A couple of years ago, Daniel and I attended a Bible class on Sunday morning at the Highland church of Christ, in Abilene. There was a girl who spoke briefly of going through a tough time of grief and how her friends (her community) had helped her. During her grieving, there were times she didn't want to come to meet with others and yet, through encouragement from others, she did. She walked through the motions and eventually found herself at a different place. She referred to a book that she read during this time called The Water Will Hold You. I wrote the name of the book down and recently bought it while in College Station getting my Half Price Books fix. We don't have this store in Abilene.

I am reading this book like I do so many others -- slow. Today, I decided that i would read more than just a little. I was unsure if the book was true or not, so I began looking online. The site I have linked you to is one of questions and answers about the book, but there is much more information than just this book. The author, Lindsey Crittenden, writes short essays, and I'm excited to learn more about her. She was a skeptic and the book takes you through her journey of getting to know about God and about prayer. Some of her thoughts are new ones to me b/c of our different life experiences. I have enjoyed adding to my experiences through her book.

Her first words in learning to pray were "God you are here, God I am here." She taps first into her life experiences up to this point-- praying for her cat at age 10 and then the twenty-third Psalm. It helped me renew my thoughts about what parents teach their children. Even if all of those nightly devotionals you wanted to do but didn't get done - God's Word is implanted in our children hearts. It's in there and will come out as our children search for God and develop their own faith. When Lindsey heard things like "God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires know, and from whom no secrets are hid" she had to reckon with the thought, "I'm not alone, there is someone in the passenger seat." It wasn't a welcomed thought at first. She felt she needed to get used to prayer as you meet a new friend. The fact that she was a writer helped in the sense that you don't wait til you know what to write to sit down and write. You have to make writing (prayer) "a habit, to go to it the way I went each morning to the desk. Not to summon prayer, but to tap into what was already there." She even became giddy about the fact that prayer was always available. Have we lost that thought? Is it so available and so much a part of our lives for so long that we have lost our giddiness to be alone with God?

When Lindsey heard the words "inquiring and discerning heart" used in a prayer she realized "thinking wasn't just allowed but sanctioned." Her eyes were totally opened to a new way of looking at life when she learned about and embraced prayer, what she calls "pure acknowledgment of life."

I'm about half way through the book, but encourage you to check out her site and enjoy as you will.

Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Stumbled across this tiny book at a garage sale and it sat on my book shelf until Mike Cope mentioned it in a recent blog. I grabbed it and read. There were some chapters I almost got lost in, but others that I totally related to. I enjoyed the fact that the author used so many scriptures.

Ps. 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. This is the very first sentence in chapter one. This book spoke to me on so many levels.

Zech 10:9 When I scatter them among the peoples,
They will remember Me in far countries,
And they with their children will live and come back.

Our kids fly out tomorrow to Lima, Peru.



Since we have been living in Abilene, we have enjoyed getting to spend time with the Thai Team who is supported by the A&M church of Christ during their training year. They will be leaving for Thailand in early September. By the way, the Thai Team had a wonderfully successful garage sale on Saturday (they are in the transition from training to spending time with their families). Haley Edmiston is in the back, light hair and holding one of the babies. We have had the honor of having her live with us since we moved to Abilene.



We have also been able to get to know one of the girls on the Conce Team (Chile). Deanna Meredith attends worship time and Bible class at Hope church of Christ, our home congregation. Their full time training will begin later this year. It seems we have been around the idea of missionaries for all of our married life. Our family has watched the Aggies for Christ send many out each summer and both of our girls started going on mission trips with the youth group when they were in 8th grade. There have been so many Aggie reports on Sunday evenings in College Station - telling how other Christians were a joy and strength to so many college students. This is true for us each time we meet together in homes or in the many bldgs.

Team Conce (Chile) - Deanna is in the back with the purple jacket.



Bonhoeffer says, "the christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth...we meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation."

The chapters in this book are: Community, The Day with Others, The Day Alone, Ministry, and Confession and Communion. God's People and His Word are so much a part of our lives, our every day life if we allow Jesus Christ to be our unity, our peace. "Through him alone do we have access to one another, joy in one another and fellowship with one another."

It is hard for me to say what I liked the most but i really loved the idea of a chapter on ministry. Some that Bonhoeffer spoke to were the ministry of holding one's tongue, of meekness, of listening, of helpfulness, of bearing, of proclaiming, and of authority. Oh, so many good thoughts, but I will tell a bit about the ministry of bearing. We are all familiar with the verse, "Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ", Galatians 6:2. But what does that look like? This is what Bonhoeffer says, "Bearing means forbearing and sustaining. The brother is a burden to the Christian, precisely because he is a Christian. For the pagan the other person never becomes a burden at all. He simply sidesteps every burden that others may impose upon him." We, of course, were a burden to God and Christ had to bear our burden.

Isa. 53:4-5 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

Peace to all of you, Check this book out.

Moving on Through The Naked Chrisitan, Craig Borlase

Craig suggests we ask ourselves, "are we always surrounded by only Christians?" What is the picture that conjures up in your mind when you hear the phrase, dangerous wilderness. He asks, "Is it called "The World?" He spent a lot of time describing the climate in the "church building". Do we try to spend so much time in the building that there is no time to meet people outside those walls?

As I read his description of some of the processes that should happen within a home congregation I couldn't help but write in the margins of the page -- "The A&M church took such care of our family, that is what I see as church because of their example." Some of the words he used were "recuperating, refueling, repairing, preparing, and engaging" Our family did experience this in our 28 years there. Relationships have been "church" to me. A safe place, a refuge.

I do agree with Craig when he says, "we do ourselves a disservice and God an injustice if we believe that all God wants to do is say things to the people in the Church." Not sure if he is meaning Church as a building or as only believers. But i agree on both accounts. We have got to get out of the four walls to help ourselves grow and to help others reconcile themselves back to God.

Hosea 2:14 "Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her"

Craig reminds us the Bible isn't a story of isolation and separation. It is the story of faithful love of the ultimate good father for His wayward children. He again leaves me with questions to ponder:

Do I, as a child of God reflect this story?
Am I searching out the prodigals and welcoming them back?