Gravel Road Musings

Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World I'm not sure where to start with this book. It was really, really good. I don't really consider myself too wrapped up in social media. I have a Facebook account and a blog, but I'll be honest, Instagram and a few things like that are still a blur to me. I don't understand them and I don't need to. I was still convicted on certain aspects from this book. I care about people liking what little I post. I like comments on the blog posts I like. Even when I have my phone's volume turned up, I can still check it to see if I got a text that I might possibly have missed hearing come in. I can be guilty of having my phone out during face-to-face conversations. Craig doesn't discount social media; he encourages its use for profitable and uplifting purposes, but he does warn against letting it consume our lives. There are so many quotes I could give from his book, but I'm going to stick with just a couple. There ar...

Experiencing God's Presence in Every Moment of Life. I've experienced a bit of a caution in reading books by authors that I'm not well acquainted with. I like to think that I can read a book, take the good and leave the questionable and move on, but I realize not everyone looks at books the same way I do.  Books that I read and am encouraged in, others may read and see it as a license for them to go do something that I never even saw hinted at in the book. So in giving reviews, it has caused me to stop and be a bit more cautious in my reading. And this book was one of those I thought I should exercise caution in. I actually had a harder time just really enjoying it because I was trying to dissect stuff to make sure it seemed to follow Biblical teaching. In my opinion, Darlene did follow Biblical teaching. Yes, she gave a few interpretations of Scripture that I had never heard interpreted like that before. I am not entirely sure what to think of them yet, whether she w...

My mind has been rolling over the last 24 hours. We are almost done with 2015 and what have I accomplished? I, all of a sudden, feel driven to do something, to be the wonder woman who is scheduled and organized and calm and cheerful about it all. How do I do that? I ran across the idea yesterday again of having a word for the year: a word to focus on and try to live after. I keep thinking about what that word should be for me and if I'm committed enough to do it. On top of that, there are so many things I feel I should be focusing on and trying to do better in that one word feels insufficient. There's the word joy, but doesn't everyone want that. What about gratitude? Well, yeah, it's good to be thankful. Love? Ouch, I need that, but a whole year? Rest? That seems to be a driving force to a new group of thinkers out there and I'm not sure I agree, so don't know if I want to go there. Don't get me wrong. Rest is good, but not if comes at the expense of...

A magical story and coloring book. If you've been around the block at all, you have noticed the increased surge in adult coloring books.  I use the term "Adult" here very loosely with no suggestive theme attached. (In case you wondered :)). As a child, I always had big plans of coloring; obviously dreaming and planning have been life long staples of mine. Anyway, just recently I was able to snag to ebook coloring books and I printed off a few pictures to color. Then I got the chance to review a coloring book.  What good fortune. It is the story of a fairy girl who lived inside a cuckoo clock and wanted to get out and see the world. The pictures are more magical then real, but I see some real potential for coloring them and making them look pretty.  The story doesn't completely make sense to me. It's really more like a paragraph with a couple lines on only a couple pages, but obviously I'm not touched with fairy knowledge because the story ends totally di...

It seems like too many people are having heavenly birthday celebrations this year. Nov. 13 was  the first birthday of a little boy who couldn't stay. Nov. 30 was Cheryl's first birthday in heaven. Beings I could never remember when her birthday was, I for sure couldn't remember how old she would be. I think 26 though. I saw that somewhere. And today would be Dad's 80th birthday.  How does this happen? Yes, I know they're all better off up there. That is true; I believe that. But I'm down here and I'm seeing the pain these dates are causing loved ones and feeling the pain myself and I just wonder why? All of these deaths feel so untimely. Yes, Dad was almost 80, but he was strong and hard-working and seemed to have many years ahead of him yet. I want to say: "Why not take the ones who aren't healthy, the ones who would love so much to go to heaven? Why take the young and the strong and the ones who have never had a chance at life yet?" I know...