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Author Archives: Seth
The Season of War
Pausing a moment on the knoll
The sound of marching in the air
Moving the earth and shaking my soul.
They had blossomed in youthful blaze
And cast their shadow over land and man
But now their future began to fade.
The time had come to meet the foe
Who would shake their lofty perch.
And bury them below the coming snow.
I felt the blows as cool as night
Strike the ground around my feet
And saw them falling in the battle’s bite.
The limbs were bent in painful sway.
The trees inhaling the volley thick
Never to drink of sun’s bright ray.
The wind itself pushed them on
And moved them to give their lives
To color again the crimson lawn
Soldier falling from their ranks
In graceful glory they bowed their heads
As in a pool, they slowly sank.
Many as one or one alone
The fate was all the same
It was all this world has ever known.
Their dark uniforms stained blood red
Thousands falling all around
And only coldness surrounding them
Their once exalted state had been denied
And now they lie on steely ground.
Their long cold rest will not end
Some will cry and call their name
until they sleep beneath the land
from whence they once came.
Each fall I I feel the icy numb
Of winter approaching and taking life
I pray that spring will quickly come.
Lost in the Middle
Lost in the Middle: MidLife and the Grace of God
By Paul David Tripp
Product Details
- Paperback: 348 pages
- Publisher: Shepherd Press
- Language: English
- Date of reading: October 19, 2011
Point: Tripp strives to help the reader understand the struggles that they are going through in the light of God’s grace and love for them. This book is so that you as the reader may see God and yourself more clearly, and that you might find the hope that you need to continue on in life.
Path: Tripp takes the reader through a variety of Bible passages, real life stories, and biblical concepts in order that the real problems behind midlife can be shown.
Agreement: I am not at this stage of life, and I found this book immensely helpful! I found myself forgetting that he was talking about a stage in life that I will probably not arriving to for another twenty years. Tripp talks a lot about our identity being worshippers of God and not tied to all of the other things to which our sinful natures draw us.
Tripp shows how midlife just reveals what idols we may have had in our lives for a long time, such as: health, beauty, material possessions, family, finances, among many others. God, in His grace, loves us to much to allow us to be content with these idols. When these things are taken away, we realize that we must trust not in any of the things that were previously mentioned, but in God’s grace and we find hope in the thought of eternity.
Personal App: I was very convicted when the book discussed dying dreams. I began to realize that sometimes we need to die to our own dreams in order to accept God’s plan that is being realized in our life. Often the disappointments in life are caused by us not accepting God as Sovereign. When we let go of our own dreams, we are able to experience something much better, contentment in our Lord.
Stars: 4 out of 5
It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.
Lost in the Middle
Lost in the Middle: MidLife and the Grace of God
By Paul David Tripp
Product Details
- Paperback: 348 pages
- Publisher: Shepherd Press
- Language: English
- Date of reading: October 19, 2011
Point: Tripp strives to help the reader understand the struggles that they are going through in the light of God’s grace and love for them. This book is so that you as the reader may see God and yourself more clearly, and that you might find the hope that you need to continue on in life.
Path: Tripp takes the reader through a variety of Bible passages, real life stories, and biblical concepts in order that the real problems behind midlife can be shown.
Agreement: I am not at this stage of life, and I found this book immensely helpful! I found myself forgetting that he was talking about a stage in life that I will probably not arriving to for another twenty years. Tripp talks a lot about our identity being worshippers of God and not tied to all of the other things to which our sinful natures draw us.
Tripp shows how midlife just reveals what idols we may have had in our lives for a long time, such as: health, beauty, material possessions, family, finances, among many others. God, in His grace, loves us to much to allow us to be content with these idols. When these things are taken away, we realize that we must trust not in any of the things that were previously mentioned, but in God’s grace and we find hope in the thought of eternity.
Personal App: I was very convicted when the book discussed dying dreams. I began to realize that sometimes we need to die to our own dreams in order to accept God’s plan that is being realized in our life. Often the disappointments in life are caused by us not accepting God as Sovereign. When we let go of our own dreams, we are able to experience something much better, contentment in our Lord.
Stars: 4 out of 5
It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.
