Notes from the checkout

Today was very busy with everyone getting ready for Father's Day and other celebrations. A couple of women walked in the store. One asked to use the phone and then they started yelling at each other. Lady 1 was accusing Lady 2 of stealing a cell phone from Lady 1's daughter. Lady 2 said she didn't even know Lady 1's daughter. I called "Security to the front end!" They kept yelling at each other and took it outside. No one was hurt. Just another day at the grocery store.

Reading the Shack

Our women's spirituality group is reading a new book, The Shack by William Paul Young. It's about a man who spends three days struggling with God in the shack where his young daughter was murdered. I wouldn't recommend it as great literature. It is self-published and shows the inexperience of the writer. It's not great theology either. On the other hand the issue of how God can allow suffering to exist and still love us is timeless. Look at Job who lost everything and struggled with the same problem. I enjoyed our discussion last night. It was fruitful and made The Shack worth reading.

Good book for hard times

I just finished a really satisfying book


The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips. It's set in Alabama during the Great Depression. One night Tess sees a woman drop a baby in her family's well. No one believes her until a blanket comes up from the well the next day. Tess's father Albert works is a coal miner who owns his own land. Ms. Phillips captures both the time and the characters beautifully.