Half-Truths

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

 ~John 8:32 NKJV

I'd like to share a review of the YA(13-17yrs) novel Half-Truths by my friend Carol Baldwin. Set in the 1950s, the story is very relatable since I am a baby boomer from this era. It was the time of the Civil Rights movement in the South. So much was unspoken, sometimes because of fear, sometimes to keep a civil conversation among family, often because of cultural traditions, and sometimes because of skeletons in closets.

The main character, Katie Dinsmore, is a teen born and raised on a tobacco farm near Tabor City, NC. She wants to go to college and earns money helping in a hardware store in town. Her dream was to be a journalist but at the time that was not a job for women. The story opens with Katie working in the store when a Negro family (the historical term used in Mrs. Baldwin's book as well as the term colored, also historically correct) comes in to make a purchase. Her Papaw enters to make the announcement and his excitement of the KKK parade that is about to begin. When he sees the family shopping in a white owned store he goes off on another tangent, scaring the lady and her children. The tension is already set to make this book a page-turner. 

Katie's scheme throughout the story is to get a college education, but her family can't afford to pay her way. So her half-truths begin. She asked to go live with her grandparents in Charlotte, who are estranged from her dad but who also have the money to send her to college.

The book is filled with the half-truths that cover so much of all our lives, balancing the political and traditional norms of families who disagree. Her dad and her Papaw disagree on the rights of all people to live with equal opportunities. This disagreement wasn't just at the level of the working class, but it permeated to the upper-class society of Charlotte.

Another half-truth Katie finds herself entangled in is pretending to be someone on the outside that she knows she is not. She tries to please too many people for so many reasons that her life becomes filled with half-truths that harm others as well as herself.

She brought two of her pets, Josie the goat and Baccy her dog, with her to Charlotte. They are the comic relief in the story but also play an integral part in helping her discover who she is. Her grandmother's maid wants to work in the science field, but college for a black girl is even more impossible than college for a poor white girl. Katie's goat got ringworm. Grandmother's maid wants to help the goat so she can win a science fair project. Together, Katie and Lillian, the maid, sneak into her dad's funeral home at night for chemicals to help the goat. They overhear an NAACP meeting. The city plans to move the cemetery at Lillian's church so the city can use the land. 

But there is yet more for these two girls to discover. There is a photo in the attic that contains both Katie and Lillian's family. When Lillian is required to take Katie shopping, the clerk mistakes Lillian as the shopper instead of the country girl with the rich grandmother. Lillian could be mistaken as white. Lillian must serve at a luncheon for Katie, where Katie refers to her as the help. She and Lillian already know the truth, but this slight causes a rift in their relationship that may be unfixable.

Heavenly Father, help us love one another as You love, not seeing the color of our skin or the traditions of our past. Help us love one another with grace and truth. In Jesus's name. Amen. 

Hey Kids:

With parents' permission, I think this book could be used as a supplement to history lessons, project based lessons.

• Discuss with your parents and grandparents what life was like when they were growing up
• Katie needed to learn etiquette to participate in her grandmother's society. What forms of etiquette do you need to learn? table settings, passing food, taking turns while speaking? 
• Visit an old cemetery - whose buried there? soldiers, family, children, rock markers, slave graves? Consider, those who do not know the past are condemned to repeat it. 
• How can you show kindness to others who might need friendship?
• How can you work towards your life goals? 

 

Spirit Led

 


The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. ~John 3:8KJV

March – kite flying season. I love the way the wind makes my kite dip and swirl and takes it almost out of sight. Sometimes the string breaks and takes my kite wherever it wants and I wonder where and who sees it.

We are a lot like kites. When we are without Christ, Satan pulls the strings and directs our lives. Like kites, we pull against the string and try to break away. Jesus told Nicodemus that the wind is like the Holy Spirit that comes into a person’s life without being seen and causes changes that take a Christian in new unseen directions. The Holy Spirit, through the power of Jesus Christ, breaks the bonds that tie us to sin. Only then can we be free to be carried by the Spirit to accomplish God’s purpose for our lives.

Is sin holding you down? 

