Hope Road

I like The Rebelution and the Harris’ brothers “teenage rebellion against low expectations,” and something I particularly like about their mission is that they focus on the importance of small hard things. In a recent entry, they discuss this issue again with a quotation from young blogger Tim Sweetman:

Many young Christians long for Christian “stardom,” desiring to do “big things” for God, and are often in sin when pride is the catalyst for their desire to be on that stage, literal or figurative.

(Read the rest of Tim’s article here.)

I’ve written about this before also, in my post The Little Faithfuls. I love to think that, were it not for thousands upon thousands of ordinary Christians all around the world doing small hard things every day, so much would be different.

The scribes who painstakingly copied Scripture by dim candlelight…
the white-collar workers who give faithfully to the cause of missions…
the illustrators of Bible storybooks for children…
the janitors who clean church bathrooms…
the missionaries who labor for years with little fruit or recognition…
the secretary who prepares the bulletin every Sunday…
the friend whose exhortation is perfectly timed and needed…
and countless others.

It’s easy to sit safely behind my computer screen and write about the importance of faithfulness in small difficulties. But the truth is, I have to get up and do things I really don’t want to do tomorrow. Small things, hard things. Will I be faithful?

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Filed under: Christianity, Personal Reflection, Scripture on July 16th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

My title for this entry was inspired by the children’s book at left. (Children and books… that’s basically the summary of my life right there. ) If you’ve been reading Hope Road for longer than two minutes, you’ve probably noticed that I like to read - and that would be a slight understatement.

However, I think something happened to me when I moved the tassel from the left side to the right (or was it the right side to the left? I can never be sure). Maybe I did too much reading in those last few crazy months. Maybe I just plain read too much throughout my lifetime! Because this summer, I have read far fewer books than usual.

What’s even stranger is that I keep starting books and then not finishing them. Being the perfectionist that I am, I used to never do that. I felt committed to books when I started them, and I had to see them through, even if I didn’t like them. Part of the change was college, I think - teaching me to read assigned portions of a book instead of the whole thing.

I don’t want to abandon all of my intellectual faculties to a pile of littered, leftover childhood dreams. So I am trying to start reading consistently again - and not just picking up whatever I feel like rereading from my bookshelf, but something valuable that takes a little work to get through.

The point is, I started reading a couple of books recently, and I want to write about them so I will be committed to finishing them!

The first is a fiction book, The Old Helmet by Susan Warner. (I reviewed Queechy by the same author.) Although it’s a simplistic and stereotyped explanation, Susan Warner is kind of like a Christian Jane Austen. She wrote a couple of decades later, but her books have the same interest and insight into human character as Austen’s (with less romance), and the additions of Puritan-influenced theology and religious life. I have eight or ten of her books, and I love them. I haven’t read The Old Helmet for a few years, so I am looking forward to rereading it. It’s 434 pages long in very small type, and I’m not used to reading for long periods of time anymore, so it will take some discipline to get through!

The second is a nonfiction book, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever. I’ve been reading this for a few weeks now. I got it back in April, I think, and have had it on my list to read since then. I’ve only read about a chapter and a half so far, but it’s really good, and it’s refreshing my perspective on this central element of the Christian faith. Mark Dever has such a mixture of brilliance and relatability (is that a word?); it’s a privilege to read what he writes.

So I really want to finish these books… I don’t know how fast, but I need to stay committed to reading them! I hope to have reviews posted by Christmas.

Filed under: Books/Writing on July 15th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

At work (daycare), today was library day. I went with the school-agers and another teacher. A librarian read the kids a couple of stories. Both of them were about fairy tales, and both were a little… non-traditional.

During the battle scene in the second book, the princess saved the prince by sweeping him up into her arms and taking him to safety. How very forward-thinking of this medieval young lady.

Then I heard one of the boys say, “Pshh… it should’ve been the other way around.”

Perhaps all is not lost for the youth of America…

Filed under: Culture on July 14th, 2008 | 11 Comments »

I wrote most of this a few weeks ago during naptime for the kids. I was wanting to escape into the safety of the Word, yet feeling how small my little Bible was compared to the overwhelming environment surrounding me. But that was only an illusion - really, these words convey the truth of the universe, and I wanted to express that a little in writing.

the world surrounds me, tangible and attention-grabbing, filling my every sense.

i bend over my little bible, reading the tiny print carefully in the dim light.

these words seem so fragile, ethereal even, insubstantial, whispering and fleeting.

but though i cannot hear it, these words are shouting.

filling the universe.

truthful and endlessly real in every crack and crevice of this mortal soil.

flying, trumpeting, reigning supreme over every human heart and all creatures great and small.

no one can escape; nowhere is the truth of the words changed.

i have seen faraway places, broken and evil faces.

but not one is exempt from what i read here.

between these covers. they are small words. but they shout. i am not alone.

