Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock

In Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock, two professors of home economics at The Master’s College extol women to practice the biblical command to be hospitable.

Lots of books about hospitality are on the market today, and I wondered what would be different about this one.  For those who are new to the concept of biblical hospitality, Ennis and Tatlock do a good job of giving an overview in their seven chapters of some of the most important aspects of hospitality.  The eight chapters consider:

1. Hospitality and Character
2. Hospitality and Strangers
3. Hospitality and Family
4. Hospitality and Management
5. Hospitality and Your Home
6. Hospitality and Others
7. Hospitality and Culture
8. Hospitality and Ministry

I found the chapter on hospitality and culture to be especially interesting.  The authors give lots of concrete suggestions and ideas for consideration when inviting people into your home who are visiting from another country.  Considering time, customs, food preparation, and food service are some of the concepts that they help readers work through when considering extending hospitality to those of a different nationality.

I would recommend this book for individual reading, but it could also be used as a part of a book club or a short women’s book study.

 

Are You Making Time for Reading?

Last month, I wrote a post about taking 15 minutes each day for reading.  A month and a half into 2009, I want to tell you that, in only 15 minutes most days, I have now read a total of five books and am in the middle of the sixth!  So, if you think you don’t have time to read, I want to encourage you today that you do have the time.

Let’s face it.  I spend more than 15 minutes each day answering e-mails, playing on Facebook, and watching television – and I’ll bet that you do too (or other similar time-wasters).  Reading a good book is so much better for us in so many ways – it increases our knowledge of the world, stimulates our minds, increases our vocabulary, can lower our stress levels, and basically helps us become well-rounded people.  How often can we say that television and Facebook do those things?!

I plan to keep this pattern up throughout the year.  What about you?  Care to take the challenge to read for just 15 minutes each day?  Of course, you may find that you love reading so much more than these other mindless pursuits that you read more than 15 minutes some days…

Books that I have finished in 2009:

Sex and the City Uncovered: Exposing the Emptiness and Healing the Hurt by Marian Jordan

The Sister Circle Handbook: Discover the Joy of Friendship by Nancy Moser and Brenda Josee

The Christian Lover: The Sweetness of Love and Marriage in the Letters of Believers by Michael A. G. Haykin

“A” is for Alibi by Sue Grafton

A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith by Lori Smith

Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Othersby Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock (currently reading)

 

“Sex and the City Uncovered: Exposing the Emptiness and Healing the Hurt” by Marian Jordan

In Sex and the City Uncovered: Exposing the Emptiness and Healing the Hurt author Marian Jordan uses the popular television series “Sex in the City” as a reference point for some of the issues faced by single (and married) young women in today’s culture.

In the book, she discusses the ways that many young women seek to find their self-worth in relationships, careers, money, clothing, appearance, alcohol, sex – and helps them come to the conclusion that none of these things will bring the lasting happiness and joy that they seek.  Only a relationship with Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness in their hearts.

Founder of Redeemed Girl Ministries, Marian knows first-hand that this kind of lifestyle does not lead to true happiness because she tried living that way herself.

I would recommend this book as a good resource for those seeking to minister to young adult women today, as well as a resource for those who find themselves trapped in a life that seeks to find approval from the world.

 

Making Time for Reading

Those of you who have known me for many years know that I love to read.  If you have been to my house, you know that I LOVE to read!  I have books everywhere.  Some I have read, many are waiting to be read.

Unfortunately, real life creeps in, and I no longer take the time to read as much as I once did.  But today, I read this inspiring post at the girl talk blog.  They have motivated me to try to give just 15 minutes a day to reading.  Janelle shares this quote from pastor John Piper:

“Suppose you read slowly like I do–maybe about the same speed that you speak–200 words a minute. If you read fifteen minutes a day for one year (say just before supper, or just before bed), you will read 5,475 minutes in the year. Multiply that by 200 words a minute, and you get 1,095,000 words that you would read in a year. Now an average serious book might have about 360 words per page. So you would have read 3,041 pages in one year. That’s ten very substantial books. All in fifteen minutes a day.”(When I Don’t Desire God, p. 129)

Are you with me?  Will you give 15 minutes of your day to reading some book that will grow and enrich your mind?

 

All I Want for Christmas is … Books!

We all know that the outlook for the economy is bleak as we enter the Christmas shopping season for 2008.  Many businesses are struggling this year, as we consumers are deciding the best ways to spend our hard-earned money.

I know many people who go to the mall and browse around until “something” catches their attention as the perfect gift.  This year, may I make a suggestion?  Try your local bookstore instead of the mall.

The book publishing industry is struggling this year right along with the automakers, clothing manufacturers, and others.  You can read a little about the ramifications of this at The Writers’ Group.

If, like me, you are a bibliophile, this is sad news.  One of the greatest disappointments to me when we moved to Owensboro two years ago is the lack of any independent bookstores.  In fact, the only bookstores here are two Christian bookstores – LifeWay and Family Christian – and a Books-A-Million.

If you are fortunate enough to live in a city with independent booksellers, please give them some of your business this Christmas.  If not, any bookstore will do.  Just buy books!  Authors, publishers, manufacturers, and sellers everywhere will thank you!

