The Small Branch

  Book Review - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald This is one of those books I read in high school but couldn’t really remember (it has been decades since high school, after all).  I chose this book because it is on a number of reading lists for high schoolers and I wanted to see if it would be appropriate for my high schooler to read next school year.  I had originally picked another book for this “slot” in her assignments, but found it to be rather inappropriate in some of its content.  This book is much better, but you should know that its main plot involves extra-marital affairs.  While that is, of course, sinful, the author does not find it necessary to be graphic in any way about these encounters.  There is a lot to learn about the excesses of the 1920’s in this book.  The level of materialism and promiscuity is emphasized and will open up a lot of discussion about worldliness and materialism and the ways they can easily infiltrate our...

  Book Review - C.S. Lewis through the Shadowlands: The Story of His Life with Joy Davidman by Brian Sibley WOW!  This book was so good.  This is the biography of C.S. Lewis and his wife Joy Davidman.  The author addressees the ups and downs of their lives, especially concerning their individual faith.  This is one of those books that I could hardly put down.  You will laugh, and you will definitely cry, but you will also examine your faith and the way you live your life in light of that faith.  It has also made me want to read more of Lewis’ books.  We’ll see what all I get to . . .

  Book Review - Lord, Where’s My Calling? by Teasi Cannon Have you ever felt like you were looking for what God wanted you to do and you just couldn’t figure it out?  Have you ever thought that you were meant for something big in this world?  If you have, then this book is for you.  This book was so helpful for me in my confusion and struggle that has been brought about in this transition phase of my life (see previous post on Transitions).  It was very convicting and pointed me back in the right direction.  I won’t give away much, but if you want to live with purpose you should read this book.  Teasi Cannon helps us to figure out what our purpose is, what a calling is, what a goal is, and what a desire is.  Each of these definition are given with humor and great visual metaphors.  You’ll learn about being the best vacuum cleaner you can be.  You’ll understand that you are living on an area rug rather than a red carpet and that’s a...

  Book Review - Prayer by O. Hallesby Prayer is something that seems so simple, but yet proves to be so difficult to understand.  I found this book to have helpful nuggets in it, but yet also some very confusing things.  The most helpful part of this book is the reminder that everything in our lives should be for the glory of God and that anything that does not bring Him glory is not best for us, either.  The most confusing part to me is how the author addressed our part in prayer.  I felt like there was too much emphasis on God “needing” us to do something or God being “prevented” from doing something because of how we prayed.  I don’t know how to reconcile our part in prayer and God’s sovereignty, but, unfortunately, this book didn’t really help me with that.  Overall, it was a pretty good read and, as I previously stated, had some helpful comments about prayer.  I think this might be a helpful book to read along with others and, most impor...

  Book Review - The Call of the Wild by Jack London (For most of the literature selections, I am checking out audiobooks from my local library or, if they are really inexpensive and not available from the library, purchasing them from Audible.  This is working really well for me and I would highly recommend it for getting more “good reading” in with your limited hours, just make sure you get an “unabridged” edition.) The Call of the Wild is a book written mostly from the perspective of a dog.  There is a lot of personification because of this viewpoint.  It does make you think, however, not just about dogs, but about people and our ways of dealing with difficulties.  There are characters in this book that make you shake your head in wonder asking, “How can they be so self-centered?  How can they be so prideful and foolish?”  Of course, once we ask those questions about these people, we must examine ourselves for our own self-centeredness and p...

  Book Review - The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane The Red Badge of Courage is different from most of the books I read.  It is like an impressionist painting.  Where the painting uses light, color, and brush strokes to evoke the feeling of the moment rather than an exact image of the scene, this novel uses imagery to evoke the feelings of the battle while not really describing the battle as a whole.  It is more realistic than the romantic renderings of battle usually given.  Whereas is many “war” novels soldiers are seen as heroes and the battle as something great and glorious, this novel describes the horror, the fear, the stress and strain, as well as the feelings of heroism and victory.  While I would read this first before I let my kids read it as it is somewhat graphic, I think high schoolers should be able to handle it and would do well to work through it in a group or class.  This is a great companion to any study of the Civil War. ...

