Category: Uncategorized

I’ve just finished reading “The Radical Question and A Radical Idea” by David Platt.  It’s a great, short read and seems to contain much of the “meat” of the full books he’s previously written, “Radical” and “Radical Together”.  It seems to be a good gift idea (list price $9.99, & kind of a ‘Cliff Notes’ version of both books at 110 small pages total) for someone who would otherwise not read an entire “book”, but could really benefit from some of the thoughts/questions Platt raises.  I’ve read “Radical”, and found much of it to be a reminder of good points and challenging questions.  But I’d not yet gotten to reading “Radical Together”, so it was good to hear some of the thoughts presented there.

In “The Radical Question”, he asks “What if Jesus is worthy of more in our lives than a Christian spin on the American Dream?”  He gives examples of several people who seemed to have “achieved” what the world would look at as “success”, or “retirement”, or some stage of life where America says it’s okay to focus on ourselves.  In short story format, he reveals each of them sacrificing what they’ve achieved to pour their lives out for the sake of others.

I enjoyed his turning Bonhoeffer’s statement about the high cost of discipleship into a powerful question – “What does nondiscipleship cost us?”  The millions that are dying, and the hopelessness pervading our world, many people not ever hearing about the good news of Jesus Christ.  It’s a far greater cost than anything material we could give up.  I still struggle with his reminder that Jesus calls us to “hate” even our family/spouse/children.  Would I really risk their safety in the midst of persuing what I believe to be the will of God in our life?  I suppose we’re in the midst of that, with this adoption.  Taking on the financial costs, risking our lives in traveling to Africa, forever connecting our home with those suffering in the DRC…it’s a bit risky.

The second “book” presents the “Radical Idea” that our Kingdom-work should be more people-focused than places, professionals, or places.  He gives examples of what can happen when we worry less about creating ministries and then finding the people to fill the roles involved – and instead find the places God has uniquely gifted the people we already have for ministry in their lives.  This connects with me both as a pastor AND a parent.  That we would be equipping God’s people to be actively involved in Spirit-sourced ministry wherever they are.  That I would be equipping my daughters for a life sourced in the Spirit of Jesus, and not in fitting into any pre-conceived notion of a “pastors daughter”.

Throughout both “books”, I did find myself wanting more.  He continues to talk about disciples making disciples, which I like.  But it seems if you asked him “Why make more disciples?”, his answer might be “So THEY can make more disciples too!”.  The closest he seems to get here is something ambiguous about “making His glory known”.  In the first half he says, “..lets stop living as if this world is even our home.”  I think I’d focus more on how this world is being made INTO a redeemed and renewed home for us….and the “why” of making disciples being wrapped up on revealing Jesus as Lord already, etc…

But for that, we’d need a longer book.  🙂

So if you need a good graduation gift, or “short read” for someone who needs to hear these “radical thoughts” but wouldn’t make it through a longer book…..this is definitely a great book to offer.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

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: “ again  ”

I’m pausing for a moment at the top of a twisty slide.  I’m not sure what will happen on the way down, but I know when I get to the bottom, I’ll stand up and scream in triumph.  Then I’ll go kiss my wife (and our lips will “shock” from the static build up on the way down), and we’ll laugh as we grab our kids and go home from the playground.  Except it’s not a playground, it’s a weekend senior high winter retreat known to those who attend as “Frostbite”.

It’s my 6th?  7th?  year of directing, planning, facilitating, etc….this retreat in the dead of winter.  Over 100 teens and their leaders attend, and I never know what to expect.  The bands change.  The speaker changes.  The teens change.  And yet, it’s happening “again”.  And…..it never gets old.

At some point this weekend, more than one teenager will find the strength they need to decide to follow Christ in a renewed way for the remainder of the school year.   Someone will decide, perhaps for the first time, to accept what God has accomplished in Christ.  Someone will hear the Word of God in a way that brings life and freedom like never before.  Someone will be freed from the chains of sin and hopelessness or anxiety they’d been bound by in their world.  Or maybe, someone will think to themselves….”hmm….it’s not so hokey after all”, and they’ll come to camp this summer where they’ll meet Jesus for the first time.

There are moments that I’m dead tired.  Moments where I remind myself, that no matter what – Sunday afternoon will come.  The bottom of this crazy twisty slide ride.  But I’m not there yet……here we go, again…..:)

Sidenote: Whisper a quick prayer for us this weekend…the Kingdom is on the move!  Thanks!!!

I remember watching the movie “Alive” when I was a young teenager, the true story of a rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains in 1972.  Stranded in ice cold temperatures and snowy mountains for 72 days, the survivors were forced to unimaginable situations of eating the recently deceased in order to make it.  It’s an emotional story, and there are some very raw moments throughout the film. (no pun intended)

One such moment I remember, comes when several of the survivors are contemplating the situation they’re in.  They wonder if they’re showing disrespect to those who have passed by using them as food.  It’s a very heart-felt moment where they face each other, and one at a time begin to say to the rest of the group, “If I die, I want you to eat my flesh to survive.”

I doubt I would ever use the film in youth ministry, and it probably wouldn’t make a great “Middle of an all-night lock-in” entertainment anyway.  But the connections between this type of sacrifice, and our experience as the body of Christ is hard to miss.

People observing the growth of early Christianity probably had some of the same questions our children have today, when we talk about “eating the body of Christ”, and “drinking his blood”.  It sounds like cannibalism, and I’m sure it gave those against Christianity plenty of fodder to use.  But Jesus was making a very important statement – we are to literally become those who are alive as part of what He is doing – only as we accept Him as our source and foundation of being.  To put it simply, “you are what you eat.”

As Craig Keen as written, “One of the peculiarities of (communion) is that we become the body of Christ by consuming it.  Unlike ordinary food, the body does not become assimilated into our bodies, but vice versa… The fact that the church is literally changed into Christ is not a cause for triumphalism, however, precisely because our assimilation to the body of Christ means that we then become food for the world, to be broken, given away, and consumed…”

Will we use such language with our children?  Probably not.  But it’s helpful language for us to be conscious of, especially as our children grow older.  May we form our family in such a way that we are consistently feeding on the bread of Christ, joining in becoming His body, for the purposes and activity of existing for the “coming to new life” of the world.

In that regard, how is your family already involved in “feeding the hungry”?