IS A QUAINT FARM IN THE COUNTRY ON YOUR NEW YEAR LIST?

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

I’ve never been to Wales, but Jeanine McMullen does a good job making me feel at home (as well as lame, bruised, and out of breath) in the mountain region where she became the owner of  what my father-in-law would have called a farm of nuisances. A special thank you to the good friend who loaned me (at the risk of losing it) his copy of her 1984 book, My Small Country Living.

Ms. McMullen is an example of rabbit trails as art form; and I mean that as a compliment. Whereas many conversationalists and authors become hopelessly lost in their meanderings, hers are deliberate and impactful. Having introduced a scene, she takes you onto one or more back story byways and brings you back to the main story with the ability to understand it far more richly than you would without the detour.

By the time you finish you have become acquainted with several individuals who make the narrative more meaningful; and you especially become either a friend or a foe of the various animals – animals which proved to be the bane and the blessing of her transformation from a radio broadcaster to a battered survivor of the less than idyllic country experience. With no apology she describes her efforts both as breaking the myth of tranquil back-to-the-earth farm life and defending that life as it really is.

I found her adventures with the goats especially endearing. And her farewells to some of her animals, such as a horse named Moelwyn, verge on the philosophical. In fact, there is a lot of philosophy to be found in the pages of My Country Living. You will not always agree, but you will be pushed to think.

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IT'S NOT TOO LATE FOR SOME HOLIDAY DICKENS

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

It isn’t too late to read instead-of or as-well-as watching Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Beginning in 1951 viewing was the thing for me. It was a childhood tradition to find the Alastar Sim version on one of our three channels. Then the movie was replaced by an operatic version - which may explain some of my ambivalence toward opera to this day. In later years I discovered a VHS edition and reintroduced the program to my yearly experience of the holidays. Now Judy and I enjoy the old show in a colorized DVD edition. 

Now, finally, I have read the book and found it well suited to being a tradition of its own. A section read each night completes the project in less than a week and it is in harmony with the 1951 movie. There are additions and relocations and omissions, of course, but nothing like the almost total re-writes and plot-line changes so common in modern movie “adaptations." For example, the housekeeper in the movie is not in the book. However, the book's description of Scrooge’s visit to his own deathbed is not in the movie. In my opinion Scrooge’s reform on Christmas Day is much more thorough in the book. Also, I enjoy Dickens’ observations as, for example, when the changed Scrooge laughs with relief that he has not died after all.

Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs!

And then there are the asides. Dickens tells us Scrooge’s former partner, Jacob Marley, is "dead as a door nail." Then he takes a moment to say:

Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it.

As for Scrooge’s aloofness, Dickens, with a flourish of the pen, describes him as being solitary as an oyster.

The message of the story, you may remember, has to do with the second of what I call the Sovereign Commands – love for neighbor. It is not a source for information on the afterlife; but it is not intended to be. It is, instead, an artistic presentation of the darkness of belated regret. There is something to be said for Marley’s agonized exclamation – “Mankind was my business!”

A copy of A Christmas Carol is not out of your reach. To be sure, there is the local library; but it can also be found on Amazon.com in book, video, and Kindle edition. You can even download a free copy in PDF format.

Enjoy! And have a Merry Christmas.

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A 1942 CLASSIC: UP TO DATE AND PROPHETIC

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

Because C. S. Lewis’ classic, The Screwtape Letters, deals with the universal temptations of mankind, it is always current even though its historic setting is mid-world-war-two England. Sometimes it is even hauntingly prophetic. A long time has passed since I last picked it up, and I sincerely regret the delay. Now I am seriously considering putting it on my job list as a regular read every year or two that I have left.

The book is a fun read once its layout is understood; but it can be difficult until that happens. What makes it tricky for some is that it is written in from the enemy's mind, not about the enemy's mind. A veteran devil instructs an apprentice devil on strategy for derailing a young man who has slipped through the student’s clutches and become a part of the Enemy camp – that is, the family of God. Do you see my point? The landscape changes. Whereas a moment ago I used the word "Enemy" to speak of Satan; now, in the narrative of the book, "Enemy" refers to God. Language Christians would use of their enemy, these characters use of the Christian God and his troops.  

