Book Review: I Am A Follower

 I Am A Follower

The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus

(It's Never Been About Leading)

 by Leonard Sweet

“We have been told our entire lives that we should be leaders, that we need more leaders, leaders, leaders. But the truth is that the greatest way to create a movement is to be a follower and to show others how to follow. Following is the most underrated form of leadership in existence.” (p. 14)

This is a book that should be read, highlighted, and re-read. While it might be considered an indictment against the Leadership propaganda/culture/dogma running rampant in the Church, it is so much more. It is a call to remember true discipleship. To follow Christ. “It is time we owned up to the false category of leader and its idolatry. Leadership is a function. Followership is an identity.” (p. 34)

It exposes the travesty of Church hierarchy and reminds us that we are all equal. We are brothers and sisters – it's all about relationship: “The vines and branches of our human spirit are pushing through the cracks in our concrete sidewalks and buildings, rescuing us from the prison of individualism and hierarchy, returning us to a thriving garden of relationship.” (p. 176) (One of many quotes that proves why Shane Claiborne calls Leonard Sweet, “a theological poet.”)

The integration of other forms of media into this book is innovative and inspiring. Sweet begins and ends the book with a “Reel to Real.” The first “Reel to Real,” which is a link to a YouTube video, vividly demonstrates what it means to be a “first follower.” And the final one demonstrates the power of joining in and becoming the music. “The greatest developmental task of life is to discover your song and sing it ravishing to the glory of God.” (p. 258)

This book should challenge your paradigm and shift your perspective, but the section divisions and mostly short chapters make it not an “easy” read, but an “ease” to read.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: The God I Never Knew by Robert Morris

My two younger children are students at ORU, where Robert Morris came and spoke in chapel last fall. He gave every student a copy of this book, The God I Never Knew. So I decided to read it.

It's a great overall teaching on the Holy Spirit. Reading it reminded me of how I felt when I read Forgotten God by Francis Chan. It was a great reminder of the friendship the Holy Spirit desires to have with us.

There was nothing earth shattering or paradigm shifting in this book for me, but I have been blessed to have grown up in churches with some very solid teaching on the Holy Spirit. That being said though, it is always good to be reminded of these things I've been taught. I needed the reminder to cultivate my friendship with the Holy Spirit.

I highly recommend the solid teaching found in this book for anyone who needs a primer on the Holy Spirit or a great refresher course.

Snobbery

Sometimes, I'm a snob.

Like most people, its *usually* because I'm feeling insecure and fearful of putting myself out there.

But sometimes -- it's because I *actually* think I'm better than someone else. (Ick.)

And of course, both are sinful.

Because anything not of faith is sin.

Any lie we believe puts us outside of faith.

Faith works by love. Anything done outside of love is sin.

Perfect love casts out fear. He who fears has not been made perfect in love.

That's what we're all working toward--love. Loving God, loving ourselves, loving others.

But...the awesome thing is: There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ! You know why? Because we have been set FREE from the law of sin and death!

And as we look to Jesus, as we fellowship with the Father, and commune with other people we are being transformed.

Not transforming ourselves, not doing the work of transformation, but being transformed.

Simple

I'm a simple girl.

Jeans & T-shirts.

I'm a simple girl who loves words -- not just the simple ones, but the complex, mysterious, must-look-this-up-to-know-precisely-what-it-means kind.

I enjoy reading books that require me to use dictionary.com every few pages. (The English translation of Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a great one for that!) I don't necessarily remember all the words I look up, or try to incorporate them into my vocabulary. I think what I'm really after is the meaning, so I understand as clearly as possible what the author is communicating.

I love to see how other people put words together. Sometimes the simplest words, put in the optimal order, paint the most amazing pictures.

I read a sentence, a book, a blog post like that and think, "I want to write like that!" Poetry. And prose that reads like poetry. That stuff stirs my heart.

But when I try to do that, it falls flat. It's hollow and dull and lifeless. Because I'm trying to write with someone else's voice, with someone else's gift. And in the process, I'm devaluing my own. I'm insulting my Creator.

I've been saying forever that I want to be a writer when I grow up, then at some point I started saying I want to be Donald Miller or Anne Lamott when I grow up. But I'm finally learning the world doesn't need another donald Miller or Anne Lamott, they've got the market cornered on them.

*deep breath*

You have no idea how hard it is to say this. (Well, maybe you do.)

The world needs me to be me.

So I guess if I'm making a "resolution" for 2012, its this: to simply be me and be open to sharing me with whoever God sends across my path. (I'll share my three words for 2012 soon.)

The world needs you too. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be here.

(Here's a great post from Donald Miller about What Makes Some People Special. Something to think about.)

Sanctifying Self-Pity

Sometimes I feel sorry for myself.

And I hate that. (Did I say, "I hate that?" I hate that.)

I have so much to be grateful for, I have NO excuse to wallow in self-pity.

But lately, I've realized something.

If I just let it be what it is and "sit" with it, instead of trying so hard to change it it's so much easier to deal with!

Now, I'm not talking about wallowing in it, but just sitting with it, experiencing it in the moment, instead of railing against it.

Because fighting it just seems to prolong it. Because fighting it makes me grumpy and not nice to people I love and that is so not fair to them. They don't know the battle that's going on in my head. When I kick and scream against it, it's so hard to shake it and it poisons everything.

I definitely believe in "taking every thought captive", but how do you do that? By kicking and screaming against it? Nope. The verse before that says that the weapons we use are not fleshly weapons, but spiritual. It is His divine power.

When I just acknowledge to my Father God: "I really feel like I suck right now. It feels like life sucks right now. I just can't shake this on my own. Help me! I cast this 'care' on You." He says, "It's okay. I know. I see you and I know where you are right now. Everything is going to be okay." 

