The Story Begins

The Body of Believers I worship with is beginning an exciting endeavor starting tomorrow. We are going to read through the Bible in the format of

The Story

.



Tomorrow we start as a congregation reading through this; Sunday morning services and small groups will study what we read each week. Services start at 10:30 am on Sunday and small groups will be held on Sunday evenings at 6pm, and Tuesday through Thursday evenings at 7pm. Wednesday evenings will have programs for children and youth as well. There is an exception for the Sunday group this week as there is a conflicting program. They will meet on Monday at 7 this week only. As you can see there are many choices for attending a small group. I am looking forward to and hope that we will have some new folks joining us as we do this. We are located on Bloomfield Road just across from Cape LaCroix apartments.

In closing I want to share something our pastor sent in an email this week.


"If you simply judge books by their covers, you might pass this book by. Its title is Ozark Childhood: Stories from a Simpler Time and Place. There are a few faces on the front that are surely unfamiliar to you and an author whose name you would not recognize. On the back cover is a picture of the author who, with his white beard, might remind you of Santa Claus. And maybe he is. You see, this book of mine is a valued gift. I was hooked as soon as I started reading the 'Acknowledgements' page. (Don’t laugh. Some people read the obituaries in newspapers; I read the Acknowledgement pages in books.) I was hooked when I saw the names of people dear to me. Raymond and Gladys Elkins—my deceased grandparents. Betty Elkins Brown—my mother. Bill Elkins—my uncle who has also passed away. Sara, my aunt. Dave and Jody, my cousins. And the author, David Elkins, my uncle. This is not just any book; this is a book about my family tree. The stories would probably not be of any interest to you, but they are to me. That’s what happens when you hear part of your story. Something that seems lifeless comes to life. Something that looks dull becomes dynamite, firing up your heart and igniting your imagination. You are reminded that you are part of something bigger than you are, that began before you and will continue on after you."


This is exactly why God wants you to know His story. He wants to take you into His house where He has framed photos of your ancestors––folks you may not know––lining the walls of His house. Stories of a family patriarch named Abraham whose faith was as great as any. A matriarch named Ruth with courage that would make the most hardened warrior proud. A stubborn Jonah and his improbable fish tale. Impetuous Peter and his big mouth. Persistent Paul and his adventures in preaching. Yet who He wants most of all for you to meet in His story is His Son. He desires for you to look long into the eyes of Jesus Christ and hear His claims that what He began in the first chapter of creation He will realize at the last chapter of the New Creation, where a perfect people can live in a perfect place with their perfect Lord. The perfect place is on the Storyboard. The question is, “Are you?” You can be there when you find your place in His Story.

See you on Sunday! Come prepared for a blessings!


Grace and Peace CAC

Ten Days Of Gratitude Day 9

Today I am grateful for my daughter.

My daughter, Danielle was not planned; I've been told one should not tell her child she was an accident but I don't agree. When I think of how I felt about my daughter at first I think of the word serendipity; it means happy accident. My daughter was definitely serendipity. Danielle was not an easy baby. She was always crying, no matter what I did, she was rarely not crying. The only times she was not crying was when she was sleeping, eating, or if I was carrying her and walking around with her. If I sat down, she would cry, if I put her in her crib, she cried...you get the picture.She began talking when she was 4 months old and has been full steam head since. She could talk the stripe off a skunk! When she started walking she was a terror; she stole food from the pantry and "cooked" in her brother's closet. She began dressing herself before she was 3 and would not let me help her at all, even when she one day tried wearing a blouse as a pair of pants. There were many times I thought she would not survive her childhood. She was defiant beyond reason and her pre-teen years had me pulling my hair out. I spent my time being ridiculously frustrated with her and being in awe of her. Her intelligence and creativity astounded me daily. Then suddenly all that was over this amazing thing happened; she became human! She was helpful and gracious. Her wit and wisdom have always been ahead of her time yet she maintains an innocence that is refreshing even now. This creature that was once my nemesis was now my ally and we became very close. She grew into a beautiful woman that is now my best friend. There are not words enough to enumerate all Danielle has done to help me above and beyond the call of family duty. Would I to try to write even half one would grow tired of ready the many pages. It is because of her that I now have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Her quest for truth led to me finding Him too. Everyone who meets her, finds her kind, engaging, and wise and I am blessed beyond description to have her a part of my life. Danielle is my treasure, my one and only daughter, my sister in Christ and my friend. I love you Sweetpea!

