Everything's Coming Up Irish: An Irish Name and a Little More History

• Carla points her readers to a place where we can get our own Irish Names. Here’s mine:
  
  

  Your Irish Name Is…

  Sorcha O’Donnell

  What’s your Irish Name?
  
  I think I’ll stick with the name I’ve got, thank you.
  
  
• Candy of Shook Foil posts a few facts about the history of Celtic Christianity.

Would you like to join in the Everything’s Coming Up Irish fun? Post anything related to Ireland or Irish things and send me the link (You can email me, or leave your link in the comments to this post.), then look for a link to your post in one of the upcoming ECUI posts. No blog? No problem. Email me your contribution or leave it in the comments and I’ll post what you’ve contributed in one of the Irish posts.

Bookmark this Meme

Kim of Hiraeth has a new business venture, selling custom, handmade bookmarks featuring her beautiful calligraphy. She’s introducing her new site with a meme—a book meme, of course.

• Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
  I like hardback best (who doesn’t?), but I read a lot of paperback. They cost less, and they’re easier to get.
• Online purchase or brick and mortar?
  Mostly online. The chance that the bookstore here in town is going to have the book I want in stock is pretty slim.
  
• Barnes & Noble or Borders?
  Neither. If I shop in a store, it’s at the used book store or Mac’s Fireweed Books.
• Bookmark or dog-ear?
  I use one of these.
  
  

• Mark or not mark?
  I mark them up and doodle in them.
• Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
  I put them on the shelves by subject or type of book (mostly), but I do make allowance for size, and when I have several books by one author I try to keep them together. In other words, I have my own weird system that I understand, but confuses everyone else.
• Keep, throw away, or sell?
  I never throw away. If I know I’ll never look at it again, I donate it or sell it at a garage sale. The rest, I keep.
• Read with dustjacket or remove it?
  Read it with the dustjacket.
  
• Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?
  I don’t read short stories enough to have an opinion on this.
• Lord of the Rings or Narnia
  Once again, I’m going to avoid answering. I like them both. They’re different sorts of books, and they serve different purposes.
  
• Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
  I stop reading whenever a crisis arises that requires my attention.
  
• “It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
  “Once upon a time.”
  
• Buy or Borrow?
  Buy. If I borrowed it, I’d have to give it back.
  
• New or used?
  Used, but in good condition, if I can find it.
  
• Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?
  All of the above.
  
• Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
  Tidy ending. I hate cliffhangers and feel cheated if there is one.
  
• Morning reading, afternoon reading or night time reading?
  Mostly night time, but also whenever I can sneak in a few minutes throughout the day. I love reading in the car while I wait to pick someone up, or reading while I wait for an appointment.
  
• Standalone or series?
  Mostly standalone.
• Favorite series?
  I really haven’t read books in series since I was young. The Narnia books or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, maybe.
  
• Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
  I usually read classics, so at least some people have heard of them. They may not have read them, but they’ve heard of them.
  
• Favorite books read last year?
  I read Knowing God again, and that’s always a favorite.
• Favorite book of all time?
  Nothing else compares to the Bible.

Sunday's Hymn: Irish Hymn Writers

Beneath the Cross

Beneath the cross of Jesus
I find a place to stand,
And wonder at such mercy
That calls me as I am;
For hands that should discard me
Hold wounds which tell me, “Come.”
Beneath the cross of Jesus
My unworthy soul is won.

Beneath the cross of Jesus
His family is my own—
Once strangers chasing selfish dreams,
Now one through grace alone.
How could I now dishonor
The ones that You have loved?
Beneath the cross of Jesus
See the children called by God.

Beneath the cross of Jesus—
The path before the crown—
We follow in His footsteps
Where promised hope is found.
How great the joy before us
To be His perfect bride;
Beneath the cross of Jesus
We will gladly live our lives.

—-Keith and Kristyn Getty

From Kristyn Getty:

A friend from Westminster Seminary inspired us in the thought of how the cross is not just something in our past providing a way for our salvation, nor is it only providing a secure hope for the future in Heaven, but actually it should impact everything we do today. When we come to the cross, we don’t just stand there by ourselves—we stand with thousands of people from every tribe and tongue under the same Savior and same grace. Considering how unworthy I am coming to the cross, and finding I am forgiven, how can I then turn and look at others and dishonor them or somehow think I am better than they are?

---

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah at IMD 2.0.
• A Hymn from Isaac Watts and more at Thirsty Theologian
  
• Take Up Thy Cross at Magic Statistics
• Update: Thou Art the Way at Fish and Cans
  

Have you posted a hymn for Sunday and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar, and I’ll add your post to the list.