The Mission-Minded Family: Releasing Your Family to God’s Destiny
by Ann Dunagan
Product Details
Paperback: 219 pages
Publisher: Authentic
Point: Your family can and should be involved in missions. God does not ask you to sacrifice your family on the altar of missions, but have you sacrificed God’s commands on the altar of your family?
Path: Through stories, examples, tips and testimony the author pieces together a feasible strategy for family missions.
Sources: Compiling resources from missionary biographies, missions agency, and current missions project, the author gives many resources to the reader.
Agreement: It is not “missions or family” it should be “mission through family.” Too often we think that our lives are too busy caring for our children to think of missions. Rather, we should look how we can involve our whole family in missions.
Disagreement: The author is a proponent of YWAM and other organizations which confuse missions. Also, the strategies are often focused more on humanitarian aid than Gospel presentation.
Personal App: How can I involve my family in missions rather than exchanging my family for missions?
Stars: 2.5 out of 5
There are some helpful ideas, but I wouldn’t buy the book.
Crystal was out hunting
Crystal saw these three, but was looking for something bigger. She also passed up 2 does.
Flattering Photos
A special thanks to Paul Avery for taking this charming photos with his fisheye lens.
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins
Product Details
Paperback: 374 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Point: Belief in any supernatural god is ridiculously unscientific, unhelpful, and dangerous to fellow humans.
Path: Chapter 1 – religion has caused lots of problems, but no one is able to talk about it. It is off limits.
Chapter 2 – “any creative intelligence, of sufficient complexity to design anything, comes into existence only as the end product of an extended process of gradual evolution.”
Chapter 3 – all arguments for God fail
Chapter 4 – Argument from improbability – basically a hyped up version of “Who created God?”
Chapter 5 – Answering from where religion comes – a desire, a placebo, a meme? Who can say?
Chapter 6 – “Then why are we good?” 1. We aren’t. 2. Misfiring nerves.
Chapter 7 – The Bible is horrific in its dealings with others. Do you really want to claim that?
Chapter 8 – fundamentalism (believing the Scriptures of your faith) undercuts science, and therefore is unacceptable
Chapter 9 – it is child abuse to bring up a child in a religious upbringing.
Chapter 10 – If there is a gap in every person that needs to be filled, why fill it with God? Why not science, art, human friendship, humanism, etc.?
Sources: Websites, critics, current literature.
Agreement: Religion – as a form of reaching God – is dangerous.
Disagreement: The author is overly infatuated with science. He is caustic and angry. Full of misinterpretations, exaggerations and over generalizations.
Personal App: Evidence will not argue a person into belief. Only the Holy Spirit can change a heart.
Stars: .25 out of 5
I couldn’t stomach most of it.
Computer Night
Heather is getting into mass computing.
Crystal sticks with one.
Lost in the Middle – CG
Lost in the Middle: MidLife and the Grace of God
By Paul David Tripp
Product Details
- Paperback: 348 pages
- Publisher: Shepherd Press
- Language: English
- Date of reading: October 19, 2011
Point: Tripp strives to help the reader understand the struggles that they are going through in the light of God’s grace and love for them. This book is so that you as the reader may see God and yourself more clearly, and that you might find the hope that you need to continue on in life.
Path: Tripp takes the reader through a variety of Bible passages, real life stories, and biblical concepts in order that the real problems behind midlife can be shown.
Agreement: I am not at this stage of life, and I found this book immensely helpful! I found myself forgetting that he was talking about a stage in life that I will probably not arriving to for another twenty years. Tripp talks a lot about our identity being worshippers of God and not tied to all of the other things to which our sinful natures draw us.
Tripp shows how midlife just reveals what idols we may have had in our lives for a long time, such as: health, beauty, material possessions, family, finances, among many others. God, in His grace, loves us to much to allow us to be content with these idols. When these things are taken away, we realize that we must trust not in any of the things that were previously mentioned, but in God’s grace and we find hope in the thought of eternity.
Personal App: I was very convicted when the book discussed dying dreams. I began to realize that sometimes we need to die to our own dreams in order to accept God’s plan that is being realized in our life. Often the disappointments in life are caused by us not accepting God as Sovereign. When we let go of our own dreams, we are able to experience something much better, contentment in our Lord.
Stars: 4 out of 5
It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.