Hear our correspondent to all things literary, Dr. Rosalie de Rosset. And here's the question: other than the Bible, what book makes your heart leap for joy? You see the cover or spine of this book and it sparks a physical response because you love that story. It made a big difference in your life. Tell Rosie about that book on Chris Fabry Live.
Oh, this is going to be fun. We have a question for you today from the heart of our correspondent to all things literary doctor, Rosalie de Rossi. And the question is, what is the book? What's the spine? What's the cover look like? That when you see it, it does something inside you other than the Bible. What book makes your heart leap for joy? Fiction, non-fiction. It could be a technical manual or a classic novel, or that illustrated book of fairy tales that your mother read to you, or that your dad read to you. We're going to talk about the power of the written word today, to do something inside us that we need to have done. And if you don't have a book that comes to mind, I hope you'll listen. I think this will be instructive, maybe a little challenging in some ways, and helpful. You can answer the question on Facebook. We have a number of people who've done that already and even taking pictures, I love it. I took a picture and put it up there. Or you can call us. Let's get going. Thanks to our team, Ryan McConaughey doing all things technical and Trish is our producer. Today in the chair. Lynn will be answering your calls before we get to Rosie. A few months ago, I chose a book to send to supporters during the month of January. This program's listener supported. If you didn't know that your gifts provide our daily excursion, thank you for your help. And because I struggle with prayer, I chose a little book by Doctor William Thrasher that Thrasher wrote a book titled How to Resurrect a Dead Prayer Life, and it has really helped over the last month as I've gotten back into it. We talked with him in the fall, too. Maybe you've given up on prayer, and because it's something that God has told us to do, maybe that's the hang up for you. You know that you have to do it so it feels like I have to instead of a want to or a desire. If you're satisfied with where you are with your prayer life, God bless your friend. But if you're not, we only have six days left in this offer. Call or click through today 86695 Fabry or go to Chris Fabry live dot org of. In October we gave away a book on decluttering by Dana K white. One real spiritual. It's just real practical. And earlier this month, Dana came back on with us and there were callers and emails from people who said, this has changed my house. It's changed. My office has changed, really has changed my life because I don't have as much clutter as I used to, just getting a vision of how to do it. Now, here's my question what might happen in your soul if this little book on prayer grabs a hold of your heart? What might you tell me four months from now? If you can give a gift, great. If you can't, don't let it stop you. (866) 953-2279 or go to Chris Fabry Live org. Scroll down. You'll see how you can be a friend or partner today. And thanks for your support of the radio backyard fence. Doctor Rosalie de Rossi is one of our favorite people around here. She's a recently retired professor of literature, English and homily at Moody Bible Institute, where she's worked 54 years and she's still working there. She still teaching. She spoke in chapel today. Oh, boy howdy. You missed a good one. She earned her M.A. in English from Northeastern Illinois University, MDiv from Trinity, PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She's the author of Insidious and Unshaken The Place of Dignity and A Woman's Choices, and the forthcoming book that is Coming Forth, Still Coming Forth. It's a process. Rosie, how are you today?
I'm doing well. I'm tired, but very glad to be here.
I am glad you're here too, and I and just judging from the Facebook responses, I think this is going to be fun. Here's here's the truth. This program was your idea. You and I were going back and forth about a novel that I suggested to you, and you were reading it, and you were going back and forth and saying, boy, this is hard, but I'm glad I read it. And you said, I love David Copperfield as a child. It is still my favorite Dickens. I have the little green English copy my mother read to me when I was probably not even six. It has no date, so it's probably very old. My heart feels something even looking at the book. And then later in the email you said it would be interesting to include in this discussion of books books that people have had for a long time and what they feel even about the looks of them. Just a thought. And that's so that's where this program came from, right?
Yes. That's right. Just these spontaneous things come up, Chris, and you pick up on him.
Tell me the little green English copy.
I went and dug it out after that. Well, I it's a tiny book, small but very thick. And I'm sure you know, I'm not 39. I'm sure my mother read it to me when I was about five, and I loved it. And there were hard details in Dickens, which everybody knows. It was written later in his life, actually, and it's very autobiographical. But the book, it's green, it's undated. I betcha it's early 20th century, if not that hard cover, it's hard copy. It has a few pen and ink sketches, kind of of the characters inside. I can go through that and I can. I can remember even the parts of it, and there were details in it, like steer forth who was a bad guy and his taking advantage of a girl called Little Emily. And I didn't realize what was going on and later found out. But the absolute atmosphere of his rescue by Aunt Betsey Trotwood, who was like, you know, a grandma in combat boots, all those things are palpable. And I can't look at that book without absolute affection.
