The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 36

ByCarolyn Clare Givens

I spent the day in back to back (to back) meetings and found myself scrambling at the end of the day to fit in a few small things that needed to get shipped. I work on an amazing church team with leaders that really care about developing the staff, so every single meeting today was rich with things to learn and grow in—and then we also have to get the work done. 

It’s a challenge, I think, that extends beyond a church staff. We want to introduce the kids in our lives to great stories, and we also have to get the laundry done. We want to spend time wandering and exploring and we also have to weed the garden.

Praying for you as you look for that balance this week.

Around the Web

How to Really Build a Family That Lasts Forever

Jessica Smartt shares about growing strong families.

  • October 4, 2021.
    Two weeks from Grammy’s 93rd birthday. 
    Six of us huddled around her bed. There are so many details I can’t forget.
    The crackling rattle in her labored breathing, each breath so unnaturally far from the last one. My sister on the other side of the bed, so strong, singing hymns. Her voice wavered and caught, but she kept singing, distinctly and loudly. 
    I was not sure when it happened.
    Her breaths were minutes apart.
    When was she gone? When was she here?
    We told her she could go, that we would be okay. We realized she was crying—eyes glassy, distant, fixed on nothing—but somehow we knew she had heard. 
    Read more

Superpowers and Stories

Melissa Woodruff considers what she’s learning as she explores great stories.

  • I have a superpower. When I watch a movie and see a familiar actor, I can recall exactly what I’ve seen them in—even if it’s an obscure episode from some show I watched 5 years ago, when this guy was unknown and was playing the taxi driver with 1 line. I see them, recognize them, and verify with IMDB.
    Read more

The Surprising Relevance of Haggai and Malachi

Christine Gordon points us to some of the small prophetic books of the Old Testament that pack a big punch.

  • Most believers I know don’t regularly quote from Haggai or hang verses from Malachi on their bathroom mirror to be memorized while brushing their teeth. And yet these books sit in the Bible just like Romans or Genesis, important enough to claim a spot in God’s Word. I read through them last year in my annual whirlwind tour of the Bible. And honestly, I didn’t understand much more about them when I was finished reading than I did before I started. With phrases like, “Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel” and “I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated,” these books seemed a little bit like fossils I didn’t have the tools to excavate.
    But then I began to study them. Turns out, they’re relevant.
    Read more

*Wonderfully, Marvelously Brown by Xochitl Dixon

Betsy at Redeemed Reader shares a starred review of a new picture book.

  • So much of God’s creation is wonderfully, marvelously brown, including people!
    Read more

Around the Warren

It’s Hobbit Day!

It’s never too late to celebrate Hobbit Day!

  • In the world of Middle-earth, today is the birthday of two distinguished hobbits: Bilbo Baggins of the Shire and his nephew, Frodo. It is, of course, the auspicious occasion of Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday party, which is the opening scene of The Fellowship of the Ring. This same day was Frodo’s coming of age at the age of thirty-three.
    To celebrate, we’ve rounded up a collection of our favorite quotes from Tolkien’s masterwork below. We wish you a joyful day, whether or not it involves a firework in the shape of a dragon.
    Read more

Review: The Song of the Stone Tiger

Kelly Keller reviews Glenn McCarty’s new middle grade novel.

  • “There will always be more stories…They are a way to make something beautiful and orderly in this world, with all its chaos and brokenness.” (p. 256)
    Fiction ought to make us ask, “What if it’s real?” In our broken world, the best stories should help us believe that something better is coming—that something better is possible. Glenn McCarty’s new title, The Song of the Stone Tiger, does just that. McCarty skillfully weaves together a narrative that calls the reader to higher thoughts and hopeful ideas.
    Read more

Something to Do with Your Kids

Are there any fall-themed crafts on your horizon? Start by making a fall craft box to hold them all in!

Something to Watch

Here’s a fun new set of illusions for you from Zach King!

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side. 

–The Story Warren Team

Carolyn Clare Givens
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