Really. That's what He said -- not "How dare you be ungrateful for everything I've given you!!!"

I may not "feel" better at that moment, but I have peace. I know it will pass. It always does. I can be patient with myself and that keeps me from being mean and grumpy.

For me, this is a very tangible example of "love others as well as you love yourself." If I'm patient and loving with myself than I can be patient and loving with everyone else.

And if I'm really mindful and honest about it, my "self-pity mode" is usually hormonal--that's a reason, not an excuse. The feeling itself isn't ungodly or sinful, it's what I do with it that makes it unholy.

God is so good and gives so much grace! His mercies are new every morning. I think, knowing this, I might even be able to acknowledge -- outloud -- to another human being, that I'm feeling that way without being worried about what they will think. Acknowledging the pain instead of acting out of it. Hmm...brings to mind a post by Donald Miller I read today: "Vulnerability as a key to emotional health."

I just want to be real. Authentic. Relevant. And I can't do that if I pretend that everything is always wonderful all the time. That kind of mask is a counterfeit Christianity that inoculates people to the true Gospel message.

This song, Rise by Shawn McDonald happened to come on the radio the other day while I was pondering these things. It's one of my favorites. (The link is a "live" acoustic version, those are usually the best!)

Sometimes my heart is on the ground
And hope is nowhere to be found
Love is a figment I once knew
And yet I hold on to what I know is true

Yes I will rise

The Aspostle Paul was a Great Lover

I'm reading a One Year chronological bible this year, so here at the end of the year I'm reading all of Paul's epistles. I've read them many times in my life, but I something different really stood out to me for the first time -- Paul really, really, really loves people.
You can see it throughout every letter. Paul's joy at the faith of the Philippians, his grief at the misunderstanding and misinformation of the Thessalonians and the Galatians. His desire that those who had fallen be restored. His letters are full of longing for his readers to really, truly grasp the love of Christ.

In Philippians 1:7 he tells them, "I have you in my heart." And when he speaks of Epaphroditus in Philippians 2, he says that God had mercy on Epaphroditus, healing him from a near-fatal illness, which Paul considered a mercy to himself as well, "to spare me sorrow upon sorrow."

Paul truly loves these people. It feels like a great big, "duh" in my head. Obviously he loves these people, he's risking his life for them most of the time. He's in chains for them. Gladly. Maybe I'm usually so focused on the "theology" and the "how do I apply this to my life" that I've missed it somehow. But then I'm reminded of Paul's conflict, "If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.  Convinced of this, I know that I will remain...." (Philippians 1:22-25)

Maybe Paul's great love is in part, because like the woman who anointed Jesus for His burial, Paul had been forgiven so much. His brothers and sisters in Christ, whom he had formerly been hunting and murdering, had forgiven him and embraced him. They had welcomed him (with some understandable hesitancy at first) into the family, into the Body of Christ.

It's funny, I always think of that as "He who is forgiven much, loves much." But that's not what Jesus said. He said, "whoever has been forgiven little loves little."

I know I've been forgiven more than a little. Much more. Really we all have. Even if you have been a "Christian" your entire life, you have been forgiven so much. It's easy to lose sight of that. It's easy to become prideful in our spiritual growth and maturity and forget how much we've been forgiven. We're even forgiven for that -- for that ugly, stinking, disgusting pride in ourselves for being "good Christians." 

Not one of us should be loving little. We should love big. Really big.

(Okay, not like the TV show Big Love, which I've never seen, but suddenly came to mind...I'm not advocating bigamy. Gross.)


For God so loved the world. He sent His only Son. Let us so love. Let us love one another so that's how people know we're Jesus disciples. (The church-at-large seems to be falling so short on that one.)  Let's turn the tide. Like the Apostle Paul, I want be a lover, a great one. How about you?

Book Review: The Grace Effect by Larry Taunton

The Grace Effect is a more than just an adoption story. It is a glimpse into the world of the Ukraine and the results of a culture's elimination of God.



The story of Taunton's family adopting Sasha is sandwiched between the story of his debates with famous atheist, Christopher Hitchens (one of the self-proclaimed "Four Horsemen of the Counter-Apocalypse"). He uses these debates as a way to introduce "the grace effect" in the prologue and then shows us in the epilogue how through Sasha's life, even someone who doesn't believe in the grace effect is touched by it.

He says, "Common grace is that grace which may be enjoyed by believers as well as unbelievers, though the former understand its source." (p. 20) Taunton goes on to define the "grace effect" as "an observable phenomenon -- that life is demonstrably better where authentic Christianity flourishes." (p. 22) But rather than showing us a culture that is benefiting from the grace effect (what most of his readers live with and experience on a daily basis) he uses the completely broken, worldly culture of the Ukraine and specifically the adoption system to demonstrate a country bereft of God and the effects of His grace.

At times, the book seems to become more of a scholarly work and leaves behind the story element. But in the end, the author does a good job of giving the reader a snapshot of the Ukrainian adoption process and its corruption (and the chapter on a brief history of religion in Ukraine is well-written and engaging) and then getting right back into the adoption story.

I believe the author does fulfill his purpose as stated in the prologue: "to make a case for society's need of Christianity's gentling, inspiring, and culturally transforming power."

As you read you will find yourself infuriated at times and inspired at others -- infuriated at the corruption of the Ukrainian adoption process and how it seems to be about everything but the children and inspired at seeing God at work on Sasha and her adoptive family's behalf.

In the end, I can't say its one of my favorite books I've ever read, but I enjoyed it. I expected it to make me want to adopt a child from the Ukraine, it did not. But I guess that was not the author's purpose. So I can't quite put my finger on why I wouldn't "highly" recommend the book, but it's a good read, especially if you have an interest in adoption stories or in Christian apologetics.

 Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”