What makes it difficult for others is that it is uncomfortably true to life. Any person who has come to faith in Christ will recognize tactics which have distracted them. But it also has the potential of clenched teeth for those who are without Christ and don’t want to be bothered with the idea they may be some kind of Satanic trophy for a future specimen jar. 

Of special interest to me was the fun Lewis had in tripping the devils up by leading them to bumble into the very moral categories they despised. It’s amusing to hear the older devil complain about disloyalty when the younger one thinks he senses heresy and turns him in to the hellish thought police.

In the process of underscoring the importance of a correct doctrinal position regarding sin and temptation, I highly recommend this book to help visualize what temptation looks like and how it ensnares in sin. I also highly recommend its warnings against Satan’s methodology of using good in order that evil may come.

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REFLECTIONS FOR LIFE'S FINAL JOURNEY

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

When you reach three-score-and-ten and your mother died at seventy-three and you both grew up in a smoke-laden environment, you begin to think a lot about the last frontier before entering the Capitol City of Jesus’ Kingdom. That was why I added Deborah Howard’s book, Sunsets, to my reading list. Its subtitle says it all: Reflections for Life’s Final Journey, and I recommend it highly but with a caution. The caution would be that you read it before you or someone very close to you hears the word “terminal,” and that a friend read it as a means of sifting through what would be best for you to hear on your journey down the dark roads.

As a registered nurse, hospital chaplain, hospice worker, and good theologian, Deborah Howard has put together a phase by phase analysis of what can and may happen during the journey from diagnosis, through treatment, to realization of terminality, the actual passing, and picking up the pieces.  She makes the progress through a fictional couple who represent a montage of real experiences. She also gives actual case studies to reinforce each section, and both offers and describes steps patients and their families can take to make the process as trauma and pain free as possible. If you have not yet made a Living Will, you will want to and you will know what you want it to say after digesting the story and the studies.

If the book has a weakness it is in the theological discussions included with each phase. By that I do not mean the Mrs. Howard’s theology is bad. Actually, she is quote spot-on. However, my personal impression was it might be a bit more loquacious than someone could absorb at ground zero of a dying experience. A missionary friend of mine, as the result of an accident, lay near death for a long time. When he recovered he remembered that during those days the only thing he could remember of all he knew was the simple text, John 3:16. You must have a sensitivity to the dying friend (or the dying self). Is this the time for deep things? Or, can the simply stated truth of the Gospel provide the best light for the path?

  

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"Roads Were Meant to be Walked Upon"

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

Having enjoyed Kipling’s Captain’s Courageous in days past, I decided to tackle his more complex work, KIM – first published in 1900-1901. My purpose in this review is not to encourage one to read the book but to be aware of its character. For my part, I couldn’t help comparing it with George MacDonald’s Sir Gibbie (The Baronet’s Song).

Gibbie, a British waif, is simply good. His story is a maturing goodness navigating through the best and worst of English society. Kim is an Anglo/Hindu orphan who uses good to his advantage while practicing the finer points of lying, stealing, and other talents of an urchin in dark and conspiratorial nineteenth century India. Gibbie is Christian. Kim is not. Gibbie walks on the light side, confronting the struggles of life. Kim walks on the dark side, immersed in the struggles of intrigue. Both are achievers; but, in the end, Gibbie faces great opportunities while Kim faces uncertainties.

With the exception of two priests who help channel him into the educational advantages of the British Empire, Kim’s adventures are linked to British agents and a handful of native moles helping the Empire in The Great Game. The one consistent figure in Kim’s career as a spy-in-training is a Tibetan Lama, and therein lays the heart of the tale.

The Lama, espouses a philosophy of the illusion of matter and rejects desire as a source of evil. Yet he, himself, struggles with desire for the River of Life, finds the desire intensified by Kim’s unanticipated friendship, and makes compromises with illusion.  

