Seaside Tales

Reviews on a Few Small Christian Books

Thu, 2 Sep 2010 09:33:41 -0500

As school picks back up for the boys, I find myself with a few extra moments of reading time. I will pick up larger books during the week and read them over a period of a few days... a few moments here and a few moments there.

I also like to pick up a book on Sunday afternoon, if time permits, and read through it. I usually try not to start on any book that has more than 100 pages or so on Sunday, though, because I'd like to finish it all in one sitting if at all possible.

I've recently read two such short books and thought I'd share my thoughts on them with you. The first book is How The Bible Was Built by Charles Merrill Smith and James W. Bennett and the second is A Little Primer on Humble Apologetics by James W. Sire.

How The Bible Was Built was discovered by Charles Merrill Smith's widow after his death. He had began the book in order to answer questions his granddaughter had asked him regarding the Bible one day -- Where did the Bible come from? Who wrote it? and so forth. There were several drafts found, where Mr. Smith had wrote and re-wrote the manuscript, but he never got around to getting it published before his death. James W. Bennett, at the request of Mr. Smith's widow picked up the gauntlet, arranged the drafts as much as he could, added a bit of his own thoughts, and published the book in 2005.

Using the analogy of building a house, the book covers the creation of the Bible from its foundation up, with each testament being compared to wings of a house being added to the foundation, and the apocrypha as the passageway that connects the two wings. It also delves into the history of the Councils, and the history of the Church to a small degree.

I learned many things I didn't know before reading this book. For instance, did you know that Deuteronomy was the first book to be considered as holy scripture? It was this book that was discovered by servants of King Josiah, which began the process of reformation in the kingdom of Israel. I learned about the different Councils that took place through the years, and why certain books were considered canonical and others were not. I learned who positioned the books of the Bible in the order they are now, and why. I also learned more about the Apocrypha than I had previously read, and about why the different translations were made.

As a lover of history this book was a perfect short read for me. I've read other larger books on this same topic, but this book was very good at putting it all together in a shorter, more condensed version!

A Little Primer on Humble Apologetics is exactly what it says it is -- a primer. Christian Apologetics has gotten a bad rap on so many levels but it isn't because of the Truth of God's Word. It's because Christians forget who they are who they represent when they try to present God's Truth. When we aren't humble in our apologetics discussions, it becomes more about our intelligence rather than God's supremacy! We must always do our best to remember 1 Peter 3:15, which the Amplified Bible (underlined emphasis is mine) words as, "But in your hearts set Christ apart as holy [and acknowledge Him] as Lord. Always be ready to give a logical defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you, but do it courteously and respectfully."

James W. Sire breaks the book up quite well into very good chapters. The first chapter defines exactly what apologetics is and why it is even necessary, covering nine very good points. Persecution of the Church in the early NT period made it necessary for Christians to define and defend what exactly it was they believed in. Many died for their beliefs! However, apologetics isn't just for those who don't believe in Christ, or want to persecute Christians. It can also be used to correct believers who have been taught wrong, or have a misunderstanding of what scripture says, with a humbleness and gentleness of course! The following chapters define some of the limits to apologetics (for some people there will always be a "reasonable doubt"), the context of your apologetics arguments (do you try to persuade emotionally, intellectually, or both), how you might address people depending on the type of group you are in (small, large, one-on-one, etcetera), and some responses you might give to questions folks might ask you.

The final chapter asks the question of whether or not YOU are called to be an apologist "professionally". Yes, of course, we are all called to give a defense of our faith but not every one of us has a call to do that on anything more than a personal level, just as not all of us are called to be Pastors, but we are called to minister to each other. This final chapter lists four special Christian intellectual virtues that you must have in order to be an apologist as a vocation: 1) a passion for truth, 2) a passion for holiness, 3) a passion for consistency, and 4) a passion for others. Dr. Sires also lists several spiritual gifts that are central to apologetics, most notably teaching and evangelism.

My husband and I have both read this little book several times. My husband has underlined and written notes all through it. I love when we find a book like this that we both can glean so much knowledge and useful, pertinent information from!

Have you read any good books lately? Have you written reviews for any of them? I would love to read about them so please leave a comment and let me know where to find out more info about the books you are reading and writing about...

One good thing about hurricanes is that...

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:01:00 -0500

... in the right season, it pushes all the shrimp further into the inlets!! After church this past Sunday afternoon, one of our friends from the Sunday Lunch Bunch asked if any of the boys wanted to go with him shrimping to see what they could catch. Two of our boys jumped at the chance and the three of them caught about 900 shrimp!!! These weren't tiny, little popcorn shrimp either!

