Crazy Love

This book was our recent choice for a Bible study in our Sunday School class...Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan.  First of all...I love our class!  It's been a blessing to be a part of a group of young married couples.  I've enjoyed getting to know some of them...especially the ladies...along with study God's Word and fellowship.  The body of Christ at work!  Anyway, back to the book.  Honestly, I didn't know much about Francis Chan...and still don't know a whole lot.  I haven't heard him speak or listened to any sermons on tape or anything by him.  The title interested me, though.  I was pretty confident that this would be a good read.  Well, I think it's turning out to be more than just a "good read".  It's challenging me.

Another confession.  I'm really not very disciplined about reading Christian non-fiction/Christian living books.  I pretty much spend most of my free reading time reading Christian fiction.  I love it.  I'm a romantic and I love a sweet, Christ-centered fiction novel.  I do enjoy reading the Bible and I have some great devotionals that I read daily, but other than that...well...you get the picture.  One book I read last year was Radical by David Platt...it was great.  Challenging and life changing.  I think Crazy Love will be kind of like that, too.

So far (I'm just on Chapter 4), Chan has covered some topics that have really pierced me.  Chapter one was entitled, "Stop Praying".  This chapter encourages us to stop coming to God with our lists, our concerns, our this and thats and just take a moment to ponder who He is.  Stand in awe of Him.  How often do I pause and do that?  Not often enough, for sure! 

Chapter two touches on a sensitive topic for me...death.  I don't handle death well.  I've really been blessed to have most of my close family members with me through life, loving me, supporting me, etc.  Now that I'm getting older, I'm seeing the reality of death.  I know it's natural, we're all going to do it, and for a believer in Christ, it is a joyous thing to be able to join our Savior in Heaven.  But it's still hard for me to even THINK about not having some of my loved ones on this earth with me.  Maybe I cling to this world too much...I struggle with that.  Chan challenges us not so much to change our thoughts on death, but on life.  To live the short time we have on this earth for Christ.  To not let worry consume our time here...to rejoice in the Lord always, as His Word says.  Here are a few quotes from that chapter:

"When I am consumed by my problems--stressed out about my life, my family, 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."

Hmmm...something to think about.  A few more quotes:

"Even though I glimpse God's holiness, I am still dumb enough to forget that life is all about God and not about me at all."

"Friends, we need to stop living selfish lives, forgetful about our God.  Our lives here are short, often unexpectedly so, and we can all stand to be reminded of it time to time.  That's why I wrote this chapter, to help us remember that in the movie of life, nothing matters except our King and God.  Don't let yourself forget.  Soak it in and keep remember that it is true.  He is everything."

I want Him to be my everything. I'm trying to soak all of this in.

~Stacey~