I suppose the book is a good presentation, in story form, of the contorted lines of oriental worldviews. In particular, Kipling weaves the struggles of the boy and the Lama into a poignant conclusion where the priest seems on the brink of drowning (literally) in an illusion he thinks to be reality. Kim, on the other hand has come to recognize, “Roads were meant to be walked upon, houses to be lived in, cattle to be driven, fields to be tilled, and men and women to be talked to. They were all real and true—solidly planted upon the feet—perfectly comprehensible—clay of his clay, neither more nor less.”

Pity no one was there to the speak of the One who could speak to both reality and reality behind reality.

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ABERCROMBIE TRAIL

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

“Hatred did not drive (Evan Jacobsen) from Norway;” but in the remainder of Candace Simar’s historical novel, Abercrombie Trail, he tells the reader what did, and he unpacks the consequences of his arduous move to Minnesota.  

While the Civil War dragged on, Evan’s story presents a detailed and sometimes brutal sketch of the drama faced by Scandinavian settlers in a region often overlooked in the nation’s history books.  In his role as a stage driver on the route from Fort Snelling, Minnesota, to Fort Abercrombie, on the North Dakota side of the Red River, Evan introduces us to a host of characters and traces their fate during the Sioux uprising of 1862. He also gives us an understanding of the stamina of those settlers and the impact of the War Between the States in states where the war was not being fought.

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to know more than just the scenery through which Interstate 94 passes between Minneapolis and Fargo. It is also a worthwhile addition to the bibliography of any serious student of the Civil War. Candace Simar knows the region and its history well and weaves a credible story to help the reader “see” the people, places, and events of an era which should not be forgotten.

As an added note: the reader would be amply rewarded if he included with the book a visit to the recreated Fort Abercrombie just a few miles south of Fargo, North Dakota.

  

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OX CART ANGEL

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

If much is missed by staying on the Interstates in our travels, even more is missed by not exploring the stories of the places we visit – especially if we visit those places often. So far, in two-month increments, Judy and I have spent close to eight months in the Red River valley of North Dakota. Each time we immerse ourselves a little deeper in the region’s past. At the same time I have found that well researched historic fiction serves my purposes better than encyclopedic articles. One such book is J. A. Arnold’s Ox Cart Angel.

Of the several people groups who left their imprint on the Red River Valley of the North, Mr. Arnold focuses on the Métis group (part Indian, part French). As an added supplement to the book, he also devotes a blog to this culture.

Ox Cart Angel, is Mr. Arnold's effort to describe the long forgotten caravans which carried goods and people from what became the Canadian border to St. Paul, Minnesota. It is one of several historic realities of the region which is overshadowed by the all consuming Civil War of those years. In the story he focuses on a girl whose widowed father sells all he has to make the journey to the better life; and, in the process tears her away from the difficult but familiar life of her childhood. Through the eyes of the girl, he describes their arduous effort to catch up with a caravan which passed through a day earlier. As he does so, the author gives us the sights, smells, and back-breaking agonies of such a trek.

I had the privilege of attending a lecture by Mr. Arnold at Fort Abercrombie in North Dakota. He is very well informed about the atmosphere and activities of the era through which he weaves his tale. Ox Cart Angel is available both in a Kindle edition and in books without batteries.

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A Look At One Boy's Legacy

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

Looking for some non-technical, rural thoughts on life? I recommend Cliff Schimmels’ 1985 foursome: The Wheatheart Chronicles. On a road trip several years ago I came across an audio cassette of the first book in the series. (At least I think it's the first. You can actually begin the series with any of them.) After Judy and I listened to the story we bought the three companion audio books and have made them frequent companions on our travels.  

By the time you have read or listened to the entire set you feel at home in Wheatheart, Oklahoma, in the early 1980’s. You know the best place to eat, where to go for the local news, the most active church in town, and a lot about the cycle of life in a wheat farming community. You also know a local a kid named Dilbert, a seminarian, the John Deere salesman, the town storyteller, the community’s idolized football coach, the less than idolized high school superintendent, the principal (who could have made a better superintendent), and a wheat farmer and his wife whose only son is a shadow in the background and, yet, a principal presence in each of the narratives. I would call the series a tribute to his legacy.

Rivals of Spring is the only one of the set narrated in the first person. It is a touching chronicle of the development of friendship.