Great love with combat boots.
That's what you probably would be.
You got to put that in the new book. Okay, so I always know that we've we've hit on something when a member, another member of the staff at Moody Radio writes, me and Deb Solomon did again. And she said, the Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. Oh, wow. I'll never forget how free I felt after finishing that book. I was about 13. I finished it on the beach, put the book down and went into the water enjoying God's love and plan for our world like I'd never done before. It stays with me to this day. Isn't it.
Good?
It's beautiful. And that's what books are about. That's why we need books, not screens.
Sing it physical books. Okay, so.
So that's the that's the topic. What is the book that brings joy to your heart? And I said, other than the Bible, you know, you can, you can. And there were some who, uh, gave you know, there was a specific kind of study Bible that they use and, and it brings joy to their heart. There's another and some people took pictures and I love this one. It was Lisa Ann who said, a book that brings joy to me in my current life, my gratitude journal. So it's not even something somebody else read. I write my daily joys and word of the day every day, and share a photo on my personal Facebook page to encourage others to keep a record of their gratitude. Expressing thanksgiving to God for each blessing, whether small or large. And I thought, well, that doesn't really fit. And then yes, it does. It does, because she this is something that when she sees and she took a picture of the journal with the pen sticking out of there with a different color, you know, that you can click in there and then all of the different colors on the front of that. That's what that's the question for you today. What is it that when you pass by your book or I had it happen to me at the library, I used to go past the 808 section at the library, and I would see this one book, and I would I remember checking this thing out a million times. I'll tell you about it. I took a picture of it and put it on her Facebook page as well. But I want you to call me. Here's the number (877) 548-3675. Doctor Rosalie de Rossi is with us today. Eight. 775483675. The book that when you see it, you could see it online. You could just see a picture of it online and something sparks inside your soul. Ever have that happen to you? A lot of people, it's happened to them on Facebook. Here's our number (877) 548-3675. One of those books for me is To Kill a mockingbird, with the picture of the tree on the front of it. Rosie, you know, the original publication of that is just like. And I've got one of those. I think it was the 50th anniversary when they published that, that I have. But the book for me that I mentioned in the library in the 1980s, I got the bug to write. I really wanted to write, and I would spend some time the library in Bolingbrook, Illinois. At the time, the library had the 800 section in the in the basement, so you had to go down the stairs. You turn around, turn past the magazines and everything, and you get to the 808 section. It was all of how to write poetry, how to write prose, how to write novels, and there was a book titled How to Write Best Selling Fiction. Discover the Keys to Success in Today's Market for novels. I'm still reading it, trying to figure it out by Dean Koontz. And I had, you know, Koontz's a prolific novelist. I never got into his novels. I didn't I didn't feel a connection. But when I read this book, here's what it did. It he the way that he wrote was as if he were speaking directly to me, saying, if you really want to do this, you can do it, but it's going to be hard and you're going to have to do this and you're going to now this is back in the 1980s, and I check that book out a million times. And even when I'd go in and wouldn't check it out, I'd pause and just linger because of what that did on the inside of me. And one day I walked down to the basement and it wasn't there. And I thought, well, somebody else must have checked it out. It came back and it wasn't there. I went to the library and I said, what do you have? Do you know where this book is? And she said, oh, yeah, it got kind of worn. We threw it away. Oh.
That's like a death.
That's exactly how I felt.
Oh, but you know what?
I took a kind librarian at, uh. Let's see the school. I think it was says it in here. The kind librarian at a school in Oklahoma. Uh, I got it through interlibrary loan, and I wrote and I said, here's the story. And the librarian wrote back, if you send us a few of your books, we'll send it to you.
Oh, yes. Isn't that lovely? Yes. That's marvelous, I said, I.
Know what out-of-print books mean to people. And so and this hasn't been checked out for a long time, I'm going to send it to you.
Integrate.
That's fantastic.
And it's worth, you know, if I wanted to turn around and sell it on eBay, it's worth a couple hundred dollars at least.
Oh, is that right?
