Stuff That Matters in Life

Katy’s Weblog

Our family listened to the audio of The Hunger Games on our road trip to Arizona over Christmas holiday. We were so engrossed with the story that we looked forward to getting back into the car whenever we can!

When we came home, we read, on our own, the two sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. The writing style is not great, but the story is exciting and well told. As is usually the case (maybe with the exception of Harry Potter), the sequels are not as good as the first one. I wish a little more development of new characters and explanations were given in Mockingjay. The wrap up was a little thin. I felt the  author was trying too hard to delve deeper into the emotions of the heroine which sometimes was too drawn out. Ok, I get it that she got crazy and psychologically messed up in a war. But the other characters were able to move on while her emotions kept holding her back. The author just didn’t describe her in a way that stirred me. I had much more sympathy for the other characters.

I recommend the books, but don’t know if I want to see the movie. Movies from books usually disappoint.

“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.” ~ C. S. Lewis

Think about losing weight. A decision to turn down a brownie does not seem to make much difference on the scale, but that that small victory gives you confidence to continue to say no to all the other foods you need to cut out. Slowly, all the brownies and cookies you didn’t eat will show up as one smaller pant size.

Those small decisions do matter.


When my children first started to be independent and have plans of their own, I felt a sense of  sadness whenever two and especially when all three would be out, leaving no kids at home. It’s not that I have nothing to do, I have lots to do, but there was a sense of loss, the passing of a season of life.

Then when my son left to live in another country, and my older daughter was in college, I got used to having a single child.

This weekend my single child is gone on a 4-day retreat with church. I miss her noise and conversation, but I didn’t feel the same sadness.

I suppose if I live to be 969 as Methuselah did in the Bible, I would still have to go through the emotions of a changing life stage. I am getting used to the “circle of life.”

This book is a touching testimony of a woman who unknowingly married a high ranking member of the Mafia.

Michael Franzese and Camille Garcia met while she was a dancer in a movie he was producing. Raised by a very devoted Christian mother, Cammy’s faith in God was made real to her through the trials she went through as her husband was imprisoned twice. The book, “This Thing of Ours” gives details of how she raised four children while remaining a loving wife to Michael. Her prayers and influence brought her husband to change and quit his life of crime. She is very honest and candid in talking about her own failings, as well as the troubles with their children that resulted from Michael’s past. She gives very good marriage advice and her emphasis on prayer is very inspirational.

It would probably make more sense to read Cammy’s husband’s testimony first, “Blood Covenant”, to know the background. Without an understanding of Michael’s true mafia involvement, you cannot appreciate what Cammy went through because this book does not give much information about the mafia involvement. Her story seems very tame, but of course, this is her story, not his, and she was spared from the any mafia activity.

Disclosure:  Thomas Nelson provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for this review. Opinions are entirely my own.

I read somewhere, I wish I remember where, that asked a poignant question: When we go to heaven and have all the blessings of what we usually think heaven is – all the food we want, reunion with friends and family, streets of gold, no war, no pain, no tears…and Jesus wasn’t there, would we be happy?

If we were honest about it, we would probably say yes.

We want to be happy more than we want Jesus. We only want what he gives us.

Sigh.

Christmas is about Jesus. But we don’t really appreciate Him.

From Sean McDowell:

Many kids leave the church because they never built healthy relationships with their parents or other Christian adults. If we want to teach the biblical worldview effectively, we must first help kids get emotionally healthy.

This is why I deeply believe in mentoring. Jesus was a mentor. My hope is that mentoring will become as normal in the church in the future as small groups are today. Young people simply cannot survive temptations and intellectual challenges without caring, involved adults coming alongside to guide them.

When I was in seminary, small groups was the panacea. That method did indeed helped the growth of the church.

However, a method is just that, a method. It’s a means to an end, but now in churches, small groups are almost seen as an end. If you join a small group, you’re done. Spiritual growth will happen automatically if you are in a small group. This, of course, is not true. There is a right way and wrong way of running small groups.

Mentoring is also a method. You can say Jesus was a mentor. Or you can also say Jesus was a small group leader. Either way, the focus is on the goal of spiritual growth, not on a method.

For the record, I think both mentoring and small groups are necessary for spiritual growth, when done right.

I just finished reading An Amish Wedding by Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, and Kelly Long.  It was an easy read and an entertaining fiction, good for a heartwarming distraction, especially on a rainy day.

Three short stories set in an Amish community, the book tells the sweet stories of three couples.  Along with the romance and conflict, there were lessons of faith woven throughout.

I like the way how the three stories are different yet the characters all intertwined, giving a common backdrop.  I also liked learning a bit of the Amish culture, and now it makes me want to visit one.

While the stories are a bit simplistic and the endings fairytale-ish, there is nothing wrong with getting away from the high drama, violence and sex themes of what you usually see in media entertainment nowadays. Again the description I would give is sweet: sweet characters, sweet storyline, everything about it is nice and sweet!

Disclosure:  Thomas Nelson provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for this review. Opinions are entirely my own.

Lost art

Filed under Generalby Joyful

There’s a shoe repair shop in our little city of 30,000. How many people would need their shoes repaired?

I went in there to have my $40 pair of shoes repaired. The cost of repairing the sole is $16. It’s hardly worth it for me, and hardly worth it for him. It made me wish my shoes were more expensive to have the repair even make sense. But I decided to have it done any way.

It said on the window of the shop that he can make any shoes you want in leather, custom size, custom style. It’s good to know not everything is made in China, and that this type of artisan is still around.

Poor?

Filed under Generalby Joyful

“Lady, can you spare a quarter?”

I said no and turned away.  Then I felt a pang of guilt -what if she just had some bad luck and need a helping hand?

Not so.  10 min. later the same lady was in line in front of me at the market, paying for a bottle of cheap wine with $2.50 in quarters.

It’s people like her that give honest beggars a bad name.