Grains of Sand

Google Images If Jacob thought that he had escaped the intrigue by running away from home and going to live with his relatives, he was sadly mistaken. The lies, manipulation and deceit continued in his uncle’s home. He worked for seven years in order to gain the hand of Laban’s daughter, Rachel, only to end up with Rachel’s older sister, Leah. Then he worked for another seven years to finally get Rachel. This story is recorded for us in Genesis 29. But it is Leah that captured my attention this morning. Her father basically “sold” her into a loveless marriage. His excuse was that tradition dictated that the oldest daughter marry before the youngest, but it does sound like he bothered to find her a husband during the first seven years that Jacob spent working for Rachel’s hand. In any case, we see the hand of God in all this mess. “ When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren ” (Genesis 29:31). God gave her someone to love and someone who wou...

Well, Reinventing Leona , a first novel by Lynne Gentry and published by Tyndale House, certainly has tension—from the first pages right until the end. The story centers around Leona Harper, a pastor's wife who becomes his widow in the first few pages of the book when her husband suffers a heart attack in the pulpit. Gentry, a pastor's wife herself, knows the behind-the-scenes realities of life in the manse. But in that reality lies a barb that pierces the storyline. Reinventing Leona has a cynical tone to it that grates sometimes more than just a little. With a very few notable exceptions, the congregation of Mt. Hope Community Church is not made up of too many nice people. That not-niceness seems to prevail over the occasional splashes of Christianity. For the most part the characters are well-developed. I can "see" these people. But what bothers me is the cynicism about them. I understand that Christians aren't perfect—after spending as many years in min...