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Here’s a book review I was not asked to write.

I’ve recently finished reading Wayne Muller’s book, “a life of being, having, and doing enough“.  Now, I’ll preface this review by saying – I love books.  Seriously.  The way a few pages of written word can tug on my heart, I have no difficulty imagining how the Word of God can transform a life.  So often when I finish a really good book, I’ll spend a while wishing I had the resources to put that book in the hands of everyone I love.  So that they might experience just a bit of what my heart has just been washed in.

It’s happened often in scripture.  In “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau.  In the words of NT Wright (pick a book).  In Howard Snyder’s “Salvation Means Creation Healed“. And now…in the words of Wayne Muller.  I know you may not immediately run out and purchase a copy.  Heck, my own wife spent months telling me about an amazing book that touched her heart, before I gave it a look.  (I’ve since apologized.)

So I’ll just give you a quick review that might whet your appetite for what Muller’s words touch on.

We live in a world of “more”.  Even writing this review is a tad ironic, because what I’m offering you is the advice that you should read “just one more” book.  But we can easily agree that so often our lives become pursuits of “more”, sometimes with selfish motives – but so often justified by purely genuine desires to be “faithful” with all that we’ve been given.  We want to accomplish _____ faster.   We want to provide more ______ for our kids.  We just want to make these changes to our environment.  We fill our days, our schedules, our closets, our toyboxes, and our minutes with really really good things to pursue.

Being content is often pushed to the side, and labeled as laziness.  (of course, sometimes it is laziness)  Any good and faithful person will naturally be involved in any given moment – in the activity of growing, moving, creating, improving, acquiring, giving, producing, raising, teaching, etc…  You get the picture.  Especially with the growing offerings of technology, we’re reminded on an hourly basis – what else is out there that we “need” or “need to experience/change”.

To this “brain-paced” life, Muller’s words point us powerfully to the words of scripture – “give us this day, our daily bread.”  The amazing experience of being content with a single day’s provision – especially in the midst of a people living a wandering existence (as Israel depended on manna) – can be a transformational experience for each of us.  The hearts we’ve been given, and the preciousness of “small things”, require a purposeful slowing of pace.  A “letting go” of things.   A pursuit of being content that doesn’t look to acquire/achieve, but seeks to breathe deeply this moment of what “is”.

Early in the book, he asks “When we envision our most beautifully perfect day, what do we dream we are doing?  Who is with us, what are the feelings or experiences we yearn for, how would we fill our day?”  The book continues from that point to be a literary “deep breath of fresh air”.  Not one that makes you sit back, thankful for what you’ve read – but one that makes you want to go out into life and experience the same exact things you’ve been doing all week – differently. 🙂

Toward the end, he quotes Meister Eckhart, a Christian mystic as saying, “If the only prayer you ever say in your life is ‘thank you’, that would be enough.”  I pray that even if you don’t run out and grab this book…you’ve been reminded today, and urged toward knowing the precious and Holy peace of “enough”…

Here we go again with another “Five Minute Friday” post!  To learn more about “Five Minute Friday” (FMF), check out the linked image here.  Basically, each week there’s a word given for you to write about.  You start writing, no back-tracking, editing, etc.  At the end of 5 minutes, you stop.  Then you post it, and share in the community of words that were birthed during these 24-ish hours.  It’s cool stuff.
So here’s this week’s response to the word: “rest”.

I’m still in awe of the experience, as I look back on it.  How perfectly the pieces fell into place.  How the right thing happened at the right time.  How much went wrong, and still went so very right.

We landed in Los Angeles early afternoon and our luggage had been lost.  Sure, the one time I really need a specific outfit, and my bags get lost.  I had extra deodorant in my carry on, but the producers were very adamant – we needed to dress nice.  So we waited, and called around to see where I might get a cheap suit, or even a tie, at 10pm in Culver City, CA.  Still, we had no car, and no budget to go riding around trying all night.  My wife went to bed to get some rest….she was carrying our 2nd child.  I waited anxiously.

Finally, around 3am, we received a call from the front desk.  Our luggage was there.  I pulled out my suit, hung it up, and went to bed.  Only briefly, because we had to be dressed and ready at the studio by 7am…after a taxi took however long it took to get us there.  Running on very little rest, my brain was pumping at extra levels of adrenaline than I usually required.  I think God knew exactly what my brain needed to perform well that morning, as I ended up in the first group of 3 – our episode was filmed first.  The green room was filled with people who looked like they’d slept remarkably well, and I knew with a layer of HD Make-up…..I must look pretty fresh myself.

Alas, 5 minutes is up…check out the video if you want to know the “rest” of the story…. 🙂

That’s right…..I didn’t end up going very “deep” tonight.  Not sure why….I felt a Paul Harvey vibe as soon as I saw the word.   Hope that’s okay….:)

I recently finished reading Julie Coleman’s “unexpected love – God’s heart revealed in Jesus’ conversations with women“.  I will begin by confessing, I was given this book for free by “BookSneeze” in order to do an honest review.  I chose the book from a list of others, simply because as a man with 4 daughters (one currently still in Africa – help us bring her home!), I’m very interested in how the words Jesus spoke to women can help reveal more about God’s heart.  I counted on them having small sections here and there that were directed at women, and it’s true – each chapter has a “For Today’s Woman” section.

What I hadn’t counted on, was the Biblical scholarship that went into each chapter.  Julie Coleman is obviously not just another “blogger-turned-feminine-book-writer”.  More than just “inspirational”, her book was very educational about the times and situations we read from Jesus’ life.  She retells each story in a descriptive way, and then combines her imaginative story-telling with elements of inductive Bible study to draw out truths many of us may have missed, or simply not heard of yet.

An excerpt from Chapter 8, and the story of Salome from Matthew 20, “The Greek word, ‘prays’, translated ‘meek’ was used in those days to describe three different things: medicine, wind, and a colt that had been broken.  Each possesses power…..But each of these things, when not under control, can cause great damage.”

The insight she offers into these nine different conversational moments Jesus has with women, reminds and reveals to us so much about the Father’s Love.   The Word of God is full of things that offer to transform our lives, and we forget sometimes just how much it changes things – and has been for a long time.  I think the strongest word I would say about this book is that it’s not simply a book about the unexpected love Jesus has for women, or the “womens liberation” movement some of the stories could be co-opted by.  The unexpectedness comes as we realize God’s heart for all people – no matter their perceived value or role in the world today.

If you’re reading this blog, you live in a place of influence and have privileges enough that you should already be aware of your value.  But this book should call us to live lives of “going out” into the world to find people who may not inherently know their worth in God’s eyes and heart.  The poor, the disenfranchised, the imprisoned, the lonely, and the powerless.  I pray that this book doesn’t simply stir the hearts of women everywhere to sit in their Sunday school classes discussing the great questions at the end of each chapter.  I pray it goes well beyond that, into transforming women who will realize – “Wow, Jesus went out of his way to reveal God’s love for people who weren’t aware of it – I want to go and do likewise!”

There is potential this book can help toward that end…