Go ahead judge this book by its cover.  One look at the cover of Fearless, by Max Lucado will tell the reader exactly what it is about.  Fearless is about dealing with fear and worry as a normal person (as apposed to a Hollywood action hero who “knows no fear”).  Lucado opens Fearless with a chapter (appropriately entitled “Why Are We Afraid?) explaining fear itself and the how it affects all of us.  Each subsequent chapter approaches a specific area of fear, for example:  Chapter two deals with the “Fear of Not Mattering;” chapter seven addresses the, “Fear of Worst-Case Scenarios;” and so on.

This is actually the first Max Lucado book that I have ever read, and I have to say that I’m extremely impressed.  I began this book for no other reason except this review, but it has turned out to be extremely relevant for me.  Fearless reaches in and grapples with areas of fear and worry that everyone faces from time to time.  Max Lucado approached each area of fear from a Scriptural standpoint, laying down solutions that were both practical and encouraging.  Fearless is an absolute “must read” for anyone who ever suffers from fear and worry.

(Preview Fearless)

We are a family on the move and one of the tasks that had to be done before we did was cancel our phone and internet service.  This had to be accomplished about ten days before we moved out of our house.  No phone, no problem.  I hardly use the thing anyway.  No internet?  What?  Are you serious?  Okay, initial shock passed and my senses come back slowly.

I figured I could go about half an evening without the internet before I got the shakes… and I was right.  About halfway through the first evening, I started getting these strange urges to update the Twitter and my facebook status about how rough it was to be without the internet.  Oh, wait.  Argh!  I can’t update my statuses without the internet!

The fact is, I’m really not on the internet all the time.  I actually get very bored when I try to surf without a real purpose.  And, now that I’m not in any on-line classes, there is nothing officially tying me to the internet for extended periods of time.  So, why the angst?  I’ve thought about it and have come to believe that the internet has become a sort of “security blanket” for me.  Weird, huh?  It’s not that I have to be on the internet every waking moment.  It’s in the knowing that the internet is available to get a recipe for that late night craving for a caramel macchiato, or when the need for a light hearted laugh calls for clips of Family Ties on YouTube.  I guess I’ve just grown accustomed to it being there whenever I need it.

I needed a solution and I needed it soon.  At this point, I did something novel.  I set out two folding chairs in the yard towards the sunset, and sat there with my wife, and we talked.  Whoa!  Is that crazy or what?  No YouTube, no facebook, (added to no television), just husband and wife sitting in the cool evening air talking.  We’ve actually done this most evening over the past week, and it’s quickly becoming one of our favorite rituals.  Why didn’t we do this sooner?  Oh, yeah.  There were too many distractions.  Who would’ve thought that an internet blackout would be such a blessing?

I learned something very important about myself this past month.  I learned that I possess a pretty dumb brain.  Yes, you heard me right.  My brain is dumb.  On top of losing something very important, I found myself constantly putting stuff down, only to step away and forget where I put it.  I’m still fairly young, so I know it can’t be age doing this to me.  The only thing it could be is that I’m not keeping things simple enough for my poor brain.  This is really starting to get out of hand, so I’ve spent some time thinking about how to keep my brain on track.  Here are just a few things I came up with.

Establish central collection points.

As I go through my day, I find myself collecting little stuff that fits in my pockets.  At various times throughout the day, I empty my pockets (usually fairly indiscriminately), and press on.  By the end of the day, I find little piles of stuff scattered around everywhere that I’ve been.  That’s great if you’re looking for me; you can just follow my trail to find me.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t help me when I go to find all of that stuff.  So, in order to combat this bad habit of leaving trails of pocket change and receipts, I have designated specific places as holding areas for that stuff until I can use it.  This is essentially the idea of an inbox.

Normally, I carry an Axio Messenger bag (awesome bag, by the way) to work with me, so finding a place to stash collected stuff through the day is fairly simple.  As soon as I get back into my office, I unload my pockets into the outside pocket of the bag, so that I can deal with it when I have more time.  At home, I have a Pelican Micro case that I use to drop the little stuff into, rather than scattering it all over the top of the dresser.

This may all sound overly simple, but there’s a key point to making it all work.  Every collection spot has to be purged regularly, otherwise your dresser will eventually disappear under a mountain of change, receipts, pens from the bank, etc.  You get the idea.

Routines don’t stunt creativity, they make room for it.

For a while, I was afraid that getting too settled into routines would stunt my ability to be creative.  After all, spontaneity makes life so much more interesting, right?  Well, it probably does make life more interesting, but remember, I’ve got a dumb brain.  After a while, I figured out that too much spontaneity and not enough routine led to bouncing from task to task with little completion.  What’s worse, my poor dumb brain would get so confused.  It was really quite awful!  The solution turned out to be a simple change in diet.

