Okay, there are really just so many interesting things I can and probably will talk about or write about from this book I just finished, Velvet Elvis. I am just really in agreement with this man, Rob Bell. I’m smoking what he’s selling, as he would say. That’s a nice metaphor.

“If the gospel isn’t good news for everybody, then it isn’t good news for anybody.

And this is because the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people and convince them to join. It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. To do this, the church must stop thinking about everybody primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or nonbeliever. Besides the fact that these terms are offensive to those who are the “un” and “non”, they work against Jesus’ teachings about how we are to treat each other. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, and our neighbor can be anybody. We are all created in the image of God, and we are all sacred, valuable creations of God. Everybody matters…

…Oftentimes the Christian community has sent the message that we love people and build relationships in order to convert them to the Christian faith. So there is an agenda. And when there is an agenda, it isn’t really love, is it? It’s something else. We have to rediscover love, period. Love that loves because it is what Jesus teaches us to do. We have to surrender our agendas. Because some people aren’t going to become Christians like us no matter how hard we push. They just aren’t. And at some point we have to committ them to God, trusting that God loves them more than we every could. I obviously love to talk to people about Jesus and my faith, I’ll take every opportunity I can get. But I have learned that when I toss out my agenda and simply love as Jesus teaches me to, I often end up learning more about God than I could have imagined.

And one thing to keep in mind is that we never arrive. Ever. One of the illusions of faith is that at some point we get it all mapped out and things get smooth and predictable. It is not true. The way of Jesus is a journey, not a destination. On a journey, the scenery changes. A lot…”

I’m reading this book by Rob Bell, called “Velvet Elvis,” and I think it’s an amazing book. I’ve actually found myself reading it, and then scooting back in my chair, putting my head back, and putting the book down, because what he’s saying is articulating EXACTLY how I feel and what I’m thinking and learning and realizing about God. What he’s saying is making my heart literally want to jump out my chest because I *hear* what he’s saying. Do you know what I mean? I don’t know, God just is freaking me out, again, by everyday blowing my mind about who He is. Even I, who continually spout the idea that we put God in boxes without realizing it, keep finding my box blown apart. I love it. I love that God breaks the rules. I love it!

Anyway, I could write for a long time about it, but for now, I wanted to share a tidbit of this book, and more to come soon.

 pg 28ish -

“Questions.

A Christian doesn’t avoid the questions; a Christian embraces them. In fact, to truly pursue the living God, we have to see the need for questions.

Questions are not scary.

What is scary is when people don’t have any.

What is tragic is faith that has no room for them.

…A question by its very nature acknowledges that the person asking the question does not have all of the answers. And because the person does not have all of the answers, they are looking outside of themselves for guidance. Questions, no matter how shocking of blasphemous or arrogant or ignorant or raw, are rooted in humility. A humility that understands that I am not God. And there is more to know.

Questions bring freedom. Freedom that I don’t have to be God and I don’t have to pretend that I have it all figured out. I can let God be God.

…Abraham thinks God is in the wrong and the proposed action is not in line with who God is, and Abraham questions him about it…not only does God not get angry, but he seems to engage with Abraham all the more.

Maybe that is who God is looking for -people who don’t just sit there and mindlessly accept whatever comes their way…”

pg 69 -

“The ultimate display of our respect for the sacred words of God is that we are willing to wade in and struggle with the text - the good parts, the hard to understand parts, the parts we wish weren’t there.

The rabbis even say a specific blessing when they don’t understand…’Thank you, God, that at some point in the future, the lights are going to come on for me.’

The rabbis have a metaphor for this wrestling with the text: The story of Jacob wrestling with the angel in Genesis 32. He struggles, and it is exhausting and tiring, and in the end his hip is injured. It hurts. And he walks away limping.

Because when you wrestled with the text, you walk away limping.

And some people have no limp, because they have not wrestled. But the ones limping have had an experience with the living God.”

There is so much more to write and talk about, but I just want to challenge all of us, myself included…have we thrown everything aside in a desire to wrestle with God? I mean, really get down into it, throwing our hearts and souls into a vulnerable spin, willing to accept the outcome of letting go of comfort, prejudice, culture, presuppositions, and fear? Are you limping? Or are you afraid to be that vulnerable? To ask those questions you don’t want to admit exist, or to face the fear that the answer you find might be different than what you thought that answer was?

Think about it. People that are limping aren’t always the ones with a problem.

Tonight I went for a walk. And not just any walk. I decided to wait until it was completely dark, and to go out for a long walk on the hilly and foresty country roads by our house, without a flashlight. Why, you ask? I. Don’t. Know.

Anyway, I was walking along and then I passed into this area that is completely covered by trees, so basically I can’t see anything. I’m walking along, trying to see where I’m going, enjoying the beauty of the evening, and the forest surrounding me, and I had some music on really quietly….Suddenly, I heard this loud cracking crashing sound. I mean, loud. So, as you can imagine, I froze, turned off the music, and waited to be attacked or something.

 Then I realized that for some bizarre reason, a tree in the forest next to me had decided to crack and fall as I was walking past, and I could hear it tumble through the other trees. So, I honestly was a little scared, because I couldn’t see anything, I was by myself, and for some reason, a tree had just crashed next to me in a forest I couldn’t see.

 It was great.

There was also a beautiful fog sitting in a low field near our house, and that put a whole different type of “fear” in me, if you know what I mean.

Well, I just put up some more pictures, and I hope it worked out okay, they are pictures from Sprachcamp, and from my short time in Dortmund. Check them out (click the photos tab at the top of the page). 

Well, dangit. Tomorrow morning I’m leaving from Cologne to come back to the USA. I will get back to O-town (Omaha for those of you who have no clue - just think the middle of the USA, corn, fields, happy families, you get it) tomorrow evening at about 10 p.m. So, I’ll expect a nice welcome back par-tay.

I don’t know, God is just so good to me, sometimes it freaks me out. I just love Him so much, I can’t help it. Today I got to see Charlie & Innes for about 3 hours, and to catch up with them (I lived with them for 2 months in Dortmund). And as I was leaving their house, I put on my music and I had this amazing song come on that I love so much, by Paul Wright, called You’re Beautiful, and it was a little chilly, with the smell of impending rain breezing through the trees. And I was taking a stroll through the streets of Germany, feeling loved and excited about life and what God is doing. He just freaks me out sometimes how amazing He is, and how much He loves me.

Tonight I’ll hang out with the Goerings, that’s right be jealous, and then probably not sleep much until I get to the airport. Thank goodness they’re still allowing carry-ons after the London scares. Oh! Yesterday Timothy and Jesse and I got to the Dortmund Hbf (train station), and there were police everywhere, because there was a bomb scare. We were all excited until we found out that it was just a blanket, and food in the backpack. Dangit! So our lives weren’t in danger…too bad.

More updates and pictures soon when I’m back in America!

Oh, I’m missing camp, but that’s okay. It’s a good problem to have. I’m in Berlin and really having a great time, just kind of relaxing, taking nice long walks, last night jesse & I took one to a park and it was a perfect night, beautiful moon, it had rained earlier so it was fresh and smelled wonderful. It’s nice to be walking through a park in Berlin late at night. About 3 years ago I would have probably gone crazy with excitement if you would have told me that, but now it’s somehow all normal. A wonderful normal, though.

Today we’re going to chill and babysit Joshua, and then tomorrow is some nice clothes shopping and then to dortmund on sunday!

I’m not ready to go home!