Unpacking Christmas: Books

5 Dec

Unpacking Christmas Books for the Heart

A thoughtful, well illustrated book is a gift that continues to resonate long after “the end” is read. Last night we read a few Christmas books before bedtime and one happened to be a scratch and sniff book by Joan Walsh Anglund that I received as a young girl over 25 Christmas’ ago.  The real surprise…you can still scratch and sniff the pepper-minty pie, pepperoni pizza, and beautiful fir tree that Mary and Willie prepare for their Christmas party guests!

Below is a listing for the youngest to the oldest of readers to enjoy within your home this Christmas. I hope you experience the true meaning of Christmas in a fresh way this year and every one thereafter as you unpack these Christmas books in the years to come.

A special note to my readers without little children in this season of life, the last five books are for you. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

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In-Between These Pages

9 Aug

As some of you may have read on Tuesday, I confessed I start multiple books before I am completely finished with one. Today, a midst preparing for homeschooling to start up in a few weeks,  I am in-between these pages:

 I heard Denise Eide speak at this year’s Florida Parent Educator’s Association Convention. The simplistic and thorough approach to teaching reading and spelling instantly made sense. I purchased this book along with a few other of Denise’s materials to assist in teaching Emily to read as we start Kindergarten in a few more weeks. Here is Denise’s website and the link to view her notes from the FPEA convention.

When we teach sight words, we are effectively stripping the power of the code and asking students to memorize visual symbols for each word. p. 19, The Logic of English

The difference between the literate and the illiterate is that the literate blame the problems on English, but the illiterate blame themselves. Both demonstrate misplaced blame. The problem is neither English nor individuals. The problem is that we cannot know what we were never taught. p. 21, The Logic of English

 Is there such a thing as absolute truth? How can we know? How can we be sure that the Bible is true? What scientific evidence exists to prove the age of the earth coincides with the Bible? These are a few of the questions addressed and answered in I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. I have immensely enjoyed this book and am taking my time reading and rereading portions to commit facts to memory. If you are a skeptic, know of one, or want to be more prepared to live out 1 Peter 3:15 this is a must read for you.

To say “truth cannot be known” is self-defeating because that very statement claims to be a known, absolute truth. ~I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist

 This wonderful book on the central spiritual practices of inward, outward, and corporate disciplines of the faith is a must read. The richness of ideas and the simplistic yet profound presentation of material is what has helped to sell more than 1 million copies of this book. If you are looking to grow deeper in your faith and walk with Christ, Celebration of Discipline is a must read.

Daily devotional reading is certainly commendable, but it is not study. Anyone who is after “a little word from God for today” is not interested in the Discipline of study.~ Celebration of Discipline,  p. 69

Are you reading any good books right now? If so, which ones? I would love to hear your suggestions!

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Here I Am to Worship

22 Jul

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. ~William Temple

As a little girl, I attended church and Sunday School in the deep south. Each Sunday I donned a smocked dress, tights and leather shoes, topped off with a large matching hair-bow. Today my daughter wears many of  the dresses my mother spent countless hours smocking and ironing  those many years ago. She plays with the little white patent leather purse which in years past held my tithes, offerings, and chap-stick each Sunday.

Maturity has seen a change in apparel along with a change in my heart as I prepare for service…that is, at least when I purpose to poise my heart for worship.

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Addressing a few questions concerning what worship is and why it is important may help us poise our hearts for the most meaningful God-centered worship.

First, worship is a right and exalted view of God and a humbled, dependent view of man on God.

Secondly, worship is important because it opens the door to true intimacy with Christ and clarity of mission we would otherwise live without. Worship does not consist merely of singing. We can worship in various, if not all art forms, in addition to all the work that our hands set to do. Worship is a posture of praise and thanksgiving within our hearts and minds and as expressed through our lives.

The endeavor does not determine the significance of praise, rather it is the hidden thoughts and intents of our hearts. We can sing without love, but it is a clashing symbol or a gong. (1 Corinthians 13) Consider David.  God loved David no less when he worshiped Him on a lonely mountainside filled only with dumb sheep and the sound of his own harp than when David sat enthroned in his palace splendor and declared among God’s people:

“Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, Sovereign LORD, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign LORD?“What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign LORD. Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant. “How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! (2 Samuel 7:18-22)

Did you notice David’s humbled view of himself and his exalted view of God? This from the man who was labeled by God to be a man after His own heart. Perhaps David was a man after God’s own heart due to his right understanding of the righteousness of God and the praise that flowed from his heart.

