bekahcubed

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “Stuff Christians Like” by Jonathan Acuff

Leave a comment by

View my disclosure statement for more information on how I choose books to review.

If you’ve never checked out the Stuff Christians Like blog, you’re seriously missing out. Every day Jonathan Acuff (or a wickedly funny guest blogger) posts a satirical piece about some aspect of modern Christian culture.

Acuff is certainly not the only blogger who pokes fun at Christian culture. In fact, such sites abound. But Acuff’s “Stuff Christians Like” manages to set itself apart from other sites in that it’s not cynical. Acuff isn’t giving up on Christians or on the church. He’s not setting himself up as a holier-than-thou. He’s just making observations, in love, about our unique culture (which is also HIS unique culture.)

I don’t usually buy this sort of book. Actually, I try not to buy books if at all possible. I borrow hundreds of books from my library each year, and limit my purchasing to books that I’ve already read and know I want to read again and to library book sale items (bought at the going rate of $0.50-1.00)

But I especially don’t buy this kind of book–little humorous essays that you read once and laugh and then put away, never to pick the book up again.

I did, however, get the downloadable audiobook–and am thoroughly impressed.

Acuff does his own reading, which is genius on quite a few levels. Acuff is a pretty smooth reader–with pauses where they’re needed and proper inflections at varying points. But what’s more, Acuff doesn’t just read. Sure–he reads–but he also sings, uses the occasional odd voice, and makes comments about the reading process. It makes for great hilarity.

The contents of this title are a mix of Stuff Christians Like (the website) classics and brand new humorous essays. Expect to hear about honeymoon sex, popcorn prayer personalities, and being the “token Christian” in your workplace.

Stuff Christians Like would make a great gift book for anyone who grew up in the Christian subculture of the 80s, 90s, and today (fantastic-now I sound like a local radio station “playing your favorites from the 80s, 90s, and today!”)If you’ve been on a church missions trip or had your child’s number appear on a screen during a worship service or given or received a tract instead of candy on Halloween, you’re going to be amused by this book.

The book version would make for good bathroom reading, I think–though nothing can beat this audio version. As an individual who is HIGHLY oriented toward the written word (I require subtitles in order to understand almost any movie), I generally don’t prefer audio books. But this isn’t so much of an audio book–it’s more like a four and a half hour long comedy track. I LOVED IT!

Rating: 4 stars
Category: Satirical Essays on Christian Culture
Synopsis: Jonathan Acuff pokes good-natured fun at Christian culture–in absolutely hilarious essays.
Recommendation: If you grew up in the Christian culture–or now belong to it–you’ll probably be nodding your head and laughing along. You’ll like it. If you aren’t a Christian and/or don’t have any familiarity with Christian culture, this isn’t going to make a lot of sense to you.

Categories Book Notes, Faith

Forced into Church

2 Comments by

Notes on Francis Chan’s
Forgotten God
Chapter 7: Supernatural Church

My dad posed an interesting question at dinner on Sunday. He’d been talking to a number of new members of our church who had not been to church since their teens, when they felt that their parents had forced them to go to church. “Did you ever feel like you HAD to go to church?”

Well, yes. I never felt that I had an option to just NOT go to church.

But that doesn’t mean that I begrudged the obligation.

I wanted to be there.

Church was where I worshiped God. Church was where I spent time with my friends. Church was where I had a JOB to do. It was just a part of life.

Sure, there were days when I wanted to sleep in or read a book–but on the whole, I wanted to be in church on Sunday mornings, and Wednesday nights, and for Bible study or small groups whenever they were.

I can’t really identify with those who felt forced to go to church.

I wonder what the difference was?

Was it because I was homeschooled and church was one of my only social outlets? Was it because I never knew any other life? Was it because I had jobs, tasks to accomplish at church (whether babysitting or running sound or overhead projection or teaching Sunday school or children’s studies)? Was it because my church was just so amazingly hip? (That one is doubtful, by the way.)

In part, it was probably a combination of all of the above. But I think the real inducement was that God chose to call me to Himself at a young age. In His grace, He set a fire in my heart for the church, His bride. I remember praying fervently on the playground as an eight-year old, asking God to save the surrounding neighborhood–Lincoln’s Airpark. I remember shutting myself in the unfinished bedroom in the basement with a boombox, singing praises to God. I remember eagerly volunteering to help out with Missionettes (a girl’s group) as a 7th grader–and stepping in to teach the kindergartners when the teacher had to quit unexpectedly.

