The Inside Out

Mark Batterson’s new book PRIMAL, is quite an inspiring read. This book has enough one liners to set Twitter on fire for the next year!  My favorite being:

We complicate Christianity.

I enjoyed his little touches of humor, and his clever stories were enough to keep me reading, but the real draw to this book for me were the simple examples and explanations of how we love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength. It’s the simplicity that Mark is teaching that helped me to understand things so much better, and made me feel so encouraged. We all have times when we feel like our walk is not really, well, cooking with gas, and this book came at just one of those times for me. It’s encouragement has meant the world to me. In the introduction Mark said,

And by the time you reach the last page, I hope you will have done more than rediscover Christianity in its most primal form. I hope you will have gone back to the primal faith you once had. Or more accurately, the primal faith that once had you.

And that is exactly what it has done!

Tomorrow will be a big day for me.

I’m trying something new.

I am always excited to try new things and this time is no different…except I’m pretty afraid. Fasting is something I’ve never done before, and as my husband is very aware, I can be quite moody when I haven’t eaten. When my blood sugar drops, so does my attitude! I’ve been in a church that has all fasted together before, twice actually, but both times I was pregnant and couldn’t fast (I was having trouble gaining enough weight anyway, so both of my doctors said it was a “no go” for me.). This time it’s different. Columbia Church is different. Since signing on for the inception of this awesome new church, we’ve discovered that in so many ways. This special Sunday is one of those ways. We’re going to be taking up our first offering and giving half of it away. Yes, half. It’s called the Miracle Project. And the money is going to some awesome places: the Jubilee Academy in Columbia and Rwanda Clean Water in Africa. A school for needy children and a culture with no clean water. This is huge. So the leadership of the church asked everyone to fast and prepare for the big Sunday. See http://columbiachurchonline.com if you want to know more about this fast, the Miracle Project or Columbia Church. Ok, I thought…I’ll finally get to do it. Jesus did it. Tons of people in the Bible did it. They received clarity, answered prayers, growth through testing and lots of other things, so this is a good thing right? But now it’s the night before we start, and I’m a bit fearful. I don’t want to fail (but I don’t want to pass out either!). I really think I can do this. The hardest part will definitely be resisting the popcorn when we see “The Princess and the Frog” tomorrow. I’m praying tonight for growth and learning through it.

And I’m praying Columbia Church’s big Sunday isn’t just big, but God-sized.