Sometimes I Write

My week is getting off to a slow start, but I’m optimistic that things will get better as time goes by. Pete has been sick and just not himself since I returned from my trip. We go see Dr. Brian again this afternoon. The weather here has changed SO much in the last week, that my sinuses are on strike and refusing to work like they’re supposed to. Today there is a battle going on behind my left eye making life a bit foggy. I popped a few Dayquil and I’m praying for fast results.

We have two college groups here this week on their Spring Break. One from Harding and one from ACU. They are here to assist the Dry Bones team with outreach and grunt work, and get a feel for this type of urban ministry. One of the guys from Harding, Jon Gehrich, was in our youth group in Indiana. I hope he enjoys his week with Benny and serving the homeless youth and our team. It’s a busy week for Benny, and my goal is to make his homecoming everyday comfortable and relaxing.

I went to my book club yesterday. What an awesome experience! I’ve never been a part of a book club before. We discussed Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent. I loved the book, but really struggled through some of it. It is based on the story of Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, pronounced Dee-nah. She is the only female child of his mentioned in the Bible. I constantly had to remind myself that this was a work of fiction. The author took the account of what we do know about Dinah in the Bible, and created a story around it told from a woman’s perspective. She brilliantly weaved me in and out of the local customs and practices of the day, and the relationships Dinah had with the people around her, especially her mothers. Dinah was the birth daughter of Leah, but Jacob’s other wives were her mothers in a sense too. I struggled with all of the sex going on, but there had to be a lot of it going on for Jacob to have all of those children! This book is a beautiful portrayal of a young girl soaking in her surroundings, being ushered into womanhood by four women who loved her and counted on her to carry on their stories. She endures much pleasure and heartache through her life, finding love, having it ripped from her, and eventually rediscovering it again. The raw emotions that this book invoked in me was shocking, yet such a comfort to me. Discussing it with my new friends helped me sort through some of the thoughts and feelings I experienced reading it. Reading this book made me proud and glad to be a woman. I told my friends that I was definitely born in the right time in history, but I was drawn into the way mother/daughter/sister relationships were back in Biblical times. It was definitely a community, which I think is so important to families even today. After much thought, I do recommend this book. I wasn’t so sure when I first began reading it.

Our next book club selection is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I have about five friends that have told me I just HAVE to read that book, so now is my chance. I just wish they all lived close enough to join my book club. They are a great group of ladies!