<So…I took the summer off from blogging. It’s been a relaxing 2.5 months. We have had some great family time and if the weather would cool off…everything else for FALL would drop into place. If you have been here before, thanks for coming back. If you are new…welcome…stay as long as you like.>

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In early October of 2006 there was a horrific shooting at a one room Amish school house in Nickel Mines Pennsylvania…killing 5 and wounding 5 more young girls. I think most of us probably remember that event. What I have never been able to purge from my mind is the reaction of the Amish families that were directly involved and the Amish community as a whole.

You see, more than half of those that attended the killers funeral were Amish. And as the money and gifts poured in from all over…the Amish included the killer’s widow and her children in the distribution of the gifts. How do they forgive like that?

So when I ran across this book, Amish Peace, at the first of the summer…it made the top of my reading list.

What a wonderful book and what unique people. The book explores how the Amish view time, money, community, forgiveness and the sovereignity of God. The author, Suzanne Woods Fisher, spent days with them in order to learn their stories so she could share them with us. The attraction that I now have for the Amish lifestyle is summed up in one word…simplicity.

Why is it so hard to live a simple life?

The Amish personify simple living! Here are a few notes on why/how from the book:

• to only live with the things that they really use…and to treasure them.
• Amish farms have no more than 80 tillable acres…on purpose.
• each church district is kept to roughly 20 to 30 families…on purpose.
• their houses and barns are spartan -like; spacious and uncluttered.
• simple dress and grooming…so not to promote pride or status.
• possessions are guided by function and practicality…not by the latest style or trend.
• money is to help others.
• not less choice…but they choose less.

I encourage you to grab the book…the stories read kind of as a devotional. I am not quite ready to become Amish, but I would love to begin living out some of the Amish ways.

The book is full of Amish proverbs and this one grabbed me…“Live simple, so others may simply live”

Share your experience with the Amish in the comment section below or get the book and let me know what you think.

Having been raised in the church and being a Christian since the age of seven, I was interested to see if my gospel had a hole in it? Better than average at treating the people around me, consistent church attendance (college years don’t count right), Bible studies, elder board, and no “big” sins. Surely if there is a hole…it would be quite small! 

However, I have also spent most my life turning my head or turning the channel when I came across pictures or stories of hunger, poverty, and death. I cannot stay in my comfort zone seeing clear evidence and knowing that kind of wickedness exist in the world that I live.

Richard’s book The Hole in Our Gospel ripped me out of my comfort zone. It wasn’t a complicated book to read but it was a very hard book to read. Hard because the horrible stats took on a realness that I had never felt. The motivation by him to describe the pain and the way that we have missed it was out of love not guilt. And his presentation as to why this is an integral part of the Gospel of Jesus is clear and convicting. Richard’s experience in the business world, the “Christian” world and in the world that few of us venture to go (the hopeless world of hunger, poverty and AIDS) has given him the credentials to tell the rest of us where we have fallen drastically short. To live out this part of the Gospel would inconvenience us and expose us to great pain and heartache. Therefore we accept Jesus but rarely follow Him into this part of His story.

I am humbled to say I have a gaping hole in my gospel. But I am now committed to closing that hole because of Richard Stearns and his book. Thanks to Richard and Thomas Nelson for allowing me to read and review this work.

re-envisioning the Gap Between CHRIST and CULTURE

I am reading through this book with about 12 other guys this fall. We started a few weeks ago and will be reading and discussing it for the next six weeks or so. I want to invite you to grab a copy of the book and join us in the discussion. Through the miracle of the internets (it’s what we call it here in the foothills of North Carolina) and this blog…we can read and chat together. Maybe we can get Kary to join the discussion…I am sure he has the internets in Ohio. My last couple of post “What’s the difference between in and of” and “love your neighbor as yourself” have dealt with some of the first topics brought up in the book. If you get a chance, read back through those and comment as you feel led.

The question is kind of this…as Christians, do we have a responsibility to be relevant to those around us? It seems we churchgoing Christians focus a whole lot on getting ourself “saved” and convincing others of their need for that same fire insurance. But once we get the ticket we go back to blending in…either in our church clubs or in melding into the big bad world.  If we do have that responsibility then just how do we live that? Kary talks about these two camps…the Separatist and the Conformist. One removes itself from the world so as not to be tainted and the other joins the world so they can be accepted into the culture. Then there is this third camp…people that are able to walk The Fine Line between separating and conforming. Wouldn’t it be great if others could see Jesus in us without trying to be so religious.

On page 20 He says “Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that there is little difference between the attitudes and actions of believers and unbelievers. Rather than drawing people to Christ, many Christians are pushing people away because of the disconnection between what we say and how we live.

Run down to your local book store and pick up The Fine Line or do like I did and cut this deal with Amazon…I send them money and they send me books. If you are interested in the subject or in joining us, click the word comments below and let me know.

My last post was simply a tease to try and get you to read the latest book by Frances Chan called “Crazy Love”. The book took my breath away and I could not find the words to justify a normal book review. Since that post, I have have had a number of people ask me to say more about the book. It’s kind of like after you watch a really good movie and you can’t seem to get it out of your head for the next three or four days. That book got in my head and I am just now able to think about it with enough clarity to write. Most of what is below are the words of Frances Chan as described by someone that has been convicted by them.

We live caught up in ourselves. If you need proof check out this interactive chart published last week on how we spend our day (see if you can pinpoint religious activity in the chart…it’s in there). Very little in our current lives propels us toward Christ. Each of us to some degree, fool our friends and family about who we really are. I often find myself phrasing my sentences to make me sound better. But the truth is we cannot hide who we are from God. How do we overcome the huge desire to focus on self? Christianity, as most of us know it, is “how much do we have to do for Him to get by?”.

We truly have as much of God as we want.

This life is a vapor and when we face the holy God all that will matter is the reality of who we are before Him.

3366ff;">First Corinthians 3:13-15 says “His work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

We have to realize and believe that enough so that it changes how we live! Jesus said the road is narrow and few will actually find it.

Living “right ” out of fear and guilt is exhausting. When we serve out of reasons other than love, it feels like work and it is hard. The motivation is love…Galatians 5:13 says to serve one another in love. Instead of melding into the “unbelieving  Christian” world…having faith and love will often mean doing what others see as crazy…crazy love.

How we live our days is how we live our lives. I am trying to move “Crazy Love” out of my head and into my heart and then into my life. I hope you will too.    

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There is probably another post to come from this book…I am trying to find the guts to do it.