Thursday, December 27, 2007

Book-O-Rama

I'm a fool for books. Especially books about prayer. My husband, Michael, makes fun of me about it. Well, he makes fun of me about a lot of things, but my book thing is high on the list. I just counted six books that were on my bedside table (meaning I'm "reading" them) when I was stashing messes at Christmastime. All Christian nonfiction books. When I was pulling out presents to wrap I found stashes and stashes of other books I haven't cracked and have no other place for. I'm like an alcoholic who hides his bottles in the toilet tank. I'd stash books there if they just wouldn't get so dang soggy.

If Pastor Dave quotes a book on Sunday, I write the title in the margin of my note-taking sheet. Michael tries to slap the pen out of my hand. BUT! Two of my favorite books that I actually DID get through came from that venue: The Barbarian Way by Erwin Raphael McManus, and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I loved them both. I tried to get my daughter to read them. I knew she'd love them, too. Helpful hint: You can give someone a book, but you can't make them read it. Hey, it works both ways. I lot of my stash consists of books others have given me that I've yet to read.

Anyway, I picked up another new/old book the other day that I want to start. It's Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey, another of my favorite authors. Tried to get my daughter to read Rumors of Another World by the same guy, but no go!

So anyway, I'm going to start this book and I hope to share with you from it along the way.

I literally just now opened it and Part One is called "Keeping Company with God." Wasn't that a quote from Pastor Dave a few posts back? Another "coincidence"? Or a jab in my spiritual side that I'm on the right track? And under the section title is this quote, which I'll leave you with:

"For prayer exists, no question about that. It is the peculiarly human
response to the fact of this endless mystery of bliss and brutality, impersonal
might and lyric intimacy that composes our experience of life." -- Patricia Hampl

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