Friday Findings
I’m a curious soul – with a wide range of nerdy and geeky interests, ranging from space exploration to theological concepts. I often find interesting items when stumbling about on the internet – and on Friday’s I like to share my findings with you!
The Airport – an Unlikely Source for Book Buying
A shout-out to a co-worker, who shared this piece with me, for today’s edition of Friday Findings!
When I travel, I sometimes browse the stores on the concourse, to kill time between flights. Of course – me, being me – I am always drawn to the books, just to see what is “selling” in popular fiction and non-fiction. From time to time, a title catches my eye, but I’ve only purchased from an airport on rare occasions. In the last few years of travel, though, I’ve begun noticing book marks and signs attached to shelfs, proclaiming “Read and Return”. I’ve been curious about them, but have never taken the time to investigate further.
Meghan Jones, over at MSN.com, dug into this neat little phenomenon, and shares what she found out about this “Read and Return” program. Check it out here – I may just give it later this fall; if I do, I’ll update here with a review!: Airport Book Buying
Scripture: John McCain’s Memorial Service
Senator John McCain died on August 25th, 2018, at his home in Cornville, AZ. His life was a fascinating one – one of service to his country in ways that the vast, vast majority of us will never emulate or understand. His memorial service was held on August 30th, at North Phoenix Baptist Church. BibleGateway Content Manager, Jonathan Petersen, gathered the scripture that was read during McCain’s memorial service, and shared it at the BibleGateway site. Christianity Today posted a similar article, with a bit more information. At first, both posts really bothered me – I wondered if it was disrespectful or intrusive to have such intimate details of Senator McCain’s service shared so publicly. But, after giving it some thought, I settled here: Scripture is Scripture. It is truth. And it is meant to be shared, when shared in solid, theological context – not proof-texted or loosely translated by fringe translation groups or people seeking to make it say what they wish it would say. Sharing scripture is sharing light, truth and hope to a world so desperately in need of all three, and Scripture, when translated correctly, always points to Christ. As such, here is the BibleGateway and Christianity Today lists of scriptures read at Senator McCain’s Memorial Service:
Reading Across America
I’ve been following the New York Public Library a bit more closely as of lately – I’m really enjoying the content that they are putting out on their blog sites. Recently I came across their “Reading Across America: Young Readers’ Edition” map and article. I am pretty sure I have shared their adult fiction version of this map before, here in this space. Since I’m a bit rusty on what is out there for young readers, now that I my crew has grown and I no longer work in the school system – I really enjoyed exploring this list of 51 books, one for each state, plus the District of Columbia. Check it out here (one note – I couldn’t get their map to enlarge – no worries, the books are all listed, alphabetically by state, under the article summary): Reading Road Trip
Keep Your Soul, Diligently
I was honored and humbled at the opportunity to share a piece of writing over at The Intersect Project: Where Faith Meets Culture. I am really enjoying the content there, and was thrilled to be able to share some of my thoughts about the importance of creating a battle plan to keep our souls and minds well, when doubt and despair start to creep in – both of which are old, familiar foes of mine. Thank you, Intersect Project, for sharing my writing – and thank you, also, for the work you are doing in connecting our faith with our culture, and helping us to keep our passion and focus solidly on Christ: Keep Your Soul Diligently
I, Pencil
My good friend, Tim, shared this delightful essay with me this past week, after reading one of the articles I posted in last week’s Friday Findings – about Burritos and Books. It’s an essay written by Leonard E. Read, first published in 1958. It is written in the first person point of view, of a pencil. The pencil describes, in detail, all that went into how it – the pencil – was made. I highly suggest you take a few moments to read this – it will make you think much deeper than you ever have about the pencil…and, then, about other things that we take for granted as well. You can download a pdf or Kindle-compatible version here, and then I’ve also embedded a short film based upon the essay, below. Enjoy!: I, Pencil
