Tina The Storyteller

One Thousand Wells is the birth story of Blood: Water. You may be familiar with the organization that has been championed by Jars of Clay. If not, this is an excellent introduction to their mission and their work. The majority of the book is how Jena came to be a part of Blood: Water, a testimony of sorts. It's how God spoke to her from the very beginning to bring her to help Africa with not only clean water sources but with the fight against AIDS as well. My favorite part of the book though was the end. I enjoyed reading about her change in thought in regards to mission work. She went from a bright eyed naive "I'm going to help save Africa!" to a mature understanding of "I'm going to walk alongside Africa, even if the road is tough." The transformation she experienced through heartache and missteps is one that we can all come to when it involves helping others. As she points out, humanity can not save itself, but it can be with one another in the...

Girl in the Song recently came out and I won a copy through the promotion festivities. I was very excited to start reading this book. I remember reading about Chrissy's father's perspective in the book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. It was something that I had wondered in regards to what she struggled with. I had assumed that she was a junky after reading the book at that she was coming clean from drugs, that was not the case. Chrissy takes the opportunity to share what happened during her youth in Girl in the Song. She struggled from a very early age with being good enough. It became an obsession that played out in her relationships with young men, one young man in particular. I enjoyed reading her story, as painful as it was. She was honest about her personal struggle and about her breaking of relationship with her family. Fortunately, this particular story ends in redemption. Chrissy was part of a church community that not only loved her but was committed to seeking the best ...

You know me, I'm a sucker for a new Bible, especially if it's one that I can share with my daughter. H has had several bibles over the years, including the Hands On Bible (a personal favorite especially for helping prepare for youth lessons) and The Jesus StoryBook Bible (she fell asleep many nights listening to that cd). This one is a little bit more feminine than her other Bibles and appears to be quite sturdy. I'm personally not the biggest fan of hardback bibles, they never seem to last as long as I want them too, but they're better than paperback most any day. This particular bible has a cute magnetic closure flap, which is more novelty than anything else. The inside is full of not just the most recent version of the NIV, it has devotionals, quizzes and challenges. H has enjoyed reading the "other" parts of the bible and she also seems to be connecting with the NIV text. We've been doing bible study the past few years using the ESV, so the NIV is ...

Well, I guess I should say that I run about as well as I garden. I can call myself a runner because I try the same way that I can call myself a gardener because of the number of hours I've spent pulling out weeds. Neither titles are related to a quality end product, just from the actual grind that occurs day to day. I say that I run. I put on running clothes, tie up my running shoes and head out the door. I start running and in the back of my head I wonder if anyone is drinking their morning coffee, looking out the window and upon seeing me wonder if there's something wrong with me. Kind of like that bird that has a funny wing at the park pond, that's me running. The question that I have is why are labels so important. I've clearly shown with my exercise and my yard that a person label does not necessarily get you an end product that you desire. Even though I'm a runner, I don't like how slow I run. And even though I'm a gardener, I can't stand my gard...

When I was a little girl, we moved once. It was from the city to the country. We had friends that moved much more often. In fact, they had more homes than I can remember during my childhood, though I think they may have all settled down at this point. I always thought that they had Gypsy Blood, an urge that required them to pack up all their stuff and move to a new spot. Turns out, I'm probably the one that has that syndrome. Once I left my parents home for college, I spent one summer back home but the rest were either in the mountains or in my college town, working. And then after college, I moved to Texas, where I spent my summers either in school, working in the mountains or getting married. Then Joel and I got married and we moved, a lot, a lot a lot. Before moving last year, five years was the longest that we've ever spent in any one home. And now that we've finished up our one year in this home, I can feel that gypsy blood acting up. Part of me wants to throw a fe...

As the spring came to a close and a lot my personal commitments to classes and clubs closed down for the summer, something happened. I was praying about what that commitment level should be in the fall. I prayed about all the opportunities that I had before me and God said "No." It was a pretty clear no, He's generally pretty good at saying that and I can often times hear it. Well, my lack of commitment immediately had me wondering if that meant that something else was on the way. Of course my mind wondered if it meant that we were going to spend the coming fall and winter pregnant, but that has not happened. As the summer went along, God told me a few more no's. To things that I had been a part of pretty much since we moved to our current area. I just took it as a one year thing in my mind. And then Hannah's things started getting no's, too. Well, hers started around the same time as mine. We dwindled down to just one last commitment in our lives that was ou...