books | Tis a Gift to Receive

My brother and his wife gave me the book Souls of the Sea for my last birthday. I so enjoyed it. It’s the account of the storm and sinking of 2 boats off our local coast in Jan. 2007. I love that it’s so very Dunmore. It’s not great writing, but it’s so authentic. It explains the fishermen’s lives, how they work, how they depend on weather predictions, and how those predictions are made.

It is still a mystery as to why the boats went down. It is a loss that everyone in the area feels; everyone was touched, affected by the tragedy. Everyone knew a sibling or relative or child or friend of the lost men. I loved how the book showed that authentic solidarity that the locals are so good at. It made me proud to live in Dunmore.

It’s a world apart. The harvest service in the village every fall thanks God for the harvest from the land and the sea. Having grown up mountains, that line of thanks always catches my attention and reminds me this is a different world indeed. Right now, tourists walk all over the streets and stone walls, but I feel smug when I go through Dunmore because I’m thinking You pay big money to come here for a week, and I get to live here. Ok, the winters are dreadful and dark, but then we have the village to ourselves, and we get to see the glorious gales. But the gales do take boats and lives every winter. From the wrath of the sea, O Lord, deliver us.

The link for Westminster Seminary Bookstore is there because I’ve just finished taking a course from there, under CCEF, Christian Counseling and Education Foundation. The course was “Dynamics of Biblical Change” and was 12 wks, by correspondance. Dr. David Powlison was the lecturer. It was a grueling but wonderful time. I would highly recommend the course to anyone who was looking for Biblical ways to search out their heart motives and pursue God’s wisdom in all of life.

The next course is “Methods of Biblical Change” which I’m considering taking later this year. Paul Tripp is the lecturer for that one, I understand.

It’s actually sort of sad to break the tradition that Mondays became for me: listening to 3 hrs of lectures every Mon. morning. Then throughout the week, there was assigned reading of chapters and articles, and response papers. During the 12 wks we worked on a self-counselling project, and at the end wrote a report on that, as well as a report on a ministry project. Because the end of self-examination and pursuit of wisdom is to reach out and bless and minister to others, and not always stay navel-gazing.

I loved how the course was very practical, realistic, and always tied into Scripture. I have a new appreciation, knowing that the Bible actually speaks into real situations of the real world. There’s a lot of security and freedom in that.

So check out the Westminster bookstore. They have some good stuff. I recommend the book Come Back Barbara by C. John Miller and his daughter Barbara. It’s the incredible, beautiful story of a prodigal daughter, written by the father and daughter. John has passed on now, but Barbara is one of the instructors in the counselling course.