What I'm Reading

Over Christmas break, I read Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy. It's a story of young Marilla Cuthbert, and how she became who she is in Anne of Green Gables. I really enjoyed it; I liked where she went with Marilla's life, and how she brought in other characters from the series.

One part that particularly interested me was a bit about slavery. The story takes place before the American Civil War, and Marilla's aunt (who lives in St Catherines) is involved in hiding and caring for former slaves. Marilla is actually the one who gets her involved once she (Marilla) learns about how the orphanage in Hopetown is hiding runaway slave girls.

My next book then was The Mapmaker's Children (also by Sarah McCoy). In this one, she looks at slavery and the underground railroad more closely. The story is about Sarah Brown, daughter of the abolitionist John Brown (of the raid on Harper's Ferry). It's historical fiction, but moves between the past and a family in the present. I liked it, and I liked learning a bit more about the underground railroad and how messages were passed.

I am interested in learning more about how messages and maps were stitched into quilts and such, but I haven't found any books in the library about that just yet.

I also read Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker. It's youth fiction, and I read it years ago. I picked up again last week (I have a copy) and enjoyed the story again. It's about two girls who escape from slavery in the deep south and make it to Canada. Again, it's fiction, but it incorporates real people. I'd like to read more about some of them one day (Alexander Ross and Levi Cotton).

I'm making a bit of a switch this week, to World War II. I'm just starting The Baker's Daughter, also by Sarah McCoy.

I also plan to read Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxax, his biography of William Wilberforce (the British abolitionist who fought to end the slave trade and then slavery in the British Empire).

I think this might be a very history-focused year.

Still Christmas

It seems I still haven't got Christmas out of my system (or my playlist), so here you go:

Christmas

I know it's well past Christmas (or a really long time until Christmas, depending on how you look at it). Too bad. This is my blog, and I want to talk about Christmas.

I spent Christmas with my oldest brother, his wife, their 6 children, and my parents. It was good. There was a lot of noise and a lot of food, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. My youngest niece and nephew were happy to have a playmate who would ignore the other adults sometimes and play with them, someone who would let them climb and stand on her, someone who would play with Lego or make paper jewelry for Barbies. I loved seeing them all, and I'm glad I went.

At the same time, Christmas with them meant that I didn't spend Christmas with other family members, or the Edmonton families that I usually spend Christmas with, or the church family whom I spent Christmas Eve with last year. I missed all of them.

I realized, when I was thinking about this, how richly blessed I am. There were at least 4 places that I would have loved to spend Christmas, and where they would have loved to have me. God has given me so many people to love and be loved by. Happily enough, I can see most of them throughout the year (at not-Christmas).

Also, here's a Christmas song I discovered this year.

(And also, my YouTube play list is all messed up thanks to a month of listening to Christmas music. I don't think I'll ever convince it that Christmas is over. Random Christmas songs are going to show up all year.)

The Year in Books (Part 2)

Here we have my favourite nonfiction books of 2018. To dispel any confusion: my favourite lists are based on what I read that year, not what was published that year.

1. Matt B. Redmond: The God of the Mundane. Sometimes I just need to remember that God is not just in the big and exciting things, but also in all the little bits of life and routine.

2. William Wilberforce: Greatest Works. William Wilberforce is one of my heroes. It's not quite accurate to say that he wrote this though, since it includes a short biography and some news articles about his death.

3. Martha Peace and Kent Keller: Modesty: More Than a Change of Clothes. I think this book takes a broader look at modesty, starting with the heart rather than outward appearances.

4. Donald S. Whitney: Praying the Bible. I was looking for a prayer book to add to the women's counselling class, and this was suggested. I loved it. It's very simply written and very practical.

5. Mark Ward: Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible. He lays things out very clearly without coming across as rejecting the KJV; rather, he shows the good of the translations as well as the challenges it presents (also, I learned a lot about how "reading levels" are determined).

6. Andrew M. Davis: An Infinite Journey: Growing Toward Christlikeness. True confession: this was Pastor James's recommendation for 2017, but I didn't get to it until this fall. It's a good book.

7. Paul Schlehlein: John G. Paton: missionary to the Cannibals of the South Seas. We all know I love biographies, and this one is very well written. It shows the challenges he faced and keeps from making him look like the perfect missionary.

8. Jen Wilkin: In His Image. She focuses on "who should I be" and shows how we are to become like God, and then everything else will follow.

9. Richard Mayhue: 1 and 2 Thessalonians. My main Bible study for the year was Paul's epistles to the Thessalonians. I found this commentary to be very straight forward and simple to understand.