Ten Days of Gratitude Day 8

Today I am grateful for my son, Jonathan. Born 29 years ago today, he is my only son and greatest challenge in life. It started in the womb; he was Franks Breach

and had to born Cesarean section. He was also a dry birth and had an infection when he was born requiring him to remain in the hospital for a week after I was dismissed. Since I wanted to nurse him, I had to go the hospital every few hours to feed him and deliver expressed milk to get him through the night. He was a wonderful baby though. He never cried without obvious reason such as being hungry or needing a diaper change. He really didn't even have a lot of problems with teething. He was easily entertained and didn't require constant attention. I thought all this was normal. When his sister came along I saw that they were very different, but thought it was the average sibling differences and sex differences. We were fairly socially isolated so I had little to compare to. It wasn't until he started school that it became obvious that he was more different than we had realized. Before he was out of Kindergarten he had been tested by a team of experts that concluded that he was psychotic. He was diagnosed with psychotic disorder not otherwise specified because he didn't fit into any one disorder, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism et al. He has elements of all of these disorders though. This diagnosis was, of course, quite a blow and it took a lot of therapy for me to learn that it was not my fault and how to parent a special needs child. I failed miserably in so many ways but God is gracious and Jonathan seems to not hold it against me. He left home to live on his own and managed alright with a lot of help from me and his sister but we are living together again renting my daughter's house from her since she moved away to get married. Living with him as a adult is much different and I am challenged every day by our failure to communicate. We both has mental issues, that affect our ability to communicate our attempts are often like ships passing in the night. My son is one of the few people I have ever known that has no malice in him at all. He is genuine and honest; he does not lie. This can be interesting at times, since most people live their lives with lie as a necessity. One should not ask Jonathan a question if they don't want an honest answer. That said, I can't imagine my life without my son and when I see how most young men are I feel blessed beyond measure that my son is who and how he is. Happy Birthday Son I love you.

Ten Days of Gratitude Day 5

Today I am grateful for my Magnavox  DVD recorder that my son bought for me over 6 years ago.  I have gotten a lot of use out of it and it is still working good..  I know, we now live in the age of DVRs and what I have is; to most, obsolete  Yet I am not one whom is easily persuaded to pay for television.  Local channels don't come in well where I live, so for some years I was paying for basic cable at $13.per month. When the cable company decided to drop basic cable from their line-up and therefore raised the rate; I called and told them to cancel my service.  The representative on the phone asked the reason and when I told I could not afford to pay the rate he asked if the could give me the same channels I had been  getting for $5 per month. Of course I said yes and happily paid that amount for the next 2 years.  When the cable company decided to raise rates once again, I canceled.  I like to watch television, but I know I don't need to watch a lot of it and don't see why I should pay over $30 a month to be lulled into watching more of it.  I do; however, have some favorite shows, and don't like to miss them when  I have to out or when two of them come on at the same time on different channels.  With my wonderful dvd  recorder I don't have to miss them; as long I don't forget to do it, that is!
Thank you son, for this gift that keeps on giving.

Ten Days Of Gratitude Day 4

Today I am grateful for BSF (Bible Study Fellowship).  BSF is a non-denominational, international  Bible Study program that takes one through an entire book of the Bible or group of books ie Minor Prophets, through notes, study questions, discussion groups, and lecture.  This fourfold approach works well to get into God's Word and understand how to apply it to one's life.  I have attended BSF for about 5 years off and on and it has been a huge blessing in my life.  I have learned so much about myself and God through these studies and have also made some great friends and prayer warriors.
If you are looking for something to make  you feel more connected to God, and the body of Christ; I highly recommend you consider  joining a BSF group near you. For more information go here

Ten Days Of Gratitude Day 2

Today i am grateful for every day I have not had a migraine. I have a migraine about once month on average and they usually last a day or so. I know people who have migraines at least weekly and that often last many days. I am so grateful I am not one of those people! I just wish no one had to suffer with them.

