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Here is my favorite quote from a November 10th long ago, 1984 to be exact: “If God hasn’t called you to be a missionary, then maybe he hasn’t called me to be a celibate.” Who said that? My own dear Thad, one year and 13 days before our wedding! (Our 22nd anniversary is the day after Thanksgiving this year, and I certainly thank God for my sweet husband!) But back to that quote… While I don’t have time to share the whole story with you, I will say that during college I was convinced that God had called me to go overseas to serve him. However, at a missionary conference (of all places) he very clearly revealed to me that this wasn’t his plan for me. I was quite miffed, to be honest. I had grand and noble plans, and I figured that offering myself as a foreign missionary was the way to accomplish them. But in God’s grander and nobler plan, he had instead called me to be the wife of Thad and the home schooling mother of our ten children. And I guess we still have an overseas influence, since this Hope Chest e-magazine is sent to about 1200 families in all of the continents except for Antarctica! Our family also has a heart for missions, too.
I want to mention an excellent article by Reb Bradley on "Solving the Crisis in Homeschooling," which begins:
"In the last couple of years, I have heard from multitudes of troubles homeschool parents around the country, a good many of whom were leaders. These parents have graduated their first batch of kids, only to discover that their children didn't turn out the way they thought they would. Many of these children were model homeschoolers while growing up, but sometime after their 18th birthday they began to reveal that they didn't hold to their parents' values." Intrigued? You can find this "must read" article here: www.familyministries.com/HS_Crisis.htm
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The Beautiful Fight:
Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of God Every Day of Your Life
Book by Gary Thomas
Review by Virginia Knowles
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You probably all know by now what an avid reader I am, as well as how much I appreciate books by Gary Thomas. They have been such vital manna to a very hungry soul this past year or so. That’s why I was so excited when he told me that his newest book, The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of God Every Day of Your Life, would be released this month. I’ve been reading an advance copy for the past several weeks, and I have certainly not been disappointed. What an insightful book!
The Beautiful Fight is based on the premise that Jesus ascended into heaven with his body, and that the church here on earth still carries out his work as his body. We are his eyes, mouth, ears, minds, hands, feet, and heart to each other and to the rest of the world! How we live in that truth makes all the difference! How can we be content to just “go through the motions” when we can instead be transformed into his likeness and do the things that need to be done to extend his Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven?
Let’s take this right to where we live. Can you imagine how your home schooling experience could be affected if, instead of mere academics, you taught your children how to be the “body of Christ” in your home and beyond? What if they learned how to see people how Jesus sees them? What if they spoke the words that Jesus would have them say as his ambassador? What if they filled their minds with thoughts from the very mind of God? What if they trained their hands and feet to serve others just as Jesus set us the divine example? And what if we did it, too? Gary makes it clear that this is not something we can ever do with our own strength. We need to be God-empowered. We need to be transformed into his likeness, day by day.
This book makes a difference in how I approach academics, especially as I teach the middle school English class at our home school co-op. I try to share with the kids how they need to be aware, to really notice with their ears and eyes what is going on around them and to pay close attention what they read and hear. Their hearts and minds will then be equipped to think it through with depth and excellence so they can actively respond with compassionate hands, feet, and mouths. As we read great literature, I don’t want them to merely fill in the blanks on Mrs. Knowles’s study guides, but to fill their whole lives with beauty and truth. With that in mind, we did an extended literature unit on the Old Testament: first Joseph, then Esther and Daniel. How can we live with their kind of courage and integrity? After that, they each chose an Old Testament character for a research report. Right now we are reading The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare, a novel which is set during the Roman oppression of Israel at the time of Jesus and addresses the question: Do we live for vengeance or for the way of love? How can we best be the body of Christ on earth?
But I digress from this review… Right now I would like to share with you some quotes from the book that I jotted in my journal. When I am absorbing new information, I like to “Read, Reflect and Respond.” Journaling helps me do that because I have to read carefully enough to really think about the words, and then respond not only with my own words but with ideas for practical application. I highly encourage this approach to learning and living, not only for adults but for children. To help us with “reflecting” on the book, Gary has included a study guide in the back of it! But I digress again… On to the quotes, lots of lovely quotes, I promise! (I have included the page number in parentheses after each quote.)
