Post #200

I thought I would never have a family. I would end up living alone, except for a pack of little yappy dogs running around my ankles. I would talk back to the television just to have some company. Junk mail would be welcome just because at least somebody out there knew I was alive, at one point anyway. I would have to remind people of my name, because I was so utterly forgettable. There would be no help in time of need unless it was paid for. 

The only part I got right was the pack of yappy dogs. Instead of my low expectations I have...

...little arms that reach out to hug me...eyes that light up when I walk into a room...voices saying, "I love you" and "I'm glad I have you in my life"...beautiful cards that come in the mail...and boxes of toilet paper anonymously delivered to my house every month...

And now every time I wipe my butt I feel amazingly loved by my God and His people. I never knew that God could show up in the most common everyday things. How awesome.

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Linking up with people who live wonderstruck in the everyday.

Not A Pew Warmer Anymore

Dan King made me an offer that I almost refused. Well, he didn't make the offer only to me, but you know that I can rarely see beyond the end of my nose to think about what is going on with other people. The offer was for bloggers to receive a free copy of Dan's new e-book, The Unlikely Missionary: From Pew-Warmer to Poverty Fighter, if we would review it or otherwise promote it somehow on our blogs. This was problematic for me because I stink at book reviews. Long books, short books, any kind of book - I cannot pick out a central idea and I cannot review it from any kind of objective veiwpoint. I don't summarize. I expand and expound - on what it has to do with me, me, me. Which is not what he asked for and not what you need to read. So I almost just clicked on past his offer without acknowledging that I had seen it.

The thing is, I really wanted to promote Dan (and his book). I have a heart for missions (even though my mission field has been reduced to handing people bottles of water and bags of peanut M&Ms). I enjoy cheering on missionaries of all types and even giving financial support when I can. That is why letting you know about Dan and his book is important to me.

So what did I do? I wrote up some bland interview questions and asked Dan to answer them. He graciously replied to them and even sent me that copy of the book. Which is what brings us to this blog post today.

Samplings

Here are a few things that might be of interest to you today.

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For the past nine weeks I've been writing my column called Second Chances Wednesdays as part of the Never Beyond project. Don't worry. We are not through with Never Beyond, but People of the Second Chance took a break this week to show off a new project called "Labels Lie". You can check out some information about it and even watch a video of Mike Foster's inaugural Labels Lie speech by clicking here.  Next week we will be back with another bright red poster and more questions about never being beyond the reach of grace.

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Some of you might remember that I recently took part in a Community Writing Project called Word Portraits. I wrote about my Granny. Today some of the stories that were submitted for the project are being featured over at The High Calling. You can check them out here. You can also find links to all thirty-two submissions here. I really did enjoy this project. It made me wish that we had recorded more of our family's stories before so many of our relatives were gone. It also showed me what rich histories we all have. I think anyone who thinks life is boring just needs to spend more time with family!

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The Community Writing Project has also inspired me to write down some of my stories - my memories - before I forget important and interesting details. With inspiration from Dan King, also known as the Bible Dude, I have decided to start with stories about the mission trip to Uruguay that I went on in 1998. I'm thinking I will start a Sunday series on that and see how far it goes. In the meantime, I would urge you to start reading Dan's e-book The Unlikely Missionary. Follow that link and go to the bottom of the page where you can buy the book in Kindle, Nook, or PDF versions for only $4.99. (In the interest of disclosure, Dan might give me a free copy if I write a whole post about the book, but I am pumping it up right now just because I feel it is worth the effort.) Maybe you will find that you are a missionary right in your hometown. I would love to hear what you think of it.

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In other news, there are two blog posts that came out today that I think you might benefit from or enjoy. Tamara posted over at A Deeper Story about going to the theater vs. going to a woman's conference. You can read that here. Sarah Markley post on her own blog about not being embarrassed of yourself. You can check that out here.

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Those are your samplings for today. I hope you enjoy them. And in the words of Bartles and Jaymes, "Thank you for your support!"