"Surprised by Grace" a book by Tullian Tchividjian

BOOK REVIEW

The book "Surprised by Grace" was a surprise to me. It has the subtitle of "God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels"...I had no idea what it was about beyond that. As it turns out, it is one of the easiest to read, most profound, and most captivating commentaries (of sorts, anyway) that I have ever read and it deals with the book of Jonah. Being a seminary student, I do deal with academic-type commentaries on a regular basis. This is not one of those, not because it's not worthy, but because it is filled with life application that most do not include.
Be sure and begin with the preface titled "A Cure for Gospel Confusion", it's an awesome beginning that will change your perspective of how the gospel works. Tullian approaches and applies the fact that "the gospel" is not a one time event, but is necessary for all daily. Just read it, he says it better than I do.
The author then proceeds to interact with scripture. We learn all about the man Jonah. Where he started. Tullian immediately begins to apply this scripture to the reader's life and heart. He says, "His (Jonah's) runaway posture is our posture, every time we sin, whether in thought, word, or deed, whether it's something we consider big or something small, whether it's doing something we shouldn't or failing to do something we should" (page 33). Ouch! Right? Read it!
The author moves smoothly from section to section of scripture with logical chapter breaking points and it helps the reader swallow the book bit by bit. Tullian also does something entirely new and captivating to me. He talks about artwork (old and new) that deal with this particular biblical character. There are photos of these works contained in the book so the reader can see exactly what is meant and it really was enjoyable for me and helped bring home many of the emotions in the story. While dealing with the section about the storm at sea caused by Jonah's fleeing, Tullian deals well with God's response to Jonah's sin--as well as sin in all of our lives. He says, "...his response is more likely to be stormy and upsetting than quiet and subtle" (pg. 41). No kidding!
I felt that the insights offered by Tullian in this book were amazing. He points to the downward spiral that Jonah's life took from the moment he chose to flee God's will. You may think this spiral ended when the fish barfed him up on shore...not so. Read the book. I spent about a day and a half reading it because I could NOT put it down! The author applies every single mistake that Jonah makes, every single bad attitude to the reader's life--not in a condemning way, he just points out that we all have those little (and sometimes big) attitudes and problems as well. We get angry at God when He doesn't do what we want, when we want. We remember Him when we're in trouble (in the fish's belly, so to speak), we forget to repent even when we know we're wrong. Just like Jonah, some days we'd rather die than listen to God and do it His way.
This book is well worth the price and time spent. You will be surprised at all the small volume contains.

A Shameless Plug and other things

First the shameless plug. My husband wants some blog followers. Not that I have many, but if anyone reads this.... :) His blog is www.robertcblake.blogspot.com
He's going to be reviewing books for Crossways I think thats the name.

Second:
We started school today...our FIFTH first day of homeschooling. Hard to believe. Anyway, it was AWESOME! I'm not sure I've EVER used that word to describe a first day of school. But it WAS! Branche was compliant (never happens...he's 13), Roger was a busy body, but stayed in the general vicinity of his seat (which rarely happens...he's ADHD)and knew all the answers (that's not new), and Carter....my sweet sweet boy who is 9 years old and has what they refer to as "Austistic Spectrum Disorder" (they say, no, he's not autistic but insurance still won't cover him because the A word is in his diagnosis)...but Carter today did incredible. His handwriting has improved for lack of use???? How does that work??? I DON'T KNOW! But it did! He only ever writes under duress. Today, when it came to handwriting all of a sudden....he did great. Unbelievable! Then, we did science and the worksheets are always a struggle because there's writing! So, I usually just write. Today, I asked the question, they said the answer, I SPElled the answer and they BOTH WROTE IT! Beautifully!! woot! I was amazed. AND on top of that, Carter wrote "food" faster than I spelled it which means the phonics are kicking in! YAY! Just some praising going on here, that's all! It was amazing! Ok. 'nuff a that! Hope your school dayz went as well! :) Keep on prayin' for tomorrow!

I am just stealing a little time right now to say we made it home safe from our Colorado trip. Rob and I had a blast, met some really cool people and had a personal reminder from God that He both loves us and desires to protect us. I really don't have time to write today, but wanted to say "hey" to anyone who may read my blog and promise more later. I also plan on figuring out how to get pictures from my camera to my husband's computer so I can post pics from our trip. I am also excited, because I have a new book to read and to review on my blog and am supposed to have a second one on the way.....cannot wait for the second one....it's spoooooooooooky! :)

