Deep and Wide: Book Reviews

August 6, 2015 “Stop pushing!” the nurse said. I came to an abrupt halt and my hands flew off the wheelchair. “Not you!” She grabbed the handles and took off down a long, cold, antiseptic smelling corridor with me on her heels. It gave me goose bumps like all hospitals do. Bree Cook A few hours before, my daughter, Bree Cook and I were getting dressed to putz around Rapid City, South Dakota. She was due the next week with daughter number two. Her husband had to be out of town on business, so we decided to have much needed mother-daughter time. “I’ve been having a few cramps every now and then,” Bree happened to mention as we slipped our shoes on. “Do you think I should time them?” “That’s probably a good idea,” I answered. “Let me know when you feel it again.” “It’s happening now.” The contractions felt different to Bree than they had with her first daughter, so we were not sure what was happening. She pulled out her cell phone and push

Thirty-five years ago, air traffic controllers walked off the job and halted air traffic in the United States. President Ronald Reagan called the striking of federal employees illegal and fired eleven thousand controllers. The ripple effect almost crippled the industry. Thousands more lost their jobs with the airlines. I happened to be one of them. I had been a flight attendant for American Airlines for a year when this happened. Within weeks, I was among the countless numbers of flight attendants, pilots, caterers, baggage handlers, reservationists, gate agents, etc. who were furloughed. I lived in Chicago IL, and had several friends that worked at the Board of Trade. So, I got my license to trade futures and went to work. For a while, everything was rosy. Until I started praying for more money. Just enough to help offset the tremendous cost of living downtown Chicago. I wasn’t being greedy or asking to be rich. I just needed a little more. So what

Seventy years ago, along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea—thirteen miles from Jerusalem— A Cave of Qumran Bedouin tribesmen entered narrow caves on a cliff and made the  greatest manuscript discovery of modern times. Over the next decade, the industrious Bedouins discovered many more scrolls in the caves of Qumran that have become known as The Dead Sea Scrolls.  Written on the treated hides of goats, ibex, and gazelles, the scrolls are believed to be the library of a Jewish sect called the Essenes. ibex Hidden from the invading Romans, they lay on the floor in dark caves visited only by occasional rats, worms or other insects, for two thousand years. Rolled up in stone jars, many of them dirty and ragged and mere fragments, the trove produced: • Nineteen copies of the Book of Isaiah that were a thousand years older than any other known copy. • Prophecies by Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, never seen before. • Psalms of King David and Joshua not

This week, Sharon Holmberg Horn tells us about her experience volunteering in her community. It's a wonderful story. Enjoy. Random Acts of Flowers For months now, I have been thinking about volunteering with a local organization called Random Acts of Flowers. They take flowers that have been donated to them from local florists, weddings, funerals or special events in the area and repurpose them into smaller bouquets that are then delivered to folks in assisted living, nursing homes, hospitals and so on. I contacted a friend of one of my sister's who works for the organization. When I asked her if she thought Random Acts of Flowers needed more volunteers, she said, "Absolutely!” and "Could you help us on Friday?" “Sure!” I responded. That Friday night, a national celebration of Pat Summitt's life was held at Knoxville's Thompson Boling Arena. Pat Summitt  was the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteer Pat Summitt basketba