crazy love

// November 24th, 2008 // faith

I’ve been carrying this book around in my bag for about 3 weeks, even though I’ve been excited to read it, there’s been no real urgency. Last week Shan and I were chatting about it, and he was in the same spot, just didn’t feel like the right timing to start it. Nothing against Rob Bell, but you kinda know what you’re gonna get from him, and while its normally amazing, it’s just not what I’ve been needing.

When I woke up this morning, I realized that what I was needing is a new fresh perspective. After growing up in a ministers home, and then becoming a pastor the journey of following Christ gets harder. Not easier, as you might expect, but crazy difficult. It’s so easy to fall into a rut, and blame my short-comings & frustrations on the Church, or a pastor, or anything else for that matter. But really its me.

I know this sounds bad, but a lot of mornings I don’t feel like loving God, or maybe I just forget to. Who knows, maybe I’m distracted/frustrated/tired/numb/complacent/burnt-out, but whatever the reason, I need a fresh taste of who God is how much he loves me.

When I got to the office, Francis Chan’s Crazy Love was staring back at me. Begging me to dig into it, no daring me to dig into it. At this writing I’ve only read 1 chapter, but I already know this book is just what I need – not a small kick in the pants, but a reboot of my mindset, a revitalizing of my perspective of just how big God is. 

None of us are exempt. We all at some point need to be reminded of the His crazy love for us, and have our crazy love for him reignited.

If you are dealing with some of the same things, please be honest and let me know. I’d love to know that I’m not alone here.

6 Responses to “crazy love”

  1. chris wingo says:
    November 24, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    I’ve been listening to Phil Wickam’s live cd here lately. I am floored by the first song, especially the lines, “I’m running throught the gates of love, as fast as I can… I’m a desperate man” and the line, “if Jesus your the fuel, then I’m the desperate flame”
    You know, I love words like crazy and desperate, especially in conjuction with the word love. It conjures up images of: scaling castle walls, fighting lions, mad rushes through open fields, screaming at the top of my lungs at the grand canyon. I so desperatly want to fall crazily in love with Jesus. Just like he is crazy in love with me.

    Great post man!

  2. becky says:
    November 24, 2008 at 2:31 pm

    can you share the book with your wife???? it sounds like one i need to read as well. i think with God, it’s like marriage. you can get stuck in a rut and just take for granted the things that used to mean so much and now it’s just everyday. we all need a good kick in our pants, people are in denial if they say they don’t. God is so patient and merciful, but He is also jealous and crazy in love with us, even if we aren’t returning the affection He just keeps on. His love is perfect

    beckys last blog post..crazy love

  3. Angela Ralston says:
    November 24, 2008 at 2:31 pm

    Hi, I’ve noticed that you’ve blogged about Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. Just wanted you to know that the videos to accompany the book are now available to download at:
    http://www.crazylovebook.com/videos

    Also, a Crazy Love small group dvd with never-before-seen content will be available in January. Because of your wonderful blog post about the book, I’d like to offer you a free pre-release copy of the dvd to review. Please email me your address, and I’d be happy to send it. Thanks!

    Angela.Ralston@davidccook.com

  4. trey says:
    November 24, 2008 at 2:51 pm

    Chris, dude your absolutely right. You should read the book man… it will fire you up.

    beck, sorry babe, I’ll get ya a copy coz I’m not parting with mine just yet.

    Angela, the email is on its way. Thanks so much.

  5. shannon says:
    November 24, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    I gotta feelin that this book is a “mess you up” kind of book. Looking forward to hearing about your mess.

    shannons last blog post..beautiful.

  6. Matthew says:
    December 14, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    Trey-

    (I don’t know how old this blog is, exactly, but seeing as how we only met a few weeks ago, that’s my excuse for just now commenting.)

    Anyway…

    I have felt the same way until very recently. It wasn’t until I walked through the doors of Bay that I was able to start climbing out of my rut. My dad is a pastor. He’s a great man of God, but I’ve been raised to believe that God is a legalistic dictator that had His thumb on us. I got so tired of the junk that mentality brought. Then Bay happened. 3hrough listening to your dad’s sermon’s and going through the fusion group with Shannon, and of course having people like Chip and Lisa in my life, I’m starting to get a new excitement for God.

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