excited

The kids and I are on the brink of beginning our 5th year homeschooling. That is so hard for me to believe. For five years, we have spent hours together reading awesome stories, learning tons of stuff and enjoying getting to know each other. No, not every moment is comment worthy, and yes, there have been lots of moments we'd all just as soon forget. But ya know, every family has moments that are less than fabulous. Every family has those times they'd just as soon forget. Homeschooling doesn't change that...it just gives more opportunities for moments of all kinds! Anyway, I'm excited because BOX DAY is impending once again! Once again, I'll be starting two new cores and reading lots of books (some new to me, some not...ALL new to te kids!!). We have hard work ahead of us...two kids REALLY need to get serious about learning to read for themselves....one is gonna be starting pre-Algebra and I want to cry ;) but....this should be another interesting year. I would like to say as well, that as the years go by I become more and more enamored of our curriculum company. We have used Sonlight all these years. I've added other stuff in but Sonlight has been the backbone of our homeschooling years. They are the MOST awesome homeschool company on the market. Had we chosen any other curriculum to begin with we would have been up a creek the past two years. We have not had the upfront big chunk of money necessary to buy curriculum. Do you know what Sonlight does??? They have payment plans! Yahoo! That we can do! Last year we did the plan where you pay 1/4 down and then make 3 more payments. It was awesome. Now, these payments go on your debit/credit card. If we had enough space on our credit card to just pay we would've, but no....we were irresponsible w/that card a few yrs ago and are still paying it off. Anyway, what it allowed us to do, was to pay the right amount off to have space every 30 days! LOL! Well, two days ago(I think) we went on the Sonlight sight and I was making my "Wish Cart"...you know, everything I'd order if money was no issue....and went to see how much the 1/4 payments would be and discovered they had a 6 month payment plan. Even better. Can you believe there was not even a FEE for this service???? Unbelievable! It's like they CARE!!!! ha. They do. They care a lot. They give so much money away to awesome charity causes...it's incredible. Read about them. Anyway, it's awesome. (If you are interested, I think the six month plan is temporary only til this Monday...so hurry)...but man....I love that company. My coffee cup is empty so I must be done. Have a blessed day and let God's love show thru you and all you do! :)

Pickles and Produce

I've had a busy summer. I was given a 5 gallon bucket of pickling cukes, so I made 3 batches of pickles. I made sweet, dill spears, and bread & butter. They look good, but I like to let them sit (especiallly the dills) for a while before I eat any. I've already had friends from afar requesting jars of the sweet pickles. I was not sure how generous I was willing to be with my sweet pickles until....a second 5 gallon bucket of cukes showed up on my porch last night! Yay! The cucumber fairy! (I like that fairy better than the squash fairy that showed up daily for about a week! ;) ) haha. Anyway, I guess I'll be pickling again soon....well, it will have to be today or tomorrow...cukes don't like to sit long. I am considering making some "Red Hot Cinnamon" pickles. They are a sweet, red,cinnamon-y pickle that I discovered after moving here. In this area, they're just called "Red Pickle". ha. I got a recipe on-line....it looks like a pain....5 days!!! BUT, it may be worth it...these are some gooooooooood pickles!

I "put up" 300 ears of corn. Frozen. Hard work, also had to be done in one day....can't let corn sit. Pick it in the morning...frozen by bedtime. I'm excited today, because I'm going to pick "snaps"....I call them green beans... ;) Then, I will hopefully have enough to freeze a bunch so we can enjoy fresh-frozen snaps all winter!

I was also glad to hear that the butterbeans are starting to come in. I don't love shelling them, but I looooooove eating them! Last year we got about four 5 gal buckets of those, but with the drought this year, my hopes have been dashed. :(

Hope you all have a wonderful, productive day...think i'll go shake some kids out of bed so we can get on to the harvest! :D

Ever have something you want to share SO bad but can't??? I do...right now. And it's so exciting that I can hardly stand it. :D I SO want to share...but can't. I'll just say this, Life as a Christian is never boring if you desire God's will, seek His face and follow where He leads. My life is many things...some good, some not. It's busy, it's loud, it's frequently chaotic....(pick which category each of those things goes in on your own...for me, it depends on the day!) I experience joy, sadness, gain, loss (some good, some bad...bye bye 48 lbs!, top of the mountain and bottom of the valley. The best part is I don't have to do it alone. God is with me. Always. I just have to be the one to pay attention to find Him. He never leaves, but sometimes I do. I am an imperfect creation....suffering from sin. Unable to earn God's approval..wholly unworthy. But He loves me anyway. I am the prodigal. He loves me anyway. I see this played out in my life daily...not because bags of money show up on my porch...but sometimes bags of squash or corn do. Sometimes it's a half of a cow. He loves me! No matter that I throw tantrums on occasion like I'm a three yr. old. He forgives me. There is this thing called "santification". It's a process. I'm still in it. Some days, I wish my time away and long for my true home in heaven where I'll be done with the process. Some days I cry because our time here is just too short. It's ok. He's with me and He loves me. He drags me through if I seek Him. I read His word daily. He gives me encouragement, courage, comfort, direction, attention and guidance through His very own word.
As to the exciting stuff I can't share? I'll be able to one day and then you can celebrate with me. For now....just pray for Rob and me and pray that God continues guiding our feet, lifting us up and providing our every need.

Wishing for you His peace.

Rob's blog

This is my husband's blog. He's pretty cool. ;) Didnt know if maybe someone who accidently stops by my blog, might want to accidentally stop by his. http://robertcblake.blogspot.com/