It's Just The Dark Before The Morning

I don't know if I have mentioned before that I do BSF ; but I do. This year we are doing Isaiah which has just been added to the studies BSF does. They also do Acts of The Apostles,Romans, John, Genesis, The Life of Moses and The Minor Prophets. But I digress a bit. I bring up BSF because I have not been keeping up with my study this year. I have not done well in that area for a couple of years now but never as bad as this time. I counted up and I have not completed half of the lessons for this year so far. I was not really surprised at the number but it was painful to face none the less. The reason I counted them up is I have made a determination to finish strong. That said; I finished my whole lesson this week which was on Isaiah 49. You can read the passage here . I did the whole lesson and was so blessed. What blessed me most was verses 7-13 and even more so when I read it in the Message .
Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead!
Mountains, send up cheers!
God has comforted his people.
He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people
That's me! I am His people and He has comforted me, is comforting me.

" McNugget" Madness and other lessons from Beth Moore

One never knows what one will hear when she attends a Beth Moore event. Today was a Living Proof Simulcast with Beth Moore and I was blessed to be able to attend due to a friends kindness. Kindness it turns out was the theme for today's event. In discussing how we can lose our selves in life's disappointments and frustrations Beth referred to this . I must admit I had never heard about it before so was anxious to see it when I got home. The story is that a woman came through a McDonald's drive thru early in the morning recently and ordered Chicken McNuggets. Of course she was told they are not available until lunch hours start. She was not satisfied and tried several times to get someone to cook her some anyway. When she didn't get her way she became violent. Hearing about it I knew that my behavior of late really wouldn't be much better than that woman's if any. I have had some major hissy fits at my son that send my Dorkie running for cover and cause my German Shepard to hang her head and emlpoy her "what do I do?" face. What did I have these fits about? Nothing more justified than wanting McNuggets at 6am. Oh sure I can try to justify it, just as I am sure this woman did her behavior. After all couldn't they have just cooked some up for her? But I the fact is that she was making it all about her not caring about the rules, not caring about the fact that the woman trying to serve her didn't make the rules; ;only caring that she wasn't getting what she wanted. I have been living my life for me, caring only about me. Living as though miy pain is the pain that should matter, as though my needs are the ones that should be met. Acting as though my loneliness is the only loneliness that hurts this deep. Truth is I need more kindness shown to me in my life, but also the truth the only One Whom I can depend on to show me kindness is My Savior and He has already shown me more kindness than I can wrap my head around by coming as a man and dying on the cross and defeating death and sin so I can be with Him forever.
I will try to write more about the simulcast. It was a wonderful day. I wish I had seen more people there whom I know needed refreshment from God's Word.

Happy Birthday To Me (yes I am still alive)

It actually was for once a very happy birthday. For the first time since I don't know when I didn't have a total meltdown about my birthday. At a time in my life when I feel like I am a total waste of space, I had the best birthday I can remember. The only thing that could have been better would have been to get a in person hug from my Sweetpea. But she did call and she and her brother went together on a present and got me season three of Frasier one of my favorite TV shows.
I am sorry for the absence. I have been very sick and coming back from it has been hard. I wound up in the hospital with pneumonia the week before Memorial Day and was in there a week. I still had very involved pneumonia when they released me and still have inflammation in my lungs now. Plus I developed a serious infection in my stomach called C- Dif caused by the large doses of strong antibiotics I was on for the pneumonia. As if I weren't weak enough from the pneumonia, I had diarrhea for almost a month!
I am still quite weak, so I am not getting anything done and it becomes a viscous cycle that easily leads to inertia if one is not careful and I really have not been careful. So pray for me; I have so much to tell but not the energy to put words to page.

Spring Has Sprung; At Least For Today

It is a gorgeous day today, we have a had a few over the last week. It is meteorologic summer according to our weatherman and the weather seems to backing his story. I finally got tired of my knee keeping me cooped up and got out and washed my car and threw a ball for the dogs for a while. I am sure I will pay later but it sure was nice.
I came and in and got online and found this post from The One Year Bible on Facebook; thought it was very interesting if you can stick with the length of it.

