Arms Wide Open

I love books. I like books that make me feel good, inspire me and match my thought process. I like books that teach me new things, see things from a different perspective and strengthen my beliefs. Every now and then, a book comes a long that walks across the room and gets directly in your face. It grabs you around the collar, lifts you out of your seat and tells you like it really is. It calls you out. It challenges you. It makes you uncomfortable for all of the right reasons. Enter the book “Free Book*” by Brain Tome.

Brian Tome is the Senior Pastor of Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. While I don’t mean this to sound creepy or weird, I would like to meet this guy. I don’t want to meet him in a fanatical sort of way, I want to shake his hand. I want to personally thank him for writing the best book I have ever read. Period. Thanks to facebook, I was able to send him a note to thank him, but I’d really like to sit down and talk about this one. I can’t believe the timing and I can’t believe how this book hit me right where I needed to hear it…on many levels.

I am going to tell you right now that this isn’t your average, everyday “Jesus Loves You” kind of book. This is an in your face reminder that we are FREE in Christ. There are things that you will read that might make you a bit uncomfortable. Before you put the book down, ask yourself why this makes you uncomfortable. I’m not sure if I speak for you, but I know I don’t like someone being brutally honest with me. I certainly don’t like reading it in a book from a guy I have never met. I kept reading and realized that I need honest. I need someone reminding me of the freedom I have often missed while being in bondage to strongholds in my life. I’ve missed freedom by forgiving but not forgetting. I’ve allowed bitterness and a past I regret to be chains that hold me down.

I cannot say enough about the impact that “Free Book*” has had on me in the days since I began reading it. One night I read chapters regarding bitterness and strongholds. I took some time to identify the ones in my life and pray over each on specifically. I literally awoke the next morning with the hymn “Blessed Assurance” on my mind. You can ask my wife, I was singing it all morning. I’m not a guy that walks around singing hymns so this was not normal activity for me. It was, however, a reminder of the covenant I had made through prayer the night before.

Will you wake up singing hymns just because you read “Free Book*”? I doubt it. That’s not what I am going for in this review. What I will promise you is that you will be challenged. You will be asked to take a hard, tough look at your life and your journey. You will be reminded that we are FREE in Christ. For this and many other reasons, I say that “Free Book*” is the best book I have ever read. I encourage you to get a copy for yourself and see the freedom that you are missing.

I give “Free Book*” a 5 out of 5!

Note: Thomas Nelson sent me the above book for review purposes. It will allow me to keep the book. I have received no other compensation from Thomas Nelson.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Like most of the rest of the world, I just watched the streaming video of Tiger Woods statement of apology. Unlike most of the internet world, I am not going to offer an analysis, judgement or opinion.

There is a family in need of restoration.

There is a marriage in need of repair.

There is a man in need of help.

Any words I put on this blog are not going to change those things. As a man who has personally been shown more grace than I could ever repay, I offer Tiger nothing but the same. I won’t stand in judgement of his choice of religion but I will pray that he will open his heart to Jesus during his treatment and therapy.

What I will offer is an observation. It happened when the press conference was over and if you weren’t watching, you might have missed it.

As Tiger completed his statement, he made is way to the front row where his Mom was sitting. She stood with a smile that only a parent can have and embraced her son.

Grace needed.

Mom provided.

As a parent it stood out to me because it is an example of a love which knows no end. It is a love which sees beyond the failures to the core of the person inside. It is a love that knows that deep inside each one of us is the child that once knew no addiction, no struggles, no failures in judgement. It’s a love that believes that can be again.

I am moved by his mothers love. Her embrace said more than Tiger could say in 14 minutes of a prepared statement. Her embrace reminded me that spilled milk, fingerprints on the TV and not eating your vegetables will one day seem small compared to what my children could do. I pray they don’t but know, given our nature, they might. I know there will be consequences as well there should be. Grace doesn’t give a free pass, but it loves through the storm. It directs through the rough waters to a place where the ship will one day sail smooth waters.