Summer Winds lets the reader (listener) watch a seminary student with big, scholastic dreams endure and then learn from his summer internship in Wheatheart - a community not especially tuned to Sunday sermons on the authorship of Hebrews.

Rites of Autumn, third in the series, unveils the home of the wheat farmer and his wife, introduces us to their son, and through him, helps us understand the struggles of the other leading characters in the community.

Winter Hunger wraps the chronicles together with the discovery of the unsuspected struggles in the life of the one player we and everyone else overlooked.

Very worthwhile stories.

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Ichabod Crane Rides Again

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

I am not sure if The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was suggested to Washington Irving by stories in the neighborhood of Tappan Zee, New York in the 1800’s, or if he spun the yarn all by himself and turned a quiet cove on the banks of the Hudson River into a tourist magnet. 

I am also not sure how many people know of the tale outside of the Mid-Atlantic States; but if they do know it, their exposure will most likely have been in the 1949 Disney animation. In either case, in my youth one could count on watching the Disney version around Halloween. This summer the 1820 edition of Irving’s book popped up on my Kindle and the price was right.

It is a short story. Reading time is less than an hour-and-a-half, which makes it only a little more than twice as long as the animation. The events are purported to have taken place around 1790 when much of the influence of early Dutch settlers still ran strong. The story revolves around a studious and superstitious school teacher with an eye to a life of ease. In spite of his general homeliness, he had an ability to impress the women-folk,  terrorize his pupils, and irritate one Brom Bones – a bully who happened to have his heart set on one Katrina Van  Tassel. And therein lies the tale. Katrina happened to be the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the region and also happened to become the object of Ichabod Crane’s affections and visions of wealth.

All of this and more converges on one autumn evening. It is doubtful it was Halloween. I don’t think the Dutch community would have yet succumbed to the Romanist calendar of sacred days. But the mystery, the intrigue, the headless horsemen, and the pumpkin seem foreordained, perhaps by Irving himself, to merge with All Hallows Eve.

It is a fun read with some interesting character studies.

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OFF SCRIPT by Cary Schmidt

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

I feel badly for folks who can’t put categories side by side and see relationships. The reason is, they miss the wide range of possibilities in a book like Cary Schmidt’s Off Script: What To Do When God Rewrites Your Life.

This is the account of a man’s journey through an unplanned role as a target of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Each chapter was written in real time on the stage, not after the whole scene had played out. But it is much more than a guide through the ordeal of cancer treatment. It is written in a way which puts the reader alongside the other kinds of script changes which send us a rejection notice on our life plans and impose a whole new story line.

With a mix of satisfactory detail concerning his personal struggle, a healthy dose of wit, and a strong dose of devotion, the author nudges us toward trusting God through our own trials. He does not play the role of the super saint; but he spurns the option of the disillusioned cynic. His theology is robust and not academic. He puts the truth of God’s sovereignty within reach of everyday life. At the same time, he does not try to explain the unexplainable.

Yes, it is one of those books which present a list – “Ten decisions that will transform your perspective in the midst of your trial.” But the list deals with authentic, biblical mind-sets, and it unfolds in the process of the scene, not in retrospection from the vantage point of a favorable ending. Although his journey was successful, the fact that he wrote in the midst of it makes his words credible to anyone who does not know what the final dialogue of their own script will look like.

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Rediscovering Expository Preaching

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

Dr. John MacArthur’s compendium, Rediscovering Expository Preaching, is an excellent resource as a challenge to study Scripture well, to preach Scripture movingly, and to accumulate tools for the task.  It is especially helpful in overcoming the notion that expository preaching is limited to or even primarily defined as a verse-by-verse commentary on a text.

Perhaps one of the best of many encouraging sections is, Seven “Be’s” of Expository Preaching, tucked in at the end of Chapter Sixteen: Moving from Exegesis to Exposition.

The nature of the book does not suggest itself as a read-through project. However, I found it very encouraging to do so. The benefits of reading it cover to cover would be: first, exposure to different methodologies for exegesis and exposition. And, second, exposure to the efforts of several contributors to help the reader sort out theory from performance.