“The heavens are Yours; the earth also is Yours; the world and all that is in it, You have founded them.” (Psalm 89:11-12)

Filed under: Personal Reflection, Scripture on July 13th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

I was reading Psalm 94 recently. I especially love these verses:

“For the Lord will not forsake His people; He will not abandon His heritage… If the Lord had not been my help, my soul soon would have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’ Your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul… the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.” (vv. 14, 18-19, 22)

And I really appreciate Matthew Henry’s commentary:

“He that sends the trouble, will send the rest. The psalmist found succour and relief only in the Lord, when all earthly friends failed.

We are beholden, not only to God’s power, but to His pity, for spiritual supports; and if we have been kept from falling into sin, or shrinking from our duty, we should give Him the glory, and encourage our brethren.

The psalmist had many troubled thoughts concerning the case he was in, concerning the course he should take, and what was likely to be the end of it. The indulgence of such contrivances and fears, adds to care and distrust, and renders our view more gloomy and confused. Good men sometimes have perplexed and distressed thoughts concerning God. But let them look to the great and precious promises of the gospel.

The world’s comforts give little delight to the soul, when hurried with melancholy thoughts; but God’s comforts bring that peace and pleasure which the smiles of the world cannot give, and which the frowns of the world cannot take away. God is His people’s Refuge, to whom they may flee, in whom they are safe, and may be secure.”

Filed under: Scripture on July 12th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21).

I look forward to the day when the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay - when clean things won’t get dirty, when order won’t become disorder, when beauty won’t fade, when what is alive will never die, when what is whole will never break, when what is happy will never be sad, and when beginnings will never end.

Hints of that day are here - “already but not yet.” I see Him at work all the time, cleansing the dirt, ordering the chaos, renewing the beauty, resurrecting the dead, mending the broken, giving joy to the sorrowful, and writing new beginnings. This is the Kingdom, the one we are only beginning to glimpse, the mystery of redemption and sanctification. It is not won through worldly prosperity, but through the weak, the low, and the despised. Outwardly, the battles seem small, the failures overwhelming, the victories insignificant. But He is changing us, His children, and turning our faces towards Him as our beautiful Light and glory.

What a mystery, that I can exist in the mundane minutiae of everyday life, with such invisible and miraculous realities residing in my heart. If only I may grasp onto the powerful gospel with every fiber of my being, for it is not fragile or small. It is the reality which explodes over every other truth in my existence.

Filed under: Christianity on July 11th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I could be wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever done a post on food before. However, this post on 22 Words cracked me up because I relate to it so much. In college, I’d make mac and cheese or Ramen noodles (when I wasn’t making my gourmet dish of pitas and hummus ). I always saved the leftovers, but I never really believed I’d eat them later. I don’t think anything got moldy though. Saving leftovers for awhile just seemed better than throwing them out right away. Anyone else relate?

Filed under: My Life on July 10th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Heather, a beautiful brain cancer survivor, wrote a recent post entitled Empty Me. She quotes a devotional written by someone else:

So, not only does everyone need a Savior to save them and take them to heaven but, they need this Savior also to cleanse them of the filth of daily living and to empower them to live as a believer. Without Him, washing, cleansing and filling us, we begin to stink to this lost and dying world and we will offer nothing to quench their spiritual thirst.

It is possible to stink and not be a “sweet smelling savor.”

Jesus wasn’t done with me when He saved me - and for that I am so thankful. I find that I constantly need renewal. I need that daily washing in the Word and prayer. It needs to be daily - I still am not as consistent as I should be. I need Him tomorrow morning to empower me and give me wisdom and hope as I go back to my job. I need Him in order to be a light to those around me. I need Him in order to cling to joy in every circumstance. I can do none of this, absolutely none of it, on my own. He is my Savior yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Filed under: Christianity, Personal Reflection on July 10th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Tomorrow I’m saying goodbye to two of my best friends - one of them for a few weeks, one of them for months or years. Yesterday we were sitting around listening to songs about friendship, like “Every Moment” by Joy Williams and “More Than You’ll Ever Know” by Watermark, oh, and “Follow Love” by FFH - that was a killer because God is leading us in different directions and we trust Him but we will miss each other. We were getting sad so we decided to listen to some supposedly “cheesy” songs about friendship. So we turned on a true classic:

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord’s the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
‘Cause the welcome will not end
Though it’s hard to let you go
In the Father’s hand we know
That a lifetime’s not too long
To live as friends

Now, we were thinking that the general corniness of this song would make us laugh, but then we realized that in spite of that, we were still made emotional by it! I said that I needed to blog about something, and Sarah told me that I should write about that. So this is kind of my tribute entry to my dear friends, who are currently planning my life out for me as I’m blogging . Chey and Sarah, I love you and thank you for being such blessings in my life. Friends can be friends forever!!

Filed under: My Life on July 8th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

I really appreciated the perspective this preview brought about the revolutionary importance of freedom, connecting with biblical times, the Middle Ages, and more recent struggles. Especially in regard to the mass prevalence of slavery during Bible times - think what it must have meant for Paul to write to the early Christians, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). Spiritual freedom - a poignant idea considering the lack of physical freedom during so much of human history.

(HT: Beauty from the Heart)

Filed under: Christianity, Culture, Scripture on July 4th, 2008 | 2 Comments »