I love apple pie.  And in my opinion, apple pie is far more interesting than broccoli.  But do you know what would happen to me if I ate two-thirds of an apple pie for dinner every night?  Use your imagination.  It just would not be good!  Routine and spontaneity are kind of like that.  Most of life is lived within the realm of some sort of routine.  Get up, shower, brush your teeth, and so on:  our days are made up of routines!  By keeping steady, well settled routines, I have found that it not only keeps my stuff where I can find it; but it also keeps my mind clear and fresh for those, “out of the norm” things that inevitably come my way.  Additionally, a clear mind is definitely necessary for creativity.

In working at being more routine oriented, I’ve had to consciously remember that my routines have to be fluid.  In other words, I can’t let my world come crashing down whenever something out of the ordinary hits.  In order to be successful, routines have to be able to absorb the shock of the unexpected.  Resist the urge to run around frantically crying, “The sky is falling!”  It will be okay.  Deal with unexpected in the most appropriate way you can come up with, then rejoin your routine.

Simple, Simpler, Simplest

As I write this, my family and I are preparing to move halfway around the world.  Our household goods left a month ago, and we are starting to figure out the difference between essential and non-essential.  In one sense, I’m finding myself to be much happier, overall.

Now, before I go any further, let me make this one thing clear.  I’m not talking about a monastic sort of simplicity.  Most of us could not live with just a rug, a bed mat, and a rough wood table.  Also important to remember, is that luxury is subjective.  What one person considers an essential, another would consider a luxury.  So, let’s try to approach this from a strictly personal perspective and not worry about others, for now.

The goal of simplicity here is simply to make it easier for our brains to process what it needs to without having to be distracted by that shiny thing in the corner of the room or without getting lost in a garden maze on our way to the picnic.  The key here is to figure out how to minimally do what it takes to accomplish the task or goal.

I love developing processes and procedures for problematic situations.  If I see something that strikes me as bloated or inefficient, I’m strangely and inexplicably drawn to it, like a moth to a bug zapper, (and usually with a similar effect).  Many of my early process-improvement projects ended in processes that resembled a Rube Goldberg machine (looked fancy and complex, and got the job done via the “scenic route”).  I soon learned that complicated processes didn’t always result in efficient methods; just more complicated ones.  It took some trial and error, but I eventually figured out that the most efficient processes are the simplest and most straight-forward ones.

I’ve come to believe that most things in life are that way.  If you find that you’re getting lost in the process (or your environment for that matter), simplify it until you don’t get lost anymore.  It’s as simple as that.

Learning As We Go

Obviously, none of this is “rocket science.”  But, it isn’t natural for most people either, and certainly not for me.  Most of it has to do with learning what works, cutting out what doesn’t, and improving on what you find.  It’s similar to almost everything in our lives that could use improvement.  But, it all started when I realized that I have a dumb brain.

The I Believe Bunny, written by Tish Rabe and illustrated by Frank Endersby, is a wonderful little children’s book about the importance faith, the power of prayer, and God’s desire to use those who are powerless. In this story, the I Believe Bunny, weak in himself, had to learn to rely on God’s love and power to help him save a friend in desperate need. The book opens with Philippians 4:13 and goes on to illustrate the verse’s point beautifully. With its story written in rhyme illustrated with bright and colorful drawings, The I Believe Bunny is well suited to young children, up to about first or second grade.

Since this is a children’s book, I enlisted the help of my four children (ages 2, 4, 6, and 7) to help me prepare this review. When I read The I Believe Bunny to my children for the first time, they absolutely loved it and wanted me to read it again right away. The bright illustrations kept their eyes glued to the page and the story kept them wanting to know what was on the next page. There was no way I could have stopped in the middle of the book! Most importantly, the message of faith in God and empowerment was laid out so simply that my children could understand it. I recommend The I Believe Bunny to anyone who ever has occasion to read to young children.

* I am a member of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program http://brb.thomasnelson.com/.

I was in the back yard of our church enjoying the evening breeze when I noticed some ants crawling around on the Hibiscus.  They were busily doing exactly what God had intended them to do, focused and not at all distractible.  Watching this made me stop and “consider the ant,” if you will.

There are a lot of bad things going on around the world right now.  But, the ants keep working.  Markets are crumbling and economies are failing.  But, the ants keep working.  Even the winged ants (which by being the most mobile, I suppose would be the most in-tune to the things going on in the world) work seemingly unaffected.

Even more interestingly, even things that directly impacted them (short of death) could not keep them from completing the tasks to which they were set.  Put a stick in front of them, they go over or around it.  Move them somewhere (within reason, they are ants after all) and they find their trail and continue with the work with which they were tasked.

In many ways, it wouldn’t hurt for us to be like that.  Sure, there may be obstacles and hardships at times.  But just keep working with focus and determination on the tasks that God has set you to… just like the ant.

~ Tom

For further thoughts on the ants, see Proverbs 6:6-8.

Once again, I am in another class with a discussion board, this time in the Gospel of John.  Below, you’ll find my response to the following questions.