Ta ta for now :)

A Perfect Mess Blog Tour

God reminded me that I had A Perfect Mess by Lisa Harper right when I needed it. I was getting ready to read another book I am going to review when I looked at the date and realized there should be one before it. What it book it was! Once again God's timing is awesome and this book was just what I needed right now. .
A Perfect Mess's subtitle is Why You Don't Have to Worry About Being Good Enough for God and this is a big issue for me that I is always highlighted by my birthday. Many tears of gratitude grace the pages of my copy of this small yet powerful book.
Breaking down some of the chapter titles will give you a pretty good picture of the subject matter. Chapter One Walk This Way What Psalm I reveals about avoiding potholes in the path of life Chapter Two Leaping over Legalism What Psalm 62 says about wriggling out of the trap of wrong expectations Chapter Three Tumbling Toward Approval How Psalm 139 describes the way God sees the beauty behind our blemishes Chapter Four This Love Story Means Having To Say "I'm Sorry" What Psalm 51 reveals about deep cleaning our dirty cleaning our dirty hearts and much more, there are 12 chapters in all.
What I like most about this book was though the author has sense of humor and encourages us to look at things from a lighter side of things, she doesn't make light of God's Word. I love a book that has me getting my Bible along with it like this one does too. If you struggle at all with what you should be doing or know someone who is, this book needs to be on your list of must haves.
This is the summary the publisher sent:
Caught up in the self-imposed pressure to do and be all the things they think a Christian woman ought to do and be, countless women are working desperately to convince everyone, including God, that they have it all together. Few have any idea that the Creator of the universe looks at them with delight even when they yell at the dog, drive a minivan littered with French fries, or think bad words about that rude clerk at the store.
A Perfect Mess offers hope to every woman who yearns for a vibrant relationship with God but worries she isn’t good enough or doesn’t do enough to merit His affection. With characteristic authenticity, speaker and author Lisa Harper shares poignant stories from her own imperfect life to showcase the real-life relevancy of the Bible in the lives of modern women.
As she guides readers on a story-driven journey through selected Psalms, they will be inspired to experience for themselves how God’s incomparable love transforms the messiness of life into a gorgeous work of grace.
You can win a copy by commenting on this post or you can purchase one here here
Lisa Harper is a master storyteller whose lively approach connects the dots between the Bible era and modern life. She is a sought-after Bible teacher and speaker whose upcoming appearances include the national Women of Faith Conferences. A veteran of numerous radio and television programs and the author of several books, she also is a regular columnist for Today’s Christian Woman magazine. Lisa recently completed a master’s of theological studies from Covenant Theological Seminary. She makes her home outside Nashville.

Should Have Read This Yesterday

I subscribe to several blogs but usually don't have the ambition to actually keep up with them. This is something I have been feeling bad about and hoping to improve upon, so I was glancing at my Google Reader on my homepage and a title caught my eye. I clicked on it and found this . Notice the date, God was trying to communicate with me but I was not listening; better late than never though, right?
Sorry for the pity party yesterday, thanks for your support.

Clutter- Free Christianity Blog Tour

Clutter-Free Christianity
by Dr. Robert Jeffress

This book was different than I was expecting it to be; which turns out to be good. I was expecting a book that talked about the busyness of today's average Christian. What I got was just what I needed at this time in my life.
This book is a call to get back to the basic tenants of Christianity. It is a call to stop theorizing, speculating, and ministering for sake of ministry, and get ask ourselves if we are prepared for eternity.
Mr Jeffress opens up with the analagy of preparing for international travel and reckons that if we take such extreme care to prepare for a trip such as thisl how much more so should we take care to prepare for the most important destination of all. While a trip overseas may be subject to rescheduling or cancellation, the time we will leave for eternity is fixed in God's calendar and if we don't prepare now, we won't get another chance when it is time to go.
Realizing his own mortality was slipping by quickly, Mr Jeffress asked himself

What must I do to please God?