As a parent and a man that has more failures than I can count, I can only offer Tiger what his Mom offered him….

Grace.

This post is not about me. This review is not about me. The subject and the story leading into my review, however, are about me. More specifically, the subject is something that I would venture to guess many of us deal with on a daily basis. So let me begin by being real transparent about that elephant in the middle of the room called fear. It is real. So real that Max Lucado, one of my favorite authors has blessed us all by writing a book to remind each and every single person that reads it who is in control of our fears.

Over a year ago, I went to visit the doctor for a routine physical. I was suffering from some abdominal pain so when the blood test came back with a higher than normal bilirubin number, you can imagine what came next…fear. A quick visit to Web MD (which I recommend NO ONE does) revealed that one of the results could be the dreaded “C” word. All of the sudden that back pain on the left side, upper abdominal pain on the left side, high bilirubin and a gall bladder removal which didn’t fix the problem had this blogger freaking out. One Ultrasound, X-Ray and CT scan later and the results were still the same. “Pancreas looks fine, no idea why you’re having that pain”. Fast forward one year later. The Bilirubin has no real answer. The pain in my back has been called “muscular skeletal” and the abdominal pain is just “one of those things”. None of those answers help reduce the fear that lies within.

One week ago, while in the midst of reading the book “Fearless” by Max Lucado, I scheduled another annual physical. Still scared to death at what might happen and with honestly NO REASON why. I went to my physical convinced I would hear something I didn’t want to hear. The elephant in the middle of the room (fear) had taken up residency on my shoulders (maybe THAT explains the back pain?). I have allowed something which doesn’t come from our creator and the one that loves us to define my thoughts, dominate my days and interrupt my sleep. Fear is real and I deal with it (some would say don’t deal with it) all day and night. Just like my abdominal pain, it serves as a reminder of my past and creates a mess of my future. Enter the book FEARLESS….

Max Lucado has always been one of my favorite authors. His writing and his books have a way of simplifying the complicated and reminding us that our heavenly father wants nothing more than to be with us and love on us. While the subject of fear is real and can be identified, our response to fear is what will determine how we spend the days (and nights) of our lives. We can either be defined by it (like Peter when he “saw the wind” in Matthew 12:30) or we can determine to allow one of the 21 Christ-issued imperatives about fear to sink in and be our answer to fear (pg. 10 Fearless). As you can imagine, the chapter on “Worst Case Scenario” (Chapter 7) might as well have been written about and for me. It hit me write where I live and breathe each day. If it’s any indication, Heather (who has also read the book) noted that chapter when we were discussing the book. I hold the patent on the “worst case scenario thinking”.

Friends, I have read twenty one of Max Lucado’s books. I can say, with confidence, that the book “Fearless” is in the top 3 of all of them. “In the Grip of Grace” taught me to forgive my past and others and accept God’s gift of a grace while never being able to wrap my head around it. “Traveling Light” taught me to leave the burdens I have and the baggage I was never meant to carry somewhere in the past. “Fearless” went straight to my enemy, my “thorn” (as Paul called it), my elephant in the middle of the room and gave me ample reasons to kindly ask fear to leave my home. Am I cured instantly? No. However “Fearless” is a book and collection of reminders of the many reasons why I am on the way to recovery from my fears.

I recommend “Fearless” to anyone that reads this post. This is one of Max’s finest works. He has taken a subject that is relevant and real and delivered the prescription to what is bothering us. He has once again become the vessel by which God can deliver a message of love for his children. We were not created to fear, but to trust.

When the bilirubin number is abnormal….don’t fear….trust.

When the abdominal pain lingers….don’t fear….trust.

When the back pain persists….don’t fear….trust.

If you’re wondering about my physical, my doctor marveled at my BMI dropping from a 30+ one year ago to a “perfect 23″.The blood pressure reading was “122/80″ after 6 months of NO blood pressure medicine and previous visits being pegged in the hypertension numbers. The doctor called tonight to say that my blood work looked “beautiful” too. The physical turned out to be a great visit and news.