The boys brought their share home and Mike and Jesse quickly cleaned them so that we could get them in the freezer.

I'm not much a shrimp person -- my personal preference leans more toward clams -- but I'll cook them up for anyone, especially if they are free, and someone else does ALL the cleaning ;-)

Caught anything yummy lately?! Better yet, ya got any good recipes for shrimp -- maybe shrimp tacos or shrimp burgers? Feel free to share in the comments...

Bright Star

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:44:58 -0500

I recently saw several trailers for the movie Bright Star, based on the romance between John Keats -- the poet -- and Fanny Brawne. I instantly decided I must see the movie! I absolutely adored it. It made me smile, and laugh, and cry tears of happiness and sadness all mingled in together. It is a story of love, and even jealousy (but not in the normal sense of jealousy you would expect), as well as sorrow.

During his life, Keats poems were not very well received, but, as with most artists, they became very well known after his death at the young age of 25. He is now known as one of the most brilliant poets of the Romantic Period.

I loved the colors used in this movie. Both the opening and closing scenes were done with a blue coloring that really spoke to the whole feeling of the movie.

Fanny seemed to have a very forward personality for women in that time in history, and Keats enjoyed a sense of humor. One of my favorite clips of the movie is when they are at a Ball and Fanny (who is a fashionista and avid seamstress) is saying that no one else has such as neckline as she has created but Keats tells her he just saw someone behind her with the same one. She quickly turns to find her own reflection in the mirror and smiles as she catches his humor.

Much of the movies scenery is centered around nature: butterflies, blossoms, and the like. Even a small gift of a branch in bloom becomes an excuse for Fanny to speak to Keats as she gives it as a gift.

The lighting used to show how they feel when they are thinking of each other is superb. Scenes prior to this one are drab and rainy feeling while Fanny awaits a letter from Keats. The scenes become bright and airy once the letter arrives, especially as Keats describes the view he has from his window.

As a military wife, who has tucked numerous lockets of hair into my husbands pouches as he has deployed, the following scene really caught my emotions deeply and may very well be one of my most favorite scenes in the movie for that reason alone. Keats friends have paid his way to go to Rome so that he may try and regain his health. You almost feel as he places the hair in the pouch and says they must say their good-byes that he knows he will not see Fanny again. I cried.

The movie closes with Fanny walking in the woods, after Keats death, reciting the poem from which the title of the movie comes, Bright Star.

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.
~ John Keats

In case you are interested, the Keats House in Hampstead, London, where Keats met Fanny Brawne has been restored and is now open as a museum and for tours: http://www.keatshouse.cityoflondon.gov.uk/ If I ever make it to London, it will most definitely be on my list of places to see!

Have you seen any good movies lately? Feel free to share in the comments...

Sunday Scripture

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:46:50 -0500

St. Peter, The Garden of the Apostles, Resthaven Cemetery, Louisville, KY

Psalm 73:26 "My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."

Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted."

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."

The Wright Flyer

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:54:42 -0500

It never fails when we go to a museum, the boys MUST go into the gift shop! Isn't that true of every child out there?! We've learned most shops have the usual gear -- tee shirts, magnets, bumper stickers, pencils, books, and so forth. We try to steer clear of that stuff. Our house is full of enough of all of that already. IF we find something cool that directly reflects the museum we are at, then we will buy it if we can afford to pay cash for it. The only thing we seem to purchase lately are books about North Carolina lore. We could probably do without more books in our house but we like to read AND we like owning books about places we've lived. On our recent trip to The Wright Brothers Memorial we found another item to buy: The Wright Brothers Flyer.

The flyer cost a bit more money than we would regularly spend on an item at a museum BUT we figured we could use it as a school project. Jesse, especially, is interested in aeronautics so we could take multiple lessons from putting the flyer together, and studying things such as lift and the engineering aspects of flying.

Mike, Noah, and Jesse worked hard all morning putting the flyer together! It was a bit tricky at spots, but that just makes for good bonding time :-)

By mid-afternoon they were ready for a few test flights! It was a beautiful sunny day and the wind was just right. As you will see from this short clip, the biggest problem we had was actually keeping the flyer in view of the camera!

Wright Brothers Flyer from Sallie Anderson on Vimeo.

Do you visit the gift shops in museums? What sorts of things do you buy?

Old Things...