While understanding we are saved by grace and grace alone, we must also realize, says Jeffress, that the Bible is clear that God is interested in more just our justification,,we must also have a changed heart as suggested in Luke 10 . Our hearts must be transformed, and this is what the book goes on to address; broken down into 10 chapters that cover Connecting your heart to God's power on through to Prayer, communicating with God and ending with Creating a plan to change your life.
I have found Mr. Jeffress book refreshing, timely, and challenging. It is one of the few books of it's kind I have seen that delivers what it implies to promise, which is spiritual and personal growth.
If you think there is nothing you can do or must do to please God beyond accepting His gift of Salvation, I challenge you to read this book and find renewed focus and purpose for your life. Even knowing that I must do more, this book helped me, is helping me, to sort through the clutter of day to day struggles and frustrations and failures, and get to heart of what pleasing God really means. If you lead a small group, I would encourage you to consider this book for discussion, it has a study guide included.

Author Bio:
Dr. Robert Jeffress is the senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas, one of the most historic churches in the Southern Baptist Convention. The author of sixteen books, he is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition, live broadcasts of Dr. Jeffress’ weekly messages reach millions of listeners and viewers each week, while his daily sermon series airs on 1,100 television stations and cable systems nationwide. Dr. Jeffress and his wife, Amy, are the parents of two adult daughters.
I am grateful to God for leading me to this book, for Mr Jeffress for writing it and to the publisher for making it available to all of us.
I hope you will check here to get a copy of your own and make your Christianity Clutter Free

So This Is Why I Stopped Eating "Regular" Food!

I went to a Home Party for a popular kitchen gadget company last night and I decided to live a little and just eat what was being prepared instead of eating at home and refraining as usual. The demonstration dishes were a fake lasagna dish made with tortillas, canned sauce, etc. and a dessert pizza; which used a sugar cookie dough crust, whipped topping with cream cheese, pineapples, bananas, and strawberry ice cream topping. I only had a little slice of the dessert and a small serving of the main dish. I didn't even eat all the dessert. I felt like I had just poured a bag of sugar down my throat afterwords and today? Today I feel awful! OK part of it is the chair I sat in, and part of it is the weather changing but still- I feel like a giant slug, moving through freshly poured cement! I don't think I will be tempted to "cheat" again anytime soon, if ever. I don't like feeling this way!

On a diffrent note, I found this messing around online earlier today.
If you insert Jesus Christ where she says inside it is pretty right on. The direction our nation has taken is certainly scary, and if we stay on this course our future looks pretty bleak. If you don't regularly pray for our nation and our youth, I hope you will consider changing that. I know I will.
Yet still I praise God, for He is Worthy and He is our Hope and Help.

Dinner With A Perfect Stranger Blog Tour

Dinner With A Perfect Stranger by David Gregory is a large blessing in a small package.
Only 100 pages long, this little book does a great job of presenting Jesus and His Father to would be critics and detractors.
A man receives an invitation to dinner with none other than, Jesus of Nazareth and goes simply to play along with what he feels is an obvious joke on him by one of his colleagues. What he finds when he gets there is only the first surprise of the evening as he converses with a man who knows a lot about him and has some very interesting answers to his questions.
Well told, historically and Biblically accurate; this story will warm the hearts of the devout to the skeptic. It is a well written, interesting and perfectly paced while also being informative and even fun. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the companion, A Day with A Perfect Stranger.

What if a fascinating stranger knew you better than you know yourself?

When her husband comes home with a farfetched story about eating dinner with someone he believes to be Jesus, Mattie Cominsky thinks this may signal the end of her shaky marriage. Convinced that Nick is, at best, turning into a religious nut, the self-described agnostic hopes that a quick business trip will give her time to think things through.

On board the plane, Mattie strikes up a conversation with a fellow passenger. When she discovers their shared scorn for religion, she confides her frustration over her husband’s recent conversion. The stranger suggests that perhaps her husband isn’t seeking religion but true spiritual connection, an idea that prompts her to reflect on her own search for fulfillment.

As their conversation turns to issues of spiritual longing and deeper questions about the nature of God, Mattie finds herself increasingly drawn to this insightful stranger. But when the discussion unexpectedly turns personal, touching on things she’s never told anyone, Mattie is startled and disturbed. Who is this man who seems to peer straight into her soul?