10. Michael Harris: Solitude. Sometimes it's good to unplug and just be alone.

11. Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Little House Traveler. This is a collection of journal entries and letters written during the trip to Missouri, a trip to San Francisco, and a trip back home.

12. Jeremy Clark: I Gave Dating a Chance. Finally, I found the book that brings some balance to the dating/courtship argument. It's in the church library.

13. Booker T. Washington: Up From Slavery. I'd never read this, and I don't know why. It was really, really good, and gave a perspective of the post-Civil War years that I'd never read.

14. Laurie J. White: King Alfred's English. I got this for Christmas and loved it. It's "designed for students grade 7-12 and curious adults" so it's easy to read and full of information about how the English language came to be and why our spelling is so messy.

Bonus: From the Geoff and Janet Benge Christian Heroes Then and Now/Heroes of History collection (because there are always some of them):
Ben Carson: A Chance at Life
Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire
William Wilberforce: Take Up the Fight
David Bussau: Facing the World Head-on
Mildred Cable: Through the Jade Gate
Rachel Saint: A Star in the Jungle
Charles Mulli: We are Family
D.L. Moody: Bringing Souls to Christ

There were more, of course, and some of them very good (and some less so), but these are the ones that stand out the most.

The Year in Books: Part 1

I think it's safe to say that all I did was read this year. I read an insane number of books, but there was a large number of fiction (almost half), and of those, there were a lot of youth fiction, which generally makes for quicker reading.

And here you have my favourite fiction from 2018 (in the order that I read them):

1. C.J. Hedgcock: The Baker Family Adventures. Just to be clear, they only make the list because I read #3-7, and not the first two (which I read last year). They get better around number 4. I only made it that far because there were several children at the church urging me to read them, and assuring me that they get better.

2. Agatha Christie: The Man in the Brown Suit; Three Act Tragedy; Lord Edgware Dies; Poirot Investigates; Curtains: Poirot's Last Case; Murder on the Orient Express; Nemesis. What can I say: I'm a huge fan Agatha Christie fan.

3. Jeanne Birdsall: The Penderwick series. I really enjoyed these; they're just nice books for kids. I read the first one in 2017, and the rest this year. The fourth one is the saddest and probably the weakest of the lot, but I still enjoyed it.

4. Robert C. O'Brien: Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I have no idea how I missed this my entire life (it's older than I am). Friends insisted that I read it, and it's so good. The only problem is: I want to know what happens next!

5. Joan M. Wolf: Someone Named Eva. Although this is fiction, it is based on actual events in Czechoslovakia during WWII. It reminded me of how much history I don't know.

6. Brandon Sanderson: Arcanum Unbounded. This is a book of short stories, and I really enjoyed them. It may have helped to have read more of his longer fiction first, but for the most part what I have read was enough to follow the stories.

7. Sarah McCoy: Marilla of Green Gables. Okay, I'm not quite done this, but I anticipate finishing it tonight (or tomorrow morning at the latest, which is close enough). The author started with the bit of story in Anne of Green Gables when Marilla talks about John Blythe once being her beau. I'm really enjoying it; it's very well-written.

Although the rest were also good, those were my favourites.

Just for Fun

This my new favourite thing....

About Love

Pastor James has been preaching through 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 lately. You can go and listen to them here. You should be warned, though, that they can be tough to hear. Not because of James (he's a very good preacher (and a very good pastor)), but because they are very hard-hitting sermons. As I listened to what love requires, I was hugely convicted by how far short I fall in loving others, and how much I need to grow in this area.

It's been tough to hear, but it's also been really, really good.  I've spent a lot of time praying about how I'm not loving people, and confessing the sin I saw in my life, and being forgiven. In every sermon, James reminded us of the cross, and that we can go before God in repentance because He has already promised forgiveness.

One Sunday, all of our hymns were about God's love for us, and that was a great reminder as well. God is love, and when He tells us how to love, He's telling us how to be like Himself. Love is patient and kind and does not take into account a wrong suffered, and endures to the end, and all the other things in this section of Scripture... because that's exactly what God is. That was the greatest encouragement: I fall so far short of the mark, but God is perfectly loving, and He loves me perfectly.

Already I can sense changes in me as a result of the love sermons. Having dealt with a lot of unloving attitude in my heart, I feel more relaxed, happier, and free. It's easier to deal with the stuff of life when my goal is to love people. Of course, I'm not perfect yet. I still get upset about things; I just remember more quickly that love is patient and kind, and I remember that I am not supposed to dwell on (real or imaginary) hurts or insults, and I pray more for help to love people in the moment.

It's been a good series, and I'd encourage you to listen to it. As much as it has hurt in the moment, I have been very, very thankful for it.