Since there are twelve months in the year I thought that I would try to come up with 12 things that I am thankful for from the past year.

1. The love of God, no matter how much I screw up.

2. The love of my wife, Ruth Ann, in spite of how much I screw up.

3. The love of my sons, Dan and David, in spite of how much I screwed up their lives.

4. The great painting my son Daniel gave me for Christmas.

5. The great Hawaiian shirts my wife made me for Christmas.

6. The awesome music that David found me for Christmas. (Larry Norman, U2, Keni Thomas and Trace Adkins)

7. The great teachers that I am able to listen to and read. The short list is Randy Shaw, Jason Simmonds, Tom Vice, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Jim Wallis, Rick McKinley, Martin Bell, Clark Blakeman, and Kelly Lowe.

8. The love and friendship of our group of Pirates, Barry & Denise Capps, Chris & Libby Salter, Peter & Leslie Gould, Gregg & Renee Naslund and Jim & Marilyn Weisenberg. Thanks for all your support and what I have learned from all of you.

9. Scott & Kelly Lowe, awesome friends on the right coast, but I still consider Scott my best friend.

10. Bloggers of the world that I have read and learned from.

11. Books of all shapes and kinds that I have read this year. See below for more details on what I have read this last year.

12. The hope for next year.

The Four Loves by Clive Staples Lewis; 1960,1988; Harcourt Brace & Company, New York; 141 pages; 241 L67f/0-15-132916-8; 12/26-12/29

…And, if you will forgive me for citing the most extreme instance of all, have there not for most of us been moments (in a strange town) when the sight of the word GENTLEMEN over a door has roused a joy almost worthy of celebration in verse?

C.S. Lewis writes about four different kinds of love, Affection, Friendship, Eros & Charity. He sometimes speaks with great insight such as the passage about need pleasure. But at time he is a typical English author who is way too wordy. There are some nuggets but it is like sifting through tons of dirt to find those little gold flecks that are present. We can not have the greatest of each love without having the lowest of them. If you don’t mind wading through lots of words, you will learn much. RRr

This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley; 2006; Multnomah Publishers, Inc, Sisters, OR; 188 pages; 1-59052-501-9; 12/26-12/26

There exists a tension between the Kingdom of God to come and the Kingdom of God that is already here. The Kingdom of God is here, but sometimes we are so wrapped in the day to day mundanity that we can’t or don’t see it. Rick gives examples from the Imago Dei Community as to how the kingdom can be seen in our world. We must stop and think creatively about how we can show God’s love to those around, without expecting anything in return. How can we be good stewards of what God has given us, not just money but the environment and the people around us. RRRR

The Palace of Laughter, The Wednesday Tales, No. 1 by Jon Berkeley; HarperCollinsPublishers, New York; 2006; 427 pages; j Berkeley/978-0-06-075507-2; 12/21-12/26

Left on a doorstep by parents he never knew, with only a tangerine colored stuffed bear as family, Miles Wednesday (cause he was left at the orphanage on a Wednesday, of course) has all sorts of adventures. He lives in a large barrel overlooking the town of Larde, until the day the circus comes to town. This is a circus unlike any that you have ever seen or read of, Miles rescues a young girl from the circus and then the fun begins. Miles and Little (the only part of her name that she can reveal on Earth), without serious consequences, start on the road to the Palace of Laughter. Along the way they encounter a talking tiger, a Partridge in a pair tree, an blind, eccentric explorer, gangs called Halfheads, Stinkers and Gnats, along with some rather strange circus folk. Miles and Little usually get the better of the bad guys and usually just by using the smarts that they didn’t realize they had. This was very engrossing and made a great movie in my head, it was so well written. My son David read right through it also. RRR

Christmas Stories for the Heart compiled by Alice Gray; Multnomah Publishers, -Sisters, Oregon; 2000; 1-57673-696-2; 12/21-12/21

An inspiring group of stories with a Christmas theme which will definitely tug at your heart. Lots of stories representing lots of different authors and a few different countries. RRRr