But you're not prying it out of my hands. I'm. This is going to my kids anyway. But that's you know, it's not the spiritual. There's nothing spiritual on the inside. It's the thing that happens on the inside of me. That's what you're talking about, right?
That's exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah. I mean, I have a whole section of my parents. We were poor, but we lived in Peru. My parents would go to the capital, and apparently there were a lot of British bookstores in the capital, and they would bring us back little children's books. I remember the kind about the little mice. I still have them. They're valuable. And then English novels with those gorgeous, lavish covers and illustrations inside of them. And I still have them here. They are 70 years old and, you know, musty, a little bit of mold, I mean, brown, those brown spots here and there. But but I look at them and it's a piece of your life. I think what books do is they they put a concreteness to your life. They take you back to a place and all the longings that were present and who you were as a child and who your parents were. And that's why the sadness of seeing houses that have no books in them is so hard for me. I have books in every, every, every room of my house. Yeah, I have a friend that feels that way about the child craft books. You know, the whole set of child craft, complete with their illustrations. Yeah. And there are pictures that one of the things we talked about, there are books that have pictures in them that you may remember the picture, and it gives you a sense of adventure. And it once again takes you back to some longing or profound part of your childhood.
I was given a King James Bible, which I don't have anymore because it's too long of a story, but it had that. It had the, um, David and Goliath. Yes, it had David with the sling. And then, because you always wonder, what did Goliath look like?
Well, there it is. There it is. Yeah, there's.
A depiction of it. Anyway, uh, so now, folks, you know why I said there's going to be fun? It's up to you to fill in the rest. Fill in the blank. (877) 548-3675. Dan's in Akron, Ohio. Dan, why did you call today?
Well, as soon as you said about books, uh, love books. And the first book that popped into my mind is from Doctor Seuss. Uh oh. The places you'll go. Um. Oh, that's a classic book. And, uh, I've loved using it. They had the choice to. Read that book to my daughter's graduating class from high school. I got to use the book to my son's graduating class from high school. Anytime I see that book in a garage sale, I'm picking it up in the thrift shop. I'm picking it up. I probably have 3 or 4 copies on my shelf, because anytime somebody that makes reference to it, if they don't have it, then I go back to my back to my house and I get that book. It's just had so many great quotes, that book.
What does it.
Do to you, though, Dan? What inside? When you see it at a garage sale and you say, oh, there it is. What's the feeling inside that you get?
Well, the.
First thing that happens is I show it to my wife and she's like, not another one. Yes. Another one. That's the first thing that happens. Uh, but, um, I use it for motivational purposes, and I just feel that. Oh, great. Another opportunity to inspire someone. And again, you said earlier, there's nothing spiritual about the book, but if you take a line, you can use it for a sermon. It makes a great sermon ending or a great quote in his sermon illustration. Um, so it just gets something inside of me and my wife would be like, why don't you do this? I don't know, there's something inside that says, I've got to get that book again.
And you don't have to.
Apologize for it either. That's the other thing, Rosie.
No, I mean, just the line. Oh, the places you'll go. That does something to me. Yes.
Oh, Dan, I'm glad you called. And you said before there are no wrong answers here. Right, Rosie?
No no no no no.
Um, no.
Judgment on us.
Here.
Mark's in Aurora. Mark, tell me your book.
Yeah. Chris, this is a book that you have mentioned. You've had trouble making it through, but I want to tell you why it's worth your while. The title can seem academic and stuffy. And by the way, Rosie, this is Mark Lindsay, you and I. Yes, yes.
Well, regularly.
Yeah, but I the reason the reason I'm recommending Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton is that it reflects God's ambulant, joyful nature. And I'll give you two illustrations of that. One is where he talks about the fact that our fallen nature has made us grow weary of appropriate repetition, and that God doesn't have that weariness just as little children don't. And he, Chesterton, says that the reason we see sunrises and sunsets over and over again is not because God has run out of creativity, but because he loves them so much. Chesterton says that God jumps up and down and says, do that again. Let's see that again. And the other illustration is that the end of the book, where Chesterton speculates on what was Jesus doing when he was in solitude with the father, what was passing between him and his father? And Chesterton says, and this is the last sentence of the book, I fancy that it was mirth. Mirth.
Oh my goodness, no, it's a wonderful book.
Yeah. Yes. Yeah, that captures it, you.
