2023 Adventures in Reading

2023 Adventures in Reading

I may not have traveled physically much this year, but I have certainly visited many different times and lands in my reading life! I spent a lot of time in medieval Norway with Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter and one day (by far enough!) with the remarkable Ivan...
Adventures in Reading 2022

Adventures in Reading 2022

For the past few years, I have followed the example of others in listing my top ten reads for the year. This year has been different. I feel like I have been on an adventure, seeking new ways of reading, and new reasons to read. So instead of a list, I am going to...
Can Fiction Draw us to Holiness?

Can Fiction Draw us to Holiness?

Jessica Hooton Wilson has written a book about books. If you love books like I do, this should immediately catch your interest. More specifically, she has written a book about books that challenge us to examine what it means to be formed in the image of God. If you...
Becoming Elisabeth Elliot

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot

Recently I met over a span of eight weeks with a group of friends to discuss Becoming Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn, the recently published authorized biography of Elisabeth Elliot. I wasn’t sure what to expect of this book when we started. I knew about the...
Favorite Reads of 2021

Favorite Reads of 2021

At the end of the year I like to look back at the books I’ve read and pick out my favorites to share. So here are some that blessed and challenged me in special ways. I hope you can find your next read among them! Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for...
Best Author of 2021

Best Author of 2021

Every year avid readers publish their lists of favorite reads and I too look forward to sharing my list. As I have reviewed the 80+ books I’ve read this year, I decided to write a separate post on Best Author before listing my best books, since about 10 of the books I...
A Year to Listen and Read

A Year to Listen and Read

For me, 2020 was a year of questions and changes. In the midst of a global pandemic, we made the radical decision to sell our home of 25 years and move back to Oregon after almost 40 years in Southern California. While 2021 has also had its share of questions—What...
Under the Vine and Fig Tree

Under the Vine and Fig Tree

For the first time in our 43 years of married life, Michael and I have a back yard. Well, that’s not completely true if you count a graveyard as a yard. Early on we lived as caretakers of a cemetery and looked out at a field of gravestones. But I never considered that...
Take and Eat

Take and Eat

Do you ever find yourself jolted when you recognize a new connection between the Old and New Testament? Over the last few years the idea that the Bible tells one story has become more pervasive in popular theology. As Tim Keller states in Counterfeit Gods (pg. 36): We...
Truth and Love: Paul the Pastor

Truth and Love: Paul the Pastor

I’ve been working through the book of 1 Thessalonians for a Bible Study and was deeply impressed by the way this letter describes Paul’s pastoral ministry.  I was moved to tears as I considered his relationship to this group of believers. Acts 17 describes Paul...