David Gregory is the author of the best-selling books Dinner with a Perfect Stranger and A Day with a Perfect Stranger, and coauthor of two nonfiction books. After a ten-year business career, he returned to school to study religion and communications, earning graduate degrees from The University of North Texas and Dallas Theological Seminary. A native Texan, David now devotes himself to writing full time.


You can learn more about and purchase these books here or here

The Rest Of The Story...

OK so last post my daughter had been fired from NARS for stealing gasp a plastic fork!
She went back to more hours at BK and started working on her resume. About a week afterward she went back to the job she had before NARS and filled in for the office manger while she was on her honeymoon. It was a tough few days for her because she knew once she was done, it would be goodbye forever to this job that she really really liked; she calls it "the best job ever" She worked Thursday and Friday then M-W of the next week. The following Friday her old boss called from "the best job ever" and told her the office manager had decided to quit and offered her the job! Not only does she get her old job back, she gets a promotion!
God is SO GOOD! We never would have even dreamed this were a possibility! Yet He knew the desire of her heart and He gave it to her. Praise His Awesome Name, the Lord God of all!

Once again, I want to thank all of those who have been praying for us. Your prayers are the very best gift you could give us and are treasured beyond what you could ever imagine. Thank you!

Most of all, thank God, from Whom all blessings flow. Glory be His Name!

Believing and Praising God

Not surprisingly,in light of my recent posts; I have fallen behind in the my Bible studies. But God has been gracious to me and given me the ambition to start getting caught up this week. I watched a video of Session 7 from the Believing God Study, by Beth Moore this morning and if you have not done this study you need to get it, find out where it is being done in your area or do it online. It is amazing! I have let Satan keep me defeated and away from this and now I know why he has wanted me away from it so bad. I cannot begin to put into words the impact of this study on my viewpoint, on my heart. It's seems almost as though Beth wrote this study just for me, just for this time in my life. God's Word is powerful, God is powerful and this study reminds us of that; that the God of the Bible is not limited as we tend to think He is. The God of the Bible says that we as believers have working in us the same power that raised Christ from the dead. Yet I for one, don't live as though that is true. Who am I to call God a liar? Who am I to set limits on the One Who knows no limits? He promises us so much more than I am receiving. But praise His Holy Name, He doesn't hold that against me. Instead He simply holds out His arms and says, "Come child, start over from here". HALLELUJAH Praise God Almighty. I am free!

Pinpricks Enlarging

Well I managed to drag myself to church (late) today for the first time in 3 weeks. I didn't make it to the other services but came in just before the Pastoral Prayer so I got to hear the special music and participate in Worship. The music was nice, though the Praise Band on today performs more than lead, but it was much better than not going at all.
I have been telling people who ask how I have been, more than in passing , the truth; that I am depressed and not doing well. I don't know why, but I have a hard time admitting my struggles to most people,especially emotional ones. But I am figuring out, duh, that if no one knows, no one can pray, which is what is going to help more than anything.
I managed to pop my knee out while working in AWANA this evening so now I dealing with that pain and swelling and aggravation. Add that to my back and legs screaming at me for all the shoveling I did after the storm here and trying to catch up on laundry; why am I always behind?
And yet today overall I have to say, has been a better day, a brighter day as I am allowing God's Love to penetrate my cold and lonely heart.
Once again, thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
I pray your day is filled with family and friends, and that your hearts are filled with awe and wonder for all you have to be thankful for.