Why did I never feel forced into church? Because God, in His great mercy, called me His own–and church was the gathering of His own.

Do I have any advice for parents to ensure that their kids never feel forced into church?

Do I have any advice for churches to make church feel less of a chore for kids and youth?

No.

Not really.

In truth, all your works are insignificant. It is only the Holy Spirit who can make a child, a teen fall desperately in love Christ. It is only the Holy Spirit who can instill in that youth a love for His church. It is only the Holy Spirit who can change lives.

As Francis Chan says in Forgotten God:

“…While I might be able to get people in the doors of a church or auditorium if I tell enough jokes or use enough visuals, the fact remains that I cannot convince people to be obsessed with Jesus. Perhaps I can talk people into praying a prayer, but I cannot talk anyone into falling in love with Jesus. I cannot make someone understand and accept the gift of grace. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. So by every measure that actually counts, I need the Holy Spirit. Desperately.”

Only the Holy Spirit can change hearts and lives. If the church is to be powerful and effective, if church is to be a pleasure rather than a chore, than the church–God’s people–need to be radically empowered by and obediently following after the Holy Spirit.

(See more notes on Forgotten God here.)

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable” by John Boyne

Leave a comment by

View my disclosure statement for more information on how I choose books to review.

Author John Boyne describes his work in an author’s note:

“Throughout the writing and rewriting of the novel, I believed that the only respectful way for me to deal with this subject was through the eyes of a child, and particularly through the eyes of a rather naive child who couldn’t possibly understand the terrible things that were taking place around him.”

Naive is right. Nine year old Bruno is completely lost in 1940s Germany. Despite his father being a commandant in the Nazi army, he has no idea what is going on around him. He doesn’t seem to know that the country is at war. He doesn’t understand who Hitler is–and calls him the “Fury” (as if a German child wouldn’t be able to pronounce “Fuhrer”.) When his family is moved to Auschwitz, where his father is to command the concentration camp, he mispronounces this name too, calling it “Out With”. He sees the people walking about inside the camp wearing their identical garb and thinks that they’re wearing striped pajamas.

I had a hard time getting through Bruno’s stupidness to truly appreciate this book. The story of the boy, discontented about his move from the city to this barren countryside until he meets and befriends another boy through the tall fence that surrounds Auschwitz, is touching. The writing style, while written at a very low reading level, is engaging. The narrator describes young Bruno’s thoughts in a unique voice:

“Then the door of the office closed and Bruno couldn’t hear any more so he thought it would be a good idea if he went back to his room and took over the packing from Maria, because otherwise she might pull all his belongings out of the wardrobe without any care or consideration, even the things he’d hidden at the back that belonged to him and were nobody else’s business.”

Indeed, if it weren’t for Bruno’s complete lack of sense, I might have really enjoyed this book.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is billed as juvenile fiction, but is really only appropriate for those who already have a basic understanding of Holocaust history. Bruno is completely in the dark about what is going on, and the narrator never explains it to him or to the reader. The assumption is that the reader will recognize “Fury” as the “Fuhrer” and identify that character as Adolf Hitler. The reader must recognize “Out With” as “Auschwitz” and understand that Auschwitz is a concentration camp. He must recognize, even if Bruno does not, the meaning of the cry “Heil Hitler” and the swastikas on the soldier’s armbands and the stars of David on the Jews’ armbands. From beginning to end, this book will cast a child who is not familiar with Auschwitz in advance into deep confusion.

As such, despite its incredibly simple reading level, this book is really more suitable for a teen or adult than for a child.

b>Rating:3 Stars
Category: Juvenile Fiction
Synopsis: Nine-year-old Bruno’s family moves from Berlin to Auschwitz, where Bruno’s father commands the concentration camp. Bruno is lonely for his friends and his old home until he secretly makes friends with a boy across the fence.
Recommendation: Lots of people read this and liked it. I read it and didn’t hate it. It’s a pretty quick read–so you might as well pick it up–but I’m not giving it rave reviews like so many others have.

