Friends & Family February 2023

Hey friends!

I just finished reading a book this week by a new favorite author, Michael Card. Michael is a talented musician and songwriter who had a number of top Christian hits in the 1980s and 1990s (one was “El Shaddai,” made famous by Amy Grant). He also has written over two dozen books and Bible studies.

Michael was on the FamilyLife Today radio broadcast with Dennis and Bob Lepine several times in past years talking about his books and music, but for some reason I didn’t sit in on those interviews. Now I wish I had. Michael is a true scholar and a very good writer. The book I just finished, A Violent Grace, is about the cross and why it’s important to understand the cost of Christ’s sacrifice. Another one I read last month is titled, A Fragile Stone: The Emotional Life of Simon Peter, which I thought was equally good.

Both of these books took me nearer to Jesus and His unending love. And that is a wonderful gift for my faith and anyone’s—to see and hear and so identify with the stories that you can almost touch the Savior.

With these close encounters with Jesus as a backdrop for this month, I’m going to give you a bullet list of highlights from my month. Reading the Gospel stories is a little like reading a bullet list; the story of Jesus’ life jumps from event to event without any time given to the in between days. My month has felt like that.