigrants from Mexico. ‘Darcy’ is involved in political strategy for the Republican party, ‘Wickham’ is a photographer, Mr. Bingsley is up and coming politician. I thought it was a well balanced and fun adaptation.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky- Not gonna lie, this falls in my top 10 books for which I am proud for having finished. I read it with a group of friends and the fact that we had a date to discuss it helped me finish in a timely manner. But the last page was worth the whole endeavour. It really was. If a book has a good ending I can forgive a lot of confusion on the way to getting there. And given the story was crossing time, culture, and language to enter my head, there was some confusion. But I totally recommend it, maybe with a book club or a friend or at least a Youtube video to help you along.

The Eight by Katherine Neville- This book I can best to compare to the Da Vinci Code. You are flipping back and forth between a modern-day search and a quest in the 1700s, both for the same thing. What thing? That is the story! If I played Chess I would have liked it even more as Chess is a major theme throughout, I still was sucked into the story without knowing the game though. And, I solved half of one of the riddles in the book before the protagonist! That was fun. Kind of a nerd dream come true book, history and puzzles and chess.

The Road to Character by David Brooks- Have not actually finished yet, but loving it! Brooks is such a talented writer. He takes 9 traits of character and 9 accompanying historical figures, one for each chapter. He shows how these people embodied these traits, and why these traits are important in our society today. Kind of a call to look back and see some of what we have lost or forgotten in American culture.

Vinegar Girl: William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew Retold by Anne Tyler- I have this goal of reading the actual works of Shakespeare before I die, but I thought I would start with modern retellings first! In this retelling ‘Katherine’ is the daughter of a researcher who desperately needs his co-researcher to stay for their work, but his coworker’s visa is going to expire soon. You can probably guess the rest. The coworker is from Russia, I liked how the author gave us insight into how he was reacting to American culture as an expat.

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776-Present by Michael B. Oren- Former Israeli Ambassador takes you through history and catalogues America’s long and not always simple relationship with the Middle East. I found it very insightful.

The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl- This is about the era before copyrights were in place to protect authors and printing presses. ‘Bookaneers’ were people who brought books across the continents to print them without the author’s permission or knowledge. In this story you learn some history of Robert Louis Stevenson. Another book where if the last lines had not been written I would have liked it significantly less.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Berbury- I laughed, and I cried (twice!) reading this book. It is originally a French novel, but the translation was excellent, you probably couldn’t tell had I not mentioned it. The author herself is a philosophy teacher, so I ended up skimming some paragraphs due to extensive wordiness. But the story was so unpredictable and beautiful. It is told from the viewpoints of both a child genius and a middle-aged, poor hotel attendant who is also a genius but hides it from the world.

Skeletons in Gods Closet by Joshua Ryan Butler- This book tackles some of the standard obstacles post-modern thinkers run up against when exploring Christianity. Or even lifelong believers have these questions. It has chapters like The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgement, the Hope of Holy War. If anyone reads it and wants to discuss I would love to! I really enjoyed the book, not sure if I agree with every single thing Butler says, but I did learn a lot.

On Mercy Ships

A couple weeks ago I called my friend who is a nurse at the  missions clinic two hours from me. I asked if I could stay with her for a few days to rest. She said yes, but there was also a Mercy Ships team arriving for a screening, would I want to help with that?

When I was in nursing school I was interested in Mercy Ships in a nursing capacity. Though I have changed directions over the years,the concept and driving force behind the Mercy Ships ministry has remained something that excited and interests me. I will give a short and incomplete summary of the ministry here, but you should check out their website to see more.

 The ship stays at the port of their host country (usually African) 10 months and then goes for maintenance for the other two months of the year. Crew members from around the world fly in and serve on the ship, some long term and some short term.

Part of the job is finding candidates for the surgeries they offer, so they send screening teams around the country to find those who qualify for care. This is what I got to help with yesterday. The logistic work behind these screenings is amazing. Hundreds of people showed up the night before or the early morning to be seen, and the nurses and security and admin teams worked from 5am to nearly 11pm, seeing candidates, scheduling accepted patients, giving them the documents and information they will need to travel to the capital for surgery. The sheer number of factors in this process overwhelmed me. Think medicine, think developing country, think poverty and ignorance colliding with Western medicine.

 Of the 1100 people that were screened at the site I was at, 100 were accepted for care.I was asked to pray with people who came to wait hours in line but were rejected in the end for any number of reasons. Maybe their blood pressure was too high to safely do surgery, maybe whatever condition they had was too far advanced for intervention to be an option, maybe their condition was not bad enough to warrant the risk of surgery, etc. I so admire those screening nurses who have to tell people they cannot help them. Yesterday, whenever there was someone who seemed particularly upset or like they needed comfort they would call me over and I would pray with them.

I saw some very sad things yesterday.

