A Penny For Your Thoughts, Louise!
The Sunday Night Check-In
“The phone rang. Again. It was the fourth time in eight minutes. All from the same number. All ignored by the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec. In the hopes it would go away. But like most things ignored, it just got worse.”
So begins the opening page of The Grey Wolf, the highly anticipated new book by Louise Penny. It is the 19th book featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. If you are a consistent reader of Hope Remains, you know I’ve been waiting for months for this book to arrive. It is on my table thanks to a Books-A-Million giftcard (thank you thank you!). It arrived on one of the busiest weekends I have had in a while, so that is as far as I have read so far! It is getting marvelous reviews from fellow friends who are Penny fans.
Oh, welcome to the Sunday night Check-in! Where are my manners! Especially welcome to new subscribers! Always feel free to say howdy in the comments. As I mentioned, it’s been a super busy weekend. Maggy and I headed down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to be there for friends whose son passed away. I was privileged to speak at Davy Kilbern’s funeral. A very good crowd surrounded the family. After the funeral Saturday afternoon, we got in the car and headed back to Monroe. Sunday was a full day with worship, class, fellowship meal, the final GriefShare meeting of this season, and an elders meeting. Whew.
Last week’s poll showed that 58% of you turn your lights off on Halloween! I’m surprised! The Grinch shows up early with this bunch! 38% pass out candy, which we did. I think I’ll give the opening paragraph the weekly poll. How many of my friends are Louise Penny fans?
At Forsythe Church this morning I ventured into the boiling waters of election season with a sermon called Christian Civics, straight out of Romans 13. There was a good reaction and I appreciated that. Notes and audio available HERE. Next Sunday we plan to look at the interesting section of Romans 14-15.
GUEST SPEAKER WEDNESDAY! Wednesday night at 6 at Forsythe Church of Christ we will host Keith Roberts of the Calhoun Church of Christ. Keith has been the minister at Calhoun for over 40 years. His rich ministry in prayer has blossomed into the Prayer Workshop and a fantastic little book about prayer called WHY GOD WAITS FOR YOU TO PRAY! It is one of my favorite books on prayer. I can’t wait to see Keith Wednesday night and you’re welcome to join us! I appreciated what Keith wrote about my newest book:
Thanks to those who have purchased MERRY CHRISTMAS TO A BROKEN HEART. I am already hearing that it is being a blessing and I am so grateful for this. Forsythe provided a free copy to all of those who are participating in GriefShare and DivorceCare this time. If you know any Christians who are having a hard time during the holidays, consider buying them a copy.
I haven’t had a chance to get out and take photographs this past week. Maybe this week at some point.
I’ve listened to this about 20 times this week:
OTHER STACKS TO CHECK OUT
But We Do See Jesus - Richard Myerscough encourages the weary.
Devon Camp’s excellent post called Pumpkins, Cookies, & Patience!
Brian Causer writes a Letter of Encouragement to Fellow Christ Followers
In case you missed it, last week I posted a reflection called “Sleepy?” which you can read HERE.
Tomorrow is a special post on The Holy Lens, a prayer for the election. If you haven’t joined us there, it’s a good time to do that!
If you’re still reading at this point, thank you. I hope you can find moments of peace in the week ahead. This is a little shorter post this week, but as with my sermons, no one will complain because it’s brief. In fact, I only read brief posts closely. I’m a scanner! If you scanned this or actually read it all, I’m grateful. Do your best to bless those around you. Work hard, rest well, and stay connected. The world needs you.
John, I’m a total Louse Penny fan, have read all of her books in the Armand Ganache series, reading the latest right now!
I always enjoy reading about your week. I bet if you are like me, even though your day was packed, you were into it all and so it went by fast. I can teach flute for 6 hours and then practice it more for my own enjoyment. I’m very lucky to be doing what I love and so are you. Thanks for the lovely book;)