I am reading Terri Blackstock's books.  Murder.  Mystery.  Mayhem.  The three M's.  She does three or four books, using the same characters, and then moves on to a new series.  They don't require that I concentrate very hard, I have figured out "who done it" fairly early on, and they are easy to read.

She is a Christian writer who has real, believable characters who don't spout the usual churchy stereotypical terminology and memorized verbiage that you sometimes hear from "holier than thou" types of people who may want to share Christ but are not comfortable in their own Christian skin, or are using someone else's spiel.  I think we need more writers who don't have to use vulgarity and filthy language to communicate.  It is refreshing to read books that communicate with class.

I especially like the way her characters talk to God.  They don't use the usual verbiage we hear in church.  They just talk to Him.  And chew Him out when things go wrong.  And apologize.  And question what in the world He is doing.  But never lose sight of the fact that He is God, and they aren't.  Refreshing.

I pray short prayers off and on all day.  I can't concentrate well enough to pray very long.  I do better in spurts.  I just talk to Him--because of a book that I once read back in the 60's: "Prayer, Conversing With God."  It changed the way I pray--not suggesting that I am an expert at praying.  I'm not.  Up till then, I always used the phrase, (because I had heard others use it) "Lead, Guide, and Direct."  But the question was asked: Lead where, Guide who, and Direct what?  I had no idea.  It was just a phrase I had learned that sounded proper--like everyone else's prayers.  I had no idea what I meant by it.  Actually, I had never thought much about what I was saying.

And another phrase I had learned was one that I said when we blessed our food:  "Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies."  I never use the word "Nourishment" in any other setting.  Now I just say, "Bless our food and thank you for it."  And I sometimes, I wonder what saying "bless the food" means anyway?  Does God bless people, or does He bless stuff?  Maybe I will just say, "Thank you Father for the food."  Perhaps we should all think more about what we are saying when we talk to God???