Monday was my day to post at InScribe Writers Online: a few words of encouragement to remind us we’re God’s works in progress.

I Run to the Hills: Reflections on the Christian Journey by C. Maggie Woychik (Port Yonder Press, 2009)

Committing one’s life to Jesus Christ is an act of faith – and the first step of a journey. I Run to the Hills: Reflections on the Christian Journey is a series of brief, interconnected readings that illustrate the deepening of this spiritual relationship from gratitude and obedience into love.

The mountain-journey theme and its allegorical feel evoke memories of Hannah Hurnard’s Hinds’ Feet on High Places and John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, although the language is clear and contemporary.

There’s something about presenting the message this way that lets it penetrate better than if it came via a direct essay or sermon. Jesus used story too – it sneaks past the hearers’ mental filters better than a frontal approach.

In typical journey fashion, and as every Christ-follower knows, the pilgrim travels and reflects, learns and grows… and occasionally takes unwise detours. These side-trips vary from person to person. I Run to the Hills highlights the dangers of the Desert of Duty and the Plains of License. The story doesn’t end there, though, but presses onward and higher toward the mountaintop.

Most of the readings in I Run to the Hills are only a couple of pages long. They’re grouped in longer chapters if you want to read them that way, or you can take them in morsel-sized moments. Either way, prepare to be challenged, encouraged and refreshed on the journey.

Author C. Maggie Woychik’s prose has elements of poetry and plenty of pithy sound-bytes. As we journey, she says, “Truths are for digesting, not just consuming.” And she tells us how: “Firmly clasp the piece of Light – catch it; then slowly release your fingers, using care not to allow it to slip away or be snatched by the cunning Truth-Robber.” (p.29)

C. Maggie Woychik is an award-winning author whose work has been published in a variety of magazines. I Run to the Hills is her first book. To learn more Maggie, about check out her website and spend some time on her blog, Encouraging Emerging Authors.

I Run to the Hills is a delightful, refreshing book to read and then to savour again over time. The author has generously provided a copy for me to give away to someone who leaves a comment on this review before midnight, November 13, 2009. Residents of Canada and continental US only, please, because of postage cost. [To read  my policy on these draws, please see the bottom of my free books page.]

The trailer for I Run to the Hills offers a taste of what’s in store:

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 1 Peter 1:18-19, NIV*

Today is one of those days with more to do than hours to do it, and it’s been weighing on me since yesterday. But I think the same practice should apply here as if I were going into any other type of stressful or scary situation:

• Trust in the Lord with all my heart, don’t lean on my own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
• Pray for wisdom to discern what God sees as important for the day, rather than assuming my entire list is the day’s agenda.

He says He’ll never leave me. Matthew 28:20

He says nothing can separate me from His love in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:38-39

He says all I need to do is ask for wisdom, because He wants to give it. James 1:5

He says trust Him and don’t rely on my own understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6

He says my times are in His hands. Psalm 32:14-15

I choose to believe Him and to watch for and follow His lead.

Father God, thank you for redeeming me from the empty way of life handed down for generations. Thank You that circumstances and hurry-panic don’t own me anymore. Jesus, my Shepherd and the Overseer of my soul, has rescued me. Thank You that I’m in His care now, under His leading and authority. I choose to walk in that today, Christ being my helper.

The song God gave me is David Crowder’s “Every Move I Make.” How good of Him to choose a peppy one to energize me!

*New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

November’s featured book is Mohamed’s Moon, a novel by award-winning Canadian author Keith Clemons. Check it out on my free books page, and if you’d like to be included in the draw all you need to do is leave a comment there. Draw closes at midnight, November 27, 2009. Residents of Canada and continental US only, please.

Todd Agnew’s first CD, Grace Like Rain, blew me away and he’s been top of my musical list ever since. It was the first album I’d heard in a long time that was worth plugging in the headphones and cranking the volume. (This was before I got into the newsboys and David Crowder*Band, so I’m casting no aspersions there….)

Todd sings with a passion that proves the truth of his words – to me it’s as if he can’t not cry out to God. That’s where we all need to be, if we’re honest. He gives voice to the need of everyman/everywoman, and his lyrics have taught me more about grace than any other artist’s.