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:43:23 -0500

If you, per chance, were to look into the archives of my old blog, going as far back as June of 2004, then you would find that I have always talked about old churches, log cabins, my Dad's old home-place, barn homes being restored, and so forth when it comes to the type of buildings I love. The following is a portion of a post I wrote on July 16, 2004:

I see such beauty in old things. We were driving out of Louisiana into Texas and they had this row of old buildings jacked up on stilts and waiting for people to buy them to put on new foundations. One was an old church (a small one with beautiful old blue stain glass windows) and Mike was looking at it as we drove by saying "Now, that's the kind of broken down junk you would have me buy and expect to be able to fix."

I just like old things and old places. They make me feel comfortable. I feel like it would be something truly worthwhile to take an old, falling apart building, and build it back up into a bit of its former glory, or maybe even better. I very much dislike concrete and most things "modern" in design. Give me an old building to always be working on, and I'll be happy.

Several months ago I read an article online about France selling off many of its government owned buildings because it just couldn't afford to keep them in this economy. The article did not list how to find these places for sell but I am lucky to know someone who knows the language pretty well (two guesses as to who...lol) and he directed me to the Cessions immobilières de l'Etat website. The different buildings will be for sell over the next 5 years (maybe they are stretching the sales out that far in hopes that the economy bounces back and they won't have to lose their most precious of buildings?!). There is a huge assortment of buildings to suit everyones tastes and I love looking over the website and "dreaming" of the possibilities.

Ever considered buying and running your own hotel in Paris? Why not buy the Seignelay Hotel in Paris. It's in the 7th arrondissement (district), which is the same district the Eiffel Tower is in! The hotel sits on about 24 acres (if the translation is correct) and has lovely gardens.

Perhaps you would rather have a place that you could live and work in? Would a 13th century mansion work for you? The Patras Mansion, named after its owner, is located in the Ile de France region, which includes the Paris district. It is the most populated region of France! The property includes two main buildings and a garden park. The first building has both residence and office levels in it, and the second building is mainly used for storage.

I would have to say my personal favorite is this "beauty" in the western region of France. It is located in Port de Piles, Vienne and I love it!

Yes, yes, I see the doors falling off, and the graffiti painted on the walls, but look at that stonework! Isn't it beautiful?!

I can imagine so well the beauty of what a place like this could become. There are several buildings, including the larger L-shaped main building, and the location by two rivers couldn't be more beautiful! To think! This place was previously used as a camping area! I can think of much better uses for it that that ;-)

If you want to look at more properties on the website, I highly recommend you have Google Translate opened in a separate window so that you can more easily move back and forth between translated pages and the real website.

If you are interested in learning more about getting a loan for French property, feel free to check out Adrian Leeds website. Adrian is a staple on House Hunters International when it comes to Paris properties!

Do you have a love for old buildings like I do? Or, do you think I'm absolutely crazy?!

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:42:56 -0500

Our daughter Victoria's beau, Justin, wanted to come ~~visit our family~~ see our girl for the recent long fourth of July weekend. We had been wanting to get out of town for a little bit and see the Wright Brothers Memorial at Kill Devil Hills for some time, and so we worked out a plan to meet each other there.

With everything happening with our family lately, I just realized that I hadn't yet taken the time to post any pictures from our trip. The Brothers were brilliant men -- the kind of men our country is sorely in need of these days -- and the trip was very worthwhile and I'm sure we will take the time to visit again in the future!

"We could not understand that there was anything about a bird that could not be built on a larger scale and used by man. If the bird's wings would sustain it in the air without the use of any muscular effort, we did not see why man could not be sustained by the same results." ~ Orville Wright

After spending several hours touring the museum, and walking around the monument, followed by a delicious picnic lunch, we then caravaned down the Outer Banks and took the 3 hour Ocracoke Ferry across the sound to mainland North Carolina. It was a very enjoyable trip, except I would really love to do it in reverse some time in the future so that we aren't rushing down the banks for fear we'll miss the ferry! There is so much more to see!!

I hope you enjoy all of the pics!! I would like to, of course, say a very special thank you to Justin for letting me *borrow* several of his pics of this trip for my post. He captured the LOVELY shot of Victoria with her scarf flowing out behind her. I really ♥ that photo!! Tomorrow I hope to post a few more pics and a video of Mike, Noah, and Jesse building their very own Wright Flyer from a kit we purchased so I hope you'll come back to check that out!