But I remembered as I was praying with them, for hope in the midst of severe disappointment- that I truly believe that we do have hope, if not in this life then in the one to come. Some people had no hope medically speaking. But with Jesus our hope is never gone. In the local language I work with,  we say ‘don’t cut your hope!’ when someone is very sad. And that saying only finds its true home in the Gospel.

I am so thankful that Jesus was a Man of Sorrows, that he knew suffering here on earth, that he can enter into our suffering with us, and ultimately he will take our suffering from us by having suffered for us on the cross.

Books I've read lately

The Unseen Realm: Rediscovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible by Michael S. Heiser- I was recommended this book by a Bible translator from another organization working in this same country. Heiser talks about the worldview the ancient readers had as they were reading the Old Testament. Honestly this book presents a lot of ideas I had never been exposed to before. I wrote several of my Bible college or seminary friends to ask them to read it as well and let me know what they think. I encourage you to do the same! Maybe you will think he is way off base, either way I would love to hear other opinions.

Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry- I think everyone should read this book sometime before they die. I actually heard about Wendell Berry from interns that came and stayed with us two summers ago. After they left his name popped up in two books I was reading in the same week, what? Berry is a believer and a  farmer/writer who lives in Kentucky and writes beautiful thoughts about the things he knows. I have some of his poetry as well, but I won’t feel guilty if I can’t get into it, because to me his prose is poetry. I kind of love the fact that he has won all this acclaim and all these writing awards, and then he went back to his farm and lives in Kentucky.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge- This was a recommendation by my friend Bethany who has never ever steered me wrong giving book advice. It is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.  I could not put it down, stayed up late to finish it this weekend.

Binti by Nndedi Oforafor- another Bethany suggestion, Binti lives in the future, kind of a Star Wars feeling future. She is from Earth, from an African tribe specialized in math and equations. But her tribe never leaves its land, she is the first to leave it and go to another planet for university. This short book is the story of her journey there.

Writing Fiction for Dummies by Peter Economy- I actually have a friend who doesn’t buy any of the Dummies books, because he says he is not a dummy. I don’t really think I am a dummy either, but I do want to write a book and don’t know exactly how to start the process. I keep putting off starting and reading other books to help me start or to give me ideas, but then that reading takes my time, it is kind of a catch 22 situation.

On Doing Good

"I could never do what you are doing!"

I hear that a good deal when talking about my life in West Africa. Generally from other Christians this is said in a tone of admiration or respect. In many ways I do make sacrifices believers in America do not have to make.

But I would like to step off any pedestal created in peoples' minds. I only followed the call God placed in my heart. And you can and should do the same. It will look different than what I do. You have different gifts and abilities. 


There is controversy over the phrase "Everything is missions." or "Every Christian is a missionary." However it is true that each follower of Christ is called to bring heaven to earth, to preach the Gospel and to live as Christ lived. 

Maybe you can't move overseas to do those things. Invest in where you are and  in those around you. To quote a  refrigerator magnet on my friend Max's fridge:"Bloom where you are planted."

I have a friend who is a gifted writer living in Oklahoma. She is involved in a group called Poetic Justice  She is now visiting women's prisons teaching poetry workshops. I have another friend teaching song writing in women's prisons. Another guy I graduated from high school with is a military veteran now working to start a non-profit for veterans suffering from PTSD using exercise and nutrition as a platform.

If you are having a hard time finding ways to be active in the Kingdom, I would recommend thinking about what are the things that really bother you. What are the things that make you think "Someone should really work on that." When  I was learning about unreached people groups, I kept thinking " I can't believe this is still a reality, who is going to fix this?" And then I joined that team.

This wasn't meant to be a lecture, but an encouragement and a challenge. I can't wait to exchange ministry reports with you all next time I am home!

Books

As you will read, I have been on quite a fantasy genre kick lately!

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer- recommended by a friend, super fun! Fantasy futuristic series based on traditional fairy tales, but also has aspects that put me in mind of Star Wars. Funny dialogue, exciting plot, 2nd book was my least favorite, third book my favorite.

The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig- another recommendation, my friends have good taste! Another fantasy novel about a daughter of a time traveler, their ship travels through time and space, to anywhere the navigator believes exists. Great book for real life travelers as it carries the theme of a feeling of rootlessness and contentment in that.

Ally by Michael B. Oren- This was read in effort to educate myself a little bit on Israel before visiting there next month! It is the autobiography of the Israeli Ambassador to America under the Obama administration. I learned so much and was able to hang in there because I became interested in the narrative.

12 Rules for Life, An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson- If you don't know who Jordan Peterson is, get on youtube and watch one of his lectures or interviews! I am a total fangirl now. He is a Canadian professor/author/psychologist who knows a lot about  history, mythology, psychology and how these things play out in our everyday lives and help shape our futures.

The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner- I love the writing in this series! I am not yet finished but want to reread the first book already. I like it when I can't predict the ending in a story, definitely the case in these books! Young adult fantasy in the form of an epic, but with lots of wit to keep it from taking itself too seriously.