I have so very much to be thankful for this year.
Our church has a Thanksgiving eve service which is informal and allows us to worship in music then just express our thanks as each is moved and desires to. This year was, as years passed past a blessing. It was different in that I did not say anything. It is not that I am not thankful, and I have been puzzling over why it is that I kept quiet. I think it is because God is teaching me that I am not a grateful person and it would have inappropriate for me to say something right now in light of all that is going on in my heart and spirit right now. I am not sure if that makes sense or not; I am thankful but I am not humble in my thankfulness and I pray that by next year at this time God will have molded me into someone like many of those who spoke, or were spoken of, this evening.
That said I have much to be thankful for and here goes the list ( not in any particular order):
First and foremost I thank God for His relationship with me; for what He sacrificed in order for that to be possible and the enormous help, comfort, provision and more He is to me. Thank You Jesus, for Your love. Next, for my children, I am so very blessed to have two adult children that I get to see on a daily or almost daily basis. I see so many folks with kids so far away, and though I know I may have a season like that someday I do so thank God for now, this time with me precious children. They really seem to genuinely appreciate dear ole mom, and my daughter even lets me live with her! Words cannot express how blessed I feel about my children. They are so much more than I ever could have imagined they would be, I am so very proud to have been allowed to be their mother.
Additionally, I am so thankful for my adoption, not only by God as mentioned, but by my mom. Not many people get two moms, and thought she is not a replacement for my mother, Della has been the best mom anyone could hope for and then some. She embodies love, she would lay down her life for her children, and she makes no distinciton in her mind or her heart that I am one of hers.
I am thankful for a church that teaches the Bible, unapologetically and humbling proclaiming the Truth.
I am thankful for my dogs, who give me companionship, entertainment, and purpose and expect so little in return, for a more that adequate home filled with not only necessities but many, many luxuries, one of which is being used to make this entry. I am thankful for heat in the cold and air conditioning in the heat, my doctor putting me on the road to a healthy life and the means to make it happen. I'm thankful for a big back yard for my dogs and the ability to take care of it fairly well. I am thankful I don't have use a nebulizer every day anymore, and for medication that enables me to function. I am thankful for BSF and Beth Moore Bible studies, for my Daily Bible and the ability God has given me to be faithful to it. I am thankful for the car God gave us. I am thankful for successful surgeries and the grace to deal with what was not successful. I am grateful for my friends, for books, for music. I am thankful for my life, my country, my state my neighborhood. I am thankful for all this and so much more. God is SO good to me! May I not spend one more minute thinking of what I do not have; for I have all I need and SO MUCH MORE!
Praise God from Whom all blessing flows!

Churched Book Review

Matthew Paul Turner is a blogger, speaker and author of The Coffeehouse Gospel, Provocative Faith, Beatitude: Relearning Jesus, the What You Didn’t Learn from Your Parents About… series, and several other popular books. He has written for Relevant, HomeLife, Christian Single magazines and was the former editor of CCM magazine. Matthew and his wife, Jessica, live in Nashville, Tennessee.


Matthew Paul Turner's Churched was what I expected it to be and so much more. Matthew Paul Turner's memories struck an almost painfully familiar chord, yet treated the matter with a grace I am only beginning to find for my own memories.

I too was thrust into the midst of fundamentalism in childhood, though my journey began much later, when I was 12. I recognized myself in so much of this book, along with many of the people I knew in those days. From the larger than life, brimstone breathing pastor Nolan, to the milder Mr Shenmeister, I saw the people from my teen years paraded before me.

One of my favorite parts of the book was early in the book when he is looking for God in the new church and not finding Him anywhere. When he told the Sunday School teacher and she told him she saw God in faces of the children, I almost dropped the book laughing at 4-5 year old Matthew's assesment, after scanning the room and seeing the faces of this classmates with stained lips and crumbs around thier mouths that "if God was there, He was up to no" good. Yet, this was only the tip of the iceberg. There are manifold funny and touching stories within the pages of this little book.


Matthew's journey from toddler to teen in a fundamentalist church gave me a emotional ride that left me with a warmed heart and a smile on my face. I think I will read this book again and again.

When one reads Churched he will laugh, and at some points want to cry. One may either be shocked by Matthew's memories or comforted by their familiarity, but she will not be unmoved.

I highly recommend Churched for your reading lists. For those who have been there as a balm and for those who have not, an education.
Thank you, Matthew Paul Turner for blessing us with this memoir. Thank You God that Matthew was able to hang on to You through it all.
You can purchase the book here or here .
Happy reading and remember, comments on this post and the previous post about talking about the blog tour will be numbered. At the end of October the numbering will cease and I will use a random number generator to choose one who will receive his or her very own copy of Churched. So lets see some comments folks, short and sweet, long and neat; just post something! :)