Similarly, in Isaiah 6,  Isaiah’s commission comes after he saw the Lord and beheld his glory. His worship of God preceded his obedience to the call of God. Once we see clearly who God is, we realize the absolute imperative of taking the gospel to our neighbor’s, coworkers, and around the globe. 

So the question becomes, how can we worship God individually so that we fuel greater worship of God corporately?  The answer lies in preparing our hearts for worship all week and the hours before corporate worship.

Below are some bullet points which are taken from chapter eleven of the wonderful book, Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster.

Daily Preparation for Worship:

  • Learn to practice the presence of God daily. Pray without ceasing. ( 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
  • Have many different experiences of worship: Bible reading, prayers of thanksgiving, meditation on the goodness of God, singing praises, or praising God through various postures of sitting, kneeling, or lying prostrate before God.
  • Have a willingness to be gathered in the power of the Lord for the good of “we” not “me.”
  • Cultivate Holy Dependency: you are utterly and completely dependent upon God for anything significant to happen.
  • Absorb distractions with gratitude. They may be a message from the Lord.

  • Offer a sacrifice of worship. You may not “feel” like worshiping but go anyway.

On Sunday:

  • Arrive to service 10 minutes early.
  • Quiet your mind.
  • Pray for the pastor and worship leader.
  • Pray for others who arrive looking burdened.

If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. To worship is to change.  (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p. 173)

Try to practice the discipline of worship this week. As we do, we will find that our communion with God increases and “the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” (H. Lemmel)

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Enter Here

1 May

Pictures of doors from around the globe often captivate me on Pinterest. Vivid colors, adorning flowers, and unique shapes of doorways stand out among the mirage of images to pin.

Prayer opens the door to communication with God. God speaks to us in a variety of ways: the Bible, His people, our circumstances, etc….as directed by the Holy Spirit. However, we initiate communication with God through prayer uttered with our minds and mouths. When we pray, we invite the ever-present God to join in the conversation of our very lives moment by moment.

The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God. ~John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be

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Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation, Jesus instructed his disciples (Mark 14:38). Watch and pray. Seek wisdom with your whole heart (Proverbs 2). Whether you turn to the right or to the left you will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way, walk in it (Isaiah 30:21).”

God actively instructs, watches, and listens to us. We determine if we go about our whole day without a God-ward thought, or if we open our eyes and lift our thoughts in continual communion with the One who never leaves or forsakes us.

To make prayer a continual conversation is to truly take every thought captive and make it obedient to God. At the gym, in the car, at the job or while correcting our children, we take captive our thoughts and purpose them to prayer. It is a matter of our will and a matter of restoring our redeemed minds to the mind of Christ-likeness– the one in whose image we are made.

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7, NLT)

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Often we might want to shut the door on certain thought patterns. God knows the needed areas of change. He will not stagger in astonishment at our repentant confessions and pleas for help. He delights in humble, contrite hearts– not the hearts of the religious pharisees whose cups are clean on the outside only (Psalms 51:17, Matthew 23:25-26).

In our day, most people close their eyes when they pray. But praying with one’s eyes open was common for Jewish people in that day. Among other things, it reminded them, God is right here, right now, in my real world. ~John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be

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How often do you open the door to communication and communion with the Spirit of the Living God?

Today, may we pray with eyes wide open. May we look for opportunities to speak with the Spoken Word made flesh (John 1:14) that His  presence may be manifested to us as He dwells within us (John 14:26).

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Excerpts taken from:

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We Have Been Published!

12 Apr

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Five years ago, Ron took our first group of students to Student Leadership University (SLU). This fabulous leadership program for today’s youth is headed and founded by Dr. Jay Strack.  Dr. Jay has been a youth evangelist for over 30 years. I had the privilege of hearing him myself as a youth growing up in the 90’s. His experience and expertise in the youth industry is in a league of its very own.

SLU has proven to be a wonderful tool to train young people to be the godly leaders with integrity that our country desperately needs today. Back in the fall of 2012, Ron received an e-mail from Dr. Jay asking him to be a contributor for his newest book, #CriticalIssues #AbsoluteAnswers. Ron was delighted with the offer and made one additional request…”Can my wife write two chapters as well?”

Think of the humility and the selflessness of my husband! How many people, either male or female, would put the heart’s desires of their spouse for publication equal to their own? Not many I would sadly say, but that is the level of servant leadership which Ron possesses. Praise be to God!

