Good Company...

I'm fond of books. Unusually fond I think. When I moved to Brazil at the age of 9 I was a very unhappy and angry little girl. And so I escaped to books. In fourth grade I discovered Ann of Green Gables and Gordon MacDonald. Through my elementary and highschool years I would read incessantly. I would take books in class and hide them beneath my desk so my teachers wouldn't see that I wasn't paying attention. I would close my bedroom door and stuff a towel at the bottom so my parents wouldn't see the light was still on way past midnight on a school night. Often I would finish a book at 2 AM and start another one until 4. I never got carsick reading and would read for 12 hours straight in the car.
I always read (past tense) fiction. My junior high years were all about romance novels (clean ones back then...you know the kind where they finally kiss at the end.) In highschool I got snotty and decided I wanted to read important fiction so I started reading the classics. Loved Jane Austin. Loved Charles Dickens. And sometimes I would just read to read, and I wouldn't even know what I was reading but I loved the feeling of escape from the world that it gave me. Which is probably why I rarely ever read fiction any more. (Unless Ted tells me to. I'll read anything he tells me to read.) The rare fiction exceptions in the last few years that I would recomend would be The Poisonwood Bible and My Name is Asher Lev. These were quite profound and spoke to me and my experiences. I'm sure there's more good fiction out there, but unless its really well written, when it comes to fiction entertainment, I'd usually rather watch the movie.
At this stage in my journey I read to live, and so most of my reading is non-fiction. I like to read how-to books--mostly the ones I pick up now are on photography, cooking/recipes, and gardening--when I'm reading for fun. But the most powerful books are usually the ones that tell people's stories, or books that reflect what people have learned throughout their journeys. Even the best theology is written in life not just theory.
The picture shows you what I'm reading now. Not for the faint hearted for sure.
I'm just starting "Tortured for Christ" by Richard Wurmbrand. In the first chapter the pastor has an opportunity to speak to a communist congress and is supposed to say that they are "god ordained." All the other Christian leaders are caving to the pressure. And his wife says, "Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ! They are spitting in his face." He says to his wife, "If I do so, you lose your husband." She said, "I don't wish to have a coward as a husband." Not exactly the kind of stuff you get in the "Tender Moments for Couples" devotional, eh? But its really good stuff. I wish more marriages that I know of reflected a love for Christ that far exceeds their love for each other. Or perhaps it is better said that a couple's love for one another so stems from a love of Christ and a desire to be obedient to Christ that it compels them to encourage one another to sacrifice all for Christ even if it means the loss of one another.
Makes me think. What does it mean to love our spouses like that? What does it mean to love our children like that? (Now that's way over the top.) But in reading this book...I'm looking at a man who lived those questions. I wonder if we ever will? It reminds me of something I wrote on the book of Lamentations...I'll have to dig it up...look for it next week cause I've got wine, waterfalls, and windows (stained glass) on my mind this weekend.
I'll make sure I take lots of pictures.
Oh, and take this post as my encouragement to curl up by a soft light, under a snuggly blanket, with a warm mug of something and READ. It's why God gives us cold weather. (Yes, He told me so...ok, no He didn't, but He could have.)