Due to lack of response, I am postponing further posts. Perhaps some who expressed interest in this blog are viewing it but not participating. So if someone decides to participate, I will be willing to continue with posts. But until that time, I will not continue posting. God bless, Anita

Vacation

I will be on vacation for the next two weeks and will not post until after that. Anita

"Crazy Love" Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Crazy Love

In chapter three, Francis compares God's love to the love of an earthly father. For many, including Francis, this Fatherly love is foreign because of the lack of example from their earthly fathers. My family was so blessed because our daddy's love for us made it easier for us to identify with our Heavenly Daddy's love for us. About six months after our dad died, one of our cousins told me he had never known another man who loved his children as deeply as our daddy loved us. (So others saw it too.) Even so, recognizing God's great love for us is not always easily done: we know that we are so unworthy. But His love for us is not based on us and our worth, but rather on Him and His character.

Francis says, "For years I 'got' God's love in my head, checked the right answer on the 'what God is like' test, but didn't fully understand it with my heart. ... Most of us, to some degree, have a difficult time understanding, believing or accepting God's absolute love for us." He goes on to say that a major turning point for him came from being a father himself. "Nothing compares to being truly, exuberantly wanted by your children."

John Eldredge says in the book Wild at Heart, "I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt of this: God wants to be loved. He wants to be a priority to someone. ... As Tozer says, 'God waits to be wanted.' " Francis adds, "His being is utterly complete and perfect, apart from humanity. He doesn't need me or you. Yet He wants us, chooses us, even considers us His inheritance (Eph. 1:18). The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us. ... The irony is that while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want Him most of the time."

Discussion Questions:

Question 1. Share the moment you felt like you "got" it; that "aha!" moment when you realized "I am in love with God!"

Question 2. The Bible tells us in Matt. 22:37 - 38 to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Francis says, "this is how God longs for us to respond to His extravagant, unending love: with true love expressed through out lives." How can you make the cross central in your life?

I hope some of you will take the time to post comments this week. During this next week, let's remind each other and others to "remember the cross."

Anita

"Crazy Love" Chapter Two

Chapter Two: You Might Not Finish This Chapter

Francis encourages us in chapter two to give some serious thought to how we approach each day of our lives, and our lives as a whole. Quoting him from page 39: "it's easy to think about today as just another day." ... "On the average day, we live caught up in ourselves. On the average day, we don't consider God very much. On the average day, we forget that our life truly is a vapor. But there is nothing normal about today."

Francis goes on to give us an example of uncontrolled, 'justified' stress in his own life, and the alleviation of that stress when he surrendered all his worries and stress to God. We seem to tell ourselves that our 'burdens' are just a little too unimportant to bother God with; at the same time, they are so important that they command too much of our focus and often bring us to a state of ill health; and we allow them to steal our joy. Francis relates worry to lack of trust and stress to lack of balance. "Both," he says, "worry and stress reek of arrogance." Worry and stress are also symptoms of misdirected focus: Life IS all about God and not about me at all. Francis suggests that we get over ourselves and focus on giving glory to God. "The point of your life is to point to Him." I really like that statement. I think it's time we get the point.


Discussion Questions:

• How can you refocus your life in a way that will help you remember "the point of your life is to point to Him"?

• Think about people in your life who have died abruptly. Think about their achievements; and about their regrets. Perhaps you were in a relationship with them in which they shared this information; perhaps you have to imagine what the answers might be based on what you knew about them.

• Frederick Buechner: "Intellectually we all know that we will die, but we do not really know it in the sense that the knowledge becomes a part of us. We do not really know it in the sense of living as though it were true. On the contrary, we tend to live as though our lives would go on forever." What's your response to this quote?
  

• Read Philippians 4:4. Are you obeying that command? What steps will you take to ensure that you do? Philippians 4:5-9 offer us help.

• What if today was the day you came before God? What regrets might you have? Think about things you can change to day to avoid those regrets.

• What was your response to the quote from A. W. Tozer? "A man by his sin may waste himself, which is to waste that which on earth is most like God. This is man's greatest tragedy and God's heaviest grief."

