The Children of Men

I began book number 6 of the year thinking I knew what to expect. I have seen the movie so I wasn't looking for too many surprises. After about chapter 3, I realized this book is nothing like the movie.

P.D. James' book The Children of Men is so much more than any movie could have been. Now, I don't want you to get me wrong. The movie was great. The book was amazing. I wouldn't even compare the two by saying the book is better than the movie, simply because they are not the same. Other than the name of the main character and the concept of a sterile society, there was very little else in common between the two.

I picked this book because it is the second in the Emmaus Readers collection that I am going through this year. Admittedly, I wouldn't have picked this one off the shelf on my own. I was pleasantly surprised. The book isn't full of warm fuzzy's and happiness but it is real. I could connect with James' idea of a depraved society, one lost of hope. I could see the struggle between faith, god and inevitable end. The characters were real, almost so perfectly detailed you could reach out and touch them.

I would highly recommend this book. It is a suspense but one that is richly built on humanity and all of it's imperfections.

Ted's Candy Shoppe

In the Second of our Stolpe Family Night Production comes Ted's Candy Shoppe. This is the combination a few family nights. Yes, the puppets are all hand made. Each one of us created our own puppet. How fun it is to be creative and silly with our family.

Forgotten God

2010 is proving to be a good year for book reading. I am enjoying the challenge. There will be a few books throughout the year that I am reading with a friend or in a small group. I love devouring a book with friends, it makes it even more enjoyable. My friend Janell and I just finished up Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan.

We usually take one chapter a week to read and then discuss. This book was well worth the investment in time. Each week I felt more and more challenged in my personal understanding of the Holy Spirit. The beginning of chapter 5 was a great comfort, speaking on how our confidence comes from the Holy Spirit. It is a beautiful reminder to me that God gives me His spirit in order that I may become the person He already sees me as. I don't need the world to tell me if I am good enough if I can just grasp the idea that "the most powerful Being in universe adores (me) as His own child."

I would recommend this book if you are looking to get out of the typical stereotypes of the Holy Spirit. If you are ready to get a better understanding that living a Spirit filled life is going to call you to action, call you to more reliance on God and call you to believe there are things that can only be accomplished through you if you let the Spirit work; then this is a great book. Let me leave you with this quote:

“The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn’t normally want or choose to do. The Spirit will lead you into the way of the cross, as He led Jesus to the cross, and that is definitely not a safe or pretty or comfortable place to be. The Holy Spirit of God will mold you into the person you were made to be…”

Mariette

For the 4th book into my 75 book challenge I have read Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen.

I will have to add this to my list of books that everyone should read. It is beautiful. The story follows a young girl, pretty and devout, Mariette, as she joins the Sisters of the Crucifixion.

I love a book that allows me to personally get involved. Throughout the story Hansen leaves it up to me, the reader, to decide my own perspective. Is Mariette truly experiencing ecstasy or is she a young girl in need of attention? If God truly spoke to this young girl, or someone around us, would we recognize it as God or would we do our best to disprove before we choose to believe in the miracle? Do we try so hard to fit people into our experiences and expectations that we miss the power of God that we so desire to see?

"God gives us just enough to seek Him, and never enough to fully find him. to do more would inhibit our freedom, and our freedom is very dear to God." (pg 174)

I didn't know what to expect. I had intentionally not read a review or information about the story before I borrowed it from the library. It is the first book of twelve from The Emmaus Readers: Listening for God in Contemporary Fiction. Each of the twelve books reviewed has a chapter with summary and questions that allow you dive deeper into the stories meaning and purpose. I will be enjoying all twelve of these books this year.

Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl

While home on Christmas break, a seventeen-year-old Senate page takes her dog out for a walk and never returns. A reporter, FBI agent and a Federal Prosecutor are working together on the case.

I felt the basic idea for the book was good. But, it was very ordinary. It was difficult to emotionally attach and live out the experience with any one character. The three professional friends were dealing with their own personal demons while working through the case of the missing girl. I felt it would have flowed better if it had chosen one of the women as the main character.

It took until about pg 150 before I felt pulled into the actually story of the young ladies murder. From that point I enjoyed the story and the surprise twist. If you enjoy a good mystery novel that is clean cut with a splash of Christian morality, this is a decent read.