Ask Jesus to forgive you and give you that new life of joy and peace that only He can give. 

Others will see and hear when the Holy Spirit directs your life. Your life may bring change to their life too.

Heavenly Father, may we be directed by Your Holy Spirit, taking us in new directions for Your glory. In Jesus's name. Amen.

Hey Kids:

Have you ever wondered where your kite or balloon went after its escape?

Here's an idea.

Get together with a group of friends and ask permission from your church to use the church's address for this experiment. (Your parents may not want you to divulge your home address).

Tie a note with a Bible verse or invitation to a kite. Be sure to include the address of your church. 

When the replies come in, use a map to find the distance your kite traveled. 

What direction did your kite travel? 

How long did it take to travel the distance? 

What kind of terrain or obstacles did it have to overcome? 

Be sure to follow up with the person(s) willing to answer your invitation. 

Perhaps you'll see a new face at church.  

Purim

 

No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD 

 ~ Isaiah 54:17 NIV

One of the saddest times in recent history is the Holocaust. Since the beginning of creation, Satan has attacked God's people, thinking he could win. When God provided the first sacrifice, He not only showed Adam and Eve there was forgiveness of sin through the coming of His Son, but He told Satan he would be defeated by His Son. So, all through history, Satan has dreamed up plans to stop the coming of the Messiah Jesus. When Jesus was crucified, Satan thought he had won until Jesus came forth from the grave, alive again forever more. So what is Satan trying to do now? 

Satan knows one day he will find himself eternally in the bottomless pit, not in control but in eternal punishment of hellfire. His last ditch effort is to destroy God's people, the Jews. Psalms tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Peace is not an absence of war. It's not happiness gained with money. No one can have peace without salvation, which gives peace past finding out. In other words, you can't understand the peace God gives without knowing Him in a personal relationship. Scripture says that before the great and terrible day of the Lord, Israel will come to know their Messiah (Zechariah 12). So, we see over and over in history how Satan has tried to destroy the Jews. 

In the 1930's, Julius Streicher began publishing a newspaper, Der Strumer (The Attacker). It was propaganda against the Jews. He also published a children's book, Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom). It, too, was propaganda to turn children against their Jewish schoolmates and neighbors.  He was vehemently anti-Semitic, so much so that after World War II, he was charged with war crimes. He was convicted and sentenced to death. A gallows was built. As he was led to the gallows to be hanged, he said, "Purim 1946". 

Purim was the day the Jews were to be destroyed by Haman. Esther had intervened for God and her people. Now, there is the feast of Purim to celebrate the saving of the Jews from destruction. 

It seems strange that someone who knew the scripture well enough to know he was a modern day Haman would be willing to be used in such a horrific way. In our time, many in government are trying to destroy our faith. They are trying to silence us just as Haman and Streicher tried to do. But as Esther and others stood firm in the face of death, we too must stand firm in proclaiming the gospel, even if it comes to death. Satan cannot prevail against Christ and His Church. 

on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

~Matthew 16:18 ESV

Father, we know you are a good and perfect God. Though we may go through trials and may even face death, You have promised us a place of eternal peace. A place of no more dying, no more tears, and no more pain. Father God, help us look to you for strength in our times of need. May we rejoice in your salvation. In Jesus's name. Amen.


Hey Kids:


Do others make fun of you when you don't go along with their sinful actions?
Are you asked to read books that are against scripture?
These things are happening in many public schools across our country. How can you stand against these things? First and foremost, you have to have a personal relationship with Jesus. 

• There has to be a time and a place where you know you are a sinner, you have done wrong things, like telling a lie, disobeying parents, taking something that doesn't belong to you. 
• There has to be a time and a place where you ask Jesus to forgive you and save you.
• There has to be a change in your life, the way you live and behave that is different than the way you were. It doesn't mean you will never sin again, but it does mean that when you sin, you will feel sorry and ask God's forgiveness so that you stay in the right fellowship with Him. 

God is a powerful helper to those who have come to Him for salvation.  If you've never heard or read the stories of Daniel, Esther, and David, let me encourage you to begin learning about these true heroes/heroines of the Bible.