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.

‘To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.  In fact, both their minds and their consciences are corrupted.  They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.  They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.’  Titus 1:15-16

 This verse is directed to non-believers but has implications for believers as well.  The mind represents part of our Soul (mind, will and emotions) and the conscience is part of our Spirit (intuition, conscience, communion with God).  How can we grow if we are corrupted?  After coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, we have to deal with the areas of our lives that are broken…but how?

 I think of a computer that is ‘corrupted’.  It won’t work properly, and neither will we.  We need to run an anti-malware program to clean it up.  It is the same with us.  We need the Holy Spirit to search us to see if there is any evil way in us.  We need a firewall to keep out the evil one because he is constantly probing our defenses looking for a way in.

 Could it be that the reason we see so little passion and commitment in our churches today is because they are full of saved but ‘corrupted’ people?  We need the healing and deliverance that Jesus promises.  Come Holy Spirit and do your work in us.

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I invited my good friend Bob Lee to post here…please leave your thoughts and comments below…thanks ebroussard

My Dad died in in 1990 when I was 28 years old. But he stopped being my Dad long before that date. Just like too many children in America my parents divorced when I was just a child (3 yrs old). We lived in the same town until I was 7 and I vaguely remember going to his house for weekend visits and events like birthday parties and Christmas. We moved 1400 miles away when I started second grade and the memories of my Father were spaced further apart and are not any more clear. There are two bazaar memories I have of my Dad and they are: I remember his hands…he always had rough hands(from fishing on the weekends), and I remember him always singing “When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there” as we drove in the car. When he died it was a very mixed up feeling. He was my Father but he wasn’t my Dad because we didn’t know each other, we didn’t have that relationship.

I have unpacked and repacked that suitcase many times over the last 40 years and the hardest part has been trying to identify my emotions for him. I am not mad at him, I don’t blame him, I am not really all that sad…I simply didn’t know him.

 What I have concentrated on…is being a Daddy to my two beautiful daughters. God blessed Marilyn and I with two children (now young women) to protect, nurture and most of all to love . To love like our heavenly Father…Daddy…Abba loves us. I am still learning how to do that. At times it’s hard, at times it the greatest relational feeling I have ever experienced.

This Fathers Day I will be filled with pride and joy because God has allowed me to experience the relationship of Daddy while here in this world. I love you Betsy and Miranda!

And when the roll is called up yonder…I pray he is there.

So…this is my first post. I am clearly new to this and have various things running through my head as to the purpose and what it is I want to accomplish here. I hope for this to be a place to express what is important to me and and a place to put ideas and ideals in front of others. 

You will find entries about Christ and how to clarify what it means for me to follow Him. You will find entries about my family, my work, what I enjoy doing when I am not at “work”. My wish is that  I will not focus on those activities alone but on the relationships within those activities.

We live in a world that is changing at breakneck speed and it is difficult to decide what to hold on to and what to let go. My hope is that those that stumble on to this place may pause for just a second to consider what is posted here and how that might change or challenge the way they love God and love others.