Want to know why so many university students are addicted to Shane Claiborne’s The Irresistible Revolution
?
Here’s a snippet:
I know there are people out there who say, “My life was such a mess. I was drinking, partying, sleeping around . . . and then I met Jesus and my whole life came together.” God bless those people. But me, I had it together. I used to be cool. And then I met Jesus and he wrecked my life. The more I read the gospel, the more it messed me up, turning everything I believed in, valued, and hoped for upside-down.
How about this:
I once heard a pastor say, “The church is like Noah’s ark. It stinks, but if you get out of it, you’ll drown.”
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Thanks so much to those of you who suggested I read The Kite Runner
. It is heart-breaking, inspiring — and so well written. Can’t wait to get my hands on Khaled Hosseini’s next book. (Is it just as good?)
From Garry Wills’s What Jesus Meant:
“Hurt people are not drawn to the aggressively healthy, to the televangelist’s plummy voice, the fire-hose gush of bonhomie. People are instinctively drawn to Jesus, certain that he understands suffering, their particular suffering, that he sees it in their eyes even before they speak.”
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We lost our state championship game to Laredo Del Mar, 4-3. Last night they beat New Mexico, 20-8, in the Southwest Regional championship game to advance to the junior league World Series. So close, yet so far . . . .
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Yesterday my son got his learner’s permit. Then I took him for his first drive. Anyone remember the sheer joy of the first time you got to drive?
Will it be today? tomorrow? Sometime (likely) this week, Barry Bonds will break the all-time record for most home runs, passing Hank Aaron.
Even with all the controversy about steriods (he broke into the majors as a speedy leadoff hitter — and at some point underwent major transformation in body type), it’s an amazing accomplishment. But it’s still hard for me to get too excited.
He’s passing Hank. But he’s not Hank. (OK, I’m not quite this much of Hank fan!)
Bonds’s record won’t be around as long as Babe Ruth’s or Hank’s. You can already hear A-Rod heading toward a new mark.
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As I keep working on Galatians, I’m impressed again with the gains in New Testament study from what’s called the “new perspective” on Paul, which I wrote about here.
I’m preparing to preach half a dozen messages from Galatians. Paul on steroids. With a bit of a mood. Unfortunately, the message of Galatians has often been muted by people assuming (wrongly, it seems) that it is just a small version of Romans.
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We came back through Houston this weekend. Here are pictures of Reese with her relatives that have just been at the beach!
With Grandma:
With her grandpa:
With Uncle Chris:
(Great) Uncle Randy, cousins Van and Tatum:
(Great) Aunt Pam:
Cousin Crista (now a sophomore at Missouri Southern):
And with Mom and Dad (just entering his 4th year at Baylor Med School):
How fortuitous that it’s been Shark Week on some TV station (Discovery Channel?). The kids have had it running nonstop — in between our visits to the beach. Also last weekend they had a shark tournament right off the coast of Pensacola Beach here and the paper carried pictures of monsters — MONSTERS — that were caught. One was a nearly-600-pound tiger shark with a head the size of a silo.
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Tomorrow is the day. “Bourne Ultimatum” finally comes out. Chris and I will catch one of the first showings.
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Finished up a couple books. Now just starting KITE RUNNER. Thanks to those of you who suggested it.