Literacy Trip and Family

I became very dismayed when I learned heading back to Kansas meant leaving the 70 degree weather in New York and coming back to SNOW! Despite this, I notice really how much my family loves to read. Every single trip we go on...reading takes place in the down moments and the transporting time. When packing my carry-on bag I always fill it with books. Eventually, I realize that all the books I have chosen to take on the trip will not fit, I go though the difficult process of deciding which ones to take. My mom has the same problem.

My sister, Michelle, has always hated reading. I was blown away on this trip by the fact that she was glued to a book the entire time (and well texting..haha). Every moment that we were in the airport waiting, on the plane, or in our hotel room she had her nose in this book! I was even more blown away when we were flying back and I looked over to see tears streaming down her face as she read on. This author HAD to be good if my sister was enticed and even moved by this book. The book she was reading was written by Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song. I plan on reading this book after both my mom and Michelle finishes it (I'm third on the list! haha).

My mom was reading another book...some book about a dog (mom loves animals). She was also glued to her book the entire time. We were all sitting in the hotel room one night relaxing before our big performance and my mom suddenly lets out this huge gasp and starts crying. My dad immediately asks what's wrong and she said that the dog has just died. She continues reading, and then about fifteen minutes later she lets out an angry grrr. We ask what was wrong and she said that it was a different dog that had died. This author continued to take her though an emotional rollercoaster...the best books do this! She finished that book that night and picked up another one.

My dad on the other had...doesn't read your typical books. He is one of those incredibly intelligent men that enjoys reading the technical books that I look at for five minutes and throw to the side. He brought two books to read...one was a book about a Microsoft computer program and the other about research on running barefoot (something that you really should check out Michelle...sounds pretty interesting when he told me about it). My dad doesn't show much emotion when reading but he is always reading something when every night when watching t.v.

I started reading another book that my mom loaned to me. I couldn't put it down from the moment I picked it up. I forgot what it was like to read a book that really enticed me. I had the book almost completely finished the same day I started reading it, but I haven't been able to finish it due to the fact I came back to responsibility in Kansas. The book is about a teacher and a murder mystery--something I can relate to and something that interests me. I hope to have this book finished by the end of the week...we shall see though with my busy schedule. But this trip has been fun to see just how much my family loves to read.
Read for 8 hours.

I am currently touring New York City and amidst all those crazy New Yorkers. It amazes me in how different life is here. I mean, I did expect it to be different but not on this level. Everyone is very materialistic: it's all about the Parda bags, the leather jacket and boots, the chic hair, and the perfectly painted nails. New Yorkers push the limits: they walk as far out into the street as possible with out getting hit by a taxi cab; they squeeze as many people as possible into a elevator or subway car; and they crunch time so closely that they have three seconds to catch their next transit...thus they run to get there...pushing and shoving along the way. A New Yorker can tell 100 yards away that you are a tourist: you aren't wearing all black, you are carrying a backpack and wearing tennis shoes (hardly a soul in sight wears tennis shoes!)...you stop at crosswalks when the red hand comes up instead of running into the intersection before the cars come racing down the street.
This kind of lifestyle reminds me much of what Francis Chan talks about in the next chapter of Crazy Love....having too much going on in our lives. When this happens, we are not able to grow in a relationship with God because there are too many distractions keeping us from him...especially when we want so many things in life (money, activities, etc.) David Gotez wrote that, "Too much of a good life ends up being toxic, deforming us spiritually." I wonder how many of these New Yorkers have a lifestyle that is toxic and deforming and not just spiritually but for their own well-being.
The second part of the chapter describes different situations that many of us exhibit in being lukewarm Christians. This chapter really changed my perception on what the bible means by being lukewarm. I thought it was just not being hot or cold on a subject but the book says that lukewarm can be halfhearted, distracted, or partiallycommitted for God. This chapter also helped me examine what areas I am lukewarm in and gave bible verses to help counter act these situations.

Read for 2 hours 45 mins

How Deep is Your Love?

This past summer I ventured out of the church I was raised in just because I wasn't getting spiritually fed. It had been this way for a LONG time and my relationship with God was suffering. So, a very good friend of mine and I started driving 45 mins to attend a nondenominational church. This caused a HUGE uproar at our home church but despite this, we kept going. I had one of the best summers of my life because of this church. Every sermon hit me like a rock and got me thinking until I came back the next week. But the sermon I remember the most was the one that questioned our motives in being a follower in Christ. One of the chapters I read in Crazy Love also questioned this.

God has this amazing and unrelenting love for us that we cannot even imagine. We can turn away from Him and He will always take us back...always. God doesn't need us but He wants us...He longs for us. So how deep is our love for Christ?? I really examined this when the pastor asked us in his sermon, "If there was no heaven and you received nothing for being a follower of God, would you still seek to know Him, live your life for Him, and love Him?" Wow. Never really thought of that before. The book says that so many people seek a relationship with God just because of what comes from it: eternal life, plans backed from the most powerful, etc.

I would like to say that, "yes! I would seek Him and receive nothing in return." Most of the time I can say that, but there are days that I am selfish. There are days that I go through a lot of suffering because I have taken up the cross and I just think what good is going to come from me being faithful. But mostly, I have realized that I need to learn to love God with all my heart, mind, and soul. Something that isn't going to happen over night, but is going to take a lifetime walking with Him.

Read: 1 hour 30 mins

Save Me the Details

Every time I get sick, I read. I've been doing it since I was a little kid. In fact, I remember faking sick a few times just so I could stay home and read (shhh. don't tell my mom!). Well being sick this past week made me so miserable, I couldn't read at all. Reading just added to my headache and watching television was out of the question. Finally, I got to the point that I was able to stand reading. I grabbed my favorite blanket, curled up on the couch and read away.

I read four hours in one setting. I wish I could say it was because I was completely into a book that I couldn't put it down, but no. I continue to read Oryx and Crake and...continue to hate it. I kept readingfor these four hours thinking that maybe this is one of those books that has a slow start, but I am over half way through it and I am still confused and wondering what is the point of the author writing this!

I also have found that I have become a reader that does not enjoy lots details in writing. My mind wonders every time an author spends a page and a half describing a thing such as trash can. Marget Atwood writes so many pages on describing scenes! I just want the basics: it was an container that people throw away items that are no longer of use to them--straight and to the point. Not: it was a rectangular shaped container about three feet deep with a white lining and a lid that opened and closed with the decent of a pedal pressed by a foot....etc. Let my mind create the picture! Just give me a frame to put it in!

My frustration with this book continues to build, but I am not the kind of person that starts something and doesn't finish it. Maybe, just maybe, the second part of the book will be better. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Read for 4 hours