Naked Death

The Memory Keeper's Daughter. The Heretic's Daughter. The Storyteller's Daughter. The Mistress's Daughter. The Alchemist's Daughter. The Tailor's Daughter. The Calligrapher's Daughter. The Abortionist's Daughter. Fortune's Daughter. Eve's Daughter. The General's Daughter. The Hummingbird's Daughter. The Optimist's Daughter. The Preacher's Daughter. Fiction book titles! I can help you title your book. No, really. All you have to do is pick a noun, an apostrophe and "s," then add the word "daughter." Here's some more actual book titles. The King's Concubine. The Time Traveler's Wife. Ahab's Wife. The Philosopher's Apprentice. The Sorcerer's Plague. I was in a bookstore yesterday morning and was laughing heartily at the book titles. Who tells these people to title their books like this? It's formulaic! Just make the observation next time you go to a bookstore. Oh wait, I've got more! It's also helpful to add words like "plot, death/dying, naked, and last." The Last of the Mohicans. Last Night in Montreal. The Last Battle. Seeing Me Naked. The Death of a Salesman. The Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Death in Venice. Basically, I think some author's are trying to sell the book with the title. Then there's this disgusting craze of Jane Austen knock-offs. I thought we were through with her? Stuff like, Mr. Darcy's Daughter. Rude Awakening's of a Jane Austen Addict. Alright, so I have it! The perfect book title! The Death of the Naked Dogwalker's Daughter.

My new bookmarked web page? Google Translate. I love this nifty little website. You can translate just about anything into any language (text, webpages, documents). English to Spanish and vice versa. Russian, French, Korean, Hebrew, Danish, Yiddish. I recently checked how many syllables the word "eye" was in several different languages. You can learn a foreign language by typing phrases in. The only downside I see to this is in pronunciation.

I was thinking last week about my spiritual heroes. Nobody that I idolize, but people that I thank God for. They made a big spiritual impact in my life as a kid. I think of Alice Trouten. She taught me to develop a deep love for God's Word. I remember the incentive of chocolate or something like that. It didn't matter. The reward didn't last, what lasted was the memorization of scripture. I deeply sensed her love of God. I think of Scott Sobie. Boy, I can't say enough. He taught my pre-teen Sunday school class. I loved that class. The study of the Bible and Scott's passion for discipleship for us young guys impacted me deeply. Their smiles are indelibly printed in my memory. Of course there are others. Of course I could tell stories. But I'm glad that there are people I can confidently point to, and say that they represent Jesus.

I'm in my 4th semester of Greek. It's difficult and fascinating. Meanwhile, I still discover things and I like to share. I find it interesting that the Greek word χαρισμα (charisma) is glossed as "gift, favor." It's also translated as "spiritual gift" in Romans 1:11 - something I didn't know before.