Question:

It is often said that John is the Gospel to the world (Matthew to the Jew, Mark to the Roman, Luke to the Greek). However, in 1924 Israel Abrahams said, “To us Jews, the Fourth Gospel is the most Jewish of the four!” How is that so? If it so, why do so many people tell new converts to begin reading this Gospel?

Answer:

I think it is difficult to directly answer to Abraham’s statement since I do not know the context in which it was given.  Most of the Google search results that came up for this statement were past students pleading for help for this assignment and others who blogged their discussion board thread.

However, when looking at this question, it is very important to keep in mind the difference between the intended audience and the interested audience.  Luke’s intended audience was Theophilus.  His interested audience has been everyone who has read and reread the Gospel of Luke throughout the ages.  Similarly, I believe John had an intended audience as well as an interested audience.  However, unlike the other Gospels, John’s interested audience was his intended audience. 

Now, this certainly is not a point of contention with me, but I do not necessarily agree that John’s intended audience was the “World,” per se.  “The World” is far too general to be the intended audience of such a personal Gospel.  I believe that John intended his audience to be whoever would read the book.  In other words, John wrote his book to whosoever.  I believe the book of John was written to be universally personal.

I can easily see how Abraham’s would describe the book of John as the most “Jewish.”  Although commentators and theologians have spent a great deal of time defining each Gospel to a different ethnic group, I think it is hard to get past the fact that every Gospel has a Jewish appeal.  Why might Abraham’s say that the book of John is the most “Jewish?”  It could simply be, because John was a Jew, writing about a Jew (who is the Jew’s Messiah), who lived and ministered among the Jews, during a vital time in Jewish history.  John highlighted Christ’s “I Am” statements (i.e. Jn. 8:58), which is important to everyone, but has a very specific meaning to the Jews (cf Exodus 3:14).  John records numerous discourses with the Jewish leaders including a one-on-one interview between Christ and Nicodemus.  John also records numerous references to Old Testament prophesies, which have a direct relationship to the Jews as a people.  

I think that one of the reasons why John is such a good book for new believers is that John wrote it (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) in a very simple and engaging manner.  The narrative is easy to follow and the discourses are engaging.  The way in which John writes really draws a reader into the story and paints a vivid picture in the reader’s mind.  I also think that it is good for new believers because of the way John illustrates the leveling of the ground between the “worst sinner” and the most “pious.”   Christ presented both Nicodemus and the woman at the well with their need for salvation.  John showed that Christ not only said and did things that helped bridge the gaps between people, but that Christ was and still is the bridge.  Furthermore, as pertaining to spiritual growth at any level, such narratives as John provided also helps the believer not to be overcome with guilt over past sins or to be overtaken with pride in one’s own piety.

The Gospel of John is written broadly enough to where it speaks to anyone, but specific enough to where it speaks to the individual.  Is John the most “Jewish” Gospel?  I do not know.  All I really know, is that when I read it, I feel like it was written specifically with me in mind.

I have recently been in a discussion about the destiny of those who have never heard the Gospel.  The Bible states that Salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 8-9).  Knowledge of God is important (it leads to faith (Romans 10:17)) but salvation is not through knowledge.  It’s what a person does with the knowledge of Christ that saves that person.  In the course of the discussion, I wrote the following illustration.

I have a son named John.  Shortly after he was born, he was kidnapped and then abandoned by his kidnapper.  John was found and placed in an orphanage where he grew up wondering about the identity of his father. He knew he had to have a father:  nature alone taught him that much.  But he could never know me personally based on that alone, nor could he reap the benefits of being my son.

After a few years had passed, a really close friend crossed paths with John.  He  noticed that John looked a lot like me.  He asked John who his father was, to which John could only reply that he did not know.  My friend knew that I had never given up looking for my son.  I had asked all of my friends to carry a note that I had written that explained who I was and how my lost son could find me.  I wrote in that note how much I loved him, and how desperately I wanted to have a relationship with him.  I asked my friends to give it to whomever they might meet that looked like he could be my lost son.

My friend gave John the note and explained its contents.  He asked John if he believed what he had just read and heard were true.  John acknowledged that he had.  My friend then asked him if he would like him to take him to see me.  John said that he did.  So my friend brought John to me, and after all of those years, my son was finally home.

You see, John implicitly knew that he had a father, but it gained him nothing but knowledge.  However, once he was given my note to him and told about me, he then had explicit knowledge that I was indeed his father that loved him.  Yet, that alone did not allow him to reap the benefits of being my son.  He still needed to believe for himself that what he had heard and read was true; and based on that faith (he had not seen any physical proofs that I was his father), follow my friend to my home and claim his sonship.  Then and only then could he reap the benefits of being my son.

What if John would have stopped at knowledge and not come to my home?  What if he hadn’t believed what my friend told him and walked away?  What if my friend had not told John of me?  Or what if my friend had not even taken my note or even looked for John?  Would John have ever come home to reap the benefits of sonship?