"We must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self importance and resentment." - CS Lewis

This book, Terrify No More, is helping me see that we have such a poverty here - poverty of compassion, poverty of purpose and poverty of hope. The author, Gary Haugen, founder and director of International Justice League  asks the question that our grandchildren may ask when they read of the massive injustices happening in our world today - global sex trafficking, slavery, illegal detention, genocide... on our watch.  "Where were you, grandma? Grandpa?, Where were you when the weak and the voiceless and the vulnerable needed a leader of compassion, and purpose and hope? Did you show up? Will you show up... on time?

The weightier matters of the law - Justice, Mercy and Love of God must not be dismissed.

**Picture of Kotexboy has been deleted** Poor littel guy doesn't need his photo splashed all over the web...

Have you read any of Khaled Hosseini's books? I wanted to watch "The Kite Runner" when it came out, but I thought I'd read the book first. It was so good, I loved it. Then Marshall brought this one to me even though it's still in hardback (I was waiting till it was available in paperback because I'm tight like that). Anyway, I found it haunting and addictive. The insight into the Afghani culture is stunning. Mostly, it's frightening that this book accurately depicts life through the eyes of women, even to present day. If you can get a copy (Costco has them quite cheap) you should read it. You won't look at the nations of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan in quite the same way. 

I'm ready for another book but I can't decide which one. I like novels, I enjoy historical fiction, but I like to learn while I'm at it. Any ideas?

This is a really great book. I read it a few weeks ago and read the last third a second time to Marshall while we were driving. I really recommend it.

We had an annual conference/retreat type getaway this week in Seaside. It was great. Jeff Lucas was the keynote speaker who happens to be from England. It was a refreshing dose of home. I think I laughed harder than most because I caught so many nuances unique to British culture. Jeff has one of those really special gifts - taking a life experience that is vaguely humorous, and embellishing it till it is flat out hilarious. He adds to that a little twist to make you think about the spiritual significance in such an experience, and voila, preaching material!

Talking of experiences that would preach, Marsh was emceeing the event and, during one of the games he hosted for the some 400 church and ministry leaders, he pulled the chair away from our Superintendent's wife while she was standing. She didn't realize he'd done so and consequently went down on the floor like a sack of spuds! You would have died! Thankfully Joy was okay, and a great sport but poor old Marsh couldn't even eat his dinner - he was so sick to his stomach. Love him...

It was also nice to be in closer proximity to our staff - closer because we rented a house rather than a few hotel rooms. Sharing meals and conversation, not to mention the humor in watching such competitiveness surface from a game of ping pong for some of them (not me!

TTFN