Categories Family & Friends

An Average Household

1 Comment by

In both the 1990 and the 2000 Censuses, the average household size for households with more than one person was 3.25 persons per household. In 1980, that figure was 3.35 persons per household. Because we’re dealing with people, who are indivisible, I’ll round this up and say that the average household contains four people.

In March 1985, when I was born, the Menter household became an average household with a total of 4 people. It held this status for a whopping 19 months before Joshua was born in October of 1986.

Now, after 23 years 7 months and 1 week as a “large household”, the Menter household is again average.

John Menter, age 19, is moving out of my parents’ home this evening–leaving them with only four people in their household.

Family clip art

Introducing the Menters: a dad, a mom, a son, a daughter. At four people, a perfectly average household.

Or maybe it takes a little more than numbers to make a household average.

Categories Faith, Reflections

Observations from a Sunday morning

Leave a comment by

On Singing Men:

I love songs in which men lead out and women echo. Unfortunately, our church has had a dearth of musically inclined men, so we’ve had to make do with having the men sing with a female lead singer and then have the rest of the women echo. Not only does this not sound quite as nice as having a solely male lead, it also tends to confuse the guys.

In the last couple of years, we’ve added two men to our worship team. Neither are really comfortable with leading out in singing–but this week they did so anyway on one of those songs with a male lead and a female echo. Beautiful.

On me singing loudly:

I sing loudly. It’s just a matter of fact. I love to sing and I can’t seem to hear how loud I am. I’ve been told that I’m audible all around the sanctuary–but I’ve never paid much attention to it.

Today, I suddenly realized that I am indeed rather the loudest singer in the congregation. Except for maybe my dad. It was during one song in particular where I was just singing my heart out, when it was like a stopper had been released from my ears and I suddenly heard myself as the congregation might hear me. It sounded like me and my dad (we sit on opposite sides of the sanctuary–me in the front row on the middle of the right side, he on the fourth row at the far left side) were trying to out-sing one another.

Interesting. Not sure what I should do about that–or if I should do something about that. But it is interesting.

On the sermon:

LCF’s pastor had a total thyroidectomy a couple of weeks ago. He had nodules that sure looked like cancer. A needle biopsy was inconclusive. They wanted the thyroid out. He got the pathology report back at the beginning of this week. The nodules were completely benign. (Another member of our church had the same surgery the day after Pastor Jason–for the same reason. Her pathology report came back…negative too. Praise the Lord!)

Anyway, long story short, Pastor Jason’s voice is still recovering from his surgery, so we had a “guest” preacher–a man from our congregation. Brian shared powerfully about the sovereignty and goodness of God in the midst of suffering. He closed with Hebrews 12:1-3, particularly verses 2 and 3:

“…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

It was a wonderful reminder to fix our eyes on Christ rather than on our circumstances, recognizing that God is sovereign over and works good through our circumstances.

On the guys who serve:

Looking at the bulletin today, I realized that one of either my two little brothers or my pseudo-brother Steve are the leaders in Children’s Church almost every week.

John and Steve lead at “Rock Solid”, our midweek kids ministry. John teaches a children’s Sunday School class. Timothy babysits for small groups every week. All three serve as ushers (taking up offering, doing greeting, opening up and locking down the church building). All three serve on the sound ministry.

Which means they pretty much make their rounds between three Sunday morning ministries and a handful of midweek ones. These young men are to be highly commended–but I also worry that 1) they will get burned out rather quickly and 2) this will cause mass disaster when my brothers leave for boot camp in the fall and spring.

It would do us well to recognize the great service these young men do for our body–and to come alongside them and learn how we can fill the holes they will leave in their wakes.

Thanks, guys.

On the Sustaining Grace of God:

In the Sunday School I’m in, we’re going through II Peter.

In my personal quiet times, I’m reading through the Bible following a plan from The Standard Publishing Company.

I was struck by a theme in this morning’s II Peter passage and a couple of days ago’s reading from the Psalms.

“For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
II Peter 3:5-7

“You who laid the foundations of the earth…
You covered it with the deep as with a garment…
He sends the springs into the valleys…
He waters the hills from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the service of man…
You make darkness and it is night…
You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
You hide Your face, they are troubled;
You take away their breath,
they die and return to their dust.
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.”
Psalm 104:5-6, 10, 13-14, 20, 28-30

The truth is that God is sovereign in creating, ordering, and sustaining all that is.

