Our pastor was given this book and he read it and was so impressed with it he bought one for everyone on staff to read...THIS IS THE MOST THOUGHT PROVOKING, FREE-INGBOOK I HAVE EVER READ!
Did I say that loud enough? This is a fictional story about a man's journey through a tragedy and what happens when he literally lets go of everyting he "knows" and meets God face to face.
This book LITERALLY turned what I think about God up on its head. Everything I have ever been told about God...completely up in the air and I am truly seeking who God is and I'm only catching the pieces that are true. I recommend this book to anyone.
Here is one of the best parts (for me)....
....we could talk about the nature of freedom itself. Does freedom mean that you are allowed to do whatever you want to do? Or we could talk about all the limiting influences in your life that actively work against your freedom. Your family genetic heritage, your specific DNA, your metabolic uniqueness, the quantam stuff that is going on at a subatomic level where only I(God) am the always-present observer. Or the intrusion of your soul's sickness that inhibits and binds you, or the social influences around you, or the habits that have created synaptic bonds and pathways in your brain. And then there's the advertising, propaganda, and paradigms. Inside that confluence of multifaceted inhibitors, what is freedom, really?
...Only I(God) can set you free, but freedom can never be forced...and freedom is a process that happens INSIDE a relationship with Him(Jesus)...
...Consider our friend here. Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation WITHIN their ability to fly, not the other way around. You(humans) on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you are unloved is a limitation, not the other way around....Living unloved is like clipping a bird's wings and removing its ability to fly....Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly. And left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place.
...I(God) am not like you(humans), I am God, I am who I am. And unlike you, my wings can't be clipped...and that leaves you(humans) "smack dab in the middle of My love.....We(Father, Son and Holy Spirit) also chose to embrace all the limitations that (becoming a human) entailed. Even though we have always been present in this created universe, we now became flesh and blood. It would be like this bird, whose nature is to fly, choosing only to walk and remain grounded. He doesn't stop being a bird, but it does alter his experience of life significantly.
I know this is getting long...bear with me....
There is one more part of this book that falls right after the previous part that really rocked my world.....
This is God speaking...
...The problem is that many folks to to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the very best version of themselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness they can perceive, which often isn't much, and then call that God. And while it may seem like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I really am. I'm not merely the best version of you that you can think of. I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think.
OK...so go get this book...It is totally worth it....be ready though, it will rock everything you believe about God!
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