A complimentary review copy of this book was provided by Thomas Nelson Publishers with no expectation of a positive review.

Since I got this book for free, I would like to share it. If you are interested, I will send you my copy. Just post a comment and a way I can contact you. One comment will randomly be chosen next Wed. Feb 17th.

100% Everything

It's official. I am registered to run in the 2010 Bank of American Chicago Marathon.

Registration is the easy part. You type in your name, your information, your credit card numbers and wa-la you are registered. And yet, for me it is 100% the scariest part. When you hit the send button, there is no taking it back. You can't call the people and say, "I didn't really mean to fill all of that out, Can I have my money back?".

The 100% commitment begins instantly. Click, and you have an email in your in-box that is your receipt and official registration. I am not a good commitment person. When I ran the Knoxville Marathon I didn't register until the month of the race. I was 100% sure I was going to fail during my training and not be able to run it. So, why spend the money?!!

I don't know what is going to happen in the next 250 days. I have 100% faith that this is where I wanna go. I don't doubt I want to run in Chicago. I have 100% passion for the beautiful city, it's museums, it's architecture, and it's culture. My blood pumps a little faster every time I imagine the sound of my feet hitting on the Chicago pavement.

I am 100% excited that I will be running with my friend Sarah. She was the one who challenged me to begin running. She was the one that inspired me when I started my training for Knoxville. This time we will run, side by side, or until she decides to kicks my butt and run ahead. When she runs ahead I know she will be cheering me through the finish. (or vise-versa). If we cross that finish line separate or together, it will be 100% AWESOME!!!

I am 100% sure I won't be the fastest runner there. But this is about beating me, not the best runners in the world. I want to take an hour off my time from Knoxville. I know it is a huge goal but a girl can dream, pursue and run her heart out. You never know......the woman that won New York was 37, there is hope for me yet.

I may not have the best athletic coaches surrounding me during training but I am 100% supported. I have an amazing husband, who is willing to sacrifice his time and money to support my dreams. He will tolerate my diet, my aches, my excitement and my disappointments. And everyday, He will remind me of my dream. I have daughters that look up to me and cheer me on and remind me I need to run. I do this as much for them, I want them to be not only dreamers but pursuers of their passions. I have friends who will push and love in just the right doses. With my family/friends, their encouragement, this is 100% possible.

Above all else, I have 100% strength. Not because of my physical health but because when I can no longer push and I can no longer move, my God will be pick me up in my weakness, dust me off and be glorified.

I am 100% confident that I have no idea what the next 8 months of training will be like, what my life will bring me, what the weather will be like. I am 100% ready.

Moving Mountains

It's day 19 of the Daniel fast. Our family, along with our church family and many churches around the country, began a 21 day commitment to prayer and fasting through Awake21. It has been an interesting experience.

I say interesting because I am much more surprised than I thought I would be. The change in diet has been, well, okay. With more and more people in our country become vegetarians or vegans it is easier to find meat free, dairy free products than I had originally thought it might be. Now, taking out yeast and baking soda was a little more difficult. I was amazed at how many of our everyday products contain sugar. I am not going to say this is easy.

I had one particular evening where I was desperately in need of finding comfort through food and well, not easily done when nothing you can eat is fried or has sugar in it. But, it was such a reminder of how when life gives us grief we turn to things other than God. I wonder how many times I have ignored Him to be comforted by food.

Setting apart time to concentrate on God, to focus on Him has been a blessing. My original purpose has been literally sifted until He has shown me what He has for me. I went in with some major big picture ideas that He has taken and shown me the heart of.

One of the major things I have been shown is how much I worry about what people think of me. In the last 19 days I have seen many an occasion to explain or talk about what I am doing. And, my first thought is always, How do I explain this without seeming like a religious freak?

How do I make sure you understand this isn't a diet thing? How do I tell you how much I want more of God in my life without seeming a little crazy? The craziest part of it all is that for almost a year I have been praying to be one of the crazy people. Seriously. I want to be the person who isn't afraid to pray for someone in the grocery story. I want to be the person who reads her bible. I want to be the person who gets up every day with one intention and that is to glorify my Father. I want to be the person who believes when God tells me that my faith, as small as a mustard seed, can move mountains through prayer and fasting. I want to see mountains moved.