February, we welcome you <3

Hello February! And here is to a hope that you are better to us than January has been. 

Hope is the theme today as we review the books I attempted to read and give you the short summary of thoughts on them. 

I love that my little desk calendar set us up for this. 

Here are the books I read with, of course, one not fully completed. 

Let’s start with the finished ones:

If you remember at the beginning of January, I was going to finish one more Christmas devotional The Hope of Christmas by Jack Countryman, which I did complete. 

It was, as mentioned, mostly Scripture and then short devotions regarding the prophecy, promise and fulfillment of the Christmas Story in light of passages from Old and New Testament. I loved it and it was encouraging and faith building as we waited through much of January until we could finally have Christmas with the last of our children around the middle of the month. 

Start with Why by Simon Sinek was the second book I read. I am reading it for the new Women’s Ministry Book Club at FCC. 

It is a secular book and eye-opening about the market place, corporations, why some gain strong loyalty and why others to do not. Our leader for this book selection has scheduled a couple of meetings for our group to discuss so I don’t want to mess with her plans in case any of you who read this blog would be in that group. 

Suffice to say, I hope to share some thoughts down the road. It was a challenge to me to read as it is business focused. I do love business principles and have some strong instincts gleaned from years of working different retail positions, plus my dad had a head for it and taught me things. But the language and subject are not something I have studied in my latter years and so I am thankful to have been stretched to read it. 

The third book, Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright was a Christmas gift from John. I have read another book by N. T. Wright that John recommended that was deep and this one is also causing me to read slowly so I can absorb what he is saying. 

I am over half way through and wish like everything that I read faster than I do. He is discussing how the Church at large over centuries has moved from what the New Testament church seemed to know and believe about heaven and the Resurrection and what that will look like for us. 

Basically, he addresses that Scripture points to a new heaven and new earth – right here. Not somewhere up there. And that the reign of Christ has already begun on earth, it is just not completed until the day of judgment. 

I told you. 

It is deep. 

So there you have January reading for me. 

And so we press on. 

Have a blessed day and I will see you tomorrow <3