The reason I read this book was because I heard so much hype about it. I was very skeptical at first because it is a fiction book and I typically try to stay out of the christian bubble as much as I can. Though in all reality I am in the bubble deeper than I want to admit. I decided to add this to my Christmas list and if I got it cool and if not, no big deal. Well wouldn’t you know that my Aunt got me the book for Christmas.
The Shack takes you through part of Mack Phillips life. He is a family man who has become disconnected from God. While on a camping trip with his children Mack experiences tragedy in a way he has never experienced it before. A few years later Mack is still scared by what he has dubbed as the Great Sadness and it has hurt his relationships with his wife, children, and God. Mack receives a mysterious message telling him to go where the Great Sadness all began, the shack. Mack ventures off to a rendezvous with none other than God. From there Mack is taken through a process of learning, healing, and being loved by God. When he returns he comes home a completely different man.
The Shack is one of the best explanations of where God is when bad things happen to us. It gives a great illustration of how God views us and tries to show us how much he loves us. Now this is a fictional book but is inspired by theology. It will leave you wanting a deeper relationship with Jesus. I don’t know a lot of how the Holy Spirit, God, and Jesus all work together and are one, but after reading this I can begin to process just how it might all work.
If anything you should read this book because it is wonderfully written and is a great story. William P. Young does an excellent job describing scenes that I would have not known how to even begin to describe. Regardless of being a Christian, a seeker, or a non-believer you can’t read this book and not finish without feeling hope and desiring something more.
Taylor’s talent show was this past weekend and some of the coolest guys put a band together for it. Here is a video of their performance. Check it out!
About a month ago I was shown a news article about the weirdest football game ever played. The other day I stumbled upon a video of the news report about the game. Then todays devo from Henri Nouwen Society addressed caring for others. I feel that the devo and the video go together really well. The devo explains how care for one another can be a cure. The video shows people caring for people in action and you get to see the true results from their care.
Care, the Source of All Cure Care is something other than cure. Cure means “change.” A doctor, a lawyer, a minister, a social worker-they all want to use their professional skills to bring about changes in people’s lives. They get paid for whatever kind of cure they can bring about. But cure, desirable as it may be, can easily become violent, manipulative, and even destructive if it does not grow out of care. Care is being with, crying out with, suffering with, feeling with. Care is compassion. It is claiming the truth that the other person is my brother or sister, human, mortal, vulnerable, like I am.
When care is our first concern, cure can be received as a gift. Often we are not able to cure, but we are always able to care. To care is to be human.
About a year or two ago I was excited to learn about the production of The Word of Promise. It was to be the most thought out and produced audio reading of the bible ever. They got many great actors such as Richard Dreyfuss, Sean Astin, Jason Alexander, and Gary Sinise to be readers for the audio set. The Gift of Psalms is from that same collection. It is a devotional of what is said to be the fifty most inspirational Psalms. Just like The Word of Promise they spared no expense on this devotional.
Lets first take notice of how neatly this book comes packaged. It has a nice hard bound cover that seems to be coushined and super glossy pages with different script syle fonts. Its really designed to be that devotional you leave on the coffee table so it looks nice but you never actually read. Once you start reading it, you want to just leave it on the coffee table because its not that inspirational.
The devotionals seem to distract you from the heart of the Psalms. They try to relate and make you look deeper into the Psalms, but in doing so they miss the mark on the meanings of Psalms. Each devotional ends with a short prayer. I found the prayers to be great ways to end each devotional. Sometimes its hard to know how to pray over what I read and these helped me with that.
The book comes with three audio cds that are readings of the Psalms. The readings weren’t great but they were not bad. I feel they were over produced. To much trying to set the mood or to be mystical. Sometimes I just want a nice voice reading to me, something natural. The scripture used is all from the King James Version of the bible. I really don’t like this version because I find it hard to relate too, but I decided to give it a try. After going through this book I still don’t like the King James Version.
Overall I would say don’t run out to buy this book right away unless your really wanting some kind of devotional to get you through the Psalms. If you can find it on sale go ahead and pick up a copy. Like the title says The Gift of Psalms, this book would be really nice for a gift for someone.
God still has big plans for Young Life at Taylor. He answered some big prayers that we’ve had for sometime now by placing two new volunteer leaders on our team. Josh and Kelly fresh out of new leader training from the University of Cincinnati are now part of team Taylor. The team is the biggest its been in years with six leaders, 3 guys and 3 girls.
I’m so excited to have them join our team. Every time we get new leaders its like a boost of energy. They are always so eager to get out there to be with kids and love kids for Christ. After leading for five years I will say there are days where its hard to go to the school with a smile on my face, but with new leaders I get this renewing of my passion for students and their relationships with Christ. Their excitement poors into me, and not only am I excited for them but I become excited for the ministry.
I wonder where God is going to have us go or what He will have us do with our new team. I think we’re on the verge of taking the Three Rivers community by storm. However God works in His own time, maybe we are still preparing the way for the greater things that will come. Either way I am thankful to be apart of this ministry and to be apart of this team.
I get daily emails from the Henri Nouwen Society. They are like small devotionals and I find most of them to have some good nuggets of wisdom in them. I thought I would share this one with you.
Our minds are always active. We analyze, reflect, daydream, or dream. There is not a moment during the day or night when we are not thinking. You might say our thinking is “unceasing.” Sometimes we wish that we could stop thinking for a while; that would save us from many worries, guilt feelings, and fears. Our ability to think is our greatest gift, but it is also the source of our greatest pain. Do we have to become victims of our unceasing thoughts? No, we can convert our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer by making our inner monologue into a continuing dialogue with our God, who is the source of all love.
Let’s break out of our isolation and realize that Someone who dwells in the center of our beings wants to listen with love to all that occupies and preoccupies our minds.
I heard this said that having more is never enough. This hit me hard. I say to myself all the time that if I could just have more of ______ then it would be all I need, it would be enough. I have slowly realized that more never becomes enough, it never becomes satisfaction, it never becomes contentment. Have you ever thought about what makes you content? Have you ever said if I achieved this I would be content? Why do we have the idea that being content is something we have to obtain or earn. Can’t we just be content.
In Phillippians Paul writes about his contentment;
11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
There is something different about how Paul addresses contentment than how we typically hear contentment talked about. Paul writes that he has learned contentment. He has learned the secret of being content. Paul recognizes that being content is not something he earned or obtained, but rather something he learned. It is almost like a skill that can be mastered. We may never experience what it is like to be content if we do not know how to be content.
This leaves me to believe that Paul learned to be content through everything by learning to rely on Christ through everything, by realizing that Christ is more than enough for any need we may ever encounter. Paul says he can do everything through Christ. If we can do that, then we may learn what it is to be content.
More is never enough, but Christ is more than enough.
Is everything I do meaningless? Is the life we live like chasing after the wind, a task so pointless its hard to imagine? There are many moments that I find myself giving into this idea that I live a truly meaningless life. The author of Ecclesiastes addressed this feeling to in chapter 2:10-11.
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
Thinking this way begins to truly scare me. We must see that God gives meaning to our lives, that he provides the delightment of our hearts, not the labor we toil over. Our meaning can be found in God, we are told so in Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Our meaning is found in doing the good works Christ has prepared for us. I would say that if we continue to find no meaning in what we are doing, then we may not be doing what Christ has prepared for us in advance. The meaning could also be lost be cost we do not know our own identity and purpose. I do not know where to find those except for in Christ. Who we are in Christ is a life lived to the full, a life of meaning and purpose.