Even now, as I type these words, God is actively sustaining the activities of the universe. By His hand the rain falls to the ground, the stars shine, the planets continue their orbits. By His hand I draw these breaths, my sister works on her homework, and my roommate sleeps. By His hand babies are being born, sinners are being reborn, and saints are being welcomed into everlasting joy. By His hand an alcoholic stays alive to continue drinking, an atheist to write a book “disproving” God, a pornographer to produce pornography.

We all, regardless of anything that we have done, are recipients of the sustaining grace of God.

That truth should cause us to rejoice with exceeding joy and shake in absolute terror. His grace is abundant, but should He at any time withdraw it, the devastation would be total.

May I ever be thankful that God has poured out His full wrath on Christ Jesus, who stood in my place–so that only His sustaining grace remains for me.

Categories Recap

Recap (May 9-15)

Leave a comment by

On bekahcubed

Book Reviews:

  • 703: How I lost more than a quarter ton and gained a life by Nancy Makin

    “The title, or actually the subtitle, was more than enough inducement for me to grab 703: How I lost more than a quarter ton and gained a life off the new books shelf at the library. As a reader and a Registered Dietitian, I am curious about people’s weight-loss stories. This story of a morbidly obese, 703 pound woman and her weight loss sounded fascinating.”

  • Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist by Sam Storms

    “I knew Sam Storms from a book of his that I bought at a library book sale. One Thing: Developing a Passion for the Beauty of God is a defense of Christian Hedonism recommended by no less than John Piper himself, who proclaims on the front cover that “Sam Storms is right.” The book (One Thing) is well-written and theologically insightful–and Storms is referenced by the Reformed “thinking” bloggers I enjoy so much–so I was inclined to think well of Storms. Then I heard that he was a charismatic–and had written a book about it. I knew I had to read it.”

On the web

News to take note of:

  • Addiction tied to women’s menstrual cycles:

    “A woman’s perception of other kinds of rewards—such as money, food and sex—may also vary during her menstrual cycle. In a 2007 study researchers at the NIH scanned women’s brains using functional MRI as the women played slot-machine games. They found that women’s reward circuitry was more active when they won jackpots during the estrogen-governed phase of their cycles than during the progesterone-infused phase that follows. The ebb and flow of female hormones could thus have broad effects on the perception of pleasures and incentives, influencing women’s motivation to engage in a wide variety of behaviors.”

Thought-provoking posts:

  • According to a Wyoming sailor, saying Obama is spending money like a drunken sailor is unfair:

    “I object and take exception to everyone saying that Obama and Congress are spending money like a drunken sailor. As a former drunken sailor, I quit when I ran out of money.”

    HT: Twenty-Two Words

Videos worth seeing:

  • Even squirrels (evil beasts) can be used to bring God glory.

    • HT: 22 Words

  • Go, Wayne Grudem! (I’m a real fan.)

    HT: Desiring God
Categories Homemaking

The Savvy Seamstress

Leave a comment by

The savvy seamstress knows the power of a mock-up.

Imagine trying to make a dress out of this lovely fabric

Pattern and Fabric

to fit on this (lovely but unconventionally sized) body.

Me

Let’s just say that the pattern rarely fits.

So a savvy seamstress makes a muslin mock-up. That way, she can discover that she needs to use a size 16 front bodice piece and a size 8 back bodice piece, for example, without making any expensive mistakes on her pretty fabric.

Of course, a really savvy seamstress hates to waste a good muslin bodice that now fits quite well.

So sometimes she whips the muslin into a little something she can wear in real life too. Like this fun little nightgown.

Homemade Nightgown

Not to toot my own horn, or anything.

**I have not even cut out the dress fabric yet. However, thanks to today’s work, I now know which sizes to cut and am thoroughly familiar with how the bodice is put together. I hope to complete the dress sometime next week.**

Categories Book Notes

Walk in the Spirit

Leave a comment by

Notes on Francis Chan’s
Forgotten God
Chapter 6: Forget about His will for your life!

“I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God cares more about our response to His Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions.”
-Francis Chan, Forgotten God, page 120

I finished my last semester of classes on Monday. I still have a thesis to write, but my classroom days (at least for my MS) are done.

It’s terrifying. This is the last step of a dozen alternate routes, contingency plans I’d prepared. Now I’m left without a plan.

