DOINK!!!

Have you ever read a book that so messed with your head you couldn't sleep right for days? Or perhaps heard a message, or something so profound that you thought, "Doink!" Now why didn't I think of that myself or why did I never see this before? Maybe it's like that Aha moment Oprah talks about all the time. For me, it's like being hit on the head with a mallet.

My first wallop to my head came when I read the book, "CRAZY LOVE" by Francis Chan. Actually, I'm still reading this book--I can't get past Chapter 6!! Crazy Love was written for those who want more Jesus. It is for those who are bored with what American Christianity offers. It is for those who don't want to plateau, those who would rather die before their convictions do. I am being challenged in so many ways. Do I really appreciate how Holy God is? He hates sin, my sin grieves Him.

Do I understand His immense love for me or that He genuinely wants an eternal relationship with me as a result of mutual love---and not out of obligation?

Wallop #2 came in the form a sermon series Pastor David preached called, "Family Talk." Each message I likened to a Come to Jesus meeting. Am I willing to sacrifice everything in order to follow Jesus? Or better yet, if Jesus showed up at my house and said sell all you have, leave your family and follow me? Leave my family? But Lord? Yeah, tough stuff.

My daughter Bethany finds it amusing that I typically read 3 to 4 books at a time. I call it multi-tasking; she calls it crazy. But even as I am still processing Crazy Love, and the sermon series from NC, I crack open a copy of Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What and my new favorite, Angry Conversations with God, by Susan E. Isaacs. I know the answers to these tough questions won't be found in the form of a Christian book but in digging deeper and letting God do His thing in my heart. Surrender. Wallop...Surrender...Wallop. I know there's another Doink just around the corner.