Know that that, that, this, that this is apparently the essence of the fellowship between the father and the son. It's gaiety and laughter and joy.
It's lovely.
Yeah. And then and I still have had a hard time getting through the market. But thank you. And that's one of the things that I'm hoping this program will do, because it was originally my idea was let's have a, you know, new reading list for 2024. Rosie, come on and challenge us to read something different. Uh, which is, you know, a great program would be fine. But this program, this just hearing Mark's excitement about Orthodoxy and what he got from it and what goes on inside of him, may ignite a fire in somebody else. Just try something like that. Right?
That's exactly right. And I actually love that passage. A friend pointed out to me about the repetition, how the sun and the moon come up every single, uh, you know, day, and that we never get tired of it. In fact, it's a structure to life.
Yes. Okay, so a number of people have mentioned online the Mitford series. Beverly says after the first book, I was hooked at home in Mitford and then Mary says, also, when you read that series, you want to live in Mitford.
Yeah, you really do.
And the people become real to.
You, your father.
Tim and others. Um, Tracy says the hiding place. This is another that is mentioned over and over again. What is it about Corrie ten booms, the hiding place. Do you think that ignites something inside of people?
I, I listen to it on my way. When I was caring for my brother, who died a couple of years ago, and it gave me huge strength. There's something about the voice of that book that is just stunning. There's humility, there's honesty, there's imperfection, there's pain without it being so ghastly that you can't process it. And there is just profound belief in the character of God. And there's halting ness, there's brokenness. It's not triumphalism, but it is something that makes you stick it through and take you back to the Lord's presence. I absolutely love the book.
Yeah. And it's and it's such a hard story and a hard, you know, just wrap your mind. Why did God is suffering in the world? Why did God allow this, this kind of suffering? And if you if you have that question and it keeps you from God, you look at what Corey and Betsy went through and how that Betsy helped her hang on to the goodness of God, even in the midst of, you know, and the lice and the the death and the destruction around them. Yeah.
Um, and it has that element of miracle. There was no reason for her to be released. It was an accident. It was a clerical accident. Yeah.
Maria is in Chicago. Maria joined the conversation.
Hi. Um, thank you for answering me in, uh, one of the books that really God uses to touch my heart was one from Elizabeth. George. Uh, woman after God's heart. Um, because I didn't raise, um, my mom didn't raise me, and I always was like, have this empty in my emptiness, in my heart about our mother. And when somebody I think gave me this book, I start crying and crying because I was feeling like I got, God was saying, using this book like like a mom, like, like give me advice about about money, about how to praise him, about that. He loves me, uh, to clean the house and how to clean the house. And I really, really, uh, praise God for this book from Elizabeth Church that God uses like a mom. I'm like, I can I don't know if you can understand, but it was like, yes, like a mother talking to me, but it was. But I would like praise the Lord. And if somebody is listening there that, um, they didn't have a mother. I, um, encouraged you to buy this book and and, uh, I hope that the Holy Spirit also, you know, touch the heart and give you the happiness and the good advices for this book.
What? That's wonderful. Yes. And the.
Deep. And that, you know, the emotional part of you and the longing. You mentioned a little earlier, Rosie, but also the same thing that I was talking about, the book, about writing. It felt like she was talking to me.
Right.
Well, the book mothered her. God sent her a mother in a book. That's wonderful.
Maria, thank.
You for calling today. And again, that was Elizabeth George, a woman after God's own heart. Linda wants to talk with us from Nashville, Tennessee. Hi, Linda. Go right ahead.
Hello there.
Um. My favorite. Well, as far as the thing that touches my heart the most when I look at the books on my shelf are my little red storybook, my little green storybook, and my little blue storybook. Because those are the ones, um, that my brother had had apparently in school. And I think back in those days they must have purchased their books. And so my mother still had those. And when I was about four years old, she started teaching me to read with those. So I've got, you know, Tom C, Tom C, Tom. Right. And then Betty and then Susan and then flip the dog and um, the airplane. And, you know, it's like introducing you to one word. And then it kept using more and more into sentences. So those are the ones that really touched my heart and bring me joy when I think of books.
Well, once again, we go back to a sense of place of a particular time in your childhood and of something very beautiful that happened as a result.
And the.
Connection that you.