What’s more, the biggest dreams of my heart seem so far out of reach. Doors have been shut and paths redirected.

Faced for the first time in my life with no plan, without even a feasible dream, I cried to my mother–“What am I supposed to do? I’m going to be done with classes. I need to get myself a job. I might need to relocate. I need to make all sorts of life decisions. But I don’t even know what I want–much less what God’s will is.”

While I’m not a fan of personal prophecy, at that moment, I would have given anything for a direct word from the Lord telling me what to do with my next five years. My mom, being a women of wisdom, didn’t attempt such counsel.

Instead, she observed: “I think you do the next thing.”

I finish my thesis. I attain my MS. After that, who knows. For now, I just focus on the next step.

It’s completely unsatisfying advice. I would have much preferred something more long-reaching and with less immediacy.

What’s God’s will for my life? I ask myself. I ask God. I start writing out the options and begging God to just check His preferences:

Married or single?

Community nutrition or clinical nutrition? (Or maybe that “Wife” and “Mom” position I want so badly?)

Midwest or coasts?

Current church or different church?

“Give me direction,” I beg.

And He has. But it’s not the kind of direction I seek. It’s more like my mom’s undramatic “You do the next thing.”

“Trust Me,” God says. “To those who are faithful in the little, I grant much,” He reminds me.

I start to wonder: Does God ever lead by giving a five-year plan? Francis Chan doesn’t seem to think so–and I’m not sure Scripture really supports the idea either.

God tells Abraham to pack up and leave–but Abraham has to be obedient, listening to God for each step along the way. God leads Israel out of Egypt–but instead of telling them their path in advance, He guides them via a cloud and a pillar of smoke. Paul is continuously redirected by the Spirit along his missionary journeys.

And even when God revealed the destination in advance, He was pretty adamant that it was to be reached using His means as an individual or nation followed His day-to-day leading. Case in point? Abraham’s promised son and Abraham and Sarah’s botched attempt to make it happen on their own.

What is God’s will for my life? To read Scripture, it would appear that His will for my life is that I walk by the Spirit daily (Gal 5:16), heeding His voice as He directs the seemingly mundane decisions of my life: the attitude I have as I work, the way I respond to an unexpected situation, the people I talk to and what I say to them throughout the day.

The Spirit’s will for my life is evident in Scripture: He desires to conform me to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29). He desires that I put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom 8:13). He desires that I be filled with the Spirit rather than with drunkenness or dissipation (Eph 5:18). He desires that I hold fast to good doctrine (2 Tim 1:13-14). He desires that I set my mind on the things of God (Rom 8:5).

So why am I so intent on getting a five-year plan from God while paying little attention to the plan for right now that He has made perfectly clear?

Lord, forgive me for disregarding Your direction for today in pursuit of Your plan for tomorrow. Help me to live each day in step with Your Spirit.

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:25

Forgotten God here.)

Categories Family History, Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Family History

Leave a comment by

Today I’m thankful…

…for the story of God’s mercy, poured out upon my family from generation to generation

…for the heritage of teachers in our family–from Mary Helen Nelson (my great-grandma) to Carol Pierce (my grandma) to Kathy, Alice, Martha, Rachel, Patty, and my mother.

Mary Helen Nelson's Teaching Certificate

Mary Helen Nelson’s Teaching Certificate, 1918

…for the generations before who compiled family trees or otherwise collected memorabilia (Special thanks to Ernest Clay, who collected the Clay history back to my great, great, great grandfather Claus Nelson aka Charles Nelson Clay born in Sweden in 1822.)

…for the pictures my grandma has collected, including helpful notes whenever possible

Grandpa Pierce and Grandpa Cook

Great-Grandpa Frank Ernest Pierce and Great-Grandpa Orval Anthony Cook

Note on back of previous picture

Note on back of previous picture

…for the scanner I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my grandma possesses, probably thanks to an aunt (of mine). I spent the last couple of days scanning scads of family documents (not that I’m anywhere close to having them all.) Now I’ve got enough documents to keep me plugging away on my genealogy/family history stuff for another good while.

…for the stories both Grandma and Grandpa shared with me during this recent visit. My notebooks continue to collect the wealth, ready to be shared at some point–and now my new MP3 player contains a segment of one of Grandpa’s stories too.

Thankful Thursday banner

“Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children;
That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments”

Psalm 78:1-7