  Book Review - A History of the American People by Paul Johnson I don’t really like using textbooks in our homeschool, especially for history.  A History of the American People by Paul Johnson is definitely not a textbook, but it does give a thorough history that will enrich an education.  This book was recommended in The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise and was also recommended on this year’s G3 Reading Challenge, so I decided to check it out as a possibility for part of my high schooler’s American history credit.  I’m so glad I did.  Don’t get me wrong, reading it was daunting, it is almost 1000 pages, but it was worth the time.  Paul Johnson delivers a very readable and well written history of the United States and her people from the beginning of colonization up to 1997.  There were times when the perspective given was different from one I had heard in previous courses and readings, and this enriched my understanding...

  Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (I listened to this as an audiobook, checked out from my library.)  This is another one of those books that I missed out on in high school.  If you haven’t read this book, you should.  The story is well written, with several story lines interwoven in an interesting and thought provoking way.  Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written to make the people of the south, and the north as well, to think about the treatment of slaves in the United States and beyond in the nineteenth century.  How anyone could read this book and not despair with the many suffering in slavery, even today, I don’t know.  This story will make you cheer, it will make you cry, and it will make you think about how you treat people.  Your heart will be wrung out when you have finished, but it will be so worth it.  It will challenge you to look at your own thoughts about people and to pray for those who are suffering.  It will chal...

  Book Review - Strange New World by Carl Trueman This book has a lot of great information about how our culture got where it is and what we, as Christians, need to be looking out for.  Often, in our society, there is simple reaction and looking at the surface without really looking at the root causes.  Weeds have to be killed at the roots or they keep coming up.  This is true with plant weeds and idea weeds.  Carl Trueman helps us to see the roots of the ideas flourishing in our society today.  I would recommend this book for anyone concerned about the direction our culture is taking.  (I will also be assigning this book to my high school student.)

  Book Review - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury This is one of those books that you often read in high school English, but for some reason, I was never assigned this particular one.  I missed out.  This is a great novel with a lot of insight.  Written in the 1950’s, there are a lot of ways which it has proven to be prophetic.  So many times, I found myself saying something like, “Yep, that is what is happening.”  The adventure is there, the action, the character development, overall a great story.  This is another one my high schooler will be reading.  I hope you will read it, too, and really think about the implications of human nature and culture.

  When People are Big and God is Small by Edward Welch I know I have mentioned this book in previous posts, but I wanted to make sure I had let you know a little more about it.  The subtitle is Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man and that sums it up well.  This book is well written and really makes you think about your own idols.  One of my favorite quotes from this book is “The person who fears God will fear nothing else.”  This is so true, but we don’t really think about it well.  Ed Welch helps us go through the root causes of our fear of man and how to overcome it, not by another gimmick, but by truly learning to fear the Lord as we should.  I would recommend this book to everyone (and I’m even assigning it to my high schooler).

  As part of the G3 reading challenge this year, the first category is “A Book about a Book of the Bible.”   When I first started this challenge, the Bible study I was in was working on the book of Judges, so I decided to read Judges: Such a Great Salvation by Dale Ralph Davis .   This is a good commentary on Judges and helped me in my study.   It was very readable, which was great.   Some of the commentaries I have read are so technical and “high level” that I have a hard time getting through them.   I almost feel like they are “talking down their nose” to me, sure that I couldn’t possibly be smart enough to understand.   With this commentary, I never felt that way, but yet it is still scholarly and has many great insights, both concerning the text and its historical context.   I will be picking up more of Dale Ralph Davis’s commentaries for future studies.  

  The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson I am not a huge fan of poetry.  Mostly because I am a very linear and logical thinker so, often, I have a hard time figuring out what the poet really is talking about.  I also try to make everything a standard rhythm.  Rhyme is also forced when I am reading poetry, whether it is there or not.  All this to say, it took me some effort to read this collection poetry, but it wasn’t as difficult as some other poets I have read.  One thing I really like about the G3 reading challenge is that it is forcing me out of my comfort zone and stretching my brain.  Even if you are like me and don’t really enjoy poetry, I would recommend stretching out and reading some occasionally.  Emily Dickinson is a great place to start and this collection is well done.  (I got this book from my county's digital library.)

