Deus Misereatur

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne My rating: 5 of 5 stars "Both (Comanches and Anglo-Americans), as it turned out, had for the past two centuries been busily engaged in the bloody conquest and near-extermination of Native American tribes. Both had succeeded in hugely expanding the lands under their control" (23). So goes S. C. Gwynne's book that topped the New York Times Bestseller list for 82 weeks, "Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History". In this heavily documented manuscript there's no room here, thankfully, for the mythological and progressivist "noble savage" notion and no place, again thankfully, for the jingoistic fable of Anglo-American righteous cause. In other words, it was a great book showing how real, rawboned, rugged and trans-...

Fighting for Your Marriage While Separated: A Practical Guide for the Broken Hearted by Linda W. Rooks My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s not just a book about restoring a marriage where there is presently a separation. As important as that is this tiny manual is far bigger than that. Linda W. Rooks, author, Resource Member on the Troubled Marriages Team of the Association of Marriage and Family Ministries (AMFM), and leader of a marriage reconciliation ministry in Central Florida, has given a hopeful hand to many whose marriages are disarrayed and desperate in her 176 page paperback, “Fighting for Your Marriage While Separated: A Practical Guide for the Brokenhearted.” Though this little guide has marital separations in mind, much of the material applies to those whose spouses are shackled to addiction, who are abusive, or adulterous. But it is also useful for those who simply desire their marriages to be healthier and never fall off the cliff. Rooks takes her readers, men and women, ...

In the 1980s I was nearing the middle of my twenty-year Air Force career. I ran a low-grade correctional facility where we kept troubled airmen who had committed some serious infractions (usually alcohol related misdemeanors, etc.) for 30-days. The goal was to give them a wake-up call so they could reorient their lives and finish out their enlistments as productive members of the U.S. Air Force. Because so many of my "residents" had alcohol related issues, I found myself working with the Drug and Alcohol Abuse folks on the base, many of whom had been alcoholics. I gained a wide breadth of skills from these friends, but also found myself getting involved with several groups of "Bill's friends" - Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups. I was impressed with AA's history and twelve steps, which I found helpful for my own life. And I always wished there were Christian groups that would re-ground the twelve steps back in Scripture and back in the Gospel where it all...

(Today's congregational prayer is directed by Jesus' words in Matthew 6.19-34) “ Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also ” (Matthew 6.19-21). We pray, Lord, for your church here and world over, including Grace Covenant Church, Westmoore Community Church, Lighthouse Foursquare Church, and Free Methodist Church of Edmond. Instead of our looking for earthly fame or fortune – earthly treasures, replenish her with your own steadying strength, stabilizing aid, resilient love, long-lasting commitment, unwavering godliness and sound doctrine, so that her treasure and heart will always be deposited with you. Through the prayers and work of your Church may your own open-handed help and guidance be shown to all so that sojo...