Crazy and Radical

I'm behind on so many fronts that I don't even want to think about it.  This blog is one of them.  But I'm entering a new season...both in this year and in my life.  The last 6 months or so have just been yucky.  Not "I'm homeless with no family and everyone I know is deathly ill that I should even have anything to complain about" yucky but more like "Satan is really attacking me where I live and I can't quite seem to drag myself out from under the bus I'm driving to get myself back to where God wants me" kind of yucky.  But just like His grace is new every morning, the sights and sounds of spring always seem to awaken a new day in me.

Another thing that is waking my lazy behind up is some great reading I've been doing.  I know these two books were so last year's best sellers but those who know me know that I am definitely not that one who will be reading the latest release, if I'm reading anything at all so this is really about par for me.

I just finished reading, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.  Great reminder of what the kind of Christ we are trying to be like really looks like.  Such a motivator.  One of my favorite passages:

I wrote this book because much of our talk doesn't match our lives.  We say things like, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and "Trust in the Lord with all your hear."  The we live and plan like we don't believe God even exists.  We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn't come through.  But true faith means holding nothing back.  It meas putting every hope in God's fidelity to His promises.

I just started David Platt's, "Radical:  Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream."  So far it has been great, but I'm only on page 34.

Giving.

It has been a long time and I am delinquent.  I have no excuses.  I've just not felt like I've had any great gifts of wisdom lately nor have I read any anywhere else.  My cup has been pretty dry lately.  And mostly because of me.  But I ran across this great post from a blog I've started following.  Giving has really been on my mind lately.  I'm like everyone else.  I never have extra money.  It seems like every month is a tight struggle and I never get ahead.  But I also feel the overwhelming desire to help others, give what I have, etc.  That is hard to do and feel like you are meeting your responsibilities as well.  I really like this family.  I like their blog.  I love their commitment to serve the Lord and others and I like this recent post on giving.  Enjoy.

http://allthingshendrick.blogspot.com/2011/12/keller.html