Hannah Coulter and the Great Out of Doors

If I'm not careful this whole blog is going to become about books.



If you missed my tweets, I recently got a free download of "Hannah Coulter" in audio format and it was a great book. I decided to listen all the way through before I started "The Subtle Knife" and I'm glad I did. Most of the fiction I read is "speculative" fiction.  Science fiction, fantasy, weird stuff, etc.  I think I forgot that there can be a real narrative to an ordinary person's life.  As though you have to have some kind of grand adventure to make your life worth reading about.  To be honest the last nonfiction I read was "End of the Spear" by Steve Saint.  Not your average life.  His dad was one of the missionaries speared by Waodoni warriors back in the 50s.  Then he and his mom and aunt moved in with the Waodoni and eventually became family. As an adult he moved away had a family of his own and then moved them back and helped the Waodoni be able to provide for themselves in a changing world. That's a horribly brief summary of a book you really should read, but you get my point.

Hannah Coulter on the other hand was this really great reminder that in every life there are crises and triumphs.  Moments where we feel the blessing and wonder of God.  Marriage, babies, looking out over a beautiful landscape.  Moments where we feel our life is crumbling around us.  The death of a friend, divorce, war.  In short it was a really good book, even though nobody took a ring to a volcano, battled evil wizards or talked to a lion.

And more than that it gave me a renewed desire for the outdoors and getting away from being so plugged in all the time.  I know there's a certain level of hypocrisy in that statement, given the present media, but it often saddens me to see how we've enslaved ourselves to our "conveniences".  My dad never forced me to go hunting or fishing with him.  I went some, but he never wanted it to be something I didn't enjoy because I'd been forced to go, so he always waited for me to ask and most of the time I just didn't think to.  Sometimes I wish he'd kicked my butt outside a few more times or told me I was going either way.  Because I love going now, but the busy-ness of life and living in a different town makes it hard to find the time.  So Dad, if you're reading this, I'm really excited about opening weekend coming up. Even if we don't hit a thing, I'm pumped about getting away from the phones and computers and noise with you and being out in God's creation.  Maybe we'll see something majestic.  And maybe something tasty.