The Road to Becoming - Jenny Simmons

I received this book not knowing the author was also one of my favorite musicians. Simmons, as the lead singer of the group Addison Road has written and performed some very deep and moving songs. This book however is about how it all came undone, how it all fell apart, how a dream died and the road to coming out the other side. Too often we only see the success of those in the limelight. We hear a great song on the radio but we don't know about the year living across the street from a pimp, the endless weeks on the road, the baby's first Christmas in a Motel 6, the call that nearly everything you own is literally being scraped off the interstate because your RV blew up and burned so hot he highway patrol needed special equipment to separate the remains from the road. We don't hear about the hard times, we are left thinking those who have made it have had an easy road. Simmons' openness and honestly about the journey through success, and then having to let go and let the dream die is one of encouragement and hope.

As one who has had to watch a dream die and walk the road of unknowing and waiting to see where things will land I found this to be an incredibly encouraging read. The road to becoming who and what God is calling us to be will often not be an easy on, nor will the route be nicely mapped out for us to see but we must learn to follow where it leads and trust the One who is leading us. 

If you need hope for your journey, if you feel like your dream has died, if you are just setting out on the road towards your dream, this is a read reminder that the road way not go where we think but if we trust God for the destination and that He will carry us through every chapter of it. 

(I received this book from Baker Books in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own)

What cost are you willing to pay??

This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday and so we'll be looking at John 12 on Sunday. As I have been preparing I'm struck by the different reactions to Jesus.


We first have Mary, who anoints Jesus with the costly perfume, which we are told was worth about a year's wages. Let's put this in perspective. "Bethany" the village where this takes place means "House of the poor." It was located just a short distance outside of Jerusalem and so it was kind of like the little suburb where people who can't afford to live in the city live. This was not a village that was known for extravagance. Further, a year's salary, if we assume even a day labourer was a substantial sum. Today in BC the minimum wage is $8.75 which is $70 a day, $350 for a 40 hour work week, $17,500 for a 50 week work-year. That's a lot of money! Even more if that is all you've got. Where Mary got this perfume or how she managed to pay for it we're not told but she poured out this extravagant gift on Jesus without any expectation of anything in return. You see, she had already figured out who Jesus was and was willing to give Him the very best of what she had.


Judas on the other hand didn't understand who Jesus was. He had followed this guy for three years figuring He was going to lead a revolt & overthrow the Romans and when that happened, Judas would be in His inner circle. Judas had been getting impatient however, he wasn't seeing a return on his investment. Three years of following Jesus, going where ever he took them hadn't amounted to much yet so Judas had begun skimming a little out of the collective funds of the group. In the end he would betray the one he'd followed.


Then we see the religious leaders who, we are told in vv 9-10 were no longer content with getting Jesus out of the picture but were plotting to kill Lazarus as well. We've got to remember that political games and opportunism are nothing new. The religious leadership was made up primarily of two parties, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who didn't get along all that well. Lazarus was causing trouble for both of them though because many people were believing in Jesus because of him. Lazarus also caused big problems for the Sadducees because they didn't believe in a future resurrection of the dead and the presence of someone who had risen from the dead posed a slight problem for this conviction. These leaders were willing to go to any length to ensure that their way of thinking and the power they held were not challenged.


Finally, we have the crowds that welcomed Jesus with great fanfare as He came into Jerusalem. They waived palm branches and cried Hosanna! They were welcoming a king. They thought He was going to liberate them from political oppression. They missed that Jesus was coming to free them from a much greater oppression. When it became clear that Jesus wasn't going to do what they wanted Him to, His support quickly vanished.


The question is, do we give all we have? Do we hedge our bets and unscrupulously set aside for our best interests? Do we plot the downfall of anyone who opposes us or threatens our way of thinking, rather than consider we might be wrong? Do we enthusiastically cheer with the crowd and quietly scatter when it doesn't go the way we thought it would?


What cost are we willing to pay?