Magazine subscriptions are also on the decline, thanks to the economy.  Another great gift idea is a subscription to a new magazine that appeals to a friend’s interests or hobbies.

Another great gift idea is the gift of music.  Support independent artists, such as these.

So, before you head out to the department stores, consider your local bookstore.  Good books never go out of fashion, are always the right size, and can be read again and again for years to come!

 

Psalms Study Wrap-up

Last night, my Bible study group finished our study of Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ A 30-Day Walk With God in the Psalms.  Although it was a lot of work that came at a really busy time of year for me, I’m glad that I was able to be a part of this group.  I have heard so many testimonies from these ladies as to how God was using the Psalms to speak to them right where they are in this season of life.

One of the blessings about the way our church does small group Bible studies is that the participants vary from study to study, bringing together a wide group of ages, life stages, and experience.  We are able to spend time with people (in this case, women) who we would not normally get to know.  New friends are made, old friendships are renewed.

I am thankful for our 30-day walk (that actually took seven weeks!).  I am thankful for the diligent work that the women put into their individual study, and for the insights that they brought to class each week.

Last night was the end of our Sunday evening “discipleship training” for 2008.  Sunday nights from now until the end of the year will be taken up with special services related to the Christmas season.  But come January, we’ll be ready to dive back into our Bible studies.  If you live in Owensboro, I hope you’ll plan to join us!

 

Hinds’ Feet on High Places

I have made some references in recent weeks to Hannah Hurnard’s classic allegory Hinds’ Feet on High Places.  Hurnard tells the story of Much-Afraid, who journeys with the Shepherd and her two companions of Sorrow and Suffering from the Valley of Humiliation to the High Places.  Much-Afraid starts out as ugly, crippled, and very much afraid, but along the journey finds healing, hope, and love.

This not the first time that I have read this story, but I am always moved by the way the Shepherd leads Much-Afraid to become like her new name of Grace and Glory.

From the end of the story: “So remember this; as long as you are willing to be Acceptance-with-Joy and Bearing-in-Love, you can never again become crippled, and you will be able to go wherever I lead you.”

The same words apply to us as we follow the Shepherd on our journey to the High Places.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of deer, he enables me to go on the heights.  Habakkuk 3:17-19

 

What I’m Reading

My friends often ask what I am reading.

Then they look disappointed and vaguely uninterested when I rattle off some nonfiction title.

But today, I’m here to say that I have finally found a Christian fiction author whom I actually like and would recommend – Charles Martin.

I reviewed his book When Crickets Cry here.  It was recommended to me by a friend who knows that I’m not a big fan of most Christian fiction writing, but who also knows that I am a fan of Nicholas Sparks.  I agree with her – If you like Nicholas Sparks, you will probably like Charles Martin.

 

 

 I am almost finished reading The Dead Don’t Dance, and it is just as good as When Crickets Cry.  Both novels are well-written fiction with a Christian worldview.  The characters are not perfect people, but through their flaws we can learn a little about ourselves and about the grace and mercy that God shows to each of us who call on His name.

 

A Place of Quiet Rest by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

I just finished reading Nancy Leigh DeMoss’s A Place of Quiet Rest, and highly recommend it to anyone who has ever felt that her devotional life is not what God wants it to be.

I am using some of the material from this book each week to guide our discussions as our Bible study group works through A 30-Day Walk With God in the Psalms, also by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

DeMoss discusses several aspects of maintaining a consistent devotional life, such as priority, purpose, pattern, problems, practice, and product.  Using Scripture throughout the book, she presents a very convicting argument for working to maintain our daily walk with the Lord.

Each chapter concludes with personal reflections from great women of the faith, such as Elisabeth Elliot, Vonette Bright, Barbara Rainey, and others.

Whether you are new to the faith or have been walking with the Lord for many years, this book can encourage and motivate you to greater depth in your daily time with God.

 

Studying the Word

Last night, I began leading a group of women through Nancy Leigh DeMoss’s A 30-Day Walk With God in the Psalms.  Fifteen women showed up to learn more about the Psalms and to learn how to deepen their devotional life through studying God’s Word.

I am really looking forward to teaching this particular study because I believe that the questions asked in the workbook can help women learn how to approach any text of Scripture for themselves.

Our evangelical world of women’s ministry is often very personality-driven.  Women want to do studies written by whomever they find to be the most dynamic … or the funniest … or the best-dressed … or the loudest … without ever really considering the content.

I am more interested in seeing women grow in their walk with the Lord than in whether or not we are doing the latest and greatest study on the shelf at our local Christian bookstore.

Don’t misunderstand me – women who write Bible studies and do conferences are not necessarily a bad thing.  However, I have observed women in local churches lifting these leaders up in unhealthy ways, ways that come close to worshipping the leader rather than the Savior.

So, while we are doing a study written by a national speaker to women, I am praying that through this study the women in the group will learn to study the Word for themselves.  In a few weeks, we will do an assignment outside of the workbook, to see if we can apply the principles that we are learning.

I’m looking forward to seeing how God’s Word will move in our lives.