A Book That’s Not For Sale
“Hey, Daddy, I wrote this book for you.” – my daughter Callie
And here it is…in full.
“Jesus” – Written and illustrated by Callie Mashburn.
Published by the Callie Company.
Isn’t this sort of what all of us need to do? Own and retell the story of Jesus in our own words? “Illustrate” it ourselves with our own colorful stories and perspectives? And “publish” it by living it out in our own lives?
I guess we could tear up the detailed inaccuracies between Callie’s book and The Book (like the fact that in the Bible Joseph doesn’t seem to be around when the crucifixion of Jesus took place, even though Callie describes he and Mary being “so sad” when Jesus died), or get caught up correcting the bad grammar or misspelled words (“sall”=saw), or point out that an actual picture of the cross of Jesus would be a tad more gruesome that Callie’s drawing. But, oh, how we would miss the point of it all, eh? Oh, how we would miss the heart. And we would be frozen stiff, afraid to to tell the unbelievable story of Jesus because we might “get it wrong” or “not be good enough.”
I pray that Callie never stops telling the story.
Eventually, of course, I want the title of her book to be “Callie” – Written and illustrated by Jesus.
What a sweet book that is, and Jesus is writing it right before my eyes. And what a sweet book Callie has written and gifted to me.
It’s not for sale. But here is your reminder that these are. Auctions close on Sunday and Monday nights. If you have any interest in them (or in supporting the Mashburn family’s takin’-care-of-business fund), be sure to bid in these by then.
On a side note (but probably worthy of it’s own blog piece based on several conversations I’ve had this week), it was a little sad to me that Callie ended her book with the observation that back in Jesus’ time, “every day people would go to the cross and worship Jesus,” but “these days, we worship Jesus by going to church and singing about Jesus.”
If she is right, and that is the extent of how we worship “these days”, we need to get back to how they did it back then: both in frequency and focus.
Thank you for the book. Ryan Kate, Cade, and Carson are becoming of age. Ryan’s number 1 question, “Daddy, is she a nice girl.” Boy’s question, “Daddy, can we read the Bible tonight?” Why is there a question? I feel bad for them wondering and I feel so good because they know we do. Pray for all of us parents. Especially the older ones (now 52 with 3 year olds and 8 year old), what was I thinking? Thanks for your writings. They inspire me. Your friend.
David Jones
Thank you for the book. Ryan Kate, Cade, and Carson are becoming of age. Ryan’s number 1 question, “Daddy, is she a nice girl.” Boy’s question, “Daddy, can we read the Bible tonight?” Why is there a question? I feel bad for them wondering and I feel so good because they know we do. Pray for all of us parents. Especially the older ones (now 52 with 3 year olds and 8 year old), what was I thinking? Thanks for your writings. They inspire me. Your friend.
David Jones
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing that.
Brian,
I did it. I took that leap of faith yesterday and I truly believe that Christ has full control of the situation. I had the best sleep ever last night in months. I read the passage yet again on worrying and I have to have the faith that God will provide, and the wisdom to know which voice is the truth and which is the lie. Getting excited to run that race and fight the good fight, good or bad, win or loose. It says, if Christ is for us then who can be against us right? That is my philosophy today. I was up a 4 this morning and felt like God needed me to spend time with him. God has no sense of time, 4 am means nothing to him when he has something important to reveal. LOL. Please tell your amazing wife that it is done. she’ll know what I mean. You have a great day. May God speak to you and reveal something truly amazing in your day. I feel a huge desire to serve, but have no clue where. I need help in that department. The first step of Faith is to leap…..I’m curious as whether God will catch me, or teach me how to fly. I’m good with either.
Trish Bolton