Stuff That Matters in Life

Katy’s Weblog

Thank you for the surprise gift at the front gate! When I first saw it, I thought it was some kind of advertisement, the kind where if you want to buy it, you pay for it. If you don’t want it, the promoters will come by and take it back. I looked around the neighborhood expecting every house to have one of these hanging at their front door. LOL!

You know, it’s not just the thing itself, but the love and thought behind it that I appreciate. Thank you for your committed friendship. I wish I can do more to help you in your journey and struggles of life. If I can give you a word of encouragement, let me say that, trite as it may sound, it is true – whatever you do for God, no matter how big or small, is not in vain. The journey is worth it. He will never fail you. You are still young, with a whole lot of life ahead of you. No need to be in a hurry for things to happen. (Just FYI, my brother found the perfect wife for him when he was 40. It’s ok if it’s not your time yet.)

When you get to my age, you will look back and know that everything had a purpose.

May music, peace and joy fill your soul.

I am not giving a full review here, but just noting a couple of books I read recently.

Easy to Kill, another classic by Agatha Christie, was a reread for me. It’s not usually much fun to reread a mystery because you would already know whodunnit. But I forgot who the murderer was until half way through, so it still fun to read.

Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen is the first book that I’ve read through by Nouwen. And it’s not really written by him; it’s compiled by his student after his death. Nouwen’s books take a long time for me to read because they are so introspective and I have to think through the concepts rather than reading it superficially. Some really good insights about spiritual life in this book . I would quote them here, except I’ve already renewed it 3 times, and I had to return it to the library yesterday.

Win stuff

Filed under Generalby Joyful

I’ve been following the Today’s Giveaway blog lately. Almost everyday there is a contest to give away good stuff. I like to enter contests on blogs because it’s easy, and kind of fun, especially when you win. But you also find out about new products that you may not normally hear about.

So at Today’s Giveaway, there is a contest to give away a free redesign of your blog.

You can tell I can use a redesign. Rather than just a generic template, it would be really nice if I can get a cute one that they are giving away.

If you want to win a blog design worth $100, you can enter too.

I read another biography of a Christian hero (children’s narrative version).

William Booth is the founder of the Salvation Army. With what do you associate the Salvation Army? Soliciting money at Christmas with the ringing bell? The Salvation Army truck picking up your discards? The Salvation Army band at parades? (there is an interesting history about the band recounted in the book.)

The Salvation Army is much more than that. I didn’t know that the Salvation Army had such an impact on society until I read this book. I don’t know what the Salvation Army does now, but back then, the Salvation Army was a driving force of both social reform and church growth.

William Booth had a vision to preach the gospel to the poor in the slums of England when none of the established churches wanted to touch them.  Shame on the church, and shame on us now who do  not give a helping hand to the poor.

Being pelted with rotten tomatoes, stones, and dead cats (gross!) did not stop William and the Salvation Army from advancing. By the time he died, the Salvation Army was established in 80 countries, and operated more than 3,000 social welfare institutions, hospitals, schools, orphanages, homeless shelters, and social service agencies.

When I read biographies of men and women who were leaders of Christian work, it reminds me to pray  – Oh God, do it again! Use us Christians to change the world!

We know the right answer. “The church is about the people…people not program…”

But the way we act often reflect otherwise. We get upset with people when the program doesn’t run smoothly. We  are irritated with people who disagree with us how things ought to be done. We stay away from people who are to us “weird”. We come to church looking for a good program or a good sermon, not to enjoy the fellowship with the people. We call upon people to “serve” in the church to fulfill a task, not to spend time and minister to people.

Trey’s blog post inspired me to see the church the way Jesus sees the church. We need to focus on the right things, otherwise the church ceases to be a church.

I love to read whodunnit type of mysteries in the classic tradition of Agatha Christie. Unfortunately, Withering Heights by Dorothy Cannell is not one of them.

I read the first in this Ellie Haskell series, Thin Woman, a while ago. I didn’t love it, but I thought I’d try another book by this author.  The cover of the book was pink and pretty. This proves true not to judge a book by its cover. After reading Withering Heights, I decided I will not read any more by this author.

Withering Heights is her 11th mystery featuring Ellie Haskell, so I am sure some may find the books intriguing. But for me, her style of writing is too verbose. There’s too much useless dialogue and asides that do not contribute to the story or to the characters. I was half way through the book before the intrigue began. The criminal was not clever, the resolution was not satisfying, and the heroine was not all that likable.

Let me know if you’ve read any clean, clever mysteries that you recommend.