to fly again

As much as I adore reading books myself, that is rivaled only by listening to audio books in the car. (It only works in the car because we are sitting anyway and there's no where to move to) This may be one of Mark and my only hobbies in life. Anyway, if we think ahead enough to check them out of the library and we are traveling at a time when all THREE kids check out for a few hours, it works marvelously. Mostly we've listened to stories...John Grisham and Hank the Cowdog by John Erickson and a few others.

This time after we had finished Michael Landon, Jr.'s One More Sunrise (with Tracie Petersen), which is a sweet story of redemption and not overly sappy and fairly realistic as far as Christian fiction, we started Gracia Burnham's second book, To Fly Again:Surviving the Tailspins of Life. Gracia and her husband Martin were missionaries in the Philippines for 16 years before they were kidnapped by Abu Sayaf muslim terrorists while at a resort celebrating their anniversary. Martin died a year later while they were being rescued. She weaves anecdotes from their life in the Philippines, the year they were in captivity in the jungle and the rebuilding of her life after Martin's death and coming back to the States. I might not have picked it up because it seems geared toward people who have had something horrendous happened, just judging from the title. Was I ever wrong.

She defines God's grace so succinctly and the importance of forgiveness among other things. She has such a sweet spirit and is so real, it's hard not to heed her advice. And she doesn't claim to have all the answers, but really she does because she knows and loves her God, His Word and has been through the refining fire.