You won’t regret it.  Because I sure didn’t and looking forward to my third read.

What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.

You can find it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Powells Books.

Go get it.
Thank me later.
And start living.

Here we are to continue living room talk about Crazy Love.

I had the spread out the readings to about a chapter per week, but found myself going back on each one because there was such much to catch and be challenged on.

Here are some thoughts I took away for the next three chapters:

1. On page 55, Chan mentions that “when we love God, we naturally run to Him – frequently and zealously…Our motivation changes from guilt to love”.  I’ve actually experienced this recently – times in my office/music room while worshiping with my guitar/singing and when walking out of the doctor’s office when she said I can chew again and my recovery is nearly complete.  For me, it’s just facing God and letting go.  The truth is, though, I don’t run to Him enough. And I really want to run to Him more.
2. I think it’s amazing that Chan spent four days alone (literally) with God.  Not a peep to anyone.  Has anyone tried something like that?  What happened during your time away?  The longest I’ve tried was half a day and it was very very hard.
3. The craziest thing is Jesus is complete and thus, doesn’t need us.  He still chooses us and see us as His “glorious inheritance” (Ephesians 1:18).  To know His name and that He treasures us is the greatest knowledge.  I love that.
4. At the end of Chapter 3, the big question comes up: are we in love with God or His stuff?  I remembered posing this question to one of my youth during our discipleship times, but I think it’s a great heart-check for anyone.  How would you answer this question?  For me, both buying a house and growing in worship leading forced me to answer this question. Would I still be OK with God if these gifts were taken away?  Would He be enough?  Honestly, it wouldn’t be enough.  I wanted recognition for serving well, a place to host gatherings, more opportunities for myself, etc.  But really, all that pales in comparison to God’s all-consuming love for us.
5. I like the cautionary advice written on page 65: do not assume you are good soil. It’s a great reminder for ourselves to see if what we’re talking/singing/preaching about is actually being lived out.
6. There are 18 descriptions of lukewarm Christians.  Which ones did you find most challenging? I found the following:
   - “Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends.” (page 69)
   - “Lukewarm people say they love Jesus, and He is, indeed, a part of their lives.  But only a part.” (page 70)
   - “Lukewarm people love God, but they do not love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength.” (page 71)
   - “Lukewarm people love others, but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves.” (page 71)
7. “Is this idea of the non-fruit-bearing Christian something that we have concocted in order to make Christianity ‘easier’?”  (page 83)  Good question.  However, I do not doubt that we humans have tried to compromise even the Gospel to get to heaven. After all, that’s what sin does: compromise.
8. Tim Kizziar’s quote on page 91: “Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” Just. Wow.
9. Did anyone do the exercise on page 92 of replacing “Love is…” with your name in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8?  I felt like a liar in the parts of envy and “bearing all things”.  When something really goes wrong, I tend to shut down.
10. Chan notes that “true faith holds means nothing back; it best everything on the hopes of eternity.”  What a massive statement I want to follow.  I can’t say honestly say I can give everything to God mostly because the unknown path is scary. But I don’t think it was ever meant to be easy.  Faith is not meant to easy.  Otherwise it wouldn’t be called that, right?

These are my thoughts.  So far, a great read with many thinkers along the way.

Yours?  Anything you liked or not liked?

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. It’s definitely one thing to know God and another thing to actually live it out (page 27). Guess which one is harder.
5. On page 26, the quote “God will not be tolerated” was challenging to me. Remind me of Charlie Hall’s song “Center”.
6. 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.
7. 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?
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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”.
11. 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?

C’mon…let’s talk about the book.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be diving into the book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God from Francis Chan.  My accountability brothers and I were hanging at my house one day, wondering what else we be doing in this group besides praying and making sure none of us didn’t look at porn.  I mentioned that I’m on this idea of loving God, loving people, and what that all means.  The book idea popped up and now we’re running with it.

If you read it, that’s awesome.  If not, feel free to grab a copy and hop out of the boat to explore these seas of pages with me.  There’s bound to be truths worth catching.

Instead of a book review, I hope it would be more of a discussion. Imagine being in someone’s living room and we just started talking about this red book.  Easy, peasy.

Will be back next week to talk about the first two chapters.

To break some ice, what was the last paper book you have read?
You know, the ones which have pages and covers at the ends…