Book Thoughts

So today I thought I'd share my thoughts on a book I read several months ago. I absoultely loved this book. I know some people (and some of you are reading this blog) aren't into romance, even Christian romance, although personally, I don't understand because God did create romance, yes? Anyway, my ranting thoughts on why Christian romance is good aside...this was a well written story and there was SO much more to it than romance, though that was great too. Anyway, enough prefacing--here's what I thought.

Rodeo Sweetheart
By Betsy St. Amant


Samantha Jenson isn’t the kind of woman that Evan Ames is used to meeting. She’s a gorgeous, stubborn, caring contradiction with cowboy boots. And Evan, a guest at Samantha’s family’s ranch-turned-dude-ranch, is fascinated.

Sam’s too busy worrying about the financial situation at her family’s ranch to give Evan the time of day, much less a second look. Her father’s death has left Sam and her mom on the edge of bankruptcy without any option but to make their ranch a dude ranch, which Sam resents. The presence of a city boy who can’t tell one end of the horse from the other is not something Sam pays much attention to—until Evan finds out Sam’s secret.

Winning the bull riding competition at an upcoming local rodeo is the only way Sam can think of to get enough money to do what needs to be done to get the ranch back on track. But can she—should she—knowingly put her life on the line is the same event that cost her father his life?

As she wrestles with this she fights feelings for Evan, who has a crush on her but is caught in a tug of war between his manipulative father and what he knows to be right. If Evan’s real estate mogul father has his way, Sam will lose everything—with or without the bull riding prize money.


Betsy St. Amant’s story immediately makes the reader feel invested in all that’s at state—monetarily and relationally. The setting felt so real and was a great escape from everyday life—just thinking about this story makes me want to pull on my cowboy boots and start driving west. The love story is sweet and believable, and the other driving parts of the story also grip the reader’s attention and make this book one I’ll enjoy reading over and over again.

Happy Fall! Well, sort of...

I love fall! Of course, here in the south, fall does not love us. Fall sneaks in and makes you think it's going to stick around and then you wake up one morning and it's 80 degrees outside. It's been 80-something here for the last week or so, but I'm hoping fall will come back around. It always does.

I am so completely extreme in the fall. I'm either super productive and go on one of my little fall cleaning sprees, or I just want to sit around and drink coffee (um, like I'm doing now. Yeah, my living room? It needs help. But the coffee is warm and it's fallllll...) This is probably actually making my husband relatively happy, because when I go on those cleaning sprees, I tend to throw things away. Which is why he's currently without a hunting license. It looked like a piece of paper to me, okay?

I don't have a lot to say today, but I wanted to tell everyone to check out the blog The Pastor's Wife Speaks (thepastorswifespeaks.blogspot.com) It's a really interesting inside look at ministry life from a lot of different perspectives. I'm enjoying reading it and contributing blogs for it.

I don't have any deep spiritual applications today and my coffee is calling. Just wanted to check in and say hello, blogging world, and happy fall.

Transparency?

It's late a night and I had coffee not too long ago, so my brain's really working right now, though I fully expect it to crash into sleep at any second...first, though, I have a question.

What degree of transparency should be expected of a pastor's wife? I've heard this debated in so many ways so many times, but no one seems to have an answer. It's not just pastor's wives who struggle with knowing this, I would bet. It's most Christians, and maybe especially Christian women.

As Christian women it sometimes feels like we should be a Bible carrying version of the perfect fifties woman in her heels and pearls. I'm certainly not against any of those things--I'd be lost without the Bible (ever think of how much we take our copies of God's word for-granted?), and I love a shiny new pair of heels just as much as the next girl. But sometimes it seems like we should be so perfect that we're no longer real.

It kind of makes me think of being outside, and the different kinds of beauty. You can go to botanical gardens and see well planned flowers bloom in perfect, well manicured order, and it's beautiful. You can see the hand of God all over it. At the same time, though, a little purple wildflower in the woods, lifting itself boldly among the leaves and brush is beautiful too. One's polished. One's rough. Is one better?

I'm not sure we can say. Just like I'm not sure anyone can even definitively answer the question I'm asking. Maybe being transparent is right and being a little more careful to project an image worthy of imitating (although it should be Jesus that people should ultimately want to imitate) is right sometimes too.

I don't think I have an answer. How's that for an attempt at transparency?

What do y'all think?

Squishing Bugs

When you first become a pastors wife, no one tells you about the bugs.

No, not bugs like technological problems, though as someone in ministry, you'll almost certainly have to deal with a demon possessed sound system at some point.

Not bugs in any kind of deep metaphorical sense, like "problems" in the church that need to be dealt with.

Just normal bugs. The squrimy, crawly kind. The kind that, as a pastor's wife, it is apparently my job to kill.

Here's the story. There was a roach crawling up the wall in our activities building. I don't want to talk about how many roaches inhabit that building, but suffice it to say that when my husband and I make coffee, we never take the top filter from the cabinet just in case it's been crawled on (or worse...shudder). I'm in this building a few months ago with a group of women from the church and when someone sees the nasty little critter and shrieks, the first words out of her mouth are "You kill it! You're the pastor's wife. It's your job!"

Did I kill the bug? Ha. No. I hate bugs. Plus, I'm allergic to cockroaches, so I feel like it was legitimate. I actually don't remember what happened to it. Hopefully someone killed him because otherwise he's sure to turn up some Sunday night in the future during our Bible study.

