Over the past two days I read a new book by Rob Bell called Jesus Wants to Save Christians. This is Bell’s third book. I read the first two last year and enjoyed them. I would say I am a Rob Bell fan, although I think I like Bell the writer more than Bell the preacher. The thing I love about the way he writes is how he gives his theological subject matter such great context. Reading a Rob Bell book always makes me want to go read the passages of scripture he deals with, because he helps you see them in a totally different light. Some of the context he provides is hotly contested in the theological world, but I don’t have the depth of education to really grasp most of that underlying discussion. Aside from really deep stuff, there is a lot of perspective that will make you think about how you approach your faith and how you follow God. The greatest thing about the perspective Bell provides is that he places are faith in the context of people. He refuses to deal with Christianity in a way that deals with “people” as one large indeterminate mass, and rather makes sure we see those we’re trying to reach as individual “persons”. I think that’s invaluable.
It turns out Jesus Wants to Save Christians is a book that provides theological backing for missions. The back of the book claims that the work talks about “how to be a Christian in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers”. So if you’ve been wondering why I’m going around the world for a year, what’s driving me to do it, or how it fits with my faith, I would highly recommend the new Rob Bell work.
Speaking of context, many of you may have read that I participated in a three-day food fast this past week, and I’ve been wanting to put that experience into context for many of you who may not quite get what fasting is all about (I’m with you, by the way). I gave you all an update part of the way through. I “successfully” completed the three days and it was definitely a new experience. I struggled with how to articulate my final impressions. Eventually I read a blog entitled On Fasting, by my spiritual sister and team leader Kelly Chadwick. Kelly put the words I was searching for in my mouth, and I think she ended up speaking for many of my squadmates as well as we tried to debrief our experience. Fasting is definitely one of those ways of encountering God that are new and foreign to me, but it seems to yield some quality fruit and having completed my first this week, I’m excited to perhaps see God work in that discipline in the future. For more words on fasting, just click the link to Kelly’s blog above, because she definitely fleshed out her impressions better than I have here — and it would be good for you to get to know her anyway, as we’ll be living and working together for the next year.
