FPC's annual women's retreat is scheduled for March 11-13 at Blowing Rock Conference Center. The theme will be "Blessed Be My Rock: Stories of God's Saving Love."

We will share stories of God's faithfulness and take time for both small-group discussion and individual contemplation. And in a tradition returning by popular demand, we will also exchange coffee or tea mugs again this year, so be in search of one to bring with you. We trade mugs as a way of identifying a prayer partner for the year. The idea is that each time you use your partner's mug, you will be reminded to pray for her.

Plan to join us for a weekend of sharing, Bible study, prayer, and fellowship in a beautiful setting!

If you are on schedule in our HeartsBurn program for reading through the Bible in 2011, you are well along already. You've finished the book of Exodus and the Gospel of Mark; you are well into Proverbs and have begun the book of Leviticus. Perhaps this is the time to ask: What impact is this reading program having on your faith? On your life as a Christian believer? Can you feel assured that the benefit is substantial and meaningful, or are you just checking off the chapters day by day?

If it's the latter, you may profit from reading Richard J. Foster's recent book, Life With God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation. Foster is a well-known Christian writer, especially noted for his earlier Celebration of Discipline, which has been used in our Sunday School classes and was named "Book of the Year" by Christianity Today magazine. In his latest book, Foster tackles the question of how we should read the Bible in order to bring about significant spiritual transformation in our lives. He suggests that a great many of us read the Bible the wrong way: we seek to gain facts and information about the biblical story, or we search the Good Book hoping to find specific answers to ethical or personal questions in our lives. That's fine, but it misses the point of what should be our chief objective: we should read the Bible to achieve a life "with God," a deeper human relationship than we have ever known before.

Foster's book is divided into three parts. The first, "Catching the Vision," outlines how we can see the Bible afresh. He calls it the "Immanuel Principle," God with us, for indeed the Bible is at heart the story of God's dynamic, pulsating life with human beings. Jesus' declaration in John 10:10, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," takes on new meaning as we catch the vision.

Foster's second section, "Nurturing the Intention," describes means by which we make the Scriptures truly and personally fulfilling. He lays out a plan involving "listening" with depth as we read the Bible, reflecting upon what we have read--reflection that should lead to prayer and then to obedience. He concludes this section with the observation that reading the Bible should be done within the Christian community, which fits in nicely with our HeartsBurn endeavor.

The final section, "Understanding," is about the achievement of a deeper life with God, not that we have achieved perfection. He cites the careers of John Woolman, a noted Quaker of our colonial era, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who with deep inner peace of mind remained in Germany during the Nazi era, fully aware that the outcome would likely be his own execution.

Whether you are participating in HeartsBurn or not, this book can be a most helpful and meaningful read. It's on the display table ready for you.