crazy love: preface

When preparing to read a book like Crazy Love there are a few musts. first, is prayer. for God to open my heart and for my mind to understand the words on the page, and to begin to understand more of who God is, and who i am. second, no distractions. This is the hard coming from the person who forgets what i am saying as it is coming out of my mouth sometimes. A.D.D to the Max... a Kleenex can be a distraction. Third, my notebook, bible, and comfy cloths. this is a must. fourth, silence. so i have nothing but my thoughts.

The preface opens with a quote.. "to just read the bible, attend church, and avoid "big" sins-- is this passionate, wholehearted love for God? I read this a few times, it took me awhile to really realize what it was asking exactly. To me it says just because we go to church, read the bible and don't rob a bank does that mean we have a personal relationship of our father?

I filled out a couple application these past couple days and i kept seeing the same question over and over. Asking, what is a christian, how does one become a christian? and i thought about that question, before putting what i believed. That anybody can call themselves a christian, and almost anybody does. Its true! I think that in some way calling yourself a "christian" is different then having a personal one on one relationship with God. is this making sense? maybe only in my head. Sometimes we can get so caught up in going to church, singing worship songs, reading the bible... in the "doing" part of it that we forget to stop and have a personal relationship with him. We want so badly as humans, i believe, to be loved, to have relationships with people. Meeting at coffee houses to talk about life, going out on a friday night with friends, dating, joining clubs........ should we not want that same desire with God? I know i lack that, most of the time i get so caught up in my earthly friends i forget about the one relationship that counts the most, with my Creator.

I believe the preface throws it all out there, so i know what i am getting myself into. If you don't agree with this, you might not continue reading. I have no doubt that if i "...surrender myself totally to Gods purposes He will bring me the most pleasure in this life and the next."


I think Chan says some memorable things throughout the preface:

"i think its far to easy to blame the American church without acknowledging that we are each part of the church and therefore responsible."

"... to be a part of a body where radical living is part of the norm."

"we forget that God never had a identity crisis." ---classic!

" come with me on this journey. I dont promose it will not be painless, change, as we all know, is uncomfortable. It is up to you to respons to what you read. But you will have a choice: to adjust how you live daily or to stay the same. "