I love Todd Agnew’s music: his voice, lyrics, diverse musical style, and his honesty. Although I’ve had Need since it released on October 6, I couldn’t begin to write a review until I marinated in it for a while. Now it’s worked its way into my daily soundtrack, and I’m starting to hear snatches of different songs in my head throughout the day or even to wake with them.

I find it ironic that this new album articulates our hearts’ needs less than the previous ones (think “Wait for Your Rain” and “Always There”). Instead, it points to the One who meets these needs. At first I wondered why the title wasn’t “I Need No Other” after the song, or something like “We Need Jesus,” but I think it’s to prompt a question.

Need – What do you need? – Jesus.

Maybe I’m reading too much into the title choice, but this line of reasoning does follow nicely from the title of his recent album, Better Questions.

I’m glad I pre-ordered Need to get the bonus tracks. “All That I Have” and “Way of the Cross” are two of my favourites from what I’ve grouped on my mp3 player as “Need – the extended version”.

Each Todd Agnew album has at least one song that’s his fresh look at an established hymn. It’s a great way to bridge the musical generation gap and to remind us of the songs – and teachings – that have gone before. Some have the original lyrics arranged to vibrant new music, others are songs like “Grace Like Rain” and “Blood on My Hands” that mesh a public domain hymn with Todd’s additional lyrics.

Need delivers a blend of both types of songs, and you can’t tell the difference by the sound. I just discovered from the liner notes that the radio single, “Joy Unspeakable,” is one of the old-new hybrid songs, but “Jesus, the Hope of Glory” is all new.

Just so you know, “Give Me Jesus” is a different song from the one Robin Mark and Jeremy Camp sing.

I’d classify all the songs as “Christian rock,” but they weave in elements of blues, gospel, soul and country – all things I’d avoid straight-up but that nicely enrich the album. Some are fast, some slow, and with the variety of musical elements I’m sure there’s a song here for everyone.

As Joel Klampert says in his review of Need at The Joint Review, “If you like Todd then you will like this CD. If you don’t like Todd then you still might like this CD.”

Bottom line: I really enjoy this CD, and appreciate how it points us to Jesus as the Meeter of our need. Yes, we should articulate our specific needs the way “Written on the Wall” and “Did You Mean Me?” do, but in the end it all comes down to Jesus: let’s just run to Him and trust His care.

For more musically-literate reviews, see Worship Leader, Chosen for Grace and The Joint Review.

Todd will be introducing one song a week from the album, giving some background, interesting thoughts, and a taste of the sound. Check out his YouTube page. You can listen to “Joy Unspeakable” and “I Need No Other” from Need, as well as some of his other songs, on his MySpace player. Also you might want to check out his blog. He has some neat things to say.

PS Apparently there was a precursor to Grace Like Rain, an indie recording called Breath of God.  If it were a book, the amazing database at AbeBooks.com would have found it for me by now, but I don’t have a good network for finding used CDs. If anyone knows how to obtain a copy for a reasonable price, please leave me a comment here or email me. Thanks!

The autographed copy of Moving from Fear to Freedom, by Grace Fox, will be going to Judy Milne.

Judy, the Lord bless you as you read this, and equip you to share what He gives you with the others in your life.

Everyone else, thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you’ll look up a copy for yourselves, either from a store or library. Good one to suggest for your church library, too, if you have one.

Stay tuned for November’s pick. All I’ll tell you now is it’s a novel.

Isn’t this bear cute? Her name is Tammy, and an award-winning Canadian collector bear artist (coincidentally also named Tammy) is giving her away to one of the people on her mailing list. I meant to post this earlier–the draw is Friday, October 30. To enter, visit the Beckoning Bears blog and add your name to the mailing list.

Tammy the bear is a 5.25″ Mink cub, and she’s holding a clay birthday candle.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
1 Peter 1:1-2, NIV*

So begins the Apostle Peter’s first letter to the early Christians. What catches my attention is his use of the words “strangers” and “scattered” – I don’t know if they’d been intentionally scattered by persecution as some were, or if Peter is just talking about how the believers are few and far between.

Whatever the reason, telling them there are other Christ-followers spread through the area reminds them they’re part of a larger group. They’re not as alone as they may feel.

