iPandora

…accorded even a part of the authority and primacy given to jobs, hobbies, family, social involvement, friends, political causes by those who take His name as their own, this world would be a different place.

How much more so if He were given his rightful place, the throne of each of us.

In Jesus Manifesto, authors Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola cast about for a way to impress upon Christians the necessity of being more than Christ-people. We ought to be Christ.

Not that we have any part in His redemptive work or in His place in the God-head, but that rather than seeking to follow Him, or model Him, or be like Him, we ought to BE Him.

For me, I found this a useful understanding of my role as a Christian. It’s difficult always playing catch-up with Christ. When we’re following, we’re always behind. But when out identity is in Christ and He is in us, there is a much closer association than if we are simply being like Him.

Among other problems, this further pushes our own self down, humbling our position in our own body, and this is a difficult and unnatural thing for people who, like me, are quite content in our nearly-Christ-like Christianity.

At times it seemed the authors resort to platitudes and Christian-isms, bumper-sticker theology. However, it became clear as the book goes on that the memorability of the phrases was clearly chosen to make this potentially unpalatable ideal more memorable and less easily dismissed out of hand.

I highly recommend this  book for anyone seeking to have a clearer picture of what is expected of us as Christians.

Max Lucado's Fearless

I watched the Jet Li movie Fearless twice in the theatre, and again recently with my wife. The film follows the true story of a martial arts master Huo Yan Jia, who through many twists and turns, ends up fighting for the respect of the world. At a time when China was considered a backwards nation inhabited by backwards people in need of managing and exploitation by foreign powers in the early 20th century, Huo Yan Jia stood up to the foreigners, not to defeat them, but to show them the citizens of China were real people deserving of respect.

To take on the might of foreign opinion peacefully required a singularly fearless individual, and the movie shows how Huo Yan Jia became the man for this task.

There is no appreciation of God in the movie, as it follows the spirit of Jet Li’s Buddhism and mysticism. So we know that Huo Yan Jia, in the film, is really only calling on his own strength and ability to stand strong.

If this is what one man alone can do, what about someone who rests on the one true God?

Truth be told, I’m not interested right now in facing down the entirety of world opinion against America. I’m more interested in getting through today.

I’ve been unemployed for 7 weeks now. We’ve not hurt for provision. We are able to pay our bills on time so far. But I’m a man who needs to provide for his family, and I have looked into the murky future and seen little to calm me.

Max Lucado has addressed the fears we all face, or perhaps all the fears we face, in his newest book Fearless. From the fear of not mattering to the fear of death. Fear of the unknown and fear of God getting out of our box. Max takes Christ’s frequent “fear not” and applies it to our fears. Christ’s terror while in the Garden, the disciples fear on the sea of Galilee, the fear of the disciples after Jesus was crucified.

Fear hampers and halters us, it ties knots around our knees and blindfolds over our eyes. Christ knew that effective Christians could not be fearful Christians, and so he frequently, repeatedly and seriously addressed fears of all kinds.

I’ve not been Max Lucado’s biggest fan. He writes at a low level in order to accessible to the vast majority of readers and that concession seems to me to water down his message.

However, in Fearless, there is sufficient meat and content of significance and I found myself digging deeper, considering the bible verses he was using, the quotes he was applying, the anecdotes he was relaying. The book seems small for all it contains.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, whether they fear or not. There are dragons in our world and there will always be one bigger than the last to face and surmount. Having the courage to see clearly and address the dragon with the strength of the Lord is imperative to victory in this life.

Words mean things, and ideas have consequences.

If you don’t agree with the above statement, The American Patriot’s Almanac will be just one more collection of quaint sayings by old and dead men.

Euripides is said to have said “The tongue is mightier than the blade”, and the words held within this book show the people who uttered them believed these words true. And often held the sword in defense of theirs and others tongues.

The American Patriot’s Almanac is more than simply a collection of sayings and quotes and factoids. It contains history, some of it stories I already knew, some of it containing fresh jewels I’d not previously known.

From the story of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, the nation’s first conference on women’s rights, to the story of James Forten, the free-born grandson of slaves who grew up through the birth of America. He spent time as a prisoner of war. He worked his way up through a company until he owned it. He developed new technology to ease the job of sailors managing the sails. He organized protective brigades of black Americans to defend Philadelphia during the war of 1812, and he was instrumental starting the American Anti-Slavery Society.

The American Patriot’s Almanac will be a valuable addition to the library, bathroom reading shelf, or coffee table of any patriot interested in knowing more about the roots of America and it’s liberty.