I hope this email finds you curled up with a good book or a cat on your lap or a cuddly kid nearby. But should it find you otherwise, my prayer is that it bolsters you for the day—and for the days ahead. 

Around the Web

Talk to Strangers—Everybody Has a Story

Jonathan Rogers is addressing storytellers and writers here, but his words ring true even for those who wouldn’t put themselves in those categories.

• Most of us aren’t journalists hunting up stories to feed the deadline machine. Nevertheless, to be attentive to the stories around us is to acknowledge the plenitude in which we find ourselves and to live more fully in it. We live in a world of wonders. To be in touch with more stories than our own is to live more than one life.
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You Can Teach Theology with Picture Books

Irene Sun explores how parents can begin shaping their children’s understanding of God with carefully chosen picture books.

• As parents, we are our children’s first theology teachers. Like the women at the tomb on Easter morning, we run fearfully and joyfully to tell the people we love, “The tomb is empty! Christ has risen.” With hope-filled hearts, we teach our children about the living Lord.
  God has ordained a means for teaching our children how to love him—and not primarily by sending them to AWANA, or buying another picture Bible, or using the right curriculum. Learning about God begins with wonder, and worship is our great goal.
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Book of the Week: Rainstorm

Sarah Mackenzie recommends a wordless book

• In this wordless book… a bored and lonely boy discovers a key that leads to unexpected adventure and new friendships.
  My 5yo twins love this book and “read” it several times in a row upon discovering it for the first time.
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Passing Through the Wilderness of this World

I recently heard a pastor observe that being a sinner was a prerequisite for following Christ. The idea struck me, and this piece–a letter from John Newton written in 1763–is a vivid example of it.

• Dear Sir,
  I make no doubt but you have at times had pleasing reflections upon that promise made to the Israelites, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” Deuteronomy 8:2
  They were then in the wilderness, surrounded with difficulties, which were greatly aggravated by their own distrust and perverseness.
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Around the Warren

Embracing Our Place

Aimee Davis opens our eyes to the ways God provides even before we know what we need.

• My daughter and I have been reading The Swiss Family Robinson for the past few months. In the midst of our reading, we’ve also been selling our house, searching for a new house, moving and getting settled in a new place.
  The house we recently sold was a dream house for us. It was a 50-plus year old house situated exactly where we had always wanted to be.
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Discovering Little Britches

Jessica Burke points us back to a classic favorite series.

• Everyone tells you that children grow up too fast. It seems like yesterday that my four children were all little, and our house was full of squeaky toddler voices and baby coos. This past week was full of milestones where I watched my oldest child growing up before my eyes. He still has the same curly hair from his toddler years, but his size, confidence, and independence speak the truth about his age. He seems to be growing up with ease, but I still feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.
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Something to Do with Your Kids

We’re coming up to the end of Christmas this weekend and it’s time to transition the decor from “Christmas” to the more generic “Winter.” So you need these toilet paper roll snowmen.

Something to Watch

Destin at Smarter Every Day takes a look at how a whip breaks the sound barrier.

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side.

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Carolyn Clare Givens

Carolyn Clare Givens is displaced Northerner exploring the foreign ways of the South. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her two literary cats, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. She's the author of The King's Messenger and Rosefire and in her free time helps run Bandersnatch Books.

You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.

Latest posts by Carolyn Clare Givens (see all)

• The Warren & The World Vol 11, Issue 32 - September 30, 2023
• The Warren & The World Vol 11, Issue 31 - September 23, 2023
• The Warren & The World Vol 11, Issue 30 - September 16, 2023