Crazy Love

I recently read this book, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. It seemed liked all the women in my small group at church had read it, or were in the process of reading it, so I figured it had to be sorta good and decided to give it a go. I really got a lot out of this book and it seems like I read it at just the perfect time, too. I love it when God does that.

The author suggests looking at corresponding videos on Youtube with each chapter, but I only actually did that once. The video was good but I felt like it sort of just went on and on and on. I'm also more of a visual learner, so actually reading and taking notes does more for me than hearing someone speaking. So, that's what I did. I would read a chapter, making notes in it as I went (I love marking up a book). Then, once I finished the chapter, I would go back through my marks and take notes in my journal. I really got a lot out of the book by doing this. I have a tendency to read things quickly and not spend a lot of time "digesting" what I'm learning and then it doesn't always stick with me or make a huge impact. So, I'm not sure if it was because I spent more time inmeshed in the lessons here or if they were just that impacting (again with the impacting), but I did really learn a lot with this book.

I think the one thing that stuck out to me the most, though, was this: God loves me more than I can ever comprehend and all he wants is for me to love him back. He wants me to simply, love him and by extension, to love others. How do I express this love? Through my life, and more specifically, my actions. 1 John 3:18 says, "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

So, how do I act? What can I do to reflect this love? Well, for me, it was a call to revamp the way I spend my time. Time is one of the things God has blessed me with and I realized that I was being selfish with it. This life I live isn't about me, it's about God and my time needs to reflect that. Practically, I decided that I was wasting too much time on stupid things that really don't matter (like all the random Facebook games or sitting through a dumb movie) and so I cut those out. I also decided I need to make it a priority to utilize the opportunities to serve that our church organizes. Another big one for me was to work on just letting go of my schedule a bit--to be more flexible to the people and/or opportunities God might put in my path in any given day. Instead of being focused on my to-do list, to look around more at the needs that I might be missing.

Reading this book helped to remind me to think about what really matters, which isn't actually whether my house is clean or dinner is on the table. To quote Chan, "The thing that matters most is how we use what we have been given, not how much we make or do compared to someone else." And it's not easy, it's not like floating down the river. Living a life of faith requires swimming against the current--in order to grow close to God we have to deliberately pursue it and pay attention. And these trappings of life that I can get so caught up in, really don't matter, what matters is that I make it to heaven and bring as many of my friends and family with me as I can.Colossians 3:2 says "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." 

So, if you are looking for a spiritual challenge or need a reminder of just how much God loves you, check out this book, you won't regret it! :-)