The point is, whether you're a pastor's wife or not, in whatever role you find yourself, someone is going to have in their mind a "job" that is supposed to be "your job." Most likely it's something that's not glamorous. That no one else wants to do. It's not how we as women handle the things in life we enjoy doing that says something impressive about our character or godliness, it's the things we hate doing that we do with a cheerful attitude anyway. It's squishing bugs, doing dishes, cleaning up yucky diapers, changing the toner on the copier, or whatever "dirty" duties your job requires. Whatever we do should be for God's glory, just like it says in 1 Corinthians 10:31. But this doesn't just require action, it requires the right attitude.

So maybe next time someone tells me it's my job to bring about the demise of a yucky cockroach, I'll give it a try. With something resembling a smile on my face.

Confessions From the Fishbowl

I used to love going to doctor’s offices with aquariums in the waiting room. I would stand next to them and look at all the fish inside, sometimes making fishy faces at them, and watch them swim around and go about their normal lives. Now that my husband is a pastor and I’ve been labeled with the official title of “pastor’s wife,” I wish I could go back to those fish and apologize for my invasion of their privacy. I have something in common with those fish now—I too live my life behind glass.

Ministry life is a wonderful experience and I am so blessed to have been called to partner with my husband in what is his life’s calling. I thank God for the opportunities He gives us to share our lives and our faith with people and I wouldn’t trade this adventure He’s got us on for the world.

Sometimes it’s challenging, though. Sometimes it feels like no one else really understands—except for other pastors wives, and sometimes it seems like I can’t talk to them either. I’m worried admitting my imperfections won’t spur the same kind of honesty in them and that I’ll come away feeling just as alone as I did before. Vulnerability isn’t easy for anyone.
Jennifer AILee made my life a little easier a few months ago. She’s an author, not a pastors wife, but somehow she managed to look right into my world (I know, the glass makes that easier) and imagine what it would be like to be in the fishbowl with me. Her new book The Pastor’s Wife is a great look inside the ministry and gives anyone who reads it a new understanding of that enigma who probably sits near the front of your church, smiling up at her husband as he preaches every Sunday.

The main character of The Pastor’s Wife is Maura Sullivan. She and her husband Nick have been separated for six years. They’re brought back together because one of Nick’s congregation members has passed away and remembered both Mara and her estranged husband in her will. The conditions to receive their inheritance are more than either of them thinks they can handle: Mara must move back into the parsonage for a minimum of six months. Even though she and Nick are still technically married, she hesitates to fulfill this condition of the will, but she is determined to receive her inheritance—an old theater in desperate need of love—so she does what she has to do and moves back in.

The storyline of The Pastor’s Wife is engaging and the reader won’t be able to put the book down until he or she has experienced all the trials and triumphs of ministry life along with Nick and Maura. Behind the whole plot is the obvious hand of a loving God who wants what’s best for his people, and a beautiful love story that will leave the reader with a contented smile.



























*I'm legally supposed to tell you that I received a reviewers copy of this book for free, but if I hadn't, I would have bought it. It was great!*

Cloudy Days

We've had more cloudy days lately than I think we've ever had at this time of year. This isn't a huge problem for me--I love cloudy days in winter--but I know some people don't. And to be honest, they even start to get old for me after four days or so.

The weather has a funny way of affecting our moods. When you wake up to sunshine streaming into your eyes, don't you know it's going to be a good day? (after you recover from the slightly rude awakening...) When it's raining outside and has been for days, doesn't your mood suffer a little bit?

I was reading a friend's blog today and she'd written about complaining and cynicism. Ouch! I didn't ask for that kind of conviction! I was looking for lunch hour entertainment. But I think God had something to remind me of through it, and I wanted to pass it along just in case you need reminding too.

Our mood shouldn't be dictated by our circumstances. I'm not even talking our spiritual, inner, Christian "joy". I'm talking about our mood. Just because you're having a bad day doesn't mean you should be grumpy and ruin the day of those around you. You have to make an effort to shift your attitude when you don't feel like it, but it's worth it. I guarentee the people you come into contact with every day will think so.

So...whether it's cloudy where you are or not, don't let your mood me affected. Be happy--or at least content--anyway.

Fall Cleaning?

Well, I finally did it.  I broke out of my comfort zone, listened to God (what a novel concept...) and decided that it was time to open my home to people from the church.

So far it's gone pretty well.  People are extraordinarily curious about a pastor's home.  Who knew?  I've had people asking those who have been here to give them details about what our house looks like, and someone even requested pictures.  :)  

All that said, I decided it was time to clean my house.  And not just vacuum and dust like I do three times a week already--if by three times a week you mean three times a month.  I decided it's time to rid myself of the clutter and make the house functionally clean so that if someone from church DOES stop by unannounced, I won't have to close the blinds and hide under my dining room table.

So today, September 12th, I declare official fall cleaning day.  My sister challenged people on her blog to give up something you spend too much money on (Starbucks, anyone?).  I'm adapting her idea here.  Look around your house.  I know we all struggle with clutter.  What do you have tucked away in corners that you're never going to need again?  The TV Guide from 1989?  Shoes that don't fit you?  A sweater that went of style long ago--if it ever was in style to begin with?  We collect different useless things.  What are yours?  How can you use this fall to get rid of them so that when it's winter and it's time to just spend time inside, snuggled in your living room in front of the fire with a book and a cup of tea, you'll be able to relax and not be distracted by the mess?

Happy cleaning!  And happy fall!  Bring on the cool weather...