Reading, Writing & Pondering

  I always enjoy a book of essays so I was happy to get to read Life is Hard, God is Good, Let's Dance by Brant Hansen. This is my first book by this author, although he has published other books Each of the 26 essays in this book were enjoyable reads that had some basis in the Bible or related to the Bible. Most of them also had some lightness to them, which I appreciated. I've been wanting to read more lighthearted reads. I like the sub-title of this book, Experiencing Real Joy in a World Gone Mad. Hansen writes about working in radio, helping at CURE hospitals, how he got a dog (loved that one!), and how he pushed himself to socialize with neighbors to share the love of Jesus.  Life is Hard, God is Good, Let's Dance most of all encouraged me to put myself out in the world to show Jesus' love to others. I think true joy is sharing life with others even when we mess up. That was another thing I liked about this book, Hansen shares his faults and what he sees as his l...

I don't know about you, but like many people today, I have my share of disappointment and problems. Sometimes, I want to run far away from it all. Anuli Paschall shares pain and disappointment in her new book, Stay . From the back of the book, "What if Jesus is pulling out a chair and whispering, Stay?" Paschall encourages readers to "sit with God in the table of your soul." In sitting with God, she hopes that we will continue to invite Him in to our mess and to be transformed through it. Stay is 21 chapters of Paschall sharing both the good things and the hard challenges she has faced in life. She then takes all of those parts of her story and shares how God redeems it all as we live for Him each day sifting all of the parts of the day through Him. She also invites the reader to turn to their own stories to see how God is working in their own lives. As Katherine Wolf shares in the forward, we are invited to be stay in our stories and work through the hard...