I think that’s why he calls them “God’s elect” too – it’s not a snooty term for “better than the others,” it reminds them they’ve been chosen by God and belong to Him. He loves them.

Living in obedience to Jesus Christ can make us feel like we don’t belong. In a sense, we don’t. We’re changing, and while we pray those around us will recognize that God has also chosen them, for now we’re the oddballs, the aliens. But that’s okay.

Our hearts need acceptance, but the world around us is not the place to expect to find it. Peter reminds us we’ve found acceptance in Jesus. We belong.

Father, thank You for choosing us, for knowing and loving us before we came to You. Thank You that Jesus came, God in the flesh, to heal the broken. Everyone is broken somehow, Lord, and you’re not willing that any should perish. Help each one recognize that You’ve chosen them too. Help them come into Your healing embrace.

This week’s song is an oldie from the group Petra. It’s a medley of the Doxology and their song, “Not of this World,” and it’s one of their quieter pieces. I’d forgotten how much I loved this album.

*New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

The Hatbox Letters, a novel by Beth Powning (Vintage Canada, 2005)

Kate Harding is a widow and empty-nester. Her daughter lives maybe four hours’ drive away, and her son is in Ireland. Kate lives in rural New Brunswick, Canada, and Beth Powning does a beautiful job of bringing the setting to life. Visual and sensory details, especially of the garden and the river, draw the reader deep into Kate’s world.

The people around Kate aren’t sure what to do with her. They can’t “fix” her grief, so mostly they respect her desire to be alone. She’s not hiding—she’s taken part-time work at the local library—but neither can she move on. She doesn’t want to begin forging a future that will exclude her beloved Tom.

As the story opens, Kate has accepted the task of sorting through generations’ worth of family papers after the sale of her grandparents’ home. She’s reluctant but curious, afraid what she reads will challenge her perceptions and childhood memories.

In the letters she finds stories of past grief. In the present, she becomes reacquainted with an old friend, Gregory, who’s haunted by his son’s suicide. Past and present impact on Kate’s own grief and help her gain perspective.

The Hatbox Letters is well-crafted and sensitive, with beautiful prose and a strong sense of place. To my loss, I’m not in its target audience. It’s too subtle for me, and I’m an action reader—not really interested in exploring the relationship of Kate’s grief to her grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ in the letters.

That grief is well-expressed, and one thing that struck me is Kate’s awareness that she’s not grieving for her past. She and Tom lived that together and made wonderful memories. She’s grieving for the future she’d expected to spend with him.

Kate’s story is told in present tense, which I generally dislike but which fits the novel well. Past tense is our signal that we’re reading stories from the hatbox.

This past is Kate’s vividly-imagined reconstruction based on short letters and diary entries. It weaves its own plot thread through the novel.

Fiction requires the reader’s “willing suspension of disbelief” to accept it as “real” and this is another reason I couldn’t get into the story. Every time Kate’s imagination brought one of the hatbox scenes to life, my brain said, “She can’t know all that—she’s making it up!”

Hmm, what that says on the positive side is that Kate herself became a real character for me. In fact, I finished the book for Kate’s sake. I cared enough to see how things worked out for her. For that, and for the delightful setting, I’m glad I read the book. I wish I could have fully appreciated all it had to offer. One thing I’ve taken from it is the reminder to enjoy each day because tomorrow may not come the way we plan it to.

The Random House website says “The Hatbox Letters was a national bestseller in Canada and has also been published in the United States.” Click here to read a host of short, glowing reviews and to learn more about Canadian author and photographer Beth Powning. You can also visit Beth Powning’s website.

Note: Most of the books I review are written from a Christian worldview. This one is not, and contains occasional use of offensive language. Just so you aren’t surprised. :)

Canadian writer Judith Millar produces a very funny weekly blog, MillarLITE. She’s also a fine writer of serious fiction, and winner of the 2009 John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award.

Judy writes, “To have my name in any way linked with Galbraith’s is, for me, a huge honour; to be the first woman to earn the award since its inception is the icing on my cake!“

Take a few minutes to read her winning story, “The Insomniac“. It’s sensitive, evocative, a bit sad, and “the last word” satisfies. She really made the story come alive, and I’m still thinking about it.