The Refuge Christian Library

Over the past year we've slowly been buying new books and donating our own books to the Christian Library we have at our youth center, The Refuge. We are very impressed with how many students read sooo many English books! So we are really trying to keep a good stock of Christian books for them. Everything from theology to Christian living to Christian novels to study Bibles. We keep a sign out sheet in the library, and every time we check it, there are always more books out!

This is a really cool (and free) service to provide for our students and their friends. Some books are in high demand and get passed from student to student without ever making it back to the library shelf! In a society where there are not even enough school books for each high school student, it is really neat that students can come to our library and check out books for free.

There are so many more books we would like to add to our growing library. That is why we have created an Amazon Wish List. We are continually updating this list. If you could help us by buying one or two or ten books for our Refuge Library, that would be a huge help!! All you have to do is click on the link above or click on the Amazon button in the right sidebar. It will take you to our list, and when you purchase the book it will automatically be shipped to our address in West Chicago, IL.

Thank you!!

I want to imagine heaven

How do you imagine heaven? Or don't you? That is precisely my problem. I (Gretchen) don't imagine heaven often enough. I am tooooo earthly-minded. I am so focused on the thousand little tasks I do throughout my day, my eyes pointed downward - toward my toddler and infant.

Justin and I started reading the book Heaven (by Randy Alcorn) together. And wow, what a breath of fresh air. To force myself to come to terms with the fact that the way I imagine has absolutely no biblical basis whatsoever! I picture Jesus on a throne and all the saints are surrounding the throne, singing, singing, singing. There are some angels flying overhead, and they're singing, too. And we all just sing. For eternity.

And I realized something. We as adults are not in the habit of exercising our imaginations. At least I'm not. Maybe you are. I remember when I was little and I used to play with my sisters. And we always had to decide what to "play" - store, house, tea party, bank... And we would insert ourselves into those scenarios, and our imaginations were so strong that we actually got excited about the corresponding real world opportunities!

If only I could abandon my shallow and boring and lifeless picture of heaven! After having read only the first couple chapters of Heaven that is exactly what is happening!

One of the girls in our youth group, Jona, recently read Alcorn's book. It had such an impact on her that she suggested to Justin and me that we do a Winter youth group retreat on the topic of heaven. We thought that was a great idea!! We are currently trying to find a venue for a retreat. So, please pray for this endeavor!


Oh yeah, and Happy Halloween!