A Blessed Christmas !

Wishing a Blessed Christmas to you all !

May you find Joy & Peace & Salvation

in the best Gift ever given!

Ray & Becki

Primal - Plan on reading this...!

I'm jealous.

I'm jealous of Mark Batterson.

Now, I should say that I don't know Mark, I've never even met him, yet I am jealous. I have attempted over the last couple of years to get people interested in The Greatest Commandment. I have preached about it, talked about it, tried to model it and especially, I have challenged some to an experiment. I have suggested that they put away their Bible for 30 days and simply read, and apply, each day, to whatever situations come up, the Greatest Commandment: "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."

I did offer that if that is not enough, they could add the second greatest commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

I have had this thought that since Jesus said that ALL of the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments, then it ought to be enough. This ought to be the ultimate Reader's Digest condensed version of the Holy Scriptures: "Love God with all that is in you."

So here is where my jealousy comes in.

Where I have failed to get even one person to take me up on the 30 day challenge - Mark has written an entire book on it. And it is a really good book. You can find it here, just click the link: http://www.amazon.com/Primal-Quest-Lost-Soul-Christianity/dp/1601421311/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261060406&sr=8-1

I do want to encourage you to check it out, buy it, borrow it, whatever...(...is legal!)

BUT - plan from the beginning to not make it your goal to read a good book.

That is a good goal, but would not do justice to the whole point of this book. PLAN on spending time wrestling with well written words, well researched facts and well formed ideas. This is not just another book to read and add to your impressive reading list. It is not just another book to add to your physical or virtual bookshelf (although it does look good). January would be a good time to put this into your plan.

I think when we are all honest enough to slow down and consider where our life is at - we realize that for far too many of us - our faith journey has taken us on a side trip. We may not be sure how, why, where, when, or what happened, but we do know that things now, at this point in our spiritual lives, are not the same as when we first fell in love with God.

Enter Primal.

This is a call to get back to what we once had. A resounding reminder that life is not just running this rat race, but there is a deeper calling.

Mark's challenge is to love to the fourth power. He does an excellent job sharing in each category both from things he has researched and learned as well as life experiences. Nothing here is out of reach. I think that is part of what makes it so compelling. Too many stories are so fantastic - and I mean that in the 'I could never reach, repeat, accomplish the unbelievable things this author is talking about' sense. Primal connects with multiplied examples that are fantastic, yes, but in a way that shows how simple obedience from average people can truly make changes that make start small but become fantastic!

I have been tempted to sprinkle this review with some of the many gems I discovered while reading Primal. I decided not to do that though, that would remove some of the joy of your own sense of wonderment. So, go get Primal and rediscover the Lost Soul of Christianity.

I will leave you with this as an appetizer:

The heart of Christianity is primal compassion.

The soul of Christianity is primal wonder.

The mind of Christianity is primal curiosity.

The strength of Christianity is primal energy.

I pray that Mark's book will be much much more successful than my meager efforts and that it will bear much fruit for the Kingdom!

Ray

Want $100.00 ?!

Charles suggested an interesting choice...

His question was, "Which would you take, $100.00 or a spiritual gift?"

His answer to his own question was, "If you ask that question to people here in Belize, they will take the $100.00 every time. They don't want the spiritual gift!"

 

I do not know about the scientific validity of his being able to prove his theory but I do believe that he is much closer to being right than he is to being wrong. It makes me think...what would people choose? Sort of makes me wish I had a stack of 100 dollar bills so that I could go out on the street and ask people this question.

I would expect to come away with a much, much smaller stack of 100 dollar bills. I suppose we would say that that is human nature. 

What intrigues me is the idea that some people might choose the spiritual gift...! I'd like to meet those people, get to know them and find out what makes them tick. I'd like to be friends with those people, go to church with those people, work along side those people and generally make those people the ones I would hang with.

I think those people could....would....change the world!

I would also like to be able to know absolutely for certain that when I asked the proposed question and they thoughtfully replied, "I choose the spiritual gift.", that I could pray right then and there and God would honor that prayer by the Spirit's immediate imparting of His chosen spiritual gift to each person. That is not such a strange thing after all. Paul says we should desire the spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:31 ) He also says in Romans 1 that he longs to see them so that he can impart some spiritual gift to them. (Romans 1:11)

I love that.    Real.    Spiritual.     Simple.     I love that.

Something about that just rings true in me. Does it in you?

Is there some longing to be able to offer to pray and impart some spiritual gift to others? 

Is there some longing to see others living in the fullness of what the Spirit would want to give to them?

Is there a longing to put the petal to the metal in this 'money vs spirit' test to see what the outcome would be?

Do you think it would be worth it to give away hundreds of hundred dollar bills...in order to find the few honestly spiritually hungry people out there? 

Fascinating idea. I am sure that by now, some of you are wondering when and where I might do this so that you could be in the area...perhaps to collect 100 dollars....but maybe, just maybe some of you would want to be in the area, in order to receive some spiritual gift.

If that is you, please write to me - I have something in mind...let's just say, it's a spiritual experiment!!    You game??!!

Stirring the pot...

Ray