Song

The lyrics in this song remind me of what we've been reading and talking about.  
Ive been holding on
To things like dreams that never seem to die
And Im not so strong to lay them down
And say my goodbyes
How do you say goodbye?

If theres a remedy
A break from all my vanity
Then Im gonna need your help
If theres hope for me
Pull me down to my knees
Where Im begging for your help
To let go

Its so unnatural
To let all that Ive planned just slip away
But I would be a fool
To tighten up my hands and be afraid
What I need is faith

Im walking right up to the edge
Im bringing everything thats left of me
I throw my self into your love
Youll be the one to lift me up again
As I let go

Chapter 4

We met and discussed Chapter 4 yesterday. What a powerful chapter about the lukewarm church. We discussed our own hearts and evaluated our lukewarmness. We did some collage work expressing our response to the chapter.

Chapter 3

The chapters are short in this book, but packed with a lot to think about. In this chapter, Chan shows us how much God loves us, and how little we love him. The way we love God and the reasons why we love God are so foundational to the depth of faith that we have. If we love God out of fear of punishment and to have "fire insurance" it's not the kind of love that he desires. The image of a child running to their parent when they return home from work is a great way for us to grasp the kind of love He has for us and we should have for him. May we seek to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind.

Chapter one of Crazy Love

This chapter starts off by looking at God's amazing creation. It really does a good job showing us how small we are and gives us a glimpse of how big God is. Studying biology in college at a Christian school, every aspect of science that I learned pointed to the Creator. From the cell to the galaxy, God's fingerprint covers everything. It's amazing to see His design.

Chan writes, "This is why we are called to worship Him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious. There is no other like Him. He is the King of kings, the Beginning and the End, the One who was and is and is to come."

Psalm 8

8:1 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established strength because of your foes,

to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [2]

and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

7 all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Catching up

Disciplines of Grace was a challenging book with many points that were convicting about our walk for God. The book laid the foundation of the Gospel and reminded us the art of preaching it to ourselves daily. It then explained further justification and sanctification and our role in responding to the grace given to us by pursuing God through disciplines which are all to be sought after in direct relationship to the grace of God in our lives.

Though we didn't post any here while we read through this book, we grew closer as we not only discussed the points mentioned in the book, but also shared our lives. Our group has become one of great encouragement and accountability. I am so thankful for the way that God has been at work!

Almost 6 mos'

After 6 mo's have passed...

Discipline of Grace - wow! what a book...

But as we repick up this blog as a way to share our thoughts on our readings we are on a new book.

~Crazy Love~ Francis Chan.

This book is a bit different as it has a video component to it (online). It is interesting. I have read the intro and part of Chp 1.

Figured I would stop and discuss a portion that has struck me.

 As a life-long Christian, I struggle with the "stagnant" walk. In the past few years I definitely received a bit of a wake up call and for the first years of B's life was MUCH closer. Now that life has returned closer to normal (as it ever will be) I feel that "drowsy" Christian sleep walk returning. It is definitely a battle to continue the closer more purposeful journey.

The portion that struck me was where Chan is discussing the characteristics of GOD.

The first two:

1. God is HOLY.
2. God is ETERNAL.

We cannot exaggerate how great he is, now matter how hard we try. To me this is comforting... I tend to exaggerate - and have to be conscious when I start to do this in my own conversations. What an amazing thing it is to know that we cannot exaggerate how wonderful he is... we can't overstate, we can't "give Him too much credit". We can't expect too much from Him. He is set apart from us and we cannot begin to fathom how wonderful he truly is.

Into that flows his second point that we can NOT understand God. He is too big. He has existed forever, he is beyond constraints of time and space that bind us. To try to understand God is like trying to fit all the seas of the earth in a soda can. (Chan's illustration)

To me this is a reminder of how BIG He is.

Why do we forget this? How does the minutia of my life take away from His grandness? It is an oxymoron of sorts. The minutia should remind me of how big HE is... HE is above it all...

Quote from CHAN

"... it is ridiculous to think we have the right to limit God to something we are capable of comprehending. What a stunted and insignificant God that would be!"

New Book

It's a new year and a new book. I'm excited about this one as it sums up my goals for this year: "The Discipline of Grace" by Jerry Bridges. I actually did this study years ago in church Sunday school but as is typical of my post-children brain, I don't remember much of it. Yesterday when we met we decided to just focus on prayer instead of discussing the book and praise God, we were able to pray. The kids were running around the house playing and yelling but that didn't stop us. Each of us had a turn to pray and no children were injured during that time and the house wasn't set on fire. I am thankful indeed:) I'm hopeful this sets the tone for our small group this year that despite what is happening in the lives with our kids, we won't let it distract us from focusing on Him.