Alright ladies...here is my opportunity to share with you what I do best...READ. Reading moves me...like music moves some. I think my love of reading stems from my desire to escape from a lonely, boring childhood. I can remember going the library as a child (much like "H" does today) and bringing home stacks and stacks of books. The stories in the pages take you to places that you may never go...help you experience things you may never experience...force you to deal with fears that otherwise you might never acknowledge exist... No matter how crummy the day has been, I can pick up a good book and go "there"...wherever "there" may be. Fiction never lets me down. Fiction always lends and ear and lowers my blood-pressure.
As I grew in my spiritual walk, many of my favorite authors began to trouble me with their language and story lines...I couldn't enjoy the story for being offended by the language. I read my first piece of Christian Fiction 5 years ago...and oh my...the floodgates opened. I did not know that Christian Fiction existed. You mean that I can read a book filled with suspense, twists, turns, love, romance, struggle and pain....and intertwined within it there is the love of GOD...the message of Salvation? without all the foul language? I've been taken ever since. I read when I cook...I read when I blow-dry my hair...I read on my phone, I read online, I read digitally, I read by listening to books in my car, I listen to books on my ipod when I clean house...I read more than one book at a time. Yes. I am crazy. This I know. I have also won more than one Non-reader over to the reading side as well...so for those of you who are rolling your eyes at me right now...that could be you in the near future. Just sayin'...never say never!
So....the fun part, is that in every book I read, there is a message for me, or for someone I know and love. It never fails. I read something in it that applies to someone I know, and I inevitably use that book/story/message in some way in the future. In fact, I intentionally look in each book for the "whats" and the "whys" and the "who's"...that apply to that story. Sometimes it's right in my face...sometimes not so obvious. Sometimes it hits me months later. I also pass lots of books on...because you see, people let their guard down when they read fiction...give them a book on the Saving Grace of Jesus Christ and their feathers get a little ruffled, especially if they're not ready to hear it...but give them a work of fiction where the salvation message is very subtle and woven...and they are much more open to...more. I look for those books and I pass them on when I find them.
So, what does all this mean for us? It means that I am leading a book club for our Women's Ministry. It has a name...it's called PAGE TURNERS. Here are the details:
- We will meet monthly (probably a Tuesday Night) to discuss the book.
- @ that time I will announce the next month's book selection/selections.
- You'll have one month to read the book and review the discussion questions
- Look for opportunities to invite others and share the ministry
- Expect a bad book once in a while...they can't all be winners!
So what do you think? Are you in?
