This month, from Doug Jones:
“Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of My people.” Scripture routinely denounces economic sins, yet for deep, modern reasons, we can no longer see them. This brief book offers an angle to start seeing the world through more biblical categories. The book isn’t explicitly Christian, and everyone will find things to disagree with, but use it to raise questions and challenge your assumptions. The prophets will make much more sense. As you read, though, remember that this is just the surface of modern economic sins. But it’s a great place to start.

Click on the book cover for more information or to buy the book!

When an email goes out to our church community, to help provide meals to a family, I’ve often wondered what kind of food is being prepared and delivered. I’ve provided meals, but I’ve never needed meals delivered to my home. I’m quite fascinated by the whole concept of using food to bring comfort to others.

For me, the most difficult part is determining what’s best for the family. Do they have small children? Any dietary restrictions? How do I prepare a meal for only four people? How do I prepare it so that it will keep for a few days and still taste good? Should I put it in something that they can throw away rather than wash?

I happen to believe there are many women, and men, who would love to help out, but their fear of cooking keeps them from participating in the whole meal-delivery-thing, or even inviting people over to their homes for meals.

For those reasons - and many more - and because food is such an important part of hospitality and caring for others, I’ve started adding a few cookbooks to our website: to inspire you, provide you with options, and to broaden your cooking horizons.

On our website, you’ll find cookbooks, food-related books, and hospitality books under the category Family then under the sub-category of Hospitality and Cooking. I’ve added three new books: Bake Until Bubbly: The Ultimate Casserole Book, by Clifford A. Wright, Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker: Recipes for Entertaining, by Beth Hensperger & Julie Kaufmann, and The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, by Pam Anderson.

On each of the product pages, I share some information about the book AND provide one of the recipes. Take a look at my new selections and, as always, I welcome your feedback.

J.T. Grauke (our intern who is oh-so-much-more than an intern) has been busy the last few weeks, trying to help Canon become a little more tech savvy. Below is the first fruit of his efforts: a book trailer for the upcoming new edition of The Book Tree.

Yes, you read me right. A book trailer. Take a peek, share with your friends, and keep your eyes peeled. There will be more.

A few months back, we upgraded our email list software. See, we were overhauling our email newsletter. Moving on from our old, unreliable, and sometimes hard-to-read template, we adopted a sleeker pattern which we like to call “e-postcards.” Each one is designed by our very own Rachel Hoffmann, who takes nebulous ideas (courtesy of Austin and myself) and turns them into concrete, eye-catching postcards.

What’s more, instead of overwhelming readers with a long email chock full of text and information, we’ve started to use the postcards to bring more people to our blog. Why? Because the blog gives us a freedom that our email newsletters didn’t. It allows us to publish author Q&As, guest posts from our authors and friends, and (every now and then) give you a peek into what keeps us busy here at Canon.

So we’re pleased with the new format…but how do you feel about it? Inquiring minds want to know.

But back to the email list upgrade. One of the more entertaining features of our new software is that it allows readers, while unsubscribing, to tell us why they’d rather not get our emails. A lot of people tell us that they simply receive too many emails, and we sympathize. We know how difficult it is just to get through personal correspondence. But every now and then, people tell us what they really think of us. We learn from the responses, but honestly, sometimes we just have to laugh.

A few week ago we received this note: “Because I hate you. Is that good enough?” On our most recent mailing, someone delicately informed us, “I want nothing to do with Doug Wilson or his associates.” In the past, we’ve had a couple other similar notes (though none so eloquently worded).

But our favorite (and it indeed, it was a gem), was when someone sadly let us know: “I no longer own a Cannon printer.”

What more need be said?