Introducing Lydia Faith

 

Fearless: a review

I have to start by saying I haven’t read a Max Lucado book in about a decade.  I always enjoyed the ones I read, but I have to say they started sound a lot of like.  I felt like I was reading mostly the same thing over and over.  I think this had to do more with the writer’s style than content.  With Fearless, I began reading and instantly could hear Lucado’s voice behind.  That’s a good thing, but not necessarily a great thing.

Having said that, this is a book that is full of great Biblical wisdom for growing fearless in our life.  I love the title because it is something I aspire to be.  The subtitle of the book gives the point of the book: “Imagine your life without fear.”  Specifically Lucado looks at the fear of:

• Not mattering;
• Disappointing God;
• Running out;
• Not protecting my kids;
• Overwhelming challenges;
• Worst-case scenarios;
• Violence;
• the coming Winter;
• Life’s Final moments;
• What’s next;
• That God’s not real;
• Global calamity
• God getting out of my box.

With practical application and insightful wisdom Lucado tackles each of these fears.  Essentially you could say there is something int he book for everyone.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t or hasn’t wrestled with one of these fears.

Here’s some quotes to chew on:

It’s not the absence of storms that sets us apart. It’s whom we discover in the storm: an unstirred Christ (8).

Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodnes (9).

Fear may fill our world, but it doesn’t haven’t fill our hearts. It will always knock on the door. Just don’t invite it in for dinner, and for heaven’s sake don’t offer it a bed for the night (13).

Jesus loves us too much to leave us in doubt about his grace (37).

Putting your worries into words disrobes them (85).

A healthy church is where fear goes to die (87).

God owns it all. God shares it all (109).

With trademark Lucado style, you get a shotgun blast of wisdom that is poignant, timely, quotable, but not necessarily in depth.  If you are looking to explore any one fear in depth you will be frustrated, but if you are looking for a primer on a wide range of fears we face and how to face them with faith-filled courage then you have found the right source.

For me the book was a good reminder of the promises we have in Christ to face “all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

 

Christianish: a review

When I started Mark Steele’s newest book Christianish: What if we’re not really following Jesus at all? my first thought was that I had read it all before.  I love the Steelehouse Podcast (Mark’s podcast with co-host Jeff Huston on finding God in pop culture) and loved Half-Life/Die Already so I was expecting great things.  And great things did I find, just a little later than I expected.

With trade mark humor Mark shares about his experiences that tend to always have a “messy ending” and then shares insight from those experiences on how often what we call “following Jesus” is really more akin to following ourselves.  The first third of the book may have sounded familiar from other stuff I have read, but the final two-thirds was worth the price of the book.

Here are some quotes that capture the essence of the book:

We say we live in pursuit of holiness, but we only pursue it in the areas of our lives that our circle of community frowns upon (57).

In speaking of Jesus when he was tempted by Satan: He didn’t just weigh the options Satan presented Him. He weighed the optiosn tha tSatan did not present Him (61).

If we identify sin in someone else, we feel an urge to lead teh conversation with that. We attack wrongness first as if that is the measure of Christlikeness when in actuality we aren’t giving a lot of thought as to how Jesus would respond (105).

If something moves us, we want to be a part of it – and we want to be noticed as a part of it – and we want to be an important part of it immediately without process, training, or rehearsal. To this end we continue to stick people in places where they either fail or flail (129).

As a Christian culture we have grown morbidly obese: craving little pleasures, paybacks, and accolades to our heroic emotional efforts. Wanting recompense or fame and wanting it now in the way that we define. When we do not receive this desired prize, we usually buy, borrow, or take it anyway – because we decided a long time ago that we deserve it. In so doing, we take what does not belong to us, and then blame God that it didn’t make us feel any better (172).

For all of us the action of following Christ must eventually leave the world of “what am I going to get out of this” and permanently transition into the world of “how am I going to give through this (175).”

We are dodging the lengthier routes that welcome others into our healing. But that should become our new path (274).

Christianish came at the perfect time in my life with much needed laughter AND a kick in the pants.  Without abandoning the idea of “church” and without harsh unwarranted judgement, Mark delivers a dose of wit and wisdom to Christ-followers intent on actually following Jesus, not their personal version of Him.

 

Teens led us in “how he loves”, Amazing

Doug

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Untitled

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Teen band leading worship today, going to be awesome

Doug

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No baby yet…not even close

Doug

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Just ran 6 miles…1st time in a yr & half, needless to say I’m out of shape

Doug

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T minus 2 days until baby

Doug

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Family

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