Chapter 5 Beatitudes: Lucky are the Unlucky

Nearly every book I've read in the past 5 years includes this quote from CS Lewis:

"If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by a holiday at the sea." (quoted in ch 5. p111)

It has become a kind of mantra for me, this offer of "a holiday at the sea." I keep reading this theme over an over as I pick up old books, or buy a new one, or attend church, or listen to a book on tape, or turn to my Bible. This week Isaiah 55 had great - immediate - meaning for me. It is this same theme. I'd never seen that before.

We are so spoiled in our comfortable lives. We settle for so little by having so much. God I really don't want to settle for mud pies. And yet, I'm not sure what it means to head off with you for this holiday right now... I mean, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with my days here while I wait and learn to draw nearer to You. There's so much that can be done. And I don't feel equipped to make much difference.

And then tonight, J & I watch this French movie, THE CONDUCTOR. Inspirational. Simple. Beautiful. A man makes a difference through art in the lives of boys who no one else had any hope for.

My ego is struck again by the truth that I don't have to make a big difference. Just a difference in the lives of those who's paths I cross. I want them to see the reality of a personal Creator God who faithfully loves us and wants us all to do our best at getting ready to come on a holiday with him.

Chapter 4 Temptation: Showdown in the Desert

What quote stands out as one you most identify with?

What quote is most profound to you?

Chapter 3 Background: Jewish Roots and Soil

What quote stands out as one you most identify with?

What quote is most profound to you?

Respond to this quote:

It was against this background that I, like other Jews, would have judged Jesus' statements about legalism, about Sabbath-keeping, and about the temple. How could I reconcile my repspect for family values with a comment like, "If anyone comes to me and doesn not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters...he cannot be my disciple"? What could Jesus possibly mean?...Jesus' offer to forgive a person's sin seemed to them as bizarrely inappropriate as a private individual today offering to issue a passport or a building permit. Who did he think he was, preempting the entire temple system?

Chapter TWO- Birth: The Visited Planet

What quote stands out as one you most identify with?

What quote is most profound to you?

Respond to this quote:

If Jesus came to reveal God to us, then what do I learn about God from that first Christmas? ....[He's] Humble, approachable, underdog, courageous.

Just a little something personal...when I was in college, my church friends and I did a reader's theatre from The Visited Planet reading it quoted in this book brought back sweet memories. I think I have the script in my library still!

Chapter One THE JESUS I THOUGHT I KNEW

What do you think of this quote?
"Today. people even use Jesus' name to curse by. How strange it would sound if, when a businessman missed a golf putt, he yelled, "Thomas Jefferson!" or if a plumber screamed "Mahatma Gandhi!" when his pipe wrench hit his finger."

What quote stands out as one you most identify with?

What quote is most profound to you?