A much-loved passage of Scripture found in Habbakuk 3:17-19 says:

Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.  The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places.

What a glorious anthem of trust to our God! His ways are so far above our ways that oftentimes we must simply trust in Who He is even when our circumstances seem bleak and hopeless. The book Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard obviously gets its title from these verses in Habbakuk. Originally published in 1955, it is an allegory that has become a Christian classic.

In the style of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the main character Much-Afraid journeys to the High Places of the Shepherd. She is accompanied by two guides: Sorrow and Suffering. Much-Afraid learns many spiritual lessons along the way about herself, but, more importantly, about the Shepherd. There are many spiritual lessons that we can learn as well within the pages of this special novel.

Please read Hinds’ Feet on High Places. I know that you will be blessed and encouraged. And I believe you will also be able to sing along with Habbakuk and his hymn of praise to our great and glorious God who gives us hope when there seems to be no hope.

A little over a year ago, my church enacted its plan to connect its members to one another through Community Groups  - small groups which meet in homes during the week for fellowship, prayer, games, food (of course!), and the Word of God. Not a new concept, I know. Although the purpose of our CG’s is not in-depth Bible study, we still want the Word of God to be a part of our time together. All of our CG’s do the same study at the same time. It really brings a cohesiveness to our church body and allows people from different groups to share what they are learning.

Our Community Group Pastor decided that the first book we would do as CG’s would be Crazy Love by Francis Chan. How did it go over? Overwhelmingly, undisputably, unanimously we LOVED it. Loved it. L-O-V-E-D’d it. We would marry it if we could. That’s how much we loved it. We CRAZY loved it.

Francis Chan is awesome. He reminds me of the Christians that I grew up watching, admiring, following. The kind of Christianity he talks about is the kind that was modeled to me at home and at church as I grew up in a wonderful community of faithful family and friends. For many, Crazy Love was a call to a higher walk with God. For me, it was a call back to the fundamental truths of the Christian walk. For you, it may be a little of both.

If you are in a small group, please get the books and the dvd and do this study together. If you aren’t in a small group, please read this book yourself. I think you’ll love it, too.

The Crazy Love book and dvd are available in the Precept Camden Store under Small Group Studies.

A few years ago I picked up a small book by Amy Carmichael called If. I had been introduced to the writings of Amy Carmichael through the ministry of Elisabeth Elliot who had been greatly influenced by her. She wrote an excellent biography about Amy and her 55-year ministry in Dohnavur, India, called A Chance to Die. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

But the book I want to tell you about is If. It is only 94 pages long, but it is one of the most powerful and convicting 94 pages you will ever read. Each page begins with the statement “If I. . .” and ends with the statement, “. . . then I know nothing of Calvary love.” She cuts to the motives of the heart with each statement testing the true depth of our love and comparing it to the love of Christ – the love which led Him to give His life at Calvary.

Here’s one: “If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love.” That convicted this Navy wife on more than one occasion when faced with orders to change locations. How about this one: “If I take offense easily, if I am content to continue in a cool unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love.” Ouch. That hurts.

If you want a better understanding of Calvary love. . . If you want to hold your heart up to a mirror. . . If you aren’t afraid of the ugliness you may see there. . . If you want to love like Christ. . . then get If. Read one page per week. Contemplate it. Meditate on it. Then love with a Calvary kind of love.

If and A Chance to Die are both available in the Precept Camden Store in the right sidebar.

Spiritual gifts are one of those topics that can either unite or divide theologians, Bible study students, or even friends. The subject of spiritual gifts is covered in 4 main Bible passages: 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, 1 Peter 4, and Ephesians 4. In each of these passages, unity in the body of Christ when dealing with spiritual gifts is emphasized . In Ephesians 4:3 – a key passage dealing with spiritual gifts – the Apostle Paul urges Christians to be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” So why is there such division in the body about this subject? I believe it is because many people have not actually studied the Bible to see what it says about spiritual gifts.

After studying through the 4 main passages listed above, a good commentary on this subject is Leslie B. Flynn’s book 19 Gifts of the Spirit. Easy to understand and thoroughly researched, this book provides excellent insight into each gift listed in Scripture. Other commentators may number the gifts differently – and you may, too, after you have thoroughly studied. That’s okay. Flynn’s book is still a valuable tool when studying spiritual gifts.

At Precept Camden we are currently studying this subject using the Precept Upon Precept workbook on Spiritual Gifts to guide us through the scriptures. If you’d like to study with us online, you can go here to see how to do that. Once you have learned everything you can about spiritual gifts, go here for help on how to find out what your gift is.

Usually when I recommend a book for you to read, it is a Christian biography. Not always, but usually. This one is not. Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca is an amazing journey into the world of the most maligned people on earth – Gypsies. Or Roma, as they are referred to in many parts of Eastern Europe.

The Amazon.com Review says of the book: “They travel endlessly and seem to appear almost everywhere, yet they are the world’s most mysterious people: Gypsies. Isabel Fonseca has done the impossible, entering into their world, living and traveling with Gypsies during several long trips to Eastern Europe, and she has brought back an insightful, highly personal, and very readable account of who the Gypsies are and how they live. The Gypsies have a legendary aversion to ‘gadje,’ or outsiders, but Fonseca has lifted the curtain and written gracefully about their lives on the edge of society.”

