by Jason Joyner | Feb 7, 2008 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews, scrapbooking
This book was right up my wife’s alley, as she loves to scrapbook. (I say she loves to buy scrapbooking stuff and look at it without using it, but this usually gets me in some sort of trouble…) Anyway, here is my special guest review from my beautiful bride Beccy!
Sisters, Ink is the start of a series about 4 adopted daughters who still get together to scrapbook as a way to connect their busy lives. This is the first in the series, and it follows Tandy, living a busy high-placed life of an attorney in a big city, while her family lives in a small town in Tennessee. Her life consists of a dog and many hours of work.
She hasn’t been “home” for 3 years. When she arrives it brings back the joy of being home again: scrapbooking with her sisters, being with her dad, and reacquainting herself with her high school boyfriend.
As her two week visit changes life, she has to decide whether to go back to the big city or find her niche in a sleepy town.
This book had strong characters. The four sisters are distinct, and it was great to see the way this worked out. Even though they were all different, they still bonded as a family. The plot had a great romantic story along with the various family dynamics. I enjoyed the book from the viewpoint of a scrapbook fan, and I understood the lingo and the desire to get together socially and scrap. A weakness of the book was the beginning – it was very flowery with its description and ended up being distracting with its wordiness. Still, I enjoyed the book a lot, and would recommend it to my friends whether they scrapbook or not.
by Jason Joyner | Feb 7, 2008 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews, scrapbooking
This book was right up my wife’s alley, as she loves to scrapbook. (I say she loves to buy scrapbooking stuff and look at it without using it, but this usually gets me in some sort of trouble…) Anyway, here is my special guest review from my beautiful bride Beccy!
Sisters, Ink is the start of a series about 4 adopted daughters who still get together to scrapbook as a way to connect their busy lives. This is the first in the series, and it follows Tandy, living a busy high-placed life of an attorney in a big city, while her family lives in a small town in Tennessee. Her life consists of a dog and many hours of work.
She hasn’t been “home” for 3 years. When she arrives it brings back the joy of being home again: scrapbooking with her sisters, being with her dad, and reacquainting herself with her high school boyfriend.
As her two week visit changes life, she has to decide whether to go back to the big city or find her niche in a sleepy town.
This book had strong characters. The four sisters are distinct, and it was great to see the way this worked out. Even though they were all different, they still bonded as a family. The plot had a great romantic story along with the various family dynamics. I enjoyed the book from the viewpoint of a scrapbook fan, and I understood the lingo and the desire to get together socially and scrap. A weakness of the book was the beginning – it was very flowery with its description and ended up being distracting with its wordiness. Still, I enjoyed the book a lot, and would recommend it to my friends whether they scrapbook or not.
by Jason Joyner | Feb 3, 2008 | arts, Biblical worldview, Blog
Breakpoint is a favorite internet place of mine – I get daily emails from Chuck Colson’s radio broadcast. This last week there was one called “Made for Beauty.” It speaks of Francis Schaeffer’s book Art and the Bible, which I’ve spoken about before here.
Here’s the opening:
The neighbors watched the new church building go up in just one month—and what a sight it was! The church was a squat, square building made of unrelieved concrete. On the inside was garish red carpeting. A massive parking lot surrounded the church.
Nothing could possibly have been uglier—and the fact that so many Christians build church structures like this reveals how far Christians have strayed from the place beauty and art are meant to have in our lives.
As the late Francis Schaeffer notes in his book, Art and the Bible, we evangelicals tend to relegate art to the fringes of life. Despite our talk about the lordship of God in every aspect of life, we have narrowed its scope to a very small part of reality. But the arts are also supposed to be under the lordship of Christ, Schaeffer reminds us. Christians ought to use the arts “as things of beauty to the praise of God.”
I’ve talked about what is in the rest of the article before, but it is nice to see the same message getting out. Check out the article here.
by Jason Joyner | Feb 3, 2008 | arts, Biblical worldview, Blog
Breakpoint is a favorite internet place of mine – I get daily emails from Chuck Colson’s radio broadcast. This last week there was one called “Made for Beauty.” It speaks of Francis Schaeffer’s book Art and the Bible, which I’ve spoken about before here.
Here’s the opening:
The neighbors watched the new church building go up in just one month—and what a sight it was! The church was a squat, square building made of unrelieved concrete. On the inside was garish red carpeting. A massive parking lot surrounded the church.
Nothing could possibly have been uglier—and the fact that so many Christians build church structures like this reveals how far Christians have strayed from the place beauty and art are meant to have in our lives.
As the late Francis Schaeffer notes in his book, Art and the Bible, we evangelicals tend to relegate art to the fringes of life. Despite our talk about the lordship of God in every aspect of life, we have narrowed its scope to a very small part of reality. But the arts are also supposed to be under the lordship of Christ, Schaeffer reminds us. Christians ought to use the arts “as things of beauty to the praise of God.”
I’ve talked about what is in the rest of the article before, but it is nice to see the same message getting out. Check out the article here.
by Jason Joyner | Jan 30, 2008 | Blog, Kenya, missions, prayer
I have a pastor friend teaching at leadership conferences and training seminars in Uganda. He sent an update regarding the violence breaking out in Kenya. I’ve always considered Kenya a stable country, but obviously the last few months have shown a lot of tribal hatred and strife boiling to the surface.
Christians have a unique opportunity to pray into these situations in a concerted manner. I encourage everyone out there to keep this tragedy in mind.
As you may know I am presently in Uganda, East Africa teaching at Next Generation Ministry’s Leadership Training Institute. Attending this training are two pastors from Kenya; Kennedy from the Kitale area and Wycliffe from the Eldoret area. We received a call from Wycliffe’s wife saying that the violence is increasing and that the killers are now attacking churches and in particular Pastors and their families. Both of these men have 14 to 20 families who are in their personal homes seeking safety. My guess is that the American press is paying very little attention to this violence which is increasing across Kenya. I am urgently asking you to get on your knees and intercede for, not just the Christians in Kenya, for the nation as a whole. Kenya is the pivotal nation for the peace and security for all of East Africa. As I write this, innocent men,women, and children are being killed, raped, and mutilated.
Both of these men are men of great faith, but this situation is beyond their faith alone. All Christians in every nation must join our faith for them ad with them and ask our God to intervene in a powerful way and end this violence.
by Jason Joyner | Jan 30, 2008 | Blog, Kenya, missions, prayer
I have a pastor friend teaching at leadership conferences and training seminars in Uganda. He sent an update regarding the violence breaking out in Kenya. I’ve always considered Kenya a stable country, but obviously the last few months have shown a lot of tribal hatred and strife boiling to the surface.
Christians have a unique opportunity to pray into these situations in a concerted manner. I encourage everyone out there to keep this tragedy in mind.
As you may know I am presently in Uganda, East Africa teaching at Next Generation Ministry’s Leadership Training Institute. Attending this training are two pastors from Kenya; Kennedy from the Kitale area and Wycliffe from the Eldoret area. We received a call from Wycliffe’s wife saying that the violence is increasing and that the killers are now attacking churches and in particular Pastors and their families. Both of these men have 14 to 20 families who are in their personal homes seeking safety. My guess is that the American press is paying very little attention to this violence which is increasing across Kenya. I am urgently asking you to get on your knees and intercede for, not just the Christians in Kenya, for the nation as a whole. Kenya is the pivotal nation for the peace and security for all of East Africa. As I write this, innocent men,women, and children are being killed, raped, and mutilated.
Both of these men are men of great faith, but this situation is beyond their faith alone. All Christians in every nation must join our faith for them ad with them and ask our God to intervene in a powerful way and end this violence.