Dr. Jay agreed to having both the Cooney’s as contributors and, with thrilled hearts, we set to writing our respective chapters.

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After months of editing and ordering the chapters written by contributors such as Dr. Jay Strack, Chuck Allen, Dr. Danny Akin, Brent Crowe, and Dave Edwards; Jack Countryman and the team at Thomas Nelson have packaged a wonderful resource for youth, parents, and youth workers to benefit from. #CriticalIssues #AbsoluteAnswers tackles 70 issues that teens face and the questions concerning them. This book provides Bible-based answers to such questions surrounding identity, self-esteem, leadership, missions, faith, pain, sex, divorce, homosexuality, and discipleship, plus much much more.


It is with humbled and excited hearts that we are proud to share this wonderful, newly published resource with you. Our teens are bombarded with the pull of the world and it is our hearts desire that they acquire biblical answers and direction to choose the narrow path towards Christ-likeness and ultimately home.

You can purchase a copy by clicking the link below. Ron and I would love to send this wonderful resource to you! If you would like to make a bulk order for your youth-group or for graduation gifts, please e-mail me at Brooke.Cooney.1@gmail.com and we would love to make that happen for you.



 

God bless you and the lives of the youth that you influence! For His Kingdom’s glory!

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Read-Worthy Posts

10 Apr

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Thank you as always for visiting This Temporary Home. I am very grateful for a platform to write from and an audience to read. You are a gift!

This weekend was quite busy for our household. Ron’s work deadlines, in addition to a couple of my own, have forced us to squeeze the most out of our time.

Monday, a family break was in order and we all traveled to the beach. It was wonderful! Now, as we face one child with bronchitis and a few more deadlines, I am choosing to invest my time a different way than writing today. Don’t worry, I will be back in full swing on Friday. However, until then, here are a few posts from some other writers that I found either very interesting or necessary to share as a need of prayer.

Enjoy your time reading!

  •  Instagram’s Envy Effect via Relevant Magazine (click here)
  • How To Get Along With An Introvert via Storyline Blog (click here): Being one of the few introverts in my family, I find this article very interesting.
  • Catching Water In Your Hands via Minivans Are Hot (click here): Do you, like me, mistakenly view your time as your personal commodity versus a gift from God? Read on.
  • Abortion Doctor on Trial But Media Not Interested via Washington Post (Warning: this is graphic. Click here): We should speak out and pray for the life of the unborn child.

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Five Easter Books for Your Preschooler

27 Mar

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One of the ways we prepare for Easter in our home is through Christ centered literature. While we love the signs and symbols of spring in the beautiful flowers and precious animals that are God’s gift to man within creation, we like to keep the central message the new life in Christ.

Christ laid down His life so that we could take up new life in Him.

The book links below are targeted for preschool through second grade learners. Perhaps you would like to check these out at your local library or purchase them at your favorite bookstore. Happy Easter and may your celebration be rooted in Him.

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Great to use with the Resurrection Eggs available at your local Christian bookstore.

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Adding to our Knowledge

1 Feb

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ~2 Peter 1:5-6

Godliness: to think on God and recognize his presence at all times in all we say and do. What a sin of omission on my part. This knowledge of godliness and the sin of ungodliness came to me in one of the books that I am reading: Respectable Sins.

It has been sometime since I chronicled the books in our baskets and bins at home. Today, we will remedy this long absence of book recommendations for my bookish friends.

If any of the titles below peek your interest, simply click on the icon of the book and it will take you directly to Amazon so that you can learn more.

Brooke’s Shelf:

 


Ron’s Shelf:


Emily’s Shelf:

Joshua’s Shelf:

Little E’s Shelf:


That is what we are reading. May your weekend be filled with good books, friends, conversations, and thoughts on God.

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I Have Not Love

9 Jan

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Jesus,

Help me. I have not love. At least not love enough.

Your Daughter,

Brooke

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I only love because you first loved me. Thank you…

How numerous the opportunities to kneel or to break by 10:00 in the morning! Today, the rare occasion in which the children awake me…at 6:00 no less; I choose to kneel. Sending daddy off to work; kneel again. A visit with Little E’s case manager, I kneel as the kids either obey the first time… or not. But wait, wait for it, here it comes…I bend…then break.