Made. And it just there's something about the pride of being able to start to see words. I can even remember how much joy there was in putting the words on the page and making sense out of what they were saying to me.
I'm sure you sparked a memory for me there, Linda, so thank you. Uh, the Dick Jane Sally books. Remember those? Yeah. Okay. So that's what I use to read. And then we come home with the little cards. I guess it would be in the first grade. The little cards with one word said on it. Um, and my dad would help me read the Dick and Jane books. And there was one part in one book where they're saying, see spot run, see Dick run, you know, that kind of thing. And then it said, see, see comma.
Oh, see? And my dad would say that.
And he was, you know, he's not a big reader. He read the newspaper, The Cock, you know, and we we just weren't laughing at just a little kid. That and that mirth, you know, that Mark was talking about came in there. That happened because of that book at that little primer that we were I was trying to figure out, what are these squiggles on the page mean?
Isn't it.
Amazing? It is.
Amazing.
How did we get here? Yes, I don't know.
Uh, okay. Elle says all creatures great and small. I pursued an animal science degree because of this series and my love of animals. And in watching the PBS series with my husband. Just wholesome storytelling. Uh, Tracy says I absolutely love Anne of Green.
Oh, yes. Doesn't everybody or many people. I love that about that.
What is is the island? Is it real, Marilla or what?
She's a.
Feisty character. I mean, she has a sense of tremendous voice. She's like a, you know, and she said, and she's an orphan, and I think she's an orphan. Yeah. Yes. And and Marilla is kind of testy and really not very nice. And then the her brother is so lovely within, but everybody changes a little and never gets tamed in the wrong way. But she gets tamed in the right ways. Marilla comes around and learns to love. Oh, that's a terrific series. It's a very engaging series.
Nothing, Gilbert.
It's not.
Oh, and guilt and hitting.
The slate over his head when he called her carrot. And he really likes her. And you know, and you see some of that interplay.
Biting tension. Oh, I remember when I was 12, where was Gilbert going to come from? He never arrived. What can I say?
Yes.
Uh, these. So it doesn't have to necessarily be from your childhood, though. Stacy says Charlotte's Web is.
An old.
Friend.
Isn't that true?
You know, talking about pictures. There is a picture of the pig. The baby pig in Fern's arms. I can't get over it. It's so cute.
Yes, I got it.
I got a story about E.B. white, too, in a picture I have of him in my mind. And we'll get to that and we'll get to your call at (877) 548-3675. You see how we, you know, transition there is pretty good. (877) 548-3675. The book that when you see it does something inside of you. I want to hear from you. Call or answer on Facebook. Find out more at Chris Fabbri Live. Org more with Rosie straight ahead. We're talking about books that do something inside when you see them. And the other day I got an email about a book by Frank Peretti. Now you think I'm going to say this present darkness or piercing the darkness of one of those, right. The book that this listener was looking for was titled Tilly. And if you've read it, you know the secrets buried by Cathy and Dan. You also know the healing that comes in their lives. It's the kind of healing that Cornette is doing through their Arc Ministry, abortion, recovery, and care. It's part of the pro abundant life approach of Care Net. They want to save babies, absolutely. But they also know the pregnant mom and the prayer and the father who if he's in the picture, they need help. They need hope. And so did the men and women who went ahead with that abortion and want to heal. Go to Chris for live. Org click the green Care Net button if you're struggling to live forgiven, they have material that you can go through. Men or women, someone you know needs cannot or will need. Care net and you might be the person who says, hey, there's this website. I clicked a green connect button at Chris Fabry Live org. All you have to do is click that button and you'll find out more. Chris Fabry live.org. Oh Rosie, we are just having so much fun here today with these books and and the people who are sending the covers we mentioned just before we move on, we mentioned Charlotte's Web and the E.B. white was a kind of a short, real slight gentleman, you know, and I remember seeing a picture of him. I close my eyes and see it from a book that I used to have of him sitting at this wooden table with the window open, looking at the river, writing longhand, and I imagine him writing, Charlotte, what's papa doing with that axe? Don't you?
Yes.
Are you papa going with that ax? I think it's the actual first line of that. Um, so what about you, Rebecca in Minnesota. Hi, Rebecca.
Hi. Good afternoon. How are you.
Doing? Great.