There is a continuum between being able to use tools and being able to read and diagram Greek and Hebrew. Some can embrace the years of study necessary to be able to do so. Some cannot; and some would crash if they tried. The book recognizes this continuum.  However, the reader who does not catch that fact may slog through some chapters and become discouraged or, worse, antagonistic.  Perhaps the best summary of the intention of the compendium could be found in the question-and-answer section at the back. In response to the question, “Do you find it easier now to develop a sermon from a passage?” MacArthur replies, “I never study to make a sermon. I study to understand the text.”

I wonder if, in a future reprint, it might be helpful to include a section on how a preacher can do the recommended study detail in an environment where he has full responsibility for church programs and no secretarial or pastoral staff.

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Have You Read "Unbroken" or Just Watched the Movie?

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

Good friends are good to have. Among the best are those who loan you books. I have such a friend, and this year he loaned me Laura Hillenbrand’s, Unbroken – a biography following the career of Olympic runner Louie Zamperini through his dark months as a World War II prisoner-of-war in the Pacific.

The chapters follow the familiar format for such a biography. They begin with an overview of the primary characters and the satellite players in the story. The author introduces these people in a way which makes the reader want to skip to the epilogue to foresee what will happen to them. However, to do so would miss the depth of grief the author intends as the casualties mount.

Once the reader moves through the crises which result in Zamperini’s capture by the Japanese, he or she is taken on the maddening roller coaster of an intensifying hell-on-earth which sharpens awareness of the impact of war on the minds and souls of servicemen – especially, those who endure the psychopathic inhumanity of some who hold absolute control over a totally vulnerable victim.

Then comes the rescue and the subsequent struggle with bitterness and, for Zamperini, the God-given deliverance from the inner death of longed-for revenge. That, in turn, brings the reader to the epilogue which is well worth the wait. There we celebrate Zamperini’s post-war decades of energy -- serving Christ and developing a ministry to troubled youth. There, also, we feel the silent solitude of a non-Olympic comrade who went through the same ordeals but afterward lived, unheralded, in the shadow lands of celebrating the “hero.” And we struggle with ambivalence at the surprise reappearance of a repulsive character the author has dangled in front of us throughout much of the narrative.

There is a movie now. I haven’t seen it. I may not. Why spoil a good book? 

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The Baronet's Song

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

Some books you want to get to the conclusion but not to the end. I revisited one recently:  The Baronet’s Song, a 1983 Michael Phillips abridgment of George MacDonald’s 1879, four-hundred-plus page classic, Sir Gibbie. The book is of the fiction genre which features a hapless waif wrapped in mystery of which you are only slightly more aware than anyone else in the story. That awareness, albeit meager, drives you to know if and when the other characters discover it themselves and if you can catch on before they do. A glance at the reviews under the links I’ve provided will find the work compared with Melville’s Moby Dick in terms of light versus darkness. Some think it the best of MacDonald’s works.

Sadly, George MacDonald (1824-1905) subscribed to an early form of "Christian" Universalism. His influence on such men as C. S. Lewis was not in the realm of his theological system (or lack thereof), but his ability to use fiction and fantasy to make a reader think. Both Lewis and G. K. Chesterton attribute his book, Phantastes, as a positive watershed influence in their writing careers.

The reader will (or should) struggle with Sir Gibbie, the waif of the book. We meet him at around age eleven and he seems too good to be true. That’s because he is.  MacDonald uses him to expose us to ourselves through the ways others respond to him. There is the kindly old wife who knows Jesus so well through the Scriptures that she naturally reaches out to the child as Jesus would. There is the self-centered grounds keeper who never reconciles to the boy. The motives of a minister and his wife puzzle us as they eagerly become the boy’s guardians and seek to mold him to "good society" which doesn't quite square with Jesus' admonition to love one's neighbor. And there is the scholarly seminarian whose sermons “make someone think more of a preacher than Him that he comes to preach about.” Then of course, there is the evil step-uncle and his daughter. Oh the intrigue!

As an added feature: I don’t know if it was MacDonald’s intention, but I also found myself prodded to wonder through the narrative how people responded to the one Child in history who was both good and true. 

