Category Archives: Book

Pause and Reflect

Well, we are two letters into this alphabetical journey. For those who have joined with my family and I on this 182 day expedition, how is it going? Does it make sense? The point of the Family Edition is to make it available to everyone. So if there is anything you can add or ask, please feel free.
For example: I am using the form of a septet for each word. 7 lines or sentences that have almost a haiku feel to them. It helps me to describe each word’s reason for being chosen. Sometimes it rhymes, sometimes it doesn’t but narrates a prayer – a conversation with the Holy Spirit.
 
“Aurora Borealis
1-You make me look up.
2-Your distractions become my focus.
3-Life becomes the distraction – life IS the distraction.
4-This fading life in this ending world mislead and betray me from the path You lead me on.
5-Mere moments left to make me misstep my vows made to give value.
6-Your colors dazzle me.
7-You leave me transfixed like a deer caught in the headlights, but instead of the deer about to be dead, You leave me in awe and fill me with life.”
 
Psalm 19:1-3

Spirit Fire Ch. 6: “No Longer A Slumdog”

A couple of months ago I saw an ad on Facebook for a free book about children in Asia titled “No Longer A Slumdog”, written by K.P. Yohannan.  I thought it would be an interesting read because I know people who serve the LORD there, plus it has a forward written by Francis Chan, so I ordered it.  When it finally came in the mail, I set it aside on the shelf next to where I sit for our Spirit Fires, and truth be told, I forgot about it.  Till one day I saw it sitting there and thought to give the first chapter a read.  Boy, I’m glad I did.  As I read the stories about the hundreds of millions of children that suffer in this world, and about the work of the Spirit and the light God brings to such places, I quickly thought about my own children and how invaluable it would be for them to learn and hear about it.  Most of the children mentioned in the book are around their age of 7 so it seemed even more appropriate for my kids to hear about them during this stage of their lives.

In our beginning prayer time, we talk about our Treasure Rooms which are filled with all kinds of riches from God.  When reading Yohannan’s book, I spoke to them of a rare jewel of Wisdom called Perspective, and each page of his book was loaded with it.  Perspective provides for us an opportunity to value others and ourselves, and it is something every child and adult in every culture needs.  With it we take a step out of our own shoes with our needs and wants and step into another’s and hear of even greater needs and in that trade off, a new need awakens, a need to help and do something about it.  A need to love.

Yohannen’s book provides a personal view into the dark streets of cities like Bombay and what daily life is like there for the Dalit children and communities.  Children who don’t know the love of God, let alone the many who don’t even know the love of a parent.  The harshness of dealing with a pimp who knows a maimed child makes more money begging than a healthy one is contrasted by the blinding glory of God’s redemptive love as the life of a violent child changes to that of a loving child becoming a blessing to his community.  Yohannan shares many stories of hope and joy amidst the dark, each one of these stories is a seed for my children; a seed I know that will grow in the garden of their hearts, souls, and minds.

Last night we had our recap discussion time.  Honestly, my kids couldn’t follow many of the questions I asked like:  “So what did we learn about the Jewel of Perspective?”  But when I asked them about specifics in the book, they couldn’t stop talking about the children we read about.

I know this almost sounds like a commercial, but to get the info out plain and simple here it is:  “No Longer A Slumdog” written by K.P. Yohannan was a perfect book for my family to read and talk about together.  I look forward to the ways its seeds will impact my kids and myself in the days to come.

Visions of Paradise p.1-2

I wait here as I survey the land spreading out before me. I begin at a place within time and space from which many roads have been made. Starting as hints like when a wild animal leaves its trail through long green grass, then as those who see the signs follow, it begins to form a path. Then, when the path is traveled upon by many seeking to find their way through this land, it becomes a road. Some roads are wide where many have walked, expanding the original path from its humble beginnings. they receive honors of sorts, being paved and made smooth for easy travel. The twists and turns are rounded out, and signs are placed that advise the proper speed for the safest and most enjoyable experience for the traveler. Bridges are built that span over the valleys and rivers, safe and sturdy bridges that leave little room for fear of this land. Bridges whose guard walls are so high that when the traveler follows the guidelines of the road it is impossible to see much beyond what is straight in front of them. One can almost think that they are not passing over thousand foot drops, that the land is level, and that there are not treacherous rapids below churning the water into whirlpools that could drown, or smash against rocks that could crush. These wide roads lead one passed the five mountains to the land beyond by the straightest and safest route. However, the traveler is left with little experience of the lands they pass through and little idea of the beauty and danger they possess.

There are other ways through this land that were not made with the idea of safety and comfort, ways that are not wide, paved, smooth and straight. These ways follow the hints and weave themselves intimately in the land they navigate bringing the traveler into the depths as well as the heights. Full of hills and valleys, full of drop-offs and cliffs, with sharp stones that scrape, and gnarled roots that trip. These ways bring one to bridges built much different than those of the wide roads. Bridges that creak in the wind, filled with gaping holes between their wooden planks. It gives one the idea that the bridges want you to see how high you are and how far you can fall and what awaits you below. Dangers are not bypassed and trials are not evaded. Yet these ways lead also to beauty unmatched and glory unveiled. Much like a rose with its thorns or rather a fruit tree with its serpent. These ways encounter mysteries revealing visions of splendor leaving the traveler changed, yet still moving but caught up in a moment of eternity. Ultimately, they were formed by a different understanding of travel; a different understanding of safety; a different understanding of faith. It is not the wideness of the road that brings comfort, nor the sturdiness of the bridge. It is not the smooth level ground that builds confidence, nor the lack of twists and turns. It is not the absence of fear that builds faith, nor is it the avoidance of troubles that brings peace. But it is faith in the One who provided the way that gives life, not faith in the road itself, and this is the door.

Visions of Paradise p. 1-2
by Brian Carter