It’s Not too Late for Advent Reading by Julie Arduini

If you’re like me, you lost a week somewhere between Thanksgiving and now. My kids explained how they can’t wait for vacation, and I learned their last day of school for 2012 is next week. The Christmas season is flying by.

It’s important to me not to lose the meaning of the season. That’s easy when there are Christmas concerts, shopping, traveling, wrapping, Christmas cards, and then the daily schedule to muddle through. Advent readings are how I connect the real reason I celebrate Christmas. Although the official Advent season is underway, I don’t think it’s too late to find some Advent readings and use even a few moments each day to reflect.

Here are books and other resources where you can celebrate the Advent season.

Lynne Modranski–I don’t remember how I stumbled onto her site, but she has a few Advent options for a very low price. Each of her readings has been exactly what I needed to read. Learn more here.

Goshen College– sends devotions via e mail during Advent and Lent.

Crosswalk.com–Today at Mothers of Preschoolers, MOPS, the coordinator read from Rick Renner’s Sparkling Gems from the Greek. This was the first I heard of this book, but Crosswalk is featuring devotionals from it this Christmas season.

Jesus Calling–I received a .pdf that gave the Advent portion of the book, and it is a fantastic resource for families.

Billy Graham–I found this while researching. Billy Graham.org has a free devotional available for download.

How about you? What resources do you use to celebrate Advent and the Christmas season in general?

Advent image by photobucket

POP: A Journey in the Light by Sarah Goebel

I do hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and I pray the heart of Thanksgiving continues with us all each day throughout the year ahead.

I want to share a book with you that we recently published through our small publishing company (www.onassignmentpublishing.com). It is a real-time personal testimony of God’s miraculous power, and presence and a case study on the power of prayer. The author, Dick Bowley, examples to us how to live with an attitude of Thanksgiving even in the midst of our worst life challenges.

While there are many books on the market testifying of the power of prayer and God’s faithfulness, most were written after the battle was a memory and the victory was in hand. Not so with this one. Dick Bowley shares in POP: A Journey in the Light thoughts and daily activities written in his journal while in the midst of adversity, trusting God for His answer and fighting for his life.  Whether facing a life-threatening situation or other challenge that appears in the natural to have you beat, or looking for a book that will impart spiritual knowledge and inspiration, this book is for you. You will be encouraged and strengthened like never before as you read this real-time, amazing true story of God’s sustaining power and faithfulness found in prayer while in the darkness of adversity.

I highly recommend this book for every Christian who desires to grow in their faith. It is also a great read for those in the health profession as it gives a day-to-day insight into one faith-filled patient’s perspective during his battle for life. This book can be purchased on Amazon.com and will soon be available at his author website, http://www.popthebook.com.

What’s Your Reading Pleasure? by Elizabeth Goddard

I’m so excited to be a part of this new blog. Many thanks to Vicki Hinze who brought us all together. In this world filled with millions of blogs its hard to think of something new and fresh to say. So I dispensed with my effort to say something brilliant today and just went with my heart. I admit, I started out with something else in mind for this post, but a beloved book sitting on the shelf drew my attention and I changed direction.

I recently took a break from reading books from my large to-be-read pile, which, these days includes hundreds of books on my Kindle. I spend so much time reading for review, contests or research, or to see what’s the latest, greatest in the Christian market, that I don’t often get to read for pleasure.

That’s not to say that I haven’t enjoyed the novels I’ve read, but sometimes I’d like to read a book because I want to. Not because I have to. Can you relate?

So what did I pick for my reading pleasure? An oldie but goodie. The Song of Albion Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead—one story spread over three novels: The Paradise War, The Silver Hand, The Endless Knot. The trilogy is set around Anglo-Celtic mythology. This was my second time to read this tale, and like any fiction addict who reads a story they love, I was a little down when it ended. In fact, I prolonged reading the last half of the last book, putting that off for a few days. I didn’t want to leave the story world. Am I pathetic or what?

I love Lawhead’s lyrical prose and thought-provoking nuggets, but especially so in Song of Albion. In case you can’t tell, fantasy is my first love when it comes to fiction genres. However, I’ve strayed far from that over the last several years for reasons I’ve already mentioned.

Thankfully, Lawhead has started a new series (Bright Empires). The Skin Map released last year and I’m about to start on The Bone House, which just released this month. In the fashion only Lawhead can pull off well, the science fiction and fantasy are blended into what he likes to call imaginative fiction, if I remember correctly.

The same day I received The Bone House, I also received Steven James’s latest, The Queen. I purchased The Queen because I read The Bishop—my first experience with James. I have to say, I was impressed.

Maybe I’ll share my thoughts regarding those books next time.

So many books, too little time. So. . .what’s your reading pleasure?