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"Dangerous Calling"

It would be easy to resent the fact that no one put a copy of Paul Tripp’s book, Dangerous Calling, into my hands when I prepared for the pastorate. I could be bitter that no one recommended it to me ten years into my tour of pastoral duty. Yes, it would be easy to be bitter except for the fact that it was not published until 2012.

With the typical biblical thoroughness, passionate care, and real-life practicality which characterize Dr. Tripp, the book sets before the reader the things to be expected in ministry; but it does not focus on the controlling deacon or the domineering charter member. It focuses on the pastor’s internal thorn-in-the-flesh – himself.

It would be a mistake to write Dangerous Calling off as a pastor’s manual. It is a book for all Christians, because the inner foes of a pastor are different from the people in the pew only in their costumes. Indeed, the book calls for both pastors and church members to know the vulnerabilities and the intensities which beset a spiritual leader.

Dr. Tripp explains the mine strewn landscape of ministry under three headings. Although it is impossible to say one unit is better than another, I would suggest that Dr. Trip has prioritized them correctly. The second unit, in the pivotal position, is: “The Danger of Losing Your Awe (Forgetting Who God Is).” This is the natural consequence of the first unit: “Examining Pastoral Culture,” which takes to task the dangers to which educators expose a pastor-in-training – dangers of scholastic pride and community aloofness to name a couple.

When both of those units have been digested, the reader is ready for Satan’s ultimate tactic in neutralizing a man of God: “The Danger of Arrival (Forgetting Who You Are).” It is difficult to balance on a pedestal.

Why have I bothered to read this in my retirement years? Because of a warning from an older pastor in the days of my youth. “There’s no fool like an old fool.” 

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Do You Have An Opinion About Fiction and Fantasy?

[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]

Imagination is an uncomfortable subject in some Christian circles and a train wreck in others. Words like myth, fiction, and fantasy raise justifiable caution flags. Therefore, I was grateful that this year’s Legonier Conference in Orland, FL, included on its book tables Leland Ryken’s 2002 compendium, The Christian Imagination.

The more than forty contributors Dr. Ryken selected for this resource, (ranging from Francis Schaeffer to Madeleine L’Engle), provide a wide range of viewpoints. I was heartened with the efforts to underscore the role of the imagination as a key factor in our being made in the image of God and hardwired to want to describe in story what Truth looks like. For those who delight in imaginative tales as a means of analogy, The Christian Imagination brings forward the processes, dynamics, possibilities, and motivations for evaluating and even creating fiction. It also gives guidance in “suspending disbelief” (knowing this story did not happen) without suspending reason and reality (able to discern if ideas developed in this story are authentic).  

I was sorry the section on “Myth and Fantasy” did not pursue the biblical word paramuthion and its related words – paramutheomai and paramuthia) which are translated as comfort in such texts as Philippians 2:1 – comfort of love. (See also: John 11:19, 31; 1 Corinthians 14:3; and 1 Thessalonians 2:11; 5:14.)  

The section on poetry seemed a bit oblique; but then,

I was not able

to bring to the table

the ability to see

what eluded me.

Sadly, one article, under the vexing title, “The Gospel as Fairy Tale,” did not seem clear in its effort to say the Gospel fulfills in reality what the heart longs for in the once-upon-a-time / happily-ever-after story line.

I would not necessarily recommend this book on a high school student level; however, I think any high school teacher would be well rewarded to be exposed to a copy. Beyond that, it should be a must read for anyone agitated enough by the matter of fiction and fantasy to argue about it, or excited enough to want to write it.

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REVIEW - A Land Remembered

As a new resident of Florida, I want to know the story of my new State. When I ask people to recommend a book, the title of a historical novel frequently surfaces: A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith (1984. Pineapple Press, Sarasota, Florida).  It also comes in a “Student Edition” which I have not seen. This review deals with the full work.

The book traces the imagined history of three generations of McIveys from the time the first settler moved into the scrub region from Georgia, until the exploitive grandson died with regret for the raping of the land. It is a graphic narrative of the struggles, defeats, persistence, tragedies and exploitation common to the era from 1863 to 1968. The author’s deft development of the characters of the three central men (Tobias, Zech, and Solomon) is superb as they move from conscientious respect for the land to pragmatic accumulation of wealth at the land’s expense.

