Keri On: A Book Review

Current Memory Verses

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.[a]
3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit,[b] as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood,[c] the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which[d] is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

Monday, March 28, 2011

A Book Review

Yesterday, Gregg was reading books to the twins before church. A book was placed in his lap...and I heard him say, "How'd this book get into our library book bag?" Hmmm. Guess the book monitor wasn't doing her job. But he began reading it anyhow. The book was called, "Santa's Secret". Now, we don't really do the Santa thing around here - it isn't part of our Christmas celebration. However, in our culture, the kiddos hear about Santa, see Santa, wonder about Santa, and have friends that take Santa more seriously. We aren't totally Anti-Santa.....We have been given some Christmas decorations w/ Santas on them.... and our children are told straight out that Santa is not real, but is a fun game that some people play....and then explain our reasons for not playing it.....Ah, I digress.

The opening setting is in Santa's workshop...the elves cheerfully working. The question is raised, "Why do we celebrate Christmas?" Well, I thought this would be the end of the story and Gregg would be explaning why he wasn't going to finish the book, but then some little elf answers, "It's the day we celebrate Jesus being born." Well, so far so good. Wonder if that is just a nod to the Christian community. Then the book goes on to ask, "Why do we celebrate the birth of Jesus?" Answer, "Because of all the wonderful things He taught and did.", "He taught us to be kind to each other, and to forgive each other when we make mistakes,", We shouldn't tell lies, we shouldn't steal, and we shouldn't be mean, Jesus taught us to love each other the way we love ourselves." - Quickly, loosing ground here, I'm expecting the book to get shut and Gregg to begin some parental editorial about the values of Christ being tied to who Christ is, when again some little elf in the back answers, "Jesus taught us to give. Not just stuff but to give what really counts - to give of ourselves. He gave His life for us. He died for us. He is the Savior, because He saved all of us." Okay, that's a decent answer. The questioner continued, "What does that mean?" ...Well the story continues, and the book even unashamedly attacks defining words like ATONEMENT! (Hooray for children's books that use doctrinally sound words that have more than 4 or 5 letters!) The author also attaches meaning to the word Santa by making an acronym out of it. Not sure if that's kosher, but I won't mind my children being directed to think of Santa as:

Savior's Atonement -Necessity To All

In the end, we were rather happily suprised. The book gave some decent definitions, and even a platform for talking in some more depth. I am also happy to know that some other child in our community can grab this book and, it could be life changing for them!

Keri On

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Monday, March 28, 2011

A Book Review

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