Thank you so much for having this. Thank you so much for having this topic today. Because I could talk on and on about books, and my cherished book is Peter Marshall's The First Easter. I found it in college in the late 70s, and it's actually a, you know, a first printing edition. And so it's, you know, it looks very weathered and old, and it's actually one of those that I bought for my children for each of their homes as they establish their own homes. Because it's such a beautiful, uh, it's such a beautiful tale of, of course, the first Easter. And it's based on a, um, the sermon, actually, the first sermon that Catherine ever heard him preach. And after he was gone, she took that sermon and made it into a, um, a book. And it's beautifully illustrated, um, by William Hoffman. And it's just a cherished book in my life. And like I said, at Easter time, I pull it out and and try to go through it each Easter. And the first time I went through it, I, I wept the whole time through just the beauty of, you know, of his description and how well he was. You know, he was a wonderful orator and just how well he described that week in Christ's life. So. Oh, so.
The same.
Question then, Rebecca, same question. Then when you if you were to just pass by your bookshelf and see it, what happens inside. Yeah.
I, I, you know, I, I oftentimes pull it off and just thumb through the, the illustrations. And I remember those days I was in Bible college and just the world of a relationship with Christ was opening up to me in new ways. And I think this was a part of that, just a newer, deeper understanding of that week in Christ's life and all that redemption means for us as believers. And so exactly, this really is a special.
Special. But Rosie just said.
Its a marker, isn't it.
Rosie? It's a.
Marker. It's a marker. It's a it's it's the importance of place and time and specific moments that will never go away.
Yeah.
And the memory of the sweet aroma, it's almost like a fragrance that comes up.
You know, it's.
A fragrance. It appeals to the senses in a in a very profound way.
Tom in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is next. Hi, Tom.
Hey, Chris. How's it going? Doing great. Uh, I'm really glad to get to speak to you and especially to your guest. She's livened up, uh, lots of afternoons when I was driving my country Fedex route. And she would be a guest on your show or on the show that your wife was on with some other ladies, and they would talk about books and always enjoyed that a lot.
Thank you.
Yeah. Uh, the book I'm, uh, thinking about, I'll think about a lot of books and about the old bookmobile that came to our neighborhood and the smell of the old public library. And, uh, yes, one thing that I've stuck in my mind is, uh, from, uh, elementary school, probably. I, uh, read the Sherlock Holmes stories. Then when I got to college, I met a guy from Kentucky who was about twice as smart as me. And, uh, he brought, uh, a copy of the complete Sherlock Holmes with him from home. It was thick book of the brown, uh, cover. And it had on on the hardback brown hardback cover. It had the Arthur Conan Doyle's signature on there. And then the I remember the brown, the paper dust cover and how it's raggedy along the top and bottom, and it's got a picture of Sherlock Holmes on it, of course. And then, uh, one quote that, that I mentioned with friends, either in a Bible class or something and, and just go ahead and say it's from Sherlock Holmes story, but sometimes I will be talking to somebody and I will say this quote real seriously, like it's it's a wise thought that I had. And they'll stop and look at me like, ah, what do he what is this? How do you know that? So, uh, your call screener said for me to have the paragraph ready in case you want me to, to read it, you do.
It, you go for it.
You okay? This is from the adventure of the Naval Treaty. There's this fellow named Percy, and he's lost this naval treaty. It's been stolen from him. And Holmes and Watson go to his house in the country, and they're in a room talking to him and his wife, and he's distraught and just about to lose his mind. And, uh, so Holmes stops. It kind of stops everything. And he's looking. He says, uh. So he walked past this. He walked past the couch to the open window and held up the drooping stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of my of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural, natural objects. And then Holmes makes a couple of 3 or 4 sentence comment about necessity of deduction and religion. And then he says, our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to be in the flowers. All other things our powers, our desires, our food are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. It smell and its color and its is an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras. And so I say again that we have much to hope for from the flowers.
That is.
Absolutely.
Stunning.
That was worth the whole program. Just that.
And we've got so many others.
Oh, I love it.
Oh that's wonderful wonderful wonderful.
Thank you.
And and Lynn transcribed that for us up here, Tom. Just our highest assurance and that I'm going to write that one in my journal.
Oh, boy. That's a good one. Wow.
And it sounds like you go ahead. You have to take a.
Breath after that.
It's like it's because it's so.
Real and so true.
That's right. And I don't think that guy was twice as smart as you are. If you noticed that from Kentucky.
