Book notes

In Changing Times

Jacob and Hilda Born

This pot pourri of anecdotes and musings drawn from the life of octogenarian Hilda Born and her husband Jacob takes the reader from their Prairie childhoods, to life in the Fraser Valley, to travels in Europe and Africa. Hilda’s observant eye captures details that bring beauty to the mundane and her attuned heart finds spiritual lessons in the ordinary. The book also contains several original poems and family photographs.

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The best is yet to be: The memoirs of Vern Heidebrecht

Journeying from a dirt-poor farm in Alberta and B.C., to Bible college and seminary in Winnipeg and California, to pastorates from North Dakota to California to B.C., where he built Abbotsford megachurch Northview, Heidebrecht ends each episode with “the best is yet to be….” His gracious acceptance of difficulties, like his daughter’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy and his own diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, speak to his character, which was recognized by the City of Abbotsford with an award in 2006.

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For Love of Family and Farming

Cornelius Pauls

Take a stroll through colourful vignettes from the life of Cornelius Pauls. From childhood mischief to cross-country car trips, drug-dealing neighbours, and close calls with death, the chapters of Pauls’ life always include church involvement – building relationships with youth, extending grace and love even when it’s challenging. He modelled that “the power of a dream is not in the details, but in its ability to inspire action,” writes son Tim in the foreword.

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Fifty Shades of Grace: Stories of Inspiration and Promise 

Melodie M. Davis, compiler

Breaking the rules, a conductor allows a passenger to step off the train at a whistle stop to hug her aged father before continuing her journey; a father who lost a daughter in the Oklahoma City bombing forgives the McVeigh family; a pastor who prays for God’s spirit on a bitter, dying woman receives a supernatural portion of love herself. These 50 chapters recount and reflect on experiences of grace in ordinary moments and life-changing events. Authors are students, seniors, pastors, laypeople, including MBs Lovella Schellenberg of Mennonite Girls Can Cook, and David Chow of Killarney Park MB Church, Vancouver.

Updated with cover images and links to publishers -- August 26, 2013.