I wish I had never picked it up...

Really, no. But selfishly, yes.

Our small group is reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I'm a huge fan of Chan, I've been listening to his podcasts for nearly a year now. His messages are always nothing but challenging. Something that I need in my life... I have a habit of flying under the radar spiritually and just coasting along. This book exposes all of my bad habits in light of a fantastic, all-powerful, incredibly loving, infinite God. On my last post, I referred to the book of James and the fact that our life is a mist. This week, my prayer was that God would expose the things in my life that I spend my time thinking about or doing that aren't worth it. Ouch. Biggest Loser anyone? How about Dancing with the Stars? Or better yet, talking with co-workers about a problem that we've been talking about since August. Or what about my time I spent thinking about what I should wear? Or how my hair looks, or how my makeup looks, or how I would re-decorate my house if I had an infinite amount of money, or what kinds of cars I like the most. Wow.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6: 25-34.

Umm. Anyone else get the feeling that Jesus had an audience of one, and it's you?

I've had some unrest in my life (as you'll see sporadic and random spiritual postings on my blog). Lots of questions have popped up and I've been in a faith crisis for a big chunk of the year (never a bad thing, makes me ask questions and really seek God). However, this book is taking it to a new level. I would say I "love" this book (Matt, chalk that up to another overuse of the word love), but I don't. Chan is frustrated with all the same things I'm frustrated with, but he's DONE SOMETHING ABOUT IT. This book is making me stare myself straight in the eye and ask, "Okay, so what are you going to do now?". It all starts with surrendering my life, my desires, my habits, my time, my everything to a God who knows the end from the beginning. Oh that's all? Easy, right?

Here are some quotes from the book that I've highlighted, underlined, circled, and written down. I think I need to read them at least 3 times a day.

From Chapter 2: You Might Not Finish This Chapter: "When I am consumed by my problems-- stressed out about my life, my family, and my job-- I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God's command to always rejoice. In other words, that I have a "right" to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities. Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives. Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control."

From Chapter 3: Crazy Love: "The Good News-- the best news in the world, in fact-- is that you can have God Himself. Do you believe that God is the greatest thing you can experience in the whole world? Do you believe that the Good News is not merely the forgiveness of your sins, the guarantee that you won't go to hell, or the promise of life in heaven? The best things in life are gifts from the One who steadfastly loves us. But an important question to ask ourselves is this: Are we in love with God, or just his stuff?"

Chapter 4, titled 'Profile of the Lukewarm' is kicking my hiney right now. If you're reading this, I'm warning you: this book will turn your world upside down. If you read this book or not, go to the Crazy Love site and click on videos. Then watch "the awe factor of God" and "just stop and think". Just do it. Whether you know Christ or not, whether you want to know Him or not. If you do choose to read this book (I highly recommend it just so you know) consider yourself warned, you won't be able to sleep at night!