I'm reading like crazy this summer. I haven't been reading the usual novels as I've enjoyed past summers. I love a good novel but there seems no time in my life for that. I am on a quest! There are so many things I am eager to get my eyes on! I need to learn, study, questions, soak up other ideas. Okay, I admit that I am a Guidepost Magazine junkie. I read it while we watch the World Cup games. The stories are sometimes hokey and sweet but there are often great quotes and tidbits from stories that I can use in my Junior High Bible study. I try to tie them in with a scripture to help the kids understand it better or how they can fit the lessons of a scripture into a real life situation. At that age (12, 13, 14) half the battle is getting their attention. No, it's more than half the battle...oh, but when you hook them they listen in a way that adults rarely do. They hunger for God and to understand. They need him and they know it. They haven't reached that stage where they think can do without him.

It depends which chair I am sitting in. "Guidepost" in the livingroom recliner but in my reading chair I have recently read, "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. I had seen three of his mini-films that we had used in the Wednesday Youth worships and Bible studies; "Kickball", "Luggage" (that's impact!) and the incredible "Dust". When I ran across his book I snapped it up. Wow! Lot's of food for thought and controversy there. There is so much truth in it and also a lot of stuff I will have to chew on awhile. Definitely food for thought...unless you are afraid to think about what God, Jesus, the Bible and Christianity really mean. I can't imagine that...but then I'm Methodist and that's what it is all about for me ☻... growing closer to The Truth....that's the God-truth not the Man-truth or the American-truth.

So, while in my reading chair I am now reading a book that I don't know how it got on my bookshelf. I was grazing my library and the title caught my eye. "Does God Believe in You?: Developing Spiritual Self-Confidence" by Keith R. Anderson. I pulled it out and started reading.

I am fascinated since this is just what I need to be reading right now (it's a God-thing).. I have been having a bit of a spiritual crisis as far as wondering if there is any way that I could possibly even figure out God's plan for me... let alone to live up to it! Am I too old? Did I miss it? It is an easy-read but offers more to think about so I am limiting myself to one chapter a day so that I can ruminate on it and how it speaks to me in my life right now.

Upstairs I have a copy of "Cure for the Common Life" by Max Lucado. Pretty boring at first. Heard it before and, yes, I know that God calls each of us, but around chapter 4 I began to see that it was fitting in with what I am looking for...how to find out what I'm to do and why and, well... I'm still reading.

Oh, I wish I could read all day every day...but then when would I serve the God that gave me everything and expects me to go out there into the world and love it and glorify him? Can I figure out this balancing act of learning and teaching and getting with God and serving him? It's not rhetorical... I'm looking for answers.