I discovered a strange phenomenon around two years ago when I began asking for clarifications, illumination and available studies on the Holy Spirit. I discovered a strange phenomenon around two years ago when I began asking for clarifications, illumination and available studies on the Holy Spirit. It seems so little is said in the bible but what is said is powerful. Sermons never center on the Spirit. If God is a trilogy, why is so little said about the one part. Pastors and other learned Christians were reticent to give answers and provided little in the help to readings. I suggested the subject to my bible study and found a lot of fear and resistance. Do we really want to invoke the Holy Spirit who might convict us of sin? I believe God should only be feared in the sense of awe, so I waited, patiently for revelation. The time came and we studied this beautiful book written by the wife of Peter Marshall. I had my revelation, well, many actually, but the first was on the lines of the ladder. At Pentecost, Jesus tells his followers to go to Jerusalem and wait to receive The Spirit before they ventured on his commission to spread His Word. The revelation was that I was not previously prepared to meet and greet The Spirit. Every rung of the ladder allows for the next rung and they can not be reached by sheer will. In that sense, this book will be of little use or understanding to someone from outside of Christ and, even, someone new to his presence although Christians should know a lot more about The Spirit than they do. Can you learn more about the nature, yes, I use that word, pesonality and purpose of The Spirit. Certainly, but you will likely discount the Reality of the Spirit. Unless truly open and, inviting, you will not experience His presence and power. Catherine is not afraid to tell stories of little and large incidents where the Spirit has made Himself known and gone to work. Even three years ago I probably would have tossed the book aside and wondered how someone could believe such things in this day and age. Now, I believe without the slightest doubt. Do I recommed this book to my many non-beleiver friends. I sure do but expect it might teach you more about where I am today than to transform into living word. Someone who doesn't know The Father or the Son will have little use in trying to know The Spirit who was sent by the Son to take His place here on earth when he ascended. Peace....more
Let's get something straight right from the start. This is not a novel although it uses the form. The first 80 pages tell a frightening tale of a six Let's get something straight right from the start. This is not a novel although it uses the form. The first 80 pages tell a frightening tale of a six year old abducted on a camping trip whose bloody dress found in a shack in the wilderness between Wallowa Lake and Idaho is the only clue to her violent end. Her father, standing in as the protagonist, feels responsible for her death and is overwhelmed with a "Great Sadness." The story section of the novel is heart-felt and bound to bring tears to anyone who has ever loved a child. The writing itself, however, is flat. Possibly because the story element is so horrible and told in a fashion meant to draw you near rather than tittilate, it could be argued that it is simply aiming to be accessible to the blue-haired ladies in the church pews. At eighty pages you walk through a door and find the front was little more than a facade as ther book transforms itself into it's true purpose. The father gets a letter from God to come back to the shack for a visit. When he arrives he begins a series of discussions with God in the three forms of the trilogy. I won't say anything more here about the particulars of God as that is part of the charm. Suffice it to say He is not what you've encountered in the traditional paintings and illustrations. Millions of Christians are reading this book and for good reason. It takes the complicated relationship of the trilogy and explains it through a series of discussions that are both easy to understand and theologically sound. The secondary theme is man's relationship to God which is at times revelatory. Lastly, the building theme of forgiveness surfaces at the end for a heart squeeze sure to bring back the tears. So much about God and the trilogy is misunderstood by both Christians and non-Christians that I do recommend the read. Heck, I read it twice and I never read books twice as my reading list goes on for years to come. It changed my relationship with God and brought us closer. That's the best recommendation I can give. ...more
Watchmen is my introduction to the graphic novel. I have problems with the form and thus, the four stars. When I left university, the big lit theory ofWatchmen is my introduction to the graphic novel. I have problems with the form and thus, the four stars. When I left university, the big lit theory ofdiscussion was deconstructionism. Without entering into a deep explanation, it addresses the relationship between the initial creator, the thing created, and the receiver/creator. Essentially, they are three entities and a creative "play" dynamic forms. The person reading a book or looking at a painting brings as a huge amount of creation to the work. So, here I am on one side of a canyon where text is king. On the far away, other side of the vast, deep canyon is moving image--say a silent film. The creative flow has divided itself so that approximately two thirds across, a small island has formed. Here resides the graphic novel. And, here I find my imagination, my play stifled. The text on one side is open and fluid where the visual prompts live inside my brain in pure freedom. The flowing images far across have less freedom but the sheer movement gives the illusion of freedom. Somehow, the confined text of the graphic novel pinned against an image confines me like a straitjacket and I turn the pages anxiously awaiting the exit. That said, Moore has, I believe, tried to free the reader by breaking the time sequence into seemingly arbitrary episodes to match the ability of one of the priciple characters to live in complete time all at one time. An essay relates the methodology to Burroughs proposition that truth can only be found in chaos. It doesn't work remotely to the degree Burroughs imagined as Moore has simply taken a handful of story lines and snipped them into small pieces for rearrangement--they do not truly belong to chaos as they can easily be arranged back into order. Moore, perhaps understanding the tension, uses inspired textual breaks from the graphic to give you a chance to stretch and breathe. And don't get me wrong. Moore is an artist using a new medium to tackle some serious ideas in a confusing age. In this sense, his work is closer to the European novel of ideas than to the American expression of experience. And he makes it a lot of fun, as well. Where else are you going to get Heidegger and Devo together. It is a demanding work that almost tells you from the get go that you will need to read it twice. He's not Faulkner fronting his The Sound and the Fury with a stream of consciousness from an idiot but the initial jumping around will leave you without comprehension unless you go back and make references along the way. The graphics are sometimes amazing and, as I understand, a break through. A textual essay gives you a history of the graphic and attempts to bolster your appreciation of the colors and techniques you are witnessing. I heard him but the lifeless creation refused to breath. I can only tell you that I am left emotionally as flat as the format....more
I was introduced to James by Lyndsay, my British sister-in-law. I met her at university and introduced her to my cousin. She was quite brilliant and aI was introduced to James by Lyndsay, my British sister-in-law. I met her at university and introduced her to my cousin. She was quite brilliant and always led me to good reads and we both shared a fondness for mysteries. I soon after picked up a book called The Black Tower and found it impossibly obtuse and full of painstaking pretensions. The detective that populates her mysteries is a respected, published poet in his off hours so you get a lot of snoot. He is not Jim Chee from the Hillerman books, that is for certain. Ten years later I picked up Devices and Desires at a book sale for a quarter and threw it in the back of my car for desperate reading. Thankfully, I became desparate. Yes, Dagleish is still a snoot and, yes, he does seem to breath air from a high altitude but the story and mystery in this novel is compelling from start to finish. The setting is in Norfolk on a rugged coast that happens to include a nuclear power plant amidst the slow-to-change folk and old ruins. I won't tell more as it is a mystery. I grabbed another of James novels at the same time I bought this one and at the same investment. If I can find it in my trunk, I'll dig it out long before another ten years pass us by....more
Annie Proulx has taken home the big awards and answered the door when Hollywood came knocking. I'd read The Shipping News and a short story collectionAnnie Proulx has taken home the big awards and answered the door when Hollywood came knocking. I'd read The Shipping News and a short story collection. I expect good writing when I pull something from the shelf that bares her moniker. Nothing prepared me for the virtuosity she could bring to the page until I read Accordian Crimes. I can't say that everyone will enjoy the morbidity of her tale nor the picaresque trail of a green accordian that leaves behind a hundred stories calling out for your attentions. What I can assure you is the pleasure of a storyteller extraordinaire. Proulx is a master at work. May she live long and write and write and write. ...more
Loading...
