Need a Good Read?

October 4, 2012October 5, 2012 / Erin Kirk / 1 Comment

I read books like a freak. I’ve probably got six stacked next to my bed and every night I pick whichever one suits my mood.

But all of them gathered dust last week after I bought Ann Patchett‘s State of Wonder – a novel so good, that when it was over, I wanted to go to her house and force her, like Kathy Bates in Misery, to write more pages, even if it meant breaking her ankles.

And this isn’t the first time she has done this to me. I was similarly undone after reading Bel Canto and The Patron Saint of Liars. While reading them, I alternated between utter captivation and stopping to say, “wait, how did she do that?”

This woman was born to break your heart, change your mind and escort you to places you simply cannot dream up without her.

Do you have a favorite author that wrecks you like Ann Patchett does me? Please reply (Comment bubble up top.)

I need help getting over this.

Giving = Fruit

October 3, 2012October 5, 2012 / Erin Kirk / 1 Comment

Jesus said you will know my disciples by their fruit.*

King David said I’m a green olive tree planted in the house of the Lord.*

The Prophet Isaiah said believers were trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.*

Being a grower myself, I love the Bible’s agricultural metaphors. Not long after I started reading it, I drew this picture in my journal, just to fix the image in my mind. I want to be a fruit-bearing tree of righteousness and grow love, so that hungry people can come and eat.

Can it really be that simple? I think so; but I’m still a sapling. So here’s a piece of fruit from a more mature tree:

Susie Davis is a Christian author, blogger and church-planter from Austin who spoke at a conference I attended, last weekend. She told us she planned to give away something of hers – even expensive things she likes – to her blog readers, every day in October.

Photo Credit: Susie Davis

Yesterday, it was this Coach purse. Yeeeoowwwww!

She’s doing this in part because her pastor-author-husband just wrote a new book called Enough: Finding More by Living with Less, a book she said is sure to wreck her scented candle-filled life; but she’s also doing it because she wants to love people in a practical way.

Giving stuff away feels good and blessing people who would really enjoy a new Coach purse (Pick Me Susie! Pick Me!) feels good. So it’s a win-win.

I’ve already gathered some fruit from Susie Davis’ tree and it was tasty, that’s why I’m sharing it with you. Though I’m sure Susie is far from perfect, this kind of behavior – this kindness – is the mark of a follower.

When you bear much fruit, my Father is honored and glorified and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of mine. Matthew 15:8

*Matthew 7:20 *Psalm 52:8 *Isaiah 61:3

Explain this.

September 28, 2012 / Erin Kirk / Leave a comment

It’s Friday.

Let me help you blow the last few hours at work with a cool project by a guy named Dr. Gary Greenberg, who photographs really, really small and sometimes gross things like skin and retinas, under a microscope. He also photographs sand.

This is a picture of sand in Hawaii.