Thursday Thought: Obedience in the Face of the Unknown
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 8/6/2020 to
Throughout the Bible, we see many figures who reflect ourselves. We see ourselves in their struggles and hope for their same victories from God. In many ways, for those of us who have grown up with these stories, the names and actions of these
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Top Five Children's Books: Animal Main Characters
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 8/4/2020 to
There’s just something about a children’s book with an animal front and center. For many young readers, these quirky, lovable, animal characters become fundamental parts of our childhood imagination and for good reason! It’s certainly a literary
Thursday Thought: The Trick of Alone
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 7/30/2020 to
We are so conditioned in so many of our ways it’s quite frankly alarming. There are so many things we do regularly without even thinking or realizing that we do them and more often than not they’re not exactly great habits. It’s unfortunate but
Thursday Thought: Overcoming the World the Hard Way
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 7/23/2020 to
There were a very fun, very fast, and honestly very painful two months of my life when I got to play rugby. I had just transferred to my university and wanted to try something new. I was drawn to rugby mainly because of the scale of it. Anything
Top Five Children's Books: Reading Around the World
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 7/21/2020 to
One of the great magics of reading is its ability to transport you to faraway places. Children’s literature is full of amazing books set all around the world that give amazing insight into a wide range of stories, issues, circumstances, and
Thursday Thought: The Comparison Game
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 7/16/2020 to
We live in a seriously brutal age of comparison. It’s everywhere. Social media has done some really cool things, but it’s also dangerously heightened our sense of comparison. It’s all too easy to open our phones in the morning, glance through what
Thursday Thought: Incapable You
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 7/9/2020 to
One of my all-time favorite verses in the Bible comes from a story in Exodus. Moses’ story is well known across the world. Marked for death as a baby and surviving incredible odds, he grows up in a life of luxury in the Egyptian royal household.
Top Five Children's Books: Summer Reads
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 7/7/2020 to
Summer is here and with it comes prime opportunities for expansive reading lists. And what better way to beat the heat than to explore some books with those same summery settings? So without further ado, here are my top five picks for summer
Thursday Thought: DIY Courage
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 7/2/2020 to
Everyone at some point in their lives has been told to have courage. We hear it all the time in the face of our fears and troubles. Which is all fine and good, but how are we meant to have courage in the face of so much fear? Fear makes us
Thursday Thought: The Art of Defeat
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 6/18/2020 to
Defeat stinks. There’s just no way around it. It really stinks. People don’t feel halfway about it. It’s not like we have people getting the rug pulled out from under their feet and then saying “I actually kind of enjoyed that!”. Defeat is
Top Five Children's Books: Science Fiction
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 6/16/2020 to
Science fiction! As a genre of literature, this one pulls neck and neck with fantasy but provides something just different and plausible enough to create a sense of wonder and fascination. I didn’t grow up with a lot of science fiction reading
Thursday Thought: Faith that Amazes
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 6/11/2020 to
There’s a seemingly quick and simple story in the New Testament that, true to form, still manages to pack quite a punch: the story of the Roman officer. The story shows up fairly early in Matthew 8 and is also recounted in Luke’s gospel.
Thursday Thought: Never the End
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 6/4/2020 to
In my personal bible reading I’ve been working through the book of Isaiah, and whoooooo boy. It is rough. Compound that with the fact that the other day I happened to be listening to the soundtrack to Interstellar at the same time and let me tell
Thursday Thought: The Battle for Enough
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 5/21/2020 to
When I was younger, I was obsessed with doing well in school but one of my reasons for doing so was tragically off. Having the brain injury that I do, I was very aware of how difficult it made my mathematical comprehension. I was still very solid
Top Five Children's Books: Classics
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 5/19/2020 to
When it comes to children’s fiction, some books stand the long test of time and endure as fan favorites. These are the books a child grows up loving or have been passed down to them after being well-loved by the generations before them. They’re
Thursday Thought: More Faith, Less Fear
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 5/14/2020 to
There’s a lie that I’ve bought into many times and I know I’m not alone in it. It’s a seemingly little lie, but it can wreak havoc in our lives if we aren’t careful. Somewhere along the line we all get sold the notion that to be afraid is to be
Thursday Thought: Perseverance over Prosperity
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 5/7/2020 to
Sometimes, life goes horribly wrong. It’s not something we can avoid or dance around. You work and toil and struggle to reach your goals. You sacrifice and labor just to push yourself that much closer to your dreams. You do everything right, and
Top Five Children's Books: Fantasy
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 5/5/2020 to
Fantasy. There isn’t a kid alive who hasn’t wished for some fantastic magic in their world. It isn’t a wonder that fantasy is one of the most popular genres of fiction across the board. But if you can’t escape into magic in reality, why not do so
Writing Contest Winner: Sophie Brubaker
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 4/24/2020 to
I can't tell you how excited I am to share the grand prize winner of my children's writing contest, Sophie Brubaker! Nine-year-old Sophie wrote a charming, whimsical, and adventurous story about bike riding friends. Something that really caught my
Thursday Thought: The False Percent
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 4/23/2020 to
Obstacles and hardships are not just a possibility in life, but an absolute certainty. That’s just a fact of life. Life is going to be hard. We just know it. I remember my mom once blithely saying “Life is dangerous! No one makes it out alive!”,
Top Five Children's Books: Historical Fiction
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 4/21/2020 to
Who doesn’t love some great historical fiction? Historical fiction gives us not only fantastic stories and characters but context into eras we might not have known much about otherwise. And no one is better served by historical fiction than
Thursday Thought: Rest in the Now
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 4/9/2020 to
No one, and I mean no one, likes the feeling of helplessness. There isn’t anybody who wakes up first thing in the morning feeling helpless and thinks “Aw yeah! This is awesome!”. It just doesn’t happen. The sensation of being weak or helpless is one of those great uncomfortable feelings that is almost worse than the actual thing itself.
2019 Top Reads: Raymie Nightingale
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 4/7/2020 to
Raymie Nightingale, Kate DiCamillo
We’re already here! The final installation of my top reads from last year! That went quickly! But before we wrap up completely there’s room for just one more book from none other than the great Kate DiCamillo. Earlier in this series, we looked at Louisiana's Way Home which was a follow up to the book we’re covering now: Raymie Nightingale. True to DiCamillo’s writing style, the story is a sweet beginning to the friendships explored in her other connected books.
2019 Top Reads: Song for A Whale
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 3/31/2020 to
Song for A Whale, Lynne Kelly
I’ll start by saying this: I didn’t know when I started reading this book that I would spend an inordinate amount of time feeling incredibly anxious over the emotional wellbeing of a single whale, and yet there I was. There were even one or two people who got panicky texts from me about how I wasn’t going to be ok until I knew if the whale was ok. Sorry again about that. You know who you are.
Thursday Thought: Redeemable You
Posted by Avalon Robinson on 3/26/2020 to
For the last month or so in my personal Bible study, I’ve been working my way through Judges and 1 Samuel. I’m gonna be perfectly honest here, it isn’t all that fun. A lot of times I’ve explored these books separately or in little chunks as part of a broader study. But camping out and chewing away at this period of time has been a totally different experience. There’s no nice way to say it, but the time of Judges in Israel was ugly. Just ugly. In many ways, the stories start to sound like a broken record. Israel’s doing well. Israel finds a shiny new god to follow. Israel falls into chaos. Israel wonders how that could have happened and where God is. God rescues those who turn to him. Rinse and repeat.