Treasures Unknown
Tonight I heard a Roman Catholic priest preach at our Baptist All Saints Day Sunday evening service.
“… your light must shine before people, so that they will see the
good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16 (TEV)
“… I will speak out to encourage Jerusalem; I will not be silent until she is saved, And her victory shines like a torch in the night." Isaiah 62: 1 (TEV)
“… For this is the commandment that the Lord has given us; I have made you a light for the gentiles, so that all the world may be saved." Acts 13:47 (TEV)
Tonight I heard a Roman Catholic priest preach at our Baptist All Saints Day Sunday evening service.
As I fix a light breakfast before going to work, I hear a lone bird outside the kitchen window: cooing.
I sit and watch them: communing; commiserating; discussing; articulating – all about the mechanics.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I am an Educator with a background in Theology, Religious Education, Special Education, Curriculum Development and Educational Leadership. I am also a former Moravian Deaconess.
Since 1994 I have been part of the Bethel Baptist Church family in Half Way Tree, Kingston, Jamaica. Over the years I have served in several areas of the church’s life and ministry, including Mission and Evangelism, the Church Council, the Adult Choir, Junior Church and the Ministry to the Less Fortunate. I have also edited Sunday School Materials for Caribbean Christian Publications, which is owned by the Baptist Church in the Caribbean.
To Tell You the Truth – as the book is aptly entitled – is a must read! The author recounts her faith journey creatively using insightful, full disclosure journal entries and poems. Her use of clear and simple, yet thought-provoking language makes it an easy read. Nonetheless, it requires a reflective posture which will evoke a personal commitment to change, encouraged by her use of personal insights on her struggles with a variety of emotions. For example, the book features her struggles with anger, but also provides useful tips on how to convert this emotion instead to glorifying God. For me, I found the Happiness Quiz to be an interesting eye-opener – and it will be one of my go-to resources. I think it could be yours too.
Marcia BecklesTo Tell You the Truth is a poetic baring of the soul of a young author in the freshness of innocence and without any reservation. It is also a comfortably teasing, incisive, intimate introspection which gives the reader/listener the privilege of doing the same. Reading or listening to her "voice" engenders peace with oneself and encourages bravery to also "tell the truth” as one identifies with each sweet sharing. The CD is an excellent travel companion in its forthright content, immaculate diction, soothing tone and accompanying music.
Lucinda Peart
The value and worth of this book far outweigh its size. Those who read it will find much to ponder, much to gain and much to pass on to others in daily encounters and engagement, as well as in special circumstances requiring insights relating to life’s intricacies and realities, blessing and purpose. These are conveyed in simplicity, imaginatively and creatively. They are grounded in profound spirituality with a good measure of solid practicality. Real life experiences, are seen and given account of in a way that allows for identification with them, leading to better self-understanding or better ways of handling things that have been found troubling. The writer’s creative skills, mature spirituality and practical outlook have made this work a treasure for those who would wish to meditate on the apparently simple but profound, ordinary but of extraordinary significance, routine but with fresh and invigorating impact. I do recommend this work as worthy to be owned for timely as well as repeated reading.
Rev Dr. Burchel K Taylor