Month: January 2014

In my current Bible reading, I’m in Job. In fact, I’m in the middle of Job’s laments that he did nothing to deserve the troubles he’s suffered.

A young mom at our church passed away last weekend. 33 years old. She’d fought leukemia three times over the last twelve years. She married, had two children, taught in a public school classroom and in the church’s Sunday School rooms. My grand-daughters have been in her class when they visit. Her parents have been good friends for nearly fifteen years now. She was responding to the treatment for the third leukemia recurrence, but then she got pneumonia and she was gone.

I talked with a mutual friend after hearing the news of Mackenzie’s death. My friend confessed to being angry with God. Mackenzie fought so hard and so long and she had a loving family. How could God take her? A few of the more honest souls at church the next day echoed that thought to me. And I have to agree.

We’re angry. And not just angry, but angry at God.

At first it seems a bit like tilting at windmills. Futile. In vain. Useless.

But with every word of recrimination I’ve uttered to God, a little bit of the anger has receded. It’s definitely not gone, but it’s perhaps lessened a minuscule bit.

I have no idea why God would take Mackenzie when he did. Or why He takes anyone before they’ve lived a good long life, read all the books they wanted to, kissed their loved ones, fell asleep and woke in Glory.

But I do know that God is Good. He is Sovereign. And I have to trust in that. I’ve heard it said that I don’t have to know what God is doing, I just have to know that He knows.

In this instant though, I have to confess, I’m not quite there. I trust that I will be. Eventually.

I know that God knows my anger and it’s safe with Him. I can tell Him how I feel about this. As Anne Lamott says, I can file a brief with the Complaint Department (and believe me, I have and will again!). But in the end I have to trust that He knows what He’s doing. And it has to be enough.

In my humanity right now, I don’t know how her children being without a mother is a good idea. How her husband and family getting up every day without her is a better idea than living many more years with her. Like Job, I can demand answers but also like Job, I may have to be satisfied with a cosmic, “Because I AM said so.”

In the end, it will be enough.

My husband received Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke at a men’s conference nearly two years ago. He read it and passed it on to me because I’m a Christian and a reader, as well as a writer. He thought I would find the book interesting and instructive.

He’s right.

Reinke’s book is fairly short but full of insight about the place of books in the lives of all people, both believers and non-believers alike.

He lays a foundation with the first section, A Theology of Books and Reading. He addresses the history of books, how Scripture and the Gospel are the standard, and how our worldview shapes what we receive and discard in our reading.

The second section is more practical with notes on why and how to mark in our books, tips for reading quickly or slowly, and the types of books to read.

I’m glad Reinke didn’t dismiss all fiction and non-Christian literature. He maintains that there is wisdom to be found in secular books, especially the older classics.

I used to be a reader who savored books and words and ideas. As I’ve been reading (and writing) more, I’m sad to say that I often read as a consumer, counting the pages until the end and I can check off that title. Reinke encourages his readers to slow down, to read with more deliberation and more discernment, to choose carefully, and to allow the books to be digested.

If you’re a believer who needs permission to read fiction or non-Christian books, pick up a copy of Lit! and read it first. If you’re a consumer reader (like me, I confess), you’ll also profit from the admonition and instruction in how to slow and let good books inform your life and being.