More books!

The Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King- this is super fun series beginning around the start of the first Word War, Mary Russell meets Sherlock Holmes and thus begins their partnership of crime solving through genius. I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories, and King’s stories have all the things I enjoyed about those stories- plus female characters and a little romance- two things I missed in Doyle’s books.

Future Grace by John Piper- I could probably read this again and enjoy it just as much the second time. So much good stuff in there! There are 31 chapters so you can read a chapter a day for a month, which is what I did. It was really a timely read for me as the last chapters deal some with death, and I have had some death in my life lately.

The Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald- This is one of those children’s stories full of divine wisdom MacDonald wrote. It is about a little boy who is visited by the North Wind, and what happens as a result of these visits. I loved the imagination MacDonald had in writing this; for example- in a dream we find out that lightening bolts are actually bees that escape from the moon! How fun is that? At the end, we find out what The North Wind actually is- maybe more astute readers caught it before, but I wasn’t sure ‘til the last chapter.

The Spark in the Machine by Dr. Daniel Keown– this book was recommended to me by a friend, I would not have picked it up otherwise. It discusses the commonalities between Chinese traditional medicine and thought/acupuncture and the Western understanding of Anatomy &Physiology. It was fascinating! I will say I felt it got more technical towards the middle and end of the book, maybe more directed toward doctors than the average reader. But, I still found it interesting, and it refreshed a lot of my A&P from high school and university. 

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer- Confession: I didn’t actually read this one- I listened to the audiobook as I cook or do dishes. I have been meaning to read Bonhoeffer’s books since I read his biography a few years ago. This work discusses Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, I found it convicting and challenging to my spiritual discipline and my level of love for others.

Adopted for Life by Russell D. Moore- this is audio version as well, and I am pretty sure the reader has a southern accent- just like Russell Moore? This book is about our adoption in Christ, and also how physical adoption of children is a beautiful way to honor/imitate God’s taking us and making us his own. I haven’t actually finished yet, but if I hadn’t already been considering adopting, I would be now.

Chop Chop by L. N. Cronk-  I didn’t know what to expect when I started this series. A favorite author had posted it as good and free on Amazon one day, so I got it. This series chronicles the lives of one man and the people around him- it is funny and sad and joyful- kind of like real life. I would recommend this series to any believer who has dealt with loss and heartache (pretty sure that is all of us).

Deliverance story

This happened nearly a year ago now, I think I always meant to post it but never got around to it. I wrote the account soon after it happened though. This is when I was living with my teammate "Sue" in the capital. ( I don't know if it matters that I change her name, so I will do it just in case.)This happened while we were doing lessons in our friend Bobo's

Sue found out from Bobo, the leader of the house, that his daughter had been having attacks caused by demons, as they were talking about it, another girl in the yard said she had had problems with them too. Sue called one of our colleagues who is well connected with the local pastors to ask if she knew of a pastor in this part of the city. Our colleague called a pastor who agreed to come that afternoon. 

When he came we found out that he spoke the same language of Bobo and his family which was such a blessing, not everyone’s French was really up to par for spiritual matters. The pastor began by asking both the girls about their relationships with the demons, what they did, when they came, how long they had been with them- one girl was eager to have the demons leave, we will call her Rachel the other was non-committal and not really participating, we’ll call her Mary. He found out that both girls had two demons there, and they had been there for a lot longer than we realized.  He then asked if they were ok with being prayed for in Jesus’ name by Christians to have the demons leave; at this point Mary appeared to be asleep, but the pastor said the demon had come.  He started by singing a simple praise song to Jesus, Mary quickly left the room. 

By now most of the adults and people in the yard had come in to watch. Pastor and Sue and I put our hands on her and he started praying in French and we prayed in English, mostly “in the name of Jesus leave” or variations of that, she started kicking and convulsing and yelling, pretty much like what we see in those Darren Wilson films, and the guys came and held her down. One of the guys in the yard who is a Catholic came up and started praying with us too.  We stopped and she said one was gone and one was still there, so we prayed some more, and checked again, she was hesitant to speak, but Pastor really wanted her to say the demons were gone and to show him where they had gone, what direction. 

Then we prayed for Mary, it took longer, same basic process, I don’t know if she told him or he just knew, but he said that demon was more entrenched or it was stronger, and a snake spirit, it reminded me of one of the documentaries where that happened.  Anyway Mary was less happy after it was done and kind of sulky…we didn’t really understand all of it, how much is cultural or her personality or what. 

Then Pastor prayed for the whole family and gave his number to Bobo and the girls. He was really good with it all. I think Rachel said she wanted to accept Jesus, I don’t know how much she understood but she wanted the demons gone and they have each others’  contact information. Andy, the Catholic was visibly touched by the whole thing too and talked to Pastor afterward. So we can be praying for that whole family and future protection for those girls as well.

 Pastor  said to us “thank you for trusting me” which was super humbling because we were like “thank you for coming and doing this!”  Really, it was a good learning experience for Sue and I, and I pray that those girls are done being in bondage now. I also pray this helps lead that family to Christ.