If you are wondering why there are no more C.S. Lewis’ in the world, no more stories as good as Tolkien’s, no cathedrals as great as the gothic’s, no music as moving as Pachelbel’s, it may be because the writers of these books, the tellers of these stories, the architects of these buildings and the composers of these symphonies are sitting on their couches watching television.
Outlive Your Life
One passage from Max Lucado’s Outlive Your Life that continues to stick with me:
A few years back, three questions rocked my world. They came from different people in the span of a month. Question 1: Had you been a German Christian during World War II, would you have taken a stand against Hitler? Question 2: Had you lived in the South during the civil rights conflict, would you have taken a stand against racism? Question 3: When your grandchildren discover you lived during a day in which 1.75 billion people were poor and 1 billion were hungry, how will they judge your response?
This quote is from page 7, and the rest of the book is just as challenging. Below is my summary of the rest of the book — thanks to BookSneeze for the complimentary copy in exchange for this review…
When we think too much about the opinions of others, we are letting them edit a book God has written.
Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
The Butterfly Effect
Many are familiar with the concept of the butterfly effect — that a small, seemingly insignificant act can ripple through time and space and give birth to monumental change. This familiarity, however, doesn’t necessarily change the way we live; and Andy Andrews aims to change that with his book The Butterfly Effect.
This book is short and sweet, just over 100 colorful pages, readable in about 15 minutes. Andy uses two illustrations to drive home his point that every action matters to all of us, for all time. I’d heard both illustrations before, and Andy has been using them in his live events for years. Nonetheless, the ideas are timeless and the presentation was well done.
There are generations yet unborn whose very lives will be shifted and shaped by the moves you make and the actions you take today
This video provides a good summary of the book, and here’s a talk by Andy Andrews himself where he uses most of the same illustrations to make the point that everything matters.
I received this book through the BookSneeze program. It’s free to join and you get free books in exchange for honest reviews — not a bad deal!
My ticket to living a better story
This post is for the Donald Miller living a better story contest. If I write real good I can win a trip to the Living a Better Story seminar. Here’s hoping :)
I had this dream once that I was in a massive city, two hundred years in the future. I was at this championship football game with a sea of humanity. I knew it was the future because I asked somebody in my dream what year it was, and they told me that it was the year 2199. That and I saw crazy futuristic things like Wendy’s vending machines that were dispensing hamburgers.
In my dream I left my body to get a bird’s eye view of the stadium and the attached shopping complex. And my heart was flooded with love for these people I would never meet. I wept that no one today was loving these people who were yet to be, and how rare it is that one will lay down their life for another.
Somehow I feel that my story is about reaching these people with a Love that crosses cultures and spans generations, a Love that I feel but often can’t explain. Sometimes when I’m sleepy or sentimental I think music can capture the essence of Love. I think music can capture the essence of love like glimmers of light refracted through a diamond. I become afraid when I think things like this though, and my dream seems impossible.
I begin to think of sharing my dreams with others, of sharing my music with others, and the fear is crippling. Fears of not being understood, of missing the mark. I think the Living a Better Story Seminar will help me face my fears and begin putting words on a page, and that’s why I don’t want to go. I think it would be easier to sit at home and watch Oprah reruns.
But I do want to make music, music that softens hearts and brings people to a new place of surrender to Jesus, who is Love. And I want to foster a vision for the next generation, but not just the next generation — a vision for all of humanity, that everyone would encounter and radiate perfect Love.
More details on the seminar and this contest are in this video, which unfortunately I couldn’t embed here.
Love & War :: an honest look inside a marriage
Book reviews are somewhat rare here, but I received a review copy of John & Stasi Eldredge’s new book on marriage, Love & War.
Disarmingly real, John and Stasi venture into the deepest parts of their hearts to prove that marriage doesn’t have to be two guarded people managing their disappointment.
Nothing would be done at all if one waited until one could do it so well that no one could find fault with it.
Kind of odd seeing my own name in a friend’s iTunes… Right between the Backstreet Boys and Bay City Rollers. I think that’s about right :)
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