“Incarnational spirituality – the living, reigning and ascended Jesus living through us and transforming us into different people – does not exist to uphold a few rules, but rather speaks of a process that creates an entirely new person who sees with new eyes, feels with a new heart, hears with renewed ears, and lives with a new passion. It is, I believe, the only life worth living.” (19)
“While I applaud the God-given desire to engage our culture, how much better it would be if we were first transformed. Then we could demonstrate to the world true, God-breathed creativity instead of cleverness, and familiarity with the Trinity instead of an obsession with proving how well we can read the latest cultural trend. We cannot compensate for being strangers to God by becoming friends with the culture.” (26)
“My most common prayer is this: ‘May the risen and ascended Christ manifest himself in me as I submit myself to be his servant today.'” (39)
“Let us discard the pride, the preening, the bloated arrogance of our opinions. Let us shun small lives of desperate people who try to make themselves large through frenetic activity and modern gimmicks. Let us quiet our hearts long enough to experience the restful, amazingly powerful, and compellingly pure passion of Jesus, changing what we see, tuning us to what must be really heard, and helping us to feel what God himself feels.” (44)
“People will regularly disappoint us. If our hearts aren’t ready for this, we’ll speak only with angry exasperation, our negative words tearing down people for their humanness, instead of using our tongues to cultivate redemptive transformation.” (82)
“For me, hearing God’s voice is one of the most precious parts of being a disciple. I crave God’s insight into my actions and motives. I desire with all my heart to know his particular will for me – not some general direction based on certain principles, but his particular application for my particular need.” (99)
“Another condition for hearing from God is a holy life. Sin may not block our salvation, but it does tend to stop up our ears. It leads us down a path of deception and hinders further understanding and direct hearing… If you haven’t dealt with your pride, your own voice and ambition will being sounding suspiciously like God’s. And if you haven’t gained mastery over your emotions, you’ll mistake your own moods for the Holy Spirit’s confirmation.” (101)
“Some Christians act as if they are helpless victims of their own thinking, as if they can’t stop certain fantasies, infatuations, negative thinking, rumination on fears, or hateful prejudices. This simply doesn’t square with a biblical worldview that tells us to “pivot” toward pure thought. We are to stop thinking about evil and start thinking about what is pure and admirable and excellent.” (118)
“When we talk about Christ making a real difference with our hands and feet, we must come to grips with the fact that, by God’s decision, we are forceful beings. We shape this world. We impact it. We mold it. In fact, it is impossible to walk on this earth and not make a difference of some kind.” (122)
“The qualities of a saint come at a premium price. We cannot wake up one day and suddenly see a saint looking back at us in the mirror. The tapestry of Christlikeness is laid down stitch by single stitch, as God weaves events, attitudes, relationships and personal affliction through our daily experience.” (203)
“Transformation is never about winning his favor but rather about revealing his presence.” (233)
I know that seems like a whole bunch of quotes, but I had to restrain myself from including even more. I asked Gary what he was writing about for his next book, and he replied, “The one I'm working on has been fascinating for me; it's on the importance of pleasure for spiritual formation. I'm taking Piper's systematic theology on that topic and trying to build an applied spirituality out of it. It's opening up new worlds for me; I'm having a blast (and many rich times of worship) writing it.” Sounds good to me!
Check out Gary's web site, www.GaryThomas.com, which also has articles and other goodies on it.
I am excited that Gary is presenting his Sacred Marriage seminar in Orlando on Saturday, January 26. It is being hosted by Orlando Grace Church (www.OrlandoGraceChurch.org/), a congregation our family was a part of for many years. Unfortunately, that is the same day I am presenting two workshops at a literature seminar -- one on using the Bible as literature and the other on moms using the Read+Reflect+Respond approach in their own lives. I’m hoping to blitz over to Gary’s conference for the afternoon sessions. Lord willing, he will also be speaking at my church, Metro Life (www.MetroLife.org), the following morning. (You can e-mail me for more information if you are interested in attending either this literature seminar or Gary’s Sacred Marriage seminar on January 26.)
My final comment related to Gary Thomas: As many of you know, I have a continuing interest in the intersection of theology and culture, especially as related to the "emerging church" movement. I included some of this in my interview with Gary in June issue: www.VirginiaKnowles.com/BusyDizzyTizzy. Remembering this, Gary sent me a link for an audio message by Mark Driscoll which you can find halfway down the page at: www.sebts.edu/Convergent/GeneralInfo/. Just look down the page to session 3 and you will see it. The message was given at the Convergent conference at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in September. I listened to it and thought it was excellent, with thorough research and explanation of the three main "camps" in the EC movement. You might not have heard of the emerging church, but it is a major and growing trend right now, and we very much need to be aware of it if we are concerned at all about the health and orthodoxy of the modern church. Mark Driscoll, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle (not to be confused with Rob Bell's Mars Hill church in Michigan), is especially suited to speak about this since he was an early leader in the "relevant" camp of the EC. He now speaks out with humility against the more "revisionist" leaders within it, many of whom he knows personally. I will offer the disclaimer that you might not want to listen if you are very easily offended. (If you have questions about this, ask me.) Also, he has some kind and encouraging words for those who are in the Sovereign Grace churches. The message is 80 minutes long, but as Gary says, "I think you'll find it well worth your time." For those who are downloading, it is 14 mb, and you may wish to right click and use the "Save Target As" option. I have it on my MP3 player and listened to it while folding laundry. Please let me know what you think of it! I would be interested to hear from you!
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