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Anita

Crazy Love Book at Amazon

I just got an email from Amazon that they are currently selling Crazy Love for $10.19. If you haven't gotten it yet but want to participate, now might be a good time to order it.

Anita

"Crazy Love" Preface and Chapter One

Chapter One: Stop Praying

Welcome! Here we are at week 1 of the "Crazy Love" discussion group!! Remember this will only work if you actually DISCUSS, so be sure to participate in the discussion via the comments form link at the bottom of the post. Try to answer all the questions, but if you only feel led to answer 1 or 2, that is OK. If something spoke to you in the chapter that isn't touched on in the post, feel free to begin a discussion on that topic. We want this to be engaging and beneficial for everyone.

In Chapter 1, Francis Chan challenges us to think about our own perception of God. He encourages us to "take a long, hard look at Him." Jesus asked the disciples in Matthew 16:13, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" and then in verse 15, "But who do you say that I am?" How do WE answer that question? Do we have an accurate view of God? Too often our view of God is narrow and small. Are we seeking an accurate view of Him? Let's take the time and make the effort to take that "long, hard look at Him."

Did you take the time to watch the two videos - "The Awe Factor" and "Just Stop and Think"? If you didn't, please stop right now and go here and watch them.


Discussion Questions:

• What about the title "Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God" attracted you to this book?

• Francis Chan asks on page 27: "Have you ever really thought about how diverse and creative God is? Have you ever marveled at it?"
  

• On pages 35 - 37, Francis Chan describes the responses of John and Isaiah upon entering into the presence of God. If you could enter into the presence of God as John and Isaiah recount in Revelation 4 and Isaiah 6 respectively, what would be the first words out of your mouth the moment you saw God in all His glory?

• Francis Chan says on page 31: "He (God) already has a name, an identity. We don't get to decide who God is." What is your response to that statement?
  

• How was your prayer life different this week after reading Chapter 1?

Please feel free to respond to these questions and share any thoughts or questions you have. I would also like to hear your response to the section on God's attributes. You may want to comment on something in the forward or the preface as well.

Let's be blessed by focusing on seeing the truth of who God is. The evidence is all around us.

Anita

Crazy Love Discussion Group

Here are the details about the discussion group:

• This will be a discussion of the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. Check out the book's website: http://www.crazylovebook.com/. Since it is an online discussion, you can participate at whatever time of day on whatever day of the week works best for you each week. You can also participate from any part of the country or from any country, as long as you have Internet access. So please share this with friends and family members. The more participants we have, the more in-depth our discussions will be.

• The book has 10 chapters and we will cover one chapter each week. The website lists retailers from whom you can order the book (about $14). In Tucson, I have seen the books in stock at Wal-Mart and Borders. We will begin the discussion group on June 24, which gives you plenty of time to purchase the book and read the Preface and Chapter 1. On the 24th, an overview of Chapter 1 along with a few comments and questions will be posted on this blog. You will be invited to leave your own comments and questions. Feel free to address each other's comments, but please be respectful and Christlike in your words.

• Even if you have never left a comment on a blog, you can participate by signing up for a Google ID or even just leaving an anonymous comment. We do ask that all anonymous comments be signed, please.

• Finally, if you are interested in participating, please leave a comment on this post and let me know that you will participate.

I am eager to start this discussion group and hope that many will be blessed through it. I look forward to hearing from you.

Anita

God's Everlasting Love

God, the Creator of the Universe, the Most High God, has loved me (and you) with an everlasting love. He has drawn us with His great lovingkindness. How do we respond to that?

Why do we turn from the love above all loves and crave instead a "love" that falls short in every way? Can we not see that what is labeled "love" by our society is a poor counterfeit of the love of God? Even among those who love God, we see people settling for the counterfeit when God can empower them with love as He defines it. How do we allow God to empower us? It begins with our relationship with Him. When we get that right, His love can flow from us to those around us.

A friend and I are reading the book Crazy Love, Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan. We're going to use this blog to facilitate a discussion group - we will cover one chapter each week and blog comments: thoughts, questions, etc. Please let me know if you are interested in joining us. Thanks.

Anita