Book 11: Jack of Spades

Talk about a quick and engaging little book! I recently became aware of Francis Chan's ministry, writing, and online presence. I remember someone telling me about his Just Stop and Think video (which you can view here). At the time, I failed to track it down online or follow up on the recommendation at all. Then as I was reading this title yesterday, Chan encourages you early in the book to go to the website and view a few different things.

I thought it was really a great reading experience with the combined media resources online.

As he sums up the book, it's a call to a high view of God which results in a high-octane response to God...a Crazy Love. Any response less than that might be something we should classify as sub-Christian instead of settling for some anemic form of just-get-by Christianity.

His discussion of "Lukewarm Christians" (which he determines is oxymoronic) is especially challenging but necessary.

I read the book quite easily yesterday so it's not a difficult or long reading commitment. But it will certainly challenge you to evaluate your level of spiritual commitment. If you have the option, I would encourage you to use the online chapter introductions and other media resources along the way...quite excellent.

Loving the Beans

I just enjoy everything about coffee. The flavor. The aroma. The ambience. The story behind the bean.


And I think that story is one of the things that makes coffee such great tool for thinking missionally...globally...sustainably...responsibly.




Recently, I've been researching some of the non-profit cafes around the country who are providing a combined experience of coffee, community, music, art, culture, and in some cases...Christ.

This is a great one I'd love to visit in Seattle...the Qcafe...affiliated with Quest Church in Seattle.

Eugene Cho is the pastor of Quest Church there and has a great blog I've been reading lately too. You can check that out here. We've been playing phone tag like crazy too as I've been trying to talk to him about the cafe and how the dream/space developed.

One of the challenges I'm facing in life & ministry right now is determining what the greatest passion of my life is? What is the "sweet spot" of God's call on my life and what kind of adjustments would it take to get there? Sacrifice? Comfort? Risk?

Ten of Spades: The Insider

This book was given to me by a friend and neighbor (literal) as one of those “Read this and let me know what you think” deals.

Well, it took me a little while to get to it, but this is one of those books that really resonates with where the journey has been taking me lately. The basic premise is pretty simple…that the Kingdom of God and the Gospel has its most profound impact when it is lived within the context of everyday life and the existing relationships we have within our world.

Unfortunately, Christians are often encouraged directly or indirectly to pull away from their social context and become “outsiders” to those who need Christ the most. In an attempt to connect believers with a new set of relationships (supposedly for some discipleship which rarely happens) we sacrifice our identity as “insiders.”

Quoting from a chapter entitled “The Insider’s Role in Missions”…

“Insiders are at the heart of God’s pursuit of the nations. They are essential to what he wants to do. Yet, in many churches and missions efforts they face resistance and disapproval rather than support. They are made to feel they are somehow disloyal because of the time and space they give their unbelieving friends. What they need instead is affirmation, equipping, and resourcing—and lots of it.”

For those who may want to better understand how live ‘Kingdomly’ in your everyday world along with those who want to influence others to become ‘insiders’ Petersen and Shamy have some great practical chapters on how to do that…especially the idea of simply inviting someone to journey through Scripture with you.

Vacationing Well

This is one of those vacations that may actually result in the desired amount of rest and relaxation. Personally, I've found that most vacations can be exhausting because there's this compulsion to pack so much into the experience. That is yet another indication that our consumeristic lifestyles are so ingrained that we fail to even grasp the concepts of simplicity and rest.

Last night I was fishing off of this little point (where Jessica is journaling) as darkness settled over the lake. Then the clouds parted and the moon began to beam from my left. Since I wasn't catching ANY fish, I just laid back on the grass and stared up at the stars. It was one of those moments where you feel like you have God's attention and He might just say something out loud. Then I remembered something I heard Erwin McManus say recently in a podcast...something to this effect... "Asking God for a sign is a sign of spiritual immaturity."

Don't you love it when people, without any hesitation, step directly on your spiritual toes?! Yeah...Gideon was certainly showing spiritual immaturity when he kept throwing down the fleece trick. Erwin's point was that God wants to develop us into the kind of people He can trust to make the right decisions. He's not interested in just blurting out directions every time we approach some sort of crossroads in life. Obviously, that would be easier in the moment but when will I learn that God is more interested in my character than my contentment or comfort!

Interesting Images

I came across these two images as I was surfing one of my Treehugger RSS feeds.

This little guy has collected so much pollen he's packing onto every little millimeter.

The next image is curious because of the cohesive properties of the water. Something is keeping the tiny droplets (surface tension maybe) from consolidating.

The caption over the image to the right was "I Think I've Got Something In My Eye!"

Yeah, looking through water can often distort vision. Many times I've been diving for objects with my girls at the pool and often depend on colors and shapes to guide my eyes to the object because the water and chemicals blur the vision and burn the eyes.

This brings me to my ever-popular blog topic of clarity. I find myself transitioning from a fairly happy-go-lucky "life is good" phase to a more contemplative and confusing "life is vague" phase.

I just shared with a Facebook friend last night that I seem to be in a state of static...a time of life that exists between dreams...it's not so bad that you try to wake yourself...but it's not so good that you WILL the dream forward either.