Yeah. Uh, this is really good.
Is there any other book, Rosie, that you. Well, I'll let you. You think about that during the break, but is there another book that does that same thing to you as the green David Copperfield? We're going to hear from Rosie, as well as some other folks who call the phone number. Got a couple lines left open for you at (877) 548-3675. We have, uh, Susan says the Trixie Belden series. What about I love you forever. That's what Larry says. Ever having two boys. This book means an awful lot to me. And there are. There's a whole lot more. There's a lot of reading that we can do together more straight ahead, right here on Moody Radio. We're talking about the book that when you see it, it just does something on the inside wall, says The Hobbit for him. Others. Here's Terry, who says Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom I just read that reread that not long ago, and it it did something on the inside, but here's one that I you're not going to see anywhere else, folks. Uh, Patty and David, not sure who sent all of these different books, but the last one is The Chattanooga Cookbook by Helen McDonald, XM, XM. It has fantastic recipes and stories about some of the cook's events and localities in the Chattanooga area. Yes, it's a cookbook you can actually read. Um, it's a it's one of the approximately 920 ish cookbooks in my mother's collection. Fortunately, I also have it in my collection of 412 and read it and use it often. But but a cookbook, a cookbook does that.
You know, I was thinking about that. I was thinking how cookbooks could do that. My little Peruvian cookbook means a lot to me and Betty Crocker, because it was what I started life in the kitchen with. And believe me, I didn't know much. So, you know, I understand that there's there's something about the physicality again, the stains on it where somebody dropped some grease on it, a hunk of apple that dried on it. It's so different than going online and getting a recipe. Yes.
And then the recipes that you have written by your mother, your grandmother, your great grandmother, they've been handed down. Uh, and there it is again. There's that sense of place. It's that sense of connection with someone that you love. Um, Pam is in Indiana. Pam, why did you call today?
Well, I'm going to say also that I'm nodding my head when I hear you talk about the Betty Crocker cookbook, because I totally relate to that. So, yeah. And then a couple one other thing, Chris, I have an adopted grandparents. They're now deceased and cousins with the last name of Fabry. So you don't hear that too often. They were they were from war in Ohio. Yeah. So I just had to share that, you know.
Well, and this happened with.
A, with a caller or an email or something. Um, who would say when we, we look through phone books and look for the people in our name. And I remember doing that, going, you know, to the beach or going to a ballgame and you'd, you'd stay in a hotel and you'd look through the phone book and you'd look for your last name. I wonder if there's anybody who lives here, but but now, you know, with the internet. Yeah. And with Rosie and her phone, you know, she's just always looking at that phone. That's her problem.
Uh, yeah.
This was Sam was his name, but anyhow. Got it. Um, the book that I that I thought of was Heinz Feed on High Places by Hannah Bernard. And it's an old book. It's an allegory. And I read it years ago. And when you were talking about how it affects you, I think it was a marker at that time in my life. And, um, it's about the main character as much afraid. And she lives in the Valley of Humiliation, and she longs to go to visit with the shepherd who comes down to the valley daily. And then she wants to go up the mountain with him. And it's just about that journey. Um, and it's just really a beautiful book.
I can't tell you how many students I've had that have absolutely loved that book. Very well.
Loved.
Michelle agrees with you, and here's what she says. It impacted me deeply the first time I read it. Many years ago, I revisited my original copy, wore out from all the rereading, had to buy a new one. My favorite quote is the thing about altars is that they make possibilities out of apparent impossibilities.
Oh wow. Wow. That's a great quote.
I like that.
Yeah. That's beautiful. And Chris, I appreciate your show so much.
Pam. I appreciate you telling us that. Thank you for the encouragement. Keep it coming. And we moved to Susan, who's in the same state. She's just around the corner in Indianapolis. Hi, Susan. Go right ahead.
Hello? Um, yes. When I was very young. Well, I was born blind, and my mother used to read to us out of a Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. And I just love that book. And when I found I could get my own copy in Braille, I just jumped at the chance. Wow.
Wow.
She was very inspired by, um, his perseverance in writing. And even though he spent a lot of his life, uh, ill and in bed, and she, uh, battled her own, uh, polio for a couple of years. And having a blind daughter, she wanted to make sure that I was inspired with the same inspiration that she got from him. Wow.
It's a lovely story.
