From
the soulfulness of Geraldine Latty’s ‘O Lord Our Lord’, to the
ethereal meditation of Caroline Bonnet’s ‘Abba Father’, to the
surging power rock of Libby Huirua’s ‘So near to me (Jesus)’,
this collection touches many musical bases, but all with their
foundation in love and wonder of God. Sometimes we alone cannot
find the words...this album does much to both ease and yet stir
the spirit.
"I
will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart;
I will
tell of all Thy wonders.
I will
be glad and exult in Thee;
I will sing
praise to Thy name, O Most High" (Psalm 9.1-2)
Wendy
'The
Gift of Pain' By Dr Paul Brand with Philip Yancey
ISBN/Product code: 0-3102.2144-7
ain
- a gift? If that sounds warped to you, consider the following
medical case: a young girl, unable to talk because she had chewed
her tongue off - unable to hear after stabbing herself in each
ear with a pen - her hands and feet reduced to stumps due to constant
self-inflicted wounds. She died in her teens.
This
is the first shocking example that Dr Paul Brand gives us of someone
congenitally unable to feel pain - something that most of us spend
our lives avoiding. What is pain? What purpose does it serve?
Can it be part of God’s original design for us? ’The Gift of Pain’
offers a fascinating - if occasionally grisly - journey through
the subject.
At
its heart is the paradox that those who can’t feel pain often
suffer more than those who can. Dr Brand is a highly regarded
surgeon who made his name in the field of leprosy. He discovered
that leprosy itself doesn’t cause the disfigurements associated
with it. All it did was destroy the ability to feel pain - but
the results would be devastating, as the example above shows.
I
read this book under its original title of ’Pain - The Gift No-one
Wants’. It explores some profoundly thought-provoking subjects
- the degree to which pain is actually ’all in the mind’, for
example, or how pain can be ’befriended’. But most of all, Dr
Brand conveys a sense of wonder at how superbly and blessedly
crafted our pain-sensing mechanism is. It’s a view very much at
odds with our Western ’take an aspirin’ outlook. Read it to be
challenged and inspired.
hen
Women Worship’ brings together a variety of female vocalists in
a variety of styles of praise and worship. Sue Rinaldi, Joanne
Hogg, Libby Huirua and several others join together on an album
that carries you deeper into praise and worship and love.