Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

So I just recently finished reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Admittedly I had some reservations about reading this book because I have always heard really mixed reviews on Mr. Bell. I am happy to report however that I really enjoyed this book.

Now I have never really done any serious research on the theology of Rob Bell, and I am still a little shaky on what all he believes. But in this book, he just genuinely seems to be painting a picture of what he wants the Christian faith in the world to look like. In it’s simplest, Bell calls for the believer to fall more in love with Jesus, and to be more in awe of Him.

In Chapter 2, Bell describes the necessity of biblical interpretation. Interestingly, he argues against the idea that people can just live as the bible says, stating that everyone has there own biases and interpretations. Chapter 3 is possibly one of the most thought provoking chapters in the book, where Bell delivers his thoughts on missions and the reconciliation between truth and our experience. These are just things I found interesting in two of the eight chapters in this book.

There is a lot of great discussion points in this book, and I really wished I had read it with someone else so that we could have discussed it as we went. In my opinion Bell is not presenting anything that has not been presented by others who are questioning and “repainting” as it were what the Christian faith looks like.

A lot of people would fault Bell for being post-modern and emergent church folk, but I am not going to do that. The fact is, as I see it, and read it in this book, Rob Bell has a genuine love for Jesus, and he wants others to experience that kind of love also.

I just recently picked up one of his other books, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, and I am excited to read it when I finish the last chapter of Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

A New Prayer

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “Rise up my love, fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

~A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Do We Really?

I am a huge fan of music. I love listening to it, playing it, and recently I have become fascinated with what is being said in the lyrics of songs. So recently I was listening to the song “Hosanna” and I started to think about the lyrics I was singing. Here is the line in particular that caught my eye:

“Break my heart for what breaks yours”

Here is what gets me. This is an incredibly popular worship song. I have seen hundreds of teenagers and college students lift up their hands and sing these words to the God of the Universe. But do they, do we, really know what we are asking for? This line is asking for God to break our hearts over what breaks His. Now I am not claiming to know the heart of God, but I would venture a guess and say that there is probably a lot in our world that breaks God’s heart.

But are we really ready to open ourselves up to that? I think if we truly allowed ourselves to be broken by all the things that break the heart of God, our lives would be radically different. We would look at the world, the events in the Sudan and elsewhere, and just be broken about them. I think we would not be so apathetic towards others, we would be revitalized with care for our fellow man. I think what this line is asking for is right.

But do we really want to be that broken? Are we really ready to let God rip away from us our comfortable world were everything is not perfect, but sugarcoated non the less, and let us see the world and all of it’s junk? I’ll be honest, the thought frightens me. I absolutely want to have my heart broken about the plight in this world, but to ask God to break my heart for what breaks his, that seems to open up quite a bit of brokenness to me. I would be very afraid to open myself up to that, I feel I would become very pessimistic about the world.

But still I sing the line. I think Christians need to be careful what they declare to God. If I am singing this song to God, and truly worshipping him, then I had better be expecting God to do what I ask. I had better be ready for him to start breaking my heart to things I knew nothing about. I try and remind the youth group that I work with that they should not sing empty words to God. I try and encourage them to really think about the words in the song and try and understand the implication of what singing that to God means, particularly if it is declaring or asking something of God.

I think truly, deep down inside me, I do want my heart to be broken by the same things that breaks God’s heart. In the last year or two, I have become more aware of a lot of injustice in our world and it truly does break my heart. But I always want to remember that when I ask something of God, I should be prepared for Him to give it to me.

I pray that I will never sing or say words to the God of the universe and have them be empty. I also pray that God would prepare my heart and my mind for just what I am asking, to be broken by the things that break his heart. But I also pray that God would show me the beauty of what the rest of the song talks about, of Christians rising up and being the agents of change in our world. I pray that I will still be able to see the beauty of this world, because I sometimes tend to be a little pessimistic when it comes to the condition of our world, the glass is half empty as opposed to half full if you catch my drift.

I ask that you would realize what you are asking of God, and that you would look at the words you say to him and the words you sing to him, and really make sure you believe what you are saying and are prepared for what you are asking.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:14

Is Santa Real?

Here is a blog I read today about the history of Santa Clause. Enjoy.

http://www.theresurgence.com/saint_nicholas

Last Minute Gift Idea: TOMS Shoes

A Story

I read this story in John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life,” as it was quoted from James Bradley’s “Flags of Our Fathers.” Sorry for the harsh language. I thought it was interesting that a man so young would be willing to sacrifice so much for others to have happiness and peace.

He’d fast-talked his way into the Marines at fourteen, fooling the recruits with his muscled physique….Assigned to drive a truck in Hawaii, he had grown frustrated; he wanted to fight. He stowed away on a transport out of Honolulu, surviving on food passed along to him by sympathetic leathernecks on board.

He landed on D-Day [at Iwo Jima] without a rifle. He grabbed one lying on the beach and fought his way inland.

Now, on D+1, Jack and three comrades were crawling through a trench when eight Japanese sprang in front of them. Jack shot one of them through the head. Then his rifle jammed. As he struggled with it a grenade landed at his feet. He yelled a warning to the others and rammed the grenade into the soft ash. Immediately, another rolled in. Jack Lucas, seventeen, fell on both grenades. “Luke, you’re gonna die,” he remembered thinking….