The reader, map in hand, learns much about the character of the terrain, and the early spirit of some communities such as Fort Drum, Arcadia, and the now lost cattle port of Punta Rassa.

I do not know anything about Patrick Smith; but I felt he may have expressed some of his own anger for the commercialization of the Sunshine State. If that is the case, the book became a victim. It is definitely not a Little House On the Prairie read for the whole family. The foul language of anger grows more intense with each generation and climaxes in a viciously profane monologue which, in my opinion, constitutes overkill. There is also romantic amorality in the treatment of the sexual realities of the pioneer era.

That having been said, with those disclaimers in mind, I can say the book does give a robust “experience” of the rugged back story of the State my wife and I now call home.

Ten Books (Plus One) For Which I Am Thankful

In September Mary Miller, on Facebook, asked friends to list the top ten most influential books in their lives. I misread that to mean the top ten most recent books. So, I posted that list and said I would make theother list at a future date. Thanksgiving, seemed to be a good time to fulfill that promise.

In making my list I need to say these are more representative than absolute. Ask me to list the ten most influential books next month and some titles might be replaced with others. 

This list is also considerably different in character than the list of recent books. The assignment had to do with those which were most influential in my life; and I have to acknowledge the role these particular works have played.

I have sought to arrange the titles in order of the time I discovered them.

I have not included the Bible because my relationship to it is different than any other book. My top ten books influenced me as I read them. The Bible’s impact, on the other hand, was because it read me.

THE LIST

First:   An unnamed book of my childhood. It was a thick but not large book of one to two page “bedtime” stories for children. It covered a wide range of old tales and was a source of much pleasure when, at last, I could read them for myself. I do not know where it went but I sure wish I could find another copy. I owned it in the late 1940’s to early 1950’s. I don’t know if it was a newly published book then.  

Second:  Still another unnamed book of my childhood. I don’t remember a lot of details. It was about someone traveling somewhere. The highlight that sticks in my mind was a pictorial map in the front. I would read a section of the story and then study the progress I made on the map. It began my fascination with maps and roads and life as a journey.

Third:   “The Holy War” by John Bunyan. My first encounter with this was Ethel Barrett’s narrated version. That nudged me to buy the book. It is a classic on sin’s way with the soul and God’s way with redemption and sanctification. It strongly appeals to my delight in the power of a story to condense a tome of explanations. That is not to say the tome is not important, but Jesus himself taught in stories.

Fourth:   “The Horse and His Boy,” part of the “Chronicles of Narnia” series by C. S. Lewis. This choice was difficult since I also wanted to list Lewis’ book “Mere Christianity.” Again, the analogy of the story is a memorable description of God drawing someone to himself but in such a way that it looks like the individual’s search for God.

Fifth:  “How Shall We Then Live?” by Francis Shaeffer. In listing this I have in mind most of his works. It was this book, though, which God used to prod me into a more informed study of worldview issues.

Sixth:  “Tales of the Kingdom,” by David and Karen Mains. The first of a set of three books picturing spiritual truths in adventure-story terms. By now you may ask, “Do you read a lot of books written for kids?” Yes. I take seriously Jesus’ remarks about receiving the Kingdom as a little child. While we are to grow out of childishness, there is a biblical mandate for maintaining a childlike delight in the things of God. That childlikeness, more than any other era of our lives, is seen in the love of stories. However, lest you think this means a Pollyanna view of life…

Seventh:    “Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them,” by Cornell professor James Garbarino. This book jarred my awareness of youth needs through the eyes of a man who worked with teenage boys on death row in our nation’s prisons.

Eighth:   “Spiritual Friends” by Robert Kellemen. This is a Christian counseling manual like no other in that through rich and living analogy Dr. Kellemen describes the process of helping others in an atmosphere of the parakalesis of grace.

Ninth:   “Hope’s Boy” by Andrew Bridge. This presented me with a look inside the foster care system through the eyes of a man who grew up in it.