Wordless Wednesday -- Protection Guaranteed by the Neighborhood Boys ;-)

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:57:25 -0500

The not so wordless part: The boys who live in our small semi-circle drive are almost all much younger than my own. I need not worry if our base is attacked, however, because they practice daily on how they might keep us all safe. These boys are a brave bunch, I tell ya!!

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit the main WW HQ at http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/

Romantic Homes Magazine -- A Favorite Decorating Friend

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:00:12 -0500

There are some magazines that I buy once, and then never buy again. I am either unable to focus on the good content due to the abundance of advertisements, or there just isn't content that fits my style in the first place. There are other magazines, however, that I am a loyal fan of. One such magazine is Romantic Homes.

I promised my husband A WHILE AGO that IF I bought any new magazines into the house, then I would make sure that I got rid of a magazine from one of my stacks. I'm now down to my favorite stack of magazines and I'm afraid I may have to stop buying magazines so that I don't lose any of my good ones

I think one of the reasons I love Romantic Homes is because of the variety of styles they cover. Their November 2007 issue covered my husbands favorite decorating style: British Colonial. Their April 2010 issue covered my favorite style and explained all the elements of it in-depth: French - Country, Elegant, and Old World. Their most recent issue showcased a shop named Magnolia Pearl that is going on the road in their Air-stream, something my husband and I have both said we would love to do "one of these days" -- maybe not having a traveling shop, but hitting the road in an Air-stream, most definitely!

Romantic Homes tag line is Casual Elegance, Personal Style. I love every issue I see and usually can't wait to browse the next one, even if its just standing for an hour flipping through it at our local bookstore. RH is one of the magazines that I frequently open to a page I love and try my best to mimic the styles shown in my own home. I ♥ Romantic Homes!

What about you? Do you have a favorite magazine, decorating or otherwise? Feel free to share in the comments!

Hmmm... what was it that I was saying about teen unemployment?!

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:23:12 -0500

Mike and I have received a fair amount of grief -- mostly from well-meaning folks, but who also don't have an idea of the layout of our geographical location -- over not having Victoria search for a job in one of our neighboring towns (each one being approximately 20 miles away). She currently helps out a lady at our church one day a week doing just about anything and everything, and she also babysits. She has applied at a few places locally but has thus far only received the dreaded "we'll call you if we decide to hire anyone else" speech. There is a new branch of the base day care opening in November and she is hopeful for a position there but nothing is guaranteed!

It isn't that we don't want Victoria to have work "experience" but rather that we can't afford for her to gain that experience to the detriment of the rest of our family. We are a one vehicle family and there is no job she could currently work at for part time wages that would pay enough to even cover our gas costs, let alone any other incidentals such as clothing that she may need. Plus, because she wants to be a wife and mommy, I'm not sure any job she might be hired on for would give her any more experience than what she does to help me out here at home. It seems ridiculous for us to look for a job as far away as some suggest simply so that she can gain workplace experience. As a homeschool family, that statement sounds much like another one that might be thrown our way: What about socialization?

This morning I read an article on yahoo news titled Soaring Teen Unemployment Could Have Lifetime Effects. The article starts off by saying,

The summer job used to be a staple of teenage life. Paper routes and ice cream parlors provided work experience, paychecks, and a psychological boost in the form of independence and self-esteem.
The worst recession since the Great Depression has changed all that.

I can't believe I have finally read an article that admits teen unemployment is a problem, even if it is a bit on the psychological side!! At least I am finally reading that other folks think its a reality! I blogged about my perception of this problem last July after reading another article that talked about unemployment numbers, but completely left out the teenage/summer-hire portion of our economy.

Teenage unemployment isn't a fallacy. It really does exist. The trick to not letting it affect your family, though, is to decide what is important for your own family, and the individuals within your family!

For our family, we really do believe that boys are different than girls. If our boys were 17 or 18 years old, we would be pushing them to find jobs -- whether it be McDonald's, or lawn mowing, or car washing, etcetera. ~~Boys~~ Men must know how to provide for their own families, without being too prideful about the jobs they might have to do to supply an income, in order that they won't need to live off government unemployment benefits for an excessive amount of time.

As far as Victoria goes, being at home and continuing her education in many areas that will suit her future life to come seems more important. If a local job comes up that will expand her horizons in view of the track she wishes her life to take, then she's more than willing to snatch it up if at all possible. Until then, we will continue to rely on God's providence and blessings! Besides, I'm happy to have her working alongside me and sharing moments and memories that will last us both a lifetime! And I haven't heard her complain about working with me yet either ;-)

What are your thoughts on teenage unemployment? Does it have any affect on your family?