Spring Cleaning: Word Shop Newsletter February 2008

I wasn't thrilled to discover 5 boxes of books waiting for me one Monday morning. Even I can get tired of slogging through piles; sorting, pricing and--the worst part--trying to figure out what to get rid of to make room for the incoming books. Fortunately these boxes were full of Christian books beyond the normal run-of-the-mill. I usually take out the most interesting books first. In these boxes I found lots of C.S. Lewis, T. Austin Sparks, Arthur Pink, Watchman Nee, Witness Lee, a book about how Witness Lee fell off the edge, Elizabeth Elliot, Amy Carmichael, several books on Romans, Leviticus, Galatians for our exegesis shelf--it helps if I know where to PUT the books...

Unfortunately, after I sort out the hottest books I'm left with stuff I don't know about, or don't much care about; stuff that becomes a growing pile of flotsam and jetsam behind the desk. I took home What Shall This Man Do? by Watchman Nee--probably because the title aptly reflected my inner state.

In What Shall This Man Do? Nee investigates Peter, Paul and John, looking at the different callings people have in Christ. I found the best evangelical advice I've ever encountered in the chapters on Peter. I can't tell you what it is because all my unbeliever friends would start looking at me suspiciously. (Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean we're not out to get you.) Nonetheless, as someone who has never been able to work the four-step plan-of-salvation with any effectiveness, I'm terrifically pleased to get this hot tip.

Meanwhile, boxes and bags keep arriving. Ken sent a nice batch of The Great Illustrated Classics and a half dozen books of fiction about Biblical women from Hawaii. (The box is from Hawaii, not the Biblical women.) Two boxes of secular books snuck in under the cover of darkness and are currently crammed around the chair by the desk. Two Christian bags are under the chair. (They found Christ in 06 and have been hiding under a bushel ever since.) Heartlessly, I remove books that have languished on our shelves for several years. I even dust in the process. The outside window sill is now glutted with Free Books. Wander by before it rains.

"A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us." -W.H. Auden

I got to hear Ken Blue, author of Authority to Heal speak at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship. How lovely it was to drink in Biblically based preaching geared toward empowering people for ministry. I heard Ken Blue speak years ago on Healing Spiritual Abuse and found both that workshop and book remarkably helpful, too. We have a used copy of Authority to Heal languishing on a shelf for $3.

I've often thought it would be fun to start a Toastmasters club that focuses on the trials and joys of ministering in the Name of the Lord. Does anybody else think that would be interesting?

"My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me." - Henry Ford

I had a chance to hear Natalie Goldberg, Queen of the 10-minute writing exercise, speak at the Capitola Book Cafe. I didn't end up going, but couldn't resist ordering her latest book, Old Friend from Far Away; The Practice of Writing Memoir. I told myself that I ordered it because two people in our Novel Writer's Workshop are working with Memoir material. Right. Books flying in by the box-load and I have to order something else.

"Every man's memory is his private literature." -Aldous Huxley

DOGGEREL: an astonishing number of people responded to last months Newsletter, Going to the Dogs. Roberta brought me Dogs Deserve Dialogue by Judy Moore. It has wonderful advice about how to talk to your dog. My puppy has quickly learned how to talk back. Jean sent a pugnacious screen cleaner, which even though I never forward anything, I had to send on to a scattering of folk. Jean also said that Don't Let's Go to The Dogs Tonight was one of her favorite books: "raw life, real life." I still haven't read that due to the fact that I had to read two (boring) books for a class.

"If an animal does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing for the same reason, we call it intelligence." -Will Cuppy

Many people responded positively to last month's mention of Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. I agree that the book is a great gift for all of us. Jeanne said that she read it soon after her husband died, and then read it again at the end of the first year. My copy is now on our 'Grief' stack by the healing books. $6

"That some good can be derived from every event is a better proposition than that everything happens for the best, which it assuredly does not." -James Kern Feibleman

Transforming Our Days; Finding God Amid the Noise of Modern Life, sounds like God is lost, or hiding under a chair. (With the old bags.) Author Richard Gaillardetz says we've reduced the richness of life to commodities that we acquire without human contact; effectively eliminating communion with each other and therefore with God. For example, we grab fast food instead of having a family dinner or buy books at Amazon instead of over tea at The Word Shop. Unfortunately Gaillardetz doesn't have any great solution to this problem. Even I buy books at Amazon--like Friends From Far Away, which was purchased without a single cent going to Capitola Book Cafe. (Hopefully I've made up for my sins by mentioning the them twice.) Of course, Church (as in going-to) can help in the communion department--although sometimes Finding-God-at-Church is harder than looking under the chair.

"Do not believe that it is very much of an advance to do the unnecessary three times as fast." -Peter Drucker

Responding to my plea for corrections to Using the Word, Charlie wrote that he did "honorable battle with the dreaded Typorannasaurus Rex (or would that be Wrecks?)" and found on page 51 "the word 'redevelop' deviously masquerading under the pseudonym 'redevolpe.' Or," he asked, "if I have assumed in error, please advise me as to pronunciation--do you say "reddy.volpy" or "reedy.volpy" or perhaps re.de-volp?"

I wrote back, "Surely, Charles, you of all people should know that redevolpe (pronounced reedy-volp) is a thin but quite voluptuous woman, which would enhance any reading plan."

I told this story to Barry, who thought that having a reedy-volp would greatly improve HIS reading plan. He and Justin have each marked up a copy of Using the Word with multitudinous suggestions for improvement. I stuck them under the chair with the old bags. The suggestions--not Barry and Justin. If you're too cheap to spend $5.99 for my book, you can now read a sample chapter at usingtheword.com. You can even purchase a copy there via pay pal, thanks to Bill. And Shawn. And our incommunicado technology.

"Our heads are round so that thoughts can change direction." -Francis Picabia

Lynn loaned me The Little Red Book of Wisdom at our Tuesday co-creative John Journey. I stuck it in my art bag, wherein I discovered it once again exactly one month later. Author Mark De Moss is a PR consultant for Christian organizations and causes. His book is an easy, enjoyable read, full of the timeless wisdom that spawns great ideas. I just wish these books would come with someone to DO the great ideas. I'd especially like a doer for Wednesdays at noon when I go to Toastmasters.

"An aim in life is the only fortune worth the finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands, but in the heart itself." -Robert Louis Stevenson

Or hiding under the chair.

Blessings,
Alliee +

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