oasis

I want to publicly thank dear blog friend Brian for sending me some books that have made all the difference the last couple of months as I’ve processed Ye Olde Churche Debacle. No, I’m not done processing. I’m slow on these things. I overanalyze; ask too many questions that probably don’t have answers. Or at least satisfactory answers. I know I haven’t finished telling the story and I intend to. I probably need to.

But in the midst of all this, dear Brian offered to send me some books that had made an impact on him and they sounded so great, so spot-on for where I’m at right now spiritually, that I said yes, yes, yes, and literally DEVOURED them all when they got here. I read all three of them so quickly and, uh, maniacally that I’m now going back and re-reading them ….. slowly, deliberately. Like, Calm down, Trace. Maybe take a Xanax before you read, mkay?

I wish I could adequately describe them all right now — the impact they’ve had on me, how they’ve completely changed how I now consider issues of faith and church — but I can’t quite, not yet. I just wanted Brian to know that not only did I get the books, I read each one and am re-reading them because I need to. I WANT to. I know when I give books to someone, I love to hear that they’ve actually been read, that they aren’t just sitting on a shelf — so that’s why this is here, too.

So Brian, thank you, thank you, thank you. These three books have been a kind of spiritual oasis to me in the last couple of months. It means the world to me that you did that. Thank you again.