Always the Lure... of Books - Part 2

 Last week, I posted a list of books that I “rediscovered” on the shelves of our personal library, books that I know I’ve read but I can’t remember the contents or what I liked about a book. I must have liked it or I wouldn’t have kept it. This week, I want to tell you about the lasting impact that several books have had on my life.

The first book that I daily enjoy reading and re-reading, starting in print and now on my Kindle, is ‘The Voice’ (‘ a modern language, dynamic equivalent English translation of the Bible developed by Thomas Nelson (a subsidiary of News Corp) and the Ecclesia Bible Society. The original New Testament was released in January 2011, the revised and updated New Testament was released in November 2011, and the full Bible was released in April 2012 (copied from Wikipedia). My departure from reading my leather-bound King James Version started in the early 1960s when I was introduced to the paraphrased version called ‘The Living Bible’. I appreciated the absence of the ‘thee’s’ and ‘thou’s’, and other ancient and now unused vocabulary, and often heard myself say, “I didn’t know that was in the Bible!”

Many of you may have heard of the next book.  A family member knew that I liked to read, and because she had enjoyed the book, decided to give me a copy. In addition, she had learned that it was originally written by a person who lived in the town where I had my first nursing job, and met my husband. The title is ‘The Shack’, written by William Paul Young. He wrote this book as an allegory for his early teen children, to help them understand who God is, who His Son Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is. (An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. "Pilgrim's Progress” is an allegory of the spiritual journey”.)  He forwarded the manuscript to a current author in California for editing, but never expected that it would eventually not only be published, but to have sold over 23 million copies worldwide, spent 147 weeks on the bestseller list, and went on to become a major motion picture. Not far into my reading of this book, I almost stopped because of what I thought could be controversial, but the more I read, the more I appreciated it. I read conflicting comments about this book, but pursued some of the positive reviews written by several other authors that I was familiar with. I also wanted to find out something about the editor. I found Wayne Jacobsen’s web page, and when I saw a link to books that he had written, I was shocked at the first title that I read… “So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore”. Did he write that book especially for me? That was exactly my struggle! On further reading, I learned that the book was online as a .pdf file, and no charge, so I decided to look for it and try to read it. It was very thought provoking, but also helpful in my personal spiritual journey. I have read other books that he has authored, including his latest release titled “Live Loved Free Full”.

This may explain the statement that I have included in my ‘About Me’ on my profile page.