So I’m halfway back into the swing of things. Good to post the overdue discussion on Crazy Love.
If you’re wondering why now, well it’s because I thought I would recover well enough to read the book and post my thoughts just within a week of having major surgery. That’s just like saying I’m ready to do a cat leap before learning how to stand on my hind legs. Crazy.
Anyway, here are my 2 cents (times 5.5) on the first two chapters of Crazy Love.
- I like how right off the bat, Chan said on page 17 in the Preface, “Don’t worry — this isn’t another book written to bash churches”. I read / listened to enough church criticism and I’m growing tired of it.
- I could relate to Chan’s note on page 18 when he said the church teachings were not “incorrect”, but just “incomplete”. I grew up in church with more boundaries than I thought, where I was told God was good and I was not.
- Did you guys watched the online videos when the book mentioned it? I’ve seen them before in church gatherings so I skipped it until later.
- It’s definitely one thing to know God and another thing to actually live it out (page 27). Guess which one is harder.
- On page 26, the quote “God will not be tolerated” was challenging to me. Remind me of Charlie Hall’s song “Center”.
- I feel grateful that I don’t get to decide who God is…that He already has a name, an identity (page 29). I don’t have to wake up and say, “God, you’re going to be more loving, more generous than yesterday. Can’t wait for this”. But I don’t get to decide this. He is good and perfect in my life, always.
- I felt a weight off my shoulders when the question came, “Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?” Anyone else?
- The movie analogy brought up on page 40 was really connecting. If you think about it, our God and this world are too big to be about a single person. The biggest lie I’m led to believe is life is a story about me.
- What a cool story where Stan Gerlach literally died telling people about Jesus on page 44. A bit of a stretch in real life to me, but it drove the point made in Matthew 10:32.
- The letter from Brooke Bronkowski was like a time machine that took me back to the younger days. Times where I had the same enthusiasms and selfless goals for living life as a joyful Christian. Did we drop something along the way? Can’t help but wonder that parts of our hearts get lost while “growing up”.
- I think it’s true that when we realize that every life and thus, every story has an end, we have an immense opportunity to make it good. I know when I see a goal and give God everything I’ve got to make it great.
If we were conversing in my living room over coffee and croissants, these are things I would say.
Did you like the first couple chapters? Likes or dislikes?