  In 2022, G3 began a reading challenge.   I’ve mentioned the 2023 challenge before, but I thought I would post what I read for the 2022 challenge.   I’ll be honest, I didn’t start this until fall of 2022, so I’m not quite done yet (I’m still working on the first two categories), but here’s what I am reading/have read. Complete a Bible-Reading Plan : I chose to use the Chronological Bible Reading Schedule from Mostly Sensible.   I started in the New Testament and have mixed the Old Testament up more than suggested, but I am thinking I will be done with the whole thing in another month or so.  Just reading through the whole Bible is a challenge for me, so this has been hard, but I am persevering and finding it helpful to get the history and prophecy or letters, etc. put together well. A Hymnal : I chose Hymns to the Living God , which you can download or purchase.  ( I like my spiral bound copy because it lays nicely on my piano stand. )  I am abo...

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing  This book is a true story of courage and determination.  In 1914, Ernest Shackleton and his men set out to cross Antarctica.  Unfortunately, they ran into trouble before they made landfall.  They spent the next two years trying to survive long enough to make it home.   This book covers the whole of their adventure and is very well written.  It captures the harrowing nature of their situation in details recorded directly from the men’s journals.  The author has done extensive research, including long hours of interviews with the men who lived through this quest.  All of this effort shows in his writing.  If you are looking for a “travel book” that is well worth the read, this is one you should pick up.  (I got this book from my county's digital library.)

 Today, I finished a book called Out of the Saltshaker and into the World:  Evangelism as a way of life  by Rebecca Manley Pippert.  If you are looking for a book that is full of encouragement as you seek to "Go and make disciples" as the Lord commanded, I would recommend this one.  She also lists many other books in the appendix for further study.  This book isn't about a formula or a program to share the gospel, but about how to live our faith and communicate well so that sharing the gospel is natural as we develop relationships.

 A few weeks ago, God brought together the perfect storm of conviction for me and I began exercising again.  So far, I have worked out every day for just over two weeks.  Not much, I know, but it is a start.  While I am on the treadmill, I usually read, listen to sermons, or watch videos on RightNow Media.  This morning, I was reading Shepherding Women in Pain  by Bev Hislop.  In my exercises after the treadmill, I was pondering the chapter I had just read, all while sweating and groaning as my muscles struggled to work.  The author had made a very good point about the Western view of pain.  We always look at pain as something to avoid.  Something to be fixed.  Something that is just plain wrong.  This viewpoint often leads to very unhealthy reactions to pain.  As I was feeling the pain in my workout, I realized that this is true, except in the gym.  Anyone who exercises will tell you "no pain, no gain."  We all ...

 I've been reading Tamara Alexander's Fountain Creek Chronicles.     As I read, I have been pondering our sight.  We have a tendency not to see people, have you noticed?  Even our very closest friends and loved ones, we see through a lens that is tainted by our own thoughts, feelings, and ideas.  Sometimes, we see only what we wish we could see, the person we want someone else to be.  This means that we miss out on who the person really is.  Sometimes, we see through a cloud of judgement, not understanding a person's struggles and heartache.  This means we miss out on a relationship.   So how do we really see others?  We have to see them through the eyes of the Father.  We should be asking, in all our dealings with others, for eyes to see other people the way God sees them.  Then, maybe, we will have the humility to see who they are rather than what they've done or what we want them to do.

 I am a reader.  I love to read and will start occasionally posting some book recommendations.  One of the books I am reading now is called Living Among Lions: How to Thrive like Daniel in Today's Babylon  by David and Jason Benham.  This is a challenging book about living out our faith in a culture that is absolutely against us.  Here is my favorite quote so far: "Christians are to be the chocolate chips in the cookie dough of culture.  We are to mix  in, not blend  in - we keep our form, remaining completely distinct and separate - yet we should make the batch great!"