Story Warren

Kindling Imagination for Kingdom Anticipation

The Warren & The World Vol 12, Issue 22

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I’m hanging out in the Canadian Rockies this week with dear friends I haven’t seen in five years. My soul is being filled with friendship and with beauty and with cool temperatures (while friends and family bake in a heat dome). I head back to “real life” soon, but this moment is no less real than going to work in the morning and snuggling my cat in the evening. Here’s a glimpse of what I saw the other day.

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Why You Really Matter Beyond Matter

Caleb Voskamp introduces a lovely picture book.

  • Just a few short weeks before my grandfather’s death, in a vulnerable moment of real discouragement, he asked me, “Really – in a hundred years, who will know or care?”
    I think, for the most part, Grandpa didn’t actually believe that statement. I don’t think he actually believed the “all is meaningless” sentiment behind the question – but I do think he was voicing a very real feeling that can sometimes gnaw away at any of us, including the writer of Ecclesiastes himself, who echoed: “For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow?” (Ecc. 6:12). 
    When everything is done and dusted, when the dust finally settles… when our earthly selves have returned unto the dust from whence we came… will anything in this life have truly mattered? 
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Reading Road Trip Stop One: A drive through open country

Whether you’re actually road tripping or not this summer, you can take a reading road trip with Read, Discuss, Do!

  • Ahh, it’s summer! Time to hit the road and experience wide open spaces while escaping the hustle and bustle of life! Even if you aren’t traveling physically, you can still grab our map and join us for a reading adventure. You can find other printable resources here.
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Writing (and Reading!) as Hospitality

Rachel S. Donahue reminds us that the written word can be hospitable.

  • As a long-time member of The Habit, a community of writers, I’ve heard many bits of advice from authors of all stripes, but one idea that has profoundly impacted me over the years is Jonathan Rogers’ assertion that writing is a form of hospitality.
    This idea resonated deeply because one of my favorite things to do is extend hospitality toward friends, visitors, and strangers.
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Risen Hope: The Church Throughout History by Luke Davis

Our friends at Redeemed Reader recommend a great church history resource.

  • Risen Hope is an engagingly written church history resource from Christian Focus for middle grades and teens.
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Writing for His Glory: Praise and Lamentation

Kathryn Butler treats us to another installment of Writing for His Glory.

  • “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven,” the Preacher tells us, “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” (Eccl. 3:1,4)  Writings of praise and lamentation reflect these two types of seasons, and encourage us to seek God in all circumstances – whether weeping or laughter mark our days.
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Review: Mari in the Margins

Selah Bell recommends Mari in the Margins, a new middle grade novel in verse by Rebecca J. Gomez, published by Bandersnatch Books.

  • When I was younger, my family would set aside certain days to drink tea and take turns reading from a collection of poetry books. My favorites generally rhymed and would lean towards being a little absurd—think limericks or Roald Dahl. So, I was a little surprised whenRebecca Gomez’s Mari in the Margins, which tells a down-to-earth story in mostly free verse poetry, turned out to be just as entertaining, though maybe for more substantial reasons.
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Keep Turning the Pages

Jocelyn Flenders takes a moment to just be.

  • One brisk morning in fall, when the leaves fell from the trees and the wind rattled the windows, my daughter woke with a persistent cough and fever. The kind that makes you pause your list of to-do’s and just be.
    I soon filled the bathtub and sat beside it, reading her story after story. Because this child doesn’t like reading, but she loves to be read to—especially when feeling under the weather.
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Comings and Goings: History through the Eyes of Refugees

A.C.S. Bird has a book collection for World Refugee Day.

  • When I started collecting titles for World Refugee Day, I thought I might be hard pressed to assemble a respectable representation. But the abundance of books that came readily to hand testifies to the importance and relevance of this topic.
    Circumstances that prompt people to leave behind home, property, and extended family are never felicitous, and the situations into which they arrive are often fraught.
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Something to Do with Your Kids

One of the blessings of moving past the crises of 2020 is the returned abundance of toilet paper, and therefore toilet paper rolls for crafts!

Something to Watch

Have you ever wondered what engineers think about when they’re building bridges? Here are four key types of bridges, explained in practical engineering terms!

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side. 

–The Story Warren Team

Carolyn Clare Givens
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