Tenth:  “The Story Book” by David Boulene. This book appeared in my earlier list of most recent reads. Perhaps  it is the best of the few books I have read on the development of a narrative. Ironically, although a secular writer and never referencing the Bible, Boulene did a masterful job exposing principles God used in unfolding his story in the meganarrative of history and enscripturating it for us in its narrative character in the Bible.

I cannot help mentioning one more. It is a book in progress and its titles have changed as it developed as the first of an intended series called "The Revenge of Dog Mountain." You won’t find this book anywhere. It did appear on line under another title. That was a rough draft and went back to the drawing board for essential improvements. It is the story of an eleven-year-old boy and his father. In its very first form it was a set of bedtime stories made up for a youngster who still enjoyed sitting on the arm of his Dad's chair. Over time it has become an ongoing and unfolding tale and has been a valuable meditative tool - incorporating truths into a narrative.  

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALL FIRST-ROAD ARTICLES 

TEN BOOKS OF RECENT INTEREST

I thought I had been asked on FaceBook to list ten of my most recently read books which have had an impact on my life and thinking. However, now that I've put this together, I re-discovered that it was supposed to be ten books overall which have had an impact. 

Sigh.

Okay. I'm going to do the most recent thingy for now and will put the bigger picture up later. So, for the record, these are ten significant books MOST RECENTLY READ. The list is in no particular order other than when each book came to mind.

(1) The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark. Operating from the premise that Christianity rose and survived on its merits alone without any miraculous dots to connect, Stark is to the study of history what non-religious advocates of Intelligent Design are to the study of biological origins. The primary service of the book is the exposure of the Enlightenment Myth which governs the “accepted” outline of the history of the West in general and of the Church in particular. I do not agree with his premise, but I applaud his honesty regarding historical facts.

(2) Anxiety: Anatomy and Cure by Charles Stanley. A worthwhile book for the bookshelf of anyone who wants to be an encourager.

(3) The Story Book by David Baboulene. Although not written with a Christian agenda, this book is one of the best I have read on the dynamic of storytelling. Frankly, I think it should be required reading for anyone entering ministry. If you know the Bible well you will marvel at the degree to which his analysis of narrative is found in the flow of God’s revelation concerning the epic of the ages.

(4) The Consequences of Ideas by R. C. Sproul. While I would disagree with the author’s enthustiasm for Thomas Aquinas, this book is an excellent overview of various philosophical pace setters.

(5) Emotions: Confront the Lies by Charles Stanley. Again, this is an encouraging book for encouragers as well as for those who struggle with the roller coaster of their own feelings. Actually, I often find those to be the same person.

(6) When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself by Corbett and Fikkert. Helpful counsel against knee-jerk efforts of compassion which can do more harm than good. Speaks to individual care as well as missionary agency paradigms. I wish it had been written before 2009.

(7) Relational Apologetics: Defending the Christian Faith by Michael C. Sherrard. Couching the presentation of the Gospel in a relational context without compromising Truth. Mr. Sherrard is not promoting a so-called “seeker-sensitive” approach. Rather, he underscores what I would call a seeker-available model in which the drawing ministry of God’s Spirit is discovered in the questions which people pose and their responsiveness to the answers of Scripture. Think 1 Peter 3:15-16 here.

(8) Found: God’s Will by John MacArthur. A well-written summary of basic God’s-will issues which we face. It drives home the point that we cannot excuse ignorance on the basis of mystery.

(9) The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard. This book, written in the 1950's, exposed the psychological manipulation emerging in advertising in light of the growing shift to a consumer based economy. It is fascinating how prescient Mr. Packard was in light of our present day of economic health based on how much people are spending or borrowing to spend. The moaning merchants of Revelation 18 should be read from time time time while going through this book.

(10) Best Friends, Worst Enemies by Thompson and Grace. This is a study of relationships among children in the various stages of their lives all the way up to adulthood. It highlights core characteristics of friendship and alerts the reader to warning signs of bullying. I do not always agree with conclusions and solutions offered, but I find the observations to be helpful. Lewis' section on philos (friendship) love in The Four Loves would be a good read before reading this book.