Crayons are given, coloring pages laid out, one book is read, and the starting of another. It is at this point it all comes unglued. I bend something mighty and the peace breaks into the very pieces which cannot be picked up.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.~John 13:34-35

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1

If I am in fellowship with Christ, then shouldn’t I demonstrate love in action? Even with the provocations of three children? Instead, I bend and so went the clanging pieces of broken people clashing loud… the absence of patient love.

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People are fond of quoting the verse, “God is love.” But, C.S. Lewis rightly questions the meaning behind these words. Are we misusing these words as mere semantics for the thought that every love people express is God? Here is what Lewis has to say in this regard:

But they seem not to notice that the words “God is love” have no real meaning unless God contains at least two Persons. Love is something that one person has for another person. If God was a single person, then before the world was made, He was not love. Of course, what these people mean when they say that God is love is often something quite different: they really mean “Love is God.” They really mean that our feelings of love, however and wherever they arise, and whatever results they produce, are to  be treated with great respect. ~ Mere Christianity, p. 151

God is love expressed in his three state relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and then to His creation. To sustain my relationship with others I require the love of God as infused by daily filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling that I should seek and lean into through prayer and the reading and memorization of Scripture.

In the church, love is the most needed as the culmination of gifts that God has given His people: teaching, acts of service, giving, admonition, etc., are utilized. Whether preaching the gospel in our home,  to the body of Christ, or to a lost world, love is the essential key for others to see Christ in us; for others to know that we actually believe what we profess.  I realize this  especially when I have chosen to stomp my feet, dig in my heels, and demand the obedience that is required from our children as their mom.

Jerry Bridges perfectly illustrates the effects of the absence of love in the following story:

I remember hearing of one university student of whom it was said, “He can lead people to Christ, but no one wants to room with him.” Whether he could, given that immaturity of character, truly lead people to a saving knowledge of Christ may be questioned by some. But whether he could or not, it is true that a great big dose of love was needed to make him truly effective. ~ True Community: The Biblical Practice of Koinonia

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After the kids had listened to the second story and sat there as quietly as possible in obedience I penned the note above. I need more of Christ because I need to love others more… I must choose to kneel.

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Cracking Creation: Why it Matters and What It Means to Your Faith

5 Dec

Typically I would initiate a spiritual conversation with a question similar to this, “What do you believe happens to you when you die?”

However, I am questioning this tactic after reading the following from Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey:

In today’s post-Christian world, many people no longer even understand the meaning of crucial biblical terms. For example, the basic term sin makes no sense to people if they have no concept of a holy God who created us and who therefore has a right to require certain things of us. And if people don’t understand sin, they certainly don’t comprehend the need for salvation.

Consequently, in today’s world, beginning evangelism with the message of salvation is like starting a book at the middle–you don’t know the characters, and you can’t make sense of the plot. Instead, we must begin with Genesis, where the main character, God establishes himself as the Creator, and the “plot” of human history unfolds its first crucial episodes. And the scientific evidence supporting these episodes is powerful.

~p. 98, How Now Shall We Live? 

It was three years ago that I began to pay attention to the science of the Bible. After studying the Noetic Flood and considering the true implications of such  a world-wide catastrophic event, I realized I was scratching at the surface of the science within the Bible and creation.

Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey was the next step in opening my eyes to the necessity for Christians to understand and defend creation. This book identified and equipped me with a source which enables Christians to articulate the differences between creation and Darwinian evolution. For evolution is a tool, oddly enough, created from a staunch philosophy of naturalism: that all which exists comes from natural causes and laws in the known universe apart from any supernatural being.

The whole point of his (Darwin’s) theory was to identify a natural process that would mimic intelligent design, thus making design superfluous. ~ p. 94

It is nearly impossible to see the need for salvation apart from believing the evidence of intelligent design. Apart from knowing there is a God who created us, there is no need to build a relationship, or more accurately reconcile a relationship, between said God and man. 

Most people sense instinctively that there is much more at stake here than a scientific theory–that a link exists between the material order and the moral order…Our origin determines our destiny. It tells us who we are, why we are here, and how we should order our lives together in society.  Our view of origins shapes our understanding of ethics, law, education–and yes, even sexuality. ~p. 92

The Christian community of our day must equip itself to answer the tough questions and challenge the status quo which is: man is not above the animals but derived from them.

If you are willing to take the initial, or next sequenced step, toward the study of creation and developing a Christian world-view, then I highly recommend reading How Now Shall We Live? by Nancy Pearcey and the late Chuck Colson.

That is what I am reading this Wednesday. Thank you for joining me.

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