The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden- ok, she is still writing the third book, so guess I can't speak for the entire trilogy, but so far, so good! Fantasy based on Russian fairy tales and lore. A touch darker than my usual fare, but hey.....it's based on Russian stuff, so what did I expect? Also I am kind of a wimp, so it really isn't even all that dark.

Big shout-out to the Tulsa Public Library, with their digital collection, the people at Amazon kindle division must be wondering what became of one of their most faithful customers! Yay for libraries!

Lines

As I sit in the early morning quiet

Drinking my tea and pondering life

My face in the window across from me catches my eye.

The windows in this house serve as mirrors.

This mirror is too good.

I see the beginnings of lines on my face.

How is that possible?

I have heard their presence just means you have spent a lot of time laughing

Hmm.

We’ll go with that.

But since I am in a thoughtful mood as the sky turns pink and the birds start chirping,

I consider some other lines in my life.

I think of the lines across the sky I have made

Leaving loved ones and comng back to them, repeat cycle.

So many emotions in those lines.

I think of the lines I have crossed.

Some lines are not meant to be crossed, others are made to be crossed,

It seems part of wisdom is discerning the two.

Lastly I think of the lines I myself have drawn in the figurative sand.

“This far and no further.”

Famous words, good words, so I use them.

The sun is peaking over the roof of the house across the yard, my contemplative state is fast departing

In its place I begin to think about breakfast.

Books and youtube channel faves

I haven’t done one of these in a long time! It is a little different this time, instead of only books, I threw in a couple YouTube channels I watch in here just to change it up. I know I am always appreciative of good tips for new things to read or watch or listen to- so here are some of mine!

The Kennedy Stern series by Alana Terry- Alana Terry is a new favorite author of mine! This protagonist is a missionary kid returning to the states for university, she gets tangled up in mysteries and dilemmas as she settles into life in the states. She also grapples with lots of questions about American culture that we as believers should be thinking about. Terry does a great job of expressing different sides of each issue but not giving a specific answer to the question. The books were hard for me to put down, they are page-turners!

https://www.amazon.com/Kennedy-Stern-Christian-Suspense-Books-ebook/dp/B072W9LW5F/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1501970728&sr=1-1&keywords=kennedy+stern+series

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis- Brittany recommended this one to me, I am glad she did! C.S. Lewis really was a genius. He made me think about my faith and my doubts and how I present the Gospel to those in my life, all with a fairly short, engaging, beautiful story.

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Divorce-C-S-Lewis-ebook/dp/B002BD2US4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1501970800&sr=1-1&keywords=the+great+divorce

The Bible Project YouTube channel- These guys create videos giving teaching on God’s Word in an approachable and engaging way. They have videos on every book of the Bible, as well as videos on the different literacy styles, different themes in the Bible, and more. The videos are generally 5-15 minutes long. https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject

Dear Mr. Darcy by Katherine Reay- This is not in fact a regency love story. If you have read Daddy Long- Legs, it is a modern-day telling of that story. But it has deep elements exploring the main character’s growth, processing through trauma and letting healing into her life. Also, Katherine Reay is one of these authors who name-drops other good books throughout her book, and I always love that. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010R8UXKQ/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

Lutheran Satire YouTube channel- Best known for their St. Patrick’s bad analogy video (if you just watch one, I recommend that one), this channel is always good for a laugh, if you like satire about church history/theological issues in rather poorly made videos, which just adds to the charm for me I guess. https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLutheranSatire

The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book: 500 Easy Recipes for Every Machine, Both Stovetop and Electric by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough- Between this book and Pinterest, I have been trying a lot of things in my pressure cooker and I just love it! I guess in America we don’t think about how much gas or electricity we use to cook, but here the pressure cooker helps my gas bottle last much longer with way shorter cook times. I also love the whole just one pot to wash aspect, and it is apparently a healthier method of cooking vegetables too.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0804185328/ref=tmm_pap_used_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr=

Cries of the Heart by Ravi Zacharias- Ravi Zacharias breaks down the book into chapters themed on the basic emotional needs we humans have or our heart cries, and how God answers those cries. I could probably read this one every couple of years and be blessed from it each time.

https://www.amazon.com/Cries-Heart-Ravi-Zacharias-ebook/dp/B007V95AMG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1501970189&sr=1-1&keywords=cries+of+the+heart+ravi

Chop, Chop- The Series of a Lifetime by L.N. Cronk- I get the same feeling about this series as I do about Les Miserables- like my heart just felt like a wrung out washcloth by the end. That’s good, that means I felt a lot while I was reading. I laughed, I cried- I really did. The series chronicles a group of friends through their lives as students, then parents and foster parents- so much real life inside this story. The writing is witty while dealing with some heavy issues.

https://www.amazon.com/Chop-Lifetime-Books-L-N-Cronk-ebook/dp/B01E22VU46/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1501970449&sr=1-3&keywords=chop+ln+cronk