My love for gypsies began almost 10 years ago with my first trip to Romania. Here’s a picture of my family and me in 2005 standing in the muddy streets of a gypsy village with one of our precious sisters in Christ. One of the few things I’ll probably ever agree with Madonna on is the injustice of the overwhelming racism against gypsies throughout Europe. My experience has been that the many stray dogs that roam the streets of Bucharest are more valued than they.

I’ll warn you: it isn’t an easy read. But it is completely fascinating. Stick with it. I promise you’ll learn a lot. And who knows – you might find out that you have something in common with Madonna, too!

You may have heard of Dr. Helen Roseveare before. It could possibly have been when this story about a dying baby, a hot water bottle, a child’s prayer, and a doll landed in your inbox. Perhaps you doubted its veracity and considered it an urban legend as you hit delete. The story is, indeed, true and is one of many amazing answers to prayer during Dr. Roseveare’s twenty years as a missionary in the Congo of Africa.

That particular story is recorded in another of her eleven books.  The book I just finished reading and want to recommend to you today is He Gave Us a Valley. The cover of the older copy I have describes it as “a story of frustrations, failures, and triumphs.” Emphasis on the word frustrations.

At a time in my life where I find myself questioning the value of just about everything I do “for the Lord” – whether it’s worthwhile, meaningful, useful, in His will, etc., etc., etc. – this book seems especially timely. As a doctor, Helen Roseveare spent the vast majority of those 20 years, it seems, entangled in the bureaucratic red tape of a region embroiled in civil war and finding its way after centuries of colonialism. Not to mention the 5 months she spent as a prisoner of rebel forces, enduring horrific abuse. And, oh yeah, the people for whom she poured out her life’s work seemed to not only be completely unappreciative of her efforts on their behalf but they actually forced her resignation from the medical hospital she literally built from the ground up.

Her life, her attitude, her love in spite of all of this – it is utterly overwhelming to me. What an ingrate I am! My prayer has become the same as Helen’s – and the Apostle Paul’s: “ But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” (Philippians 3:7-10)

For more books you really “gotta” read, go here.

I just finished reading By Searching:My Journey Through Doubt in to Faith by Isobel Kuhn. I highly recommend it. She is eloquent and sincere in describing her journey which begins with her rejecting the faith of her parents and ends with her boarding a vessel to China to serve as a missionary with China Inland Mission. But the book I really want you to read is Nothing Daunted: The Story of Isobel Kuhn by Gloria Repp. By Searching gives a small glimpse into the life of this remarkable woman. Nothing Daunted tells the broader story of her life of consecration and service to God among the Lisu people of China. I cannot get the picture out of my head of this elegant young woman, no doubt wearing a dress, climbing the steep, rocky and muddy mountains to reach the elusive people group to whom she and her husband John had been called.

I cannot say enough how much reading biographies of  great Christians has impacted my life. For more recommended reading, check out the Categories heading on the right side bar. We can draw strength, encouragement and hope by reading the stories of those who have gone before us.

I have already told you in this post of the impact that Brother Andrew’s first book, God’s Smuggler, had on my life. God’s Call is just as thrilling.

“God’s Call recounts Brother Andrew’s dramatic encounters with world leaders and persecuted Christians-this time in communist China, turbulent Africa, and repressive Muslim nations. Read his gripping tales of courageous Christian ministers in Iran, a near-miss with brutal secret police in Uganda, a mission to smuggle a million Bibles into south China, and more. Along with the powerful stories, you’ll also find straightforward and provocative steps for fulfilling God’s purposes in your own life. Drawing from his many years of ministry to the worldwide persecuted church, Brother Andrew guides you on how to pay attention to God’s voice and faithfully follow his call.”

My favorite story in the book? The account of 1,000,000 Bibles being delivered secretly to a beach in China in a single night! Time magazine called it a “bold expedition.” To say the least.

Also, check out the ministry of Open Doors, founded by Brother Andrew when he first started delivering Bibles behind the Iron Curtain in 1955 in his little blue Volkswagen Beetle. To this day they continue to support, advocate, and train persecuted Christians worldwide.

Trust me. You gotta read this!

Normally, I post reviews of  favorite Christian biographies. Recently, however, I asked my Bible study students for some input on some of their favorite books – biographies or not. This one came highly recommended by Liz. It is The Prince’s Poison Cup by R.C. Sproul and Justin Gerard. It is a favorite of Liz’s daughter Anna. According to Liz, “It is a great book that goes through in fairy tale style what Christ went through when He died for us.”

Let me know what you think of this one if you have read it to your children. And let me know what some of your favorites are. I’m always looking for a good read!

Daniel Chapter 3 tells the story of 3 brave men – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. King Nebuchadnezzar had made a golden statue and at the sound of the music everyone was to bow down and worship the image. With death by fiery furnace a certainty, these 3  Israelites unhesitatingly refused to dishonor the one true God by bowing to the image. Their trust in Him was implicit: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace. . . But even if He does not. . . we are not going to serve your gods.” (Daniel 3:17-18)

Esther Ahn Kim (Ahn E. Sook) was faced with a similar choice – bow to the pagan Japanese shrine or face imprisonment. Her defiance was obvious as the lone figure standing amoung thousands of kneeling people. The next 6 years brought unimaginable trials but through it all Esther stood firm in her faith. If I Perish is the story of this brave woman of God who survived the brutality and shame of prison while leading many to Christ.

Three Israelite men, one Korean woman. Four people who displayed a  Hebrews 11 kind of faith. Four people who could also be described as saints “of whom the world was not worthy.” (Hebrews 11:38)