Aboard the hospital ship Samaritan the doctors could scarcely believe it. “Maybe he was too damned young and too damned tough to die,” one said. He endured twenty-one reconstructive operations and became the nation’s youngest Medal of Honor winner–and the only high school freshman to receive it.

My Nerdy Self

So I am admittedly a nerd. I like books, computers, etc. So right in line with my nerdiness, i have discovered this:

http://www.logos.com/mac/biblestudy

This is some of the coolest bible study software I have found. Currently I am using Quickverse Black Box edition for mac, and I like it a lot, but Logos seems to be where its at.

The version seen in the above link is actually the base version, there are four versions above this one that just add more and more features. Hopefully one day I will be able to afford the base version, because it really would be a good resource for a minister/professor.

A Prayer

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me
Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think I am following your will
Does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
Does in fact please you.

And I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this,
You will lead me by the right road
Though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always,
Though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
And you will never leave me to face my struggles alone.
~Thomas Merton, 1915-1968

This is an interesting prayer I found in the book “Understanding God’s Will” by Kyle Lake.

(RE)Understanding Prayer by Kyle Lake

So continuing on my Kyle Lake reading spree, I just finished his other book entitled “(Re)understanding Prayer.” Now I must say this, just like his previous book, is very well written, and he offers a very interesting and in my opinion unique take on how we pray.

He begins the book by dispelling so common thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about prayer. He speaks against such things as their being a particular formula to how we should pray. He posits that there is no set way of asking God for something and his obligation to give it, a term lake deems as “Recipe Theology.” He also speaks out against prayer as being any sort of drama, discussing heavily how many use prayers as a way to enhance the self and not communicate with God.

Then, starting in chapter 8, he gets into the way he has arrived at understanding prayer. He first states that we should probably take a more eastern view of how we relate to God, as opposed to the western, formulaic view we have adopted in American culture. He seems to implore the reader to look to Christianity’s eastern roots and realize that how religion is done over there is as an envelopment of the whole person. He points out that we should not be so quick to boil down prayer to a set time and place of prayer; he posits the possibility that prayer may begin with being fully immersed in the presence of God. He stresses prayer as a way of life, a life lived in conversation with God. He argues that, while coming to God with a final product prayer in a set way is not a bad thing and is at some times necessary, prayer is designed to be more conversational, where we verbalize how we are working out are thoughts before God.

He also talks about how what hearing God truly means. He posits that all to often we as Christians throw out the importance of our part in the process of communication with God. He argues that God doesn’t necessarily speak through us, but more he speaks with us when we live a life in his presence. This does not negate are humanness.

All in all, I think that this book is as well written as his first book. I would highly recommend it to anyone, because it does offer some interesting points and thoughts on the prayer life of a Christian. It is also very accessible, you don’t need a degree in theology to understand this book.

Understanding God’s Will by Kyle Lake

So I just finished reading the book “Understanding God’s Will” by Kyle Lake. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. In the book, Lake seeks to revamp how we as Christians approach the will of God, mostly by adjusting some of how we view God.

He first says that we need to approach the will of God as an apprentice or learner of Jesus Christ, wanting to follow him on this journey of life. He posits that being a disciple of Jesus, which we are all called to do, is something that is lived “out there” as he puts it, in the work place, the ball field, and the classroom. He reminds us that discerning God’s will for our lives is an aspect of our discipleship to God, but not the end goal. To often we see God’s will as leading us to an end goal, like a treasure map, but lake does not see it as working that way. He reminds us that God never promised this life would be easy, and it was never promised to be safe, that often we think the will of God will offer us the path of least resistance, but that is not evident when we look at the lives of the disciples. He also points out that the decisions we make should be made with a sense of being on mission, that we often cop out of being a Christian first and our profession second, but more often we are an accountant who happens to be a Christian. He says we need to see where we are as a mission to a world that may not know God. He sums up this section by saying that we need to be prepared to meet God wherever the road leads us, planned or unplanned.

He secondly says that we need to look to God as a father. Though he admits that this may be a stumbling block for those who grew up in a bad home situation, he says that we need to approach God as the father who is their for advice but ultimately wants us to be good people and make our own decisions. We often ask God what his will is for our lives, just to be disappointed that maybe God’s will is for us to make the decision and be responsible in that. Lake then addresses intuition, and says that making decisions based on intuition is not a bad thing, but that certain decisions do not need to be made that way, i.e., marriage. He also states that when we view the will of God in light of God being father, we need to remember that sometimes we are going to make decisions that turn out great and others that don’t, but we need to take responsibility for our decisions. He concludes this section by saying that God doesn’t offer 100% success, but he does offer his presence in life, we just have to step up and take it.

Thirdly, he discusses how we need to view the will of God in terms of the Kingdom of God. He points out that the Kingdom of God is one of the most often mentioned things in the New Testament. Lake says that to view God as a king may better our understanding of God’s will. He posits that a King is concerned with the big picture of the kingdom, and with the character of his people, but not in the small details of which job to take or what show to watch. Lake is quick to point out that God is absolutely concerned with the decisions we do make, but it seems that God is much more concerned with the kind of people the decisions we make will allow us to be.

Overall, I think this is a great book. Kyle Lake writes a lot like I think, with random little interjections here and there. I think is approach to the will of God is insightful and new, and I think there is a lot we could learn from what he has to say.