Susan, let me ask you this, because obviously, you're not going to pass by and see the book and have something happen to you. But when you feel the words on the page, do you ever hear your mother reading that to you?
Yes. And actually it's sitting on my bookshelf above my computer. And sometimes I'll, I'll touch it and I'll just.
Oh, yeah.
There it is.
Oh that's it. That's the.
Like that.
Ooh.
And again, the connection of of your mom reading that to you and then being able to read it on your own. That's a fantastic story. Here's one from Mary on Facebook. She says this book and it's an old it's a tattered cover and it's an it's let's see, the illustration is not, you know, the most, um, the greatest. It's just kind of a plain illustrated book of a, of a teenager. It looks like sitting alone. And Mary says, this book, Best Friend, is about two girls who are best friends. And the sadness when one of them teams up with somebody else, but later finds many other friends in her life and learns other things are important, too, than focusing on one person. It's a cute story from Scholastic Book Services.
Do you remember that?
Yes.
Did you ever order? Yes.
Weekly reader, I remember all those little paperbacks that were $0.39. Well, that dates me.
But you could.
You could order them and they'd come the day that the books came and you had ordered one, and you got one to hold in your hand, and you took it home.
Wasn't that great? It was.
Very exciting.
Huh?
All right, so Charlotte is up next in Minnesota. Hey, Charlotte, how are you?
Hi, Chris. I'm Rosie.
Hi.
Talk to you.
You too.
My favorite book for all time, I think is Red light, Green Light. It was a children's book and it started out red light, green light, the red light in the kitty's life, green light in a bunny and all that. And it went through all their travel, all through the day. And then at the end of the day, it was just a red light and a green light blinking in the darkness. And the pages were all kind of sepia tone, except for on every page there was a red light and a green light, and you had to find them. Sometimes they were really small.
Oh that's lovely.
Talk. Or I could talk for a week or two to you about favorite books.
Yes.
Um, I've liked several of them that people have talked about. A little House was also a favorite. Oh, and Charlotte's Web, of course, because my name is Charlotte. Yeah. And then on my 18th birthday, my mom bought me another copy of Red light, Green Light, because the one I had as a child was long gone. And today is my 65th birthday.
Oh yeah, you.
Should be talking about it today. And that's also kind of neat because I like to say I was born blind, but I wasn't really blind. I was just too fat and I couldn't open my eyes for the first week.
Just like a kid got into.
Dogs and cats. And so I figured I was destined to be with dogs and cats since they can't see for the first week either.
Haha. That's great.
Look at.
You! Happy birthday!
I'm glad you were able to get here.
Happy 65th! Oh, you've all the places you'll go all the years you have ahead of you. Uh, let's end with Barbara in Akron, Ohio. Barbara, the book that you have for us.
Well, I.
I.
Started out.
Wanting to talk about the hiding place, and then I switched with what you.
Were talking.
About with, um, Oswald Chambers. My utmost. His highest. Um. Because if I know I'm doing this from memory and I haven't looked at it for a long time, but I believe on August 31st, the end of that one, the end of that prayer is, um. And the the life that is rightly related to Christ is as natural as breathing wherever it goes.
Wow, wow.
Yeah.
And that's have.
That's it.
You memorized something that chambers wrote that wasn't his wife was the one who put that together because he he passed away. My utmost for as high as Stacy agrees with you. Stacy says it's like I'm reading something I wrote to myself. I connect on a spiritual level with Oswald Chambers. So thank you, Barbara, for calling in. That's all the time we have for today. But I want to end this, Rosie, with you telling us, what do we do with, you know, with all these books that we've heard and somebody who's listening, who says, I don't have anything like that because I'm not that good of a reader or whatever. What what challenge would you give them?
I would say to them, don't despise children's literature. Pick out a children's version of Pilgrim's Progress, for starters, and just start with that. Or the Narnia series. Yes!
Love it. I'm so glad that you had this idea, Rosie.
You keep.
These ideas.
Coming because I.
Can tell from the folks who are calling in here today. There's just a light about this. And for those on Facebook and who have written this is a really good thing, and maybe one of these days we'll do a program on that new book that you're writing, and that will be one of the things that sparks in somebody's heart and energizes them. Let's talk about it. Go to the website. You can find out more about Rosie's book that unhindered, unproduced, unshaken and do that at Crisp Avery Live org. Our program is production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.