by Yitta Halberstam and Judith Levinthal
paperback personal copy 254 pages plus acknowledgments
Published: 1998
Genre: True stories, faith
The intro reminded me too much of SQuire Rushnell and his Godwinks perspective. There is too much focus on what WE GET instead of on WHO GOD IS.
I had to reconcile my understanding of God's grace (freely given, unmerited) while looking for His presence and activity in our lives WITH any personal self-serving motives. I love the stories. I love seeing "God-incidences" instead of mere coincidences or luck or karma.
Once I got past the intro and this "issue" of mine, I read the stories quickly. They are short - just a few pages each - but packed with that "Guideposts" style of storytelling. I ended up putting post-it note flags on five that really affected me.
The first one starts on page 75 and tells the story of Father O'Reilly (a pseudonym) who needs respite from his demanding hospital chaplain duties. While in a quiet abandoned seminary, his pager went off but the message was not legible. Since he couldn't get a good signal inside the ruined building, he went outside to call each of the four different hospitals he reported to to see where he was needed. None of them had called. I got chills when I read the rest of the story. Sometimes when "weird" things happen, God is protecting us!
The next one I flagged (pages 104-107) was where two people had a series of mishaps and frustrating situations keeping them from a planned event. They got to a park area just as two little boys were drowning and saved their lives. The end comment was worth tagging. "It's a mistake to believe that 'coincidences' happen only for our sakes. Sometimes they happen to us, but they may not be happening because of us or for us. What seems to be happening to us is actually occurring for the sake of another. It's not really our script, even though we may be major players. When a coincidence occurs that makes no sense in how it impacted our lives, we must also ask: But did it impact someone else's?"
Page 115-116 tells of a woman who baked some rolls, then gave them away. This happened three times and then she had no more time to bake rolls before her guests came! Then her guest walked in with a freshly baked loaf of bread. "One day I'll learn. You just can't outgive the Lord." Amen to that! (Faye Fields' story is much much more lovely than my summary here.)
The story on pages 154-156 isn't one of my favorites, but the line I tagged resonated and made me sad. "Stephanie Osborne headed home, feeling dejected and down. She feared bitterness; she feared that the daily realities of her job in the school system would eventually whittle away the idealism that fed her soul." Wow. Too many teachers can relate to that one. The upshot of the story was that a former student called her and told her how much she had meant to him. The comment at the end of the story is "A gift of gratitude often rekindles inspiration gone dim."
The story on pages 157-160 is pretty cool, about a vacation deferred due to illness. The comment on the end really caught my eye. "When we reach beyond ourselves to care for another, we are often led past our own fears and limitations."
The upshot of these stories is that God is actively involved in our lives. He still performs miracles! We need to be receptive to his working in our lives. This book is going to the "Little Library" shelf at The Recovery Church to inspire someone else.
Oh, not that it matters, but there were enough synagogue / rabbi / Jewish references that I wasn't surprised that the focus was on God, not on Jesus. ;-)
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