All that fear. All that worry. All that self diagnosis and hours spent in “worst case”.

Nothing to fear.

I give the book “Fearless” a 5 out of 5.

Nearly one year ago our world was turned upside down. If you’ve been following along that long, you will remember that if we could hit reverse on the DVR, there would be a “For Sale” sign in our front yard. There were boxes in our living room and plans were being made to relocate to Charlotte, North Carolina. Fast forward the DVR about one month and you find that the entire process went full circle. No boxes were ever packed. No trucks ever loaded. The “For Sale” sign was gone and one song became an anchor for me as to why we were still in Columbus, Ohio. That song was “God of This City“. There was something in the lyric – “Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in THIS City” that struck me. Greater things were still to be done.

Hit the button one more time and fast forward to today. What has the past year taught us? What has this lesson brought us? I wish I could give you a great story with a big red bow on it but I can’t. While our human nature longs, dare I say demands that God reveal his master plan and consult with us throughout the process, he doesn’t. It’s never how we draw it up. It is a journey though and there are lessons all along the roads we travel. Today, I type this with a renewed sense of purpose and a heart for the city of Columbus, Ohio. If there was ever a time for the body of Christ to unite and rally around the city they live in, that time is now.

Town hall meetings, hurting people, broken families, frustrated with the future and wishing we could wipe away the past. The list of reasons to be a city on our knees is endless. That is why this song has been speaking to me all week. When it comes to TobyMac, for me, a little bit goes a long way. However the first song from his new CD (coming out in February) is the perfect reminder that we can be a city on our knees. As the lyric so perfectly says:

If you gotta start somewhere why not here?

If you gotta start sometime why not now?

I have lost count of the amount of times I have posted this song. It should probably tell me something that literally EVERY TIME I hear it, I pause and consider the words. It happened again today while cutting the grass. Right there by the shed, I had to stop and think about the phrase

Just how close can I get Lord, to my surrender without losing all control?

It gets me every time. This morning when I heard it I was reminded of something the lead singer of Casting Crowns, Mark Hall, posted on twitter while he was writing for their new album. He said:

When I am writing a song, I can always tell the difference between a Mark lyric and a God lyric. The God lyric is the one where I end up crying.

Something tells me that the song “Somewhere in the Middle” was one of those “God lyric” songs. It captures the essence of the struggle. It so eloquently states the battle that rages between wanting to surrender the control to God and yet still have the illusion of control. I say the “illusion of control” because at the end of the day, that is all that it really is. Who among us is really in control of what happens in their life? The reality is that we’re caught in the middle. That is why the last line of the song is so perfect.

Lord I feel you in this place and I know you’re by my side. Loving me even on these nights, when I’m caught in the middle

There is a peace that comes from knowing that while I might be caught in the middle and fighting like crazy to go one way or the other, God is still “lovin’ me”. To those in the middle, take the next 5 minutes and listen to this song. Let’s encourage one another to be more than “in the middle” and throughout the Journey.

Have you ever restored something? I can remember when I was in High School, it was a really big deal to find an old car and restore it. While I have personally never done that, the Mustang would have been my car of choice. I wouldn’t even know where to start, but I would know this…

Restoring something takes time

Restoring something takes patience

Restoring something removes the imperfections

Restoring something makes it new again

Restoring something, sometimes, makes it stronger than before

Now take those things we know about restoring something and place them over the hurts of ours and others. I think of friends that are going through struggles that we can never fully understand. I want so badly to just fix it. I want for nothing more than the TV version where they flip a house into a mansion in an hour (including commercials). I want to rejoice with them over the good news.  I want nothing more than for God to restore as only He can.

After a lengthy battle with the unimaginable, God restored to Job “twice as much as he lost” (Job 42:10). God is in the restoration business. While his version is not “made for TV”, it is certainly reality. It takes time. It takes patience. It removes the imperfections. It makes all things new and in many cases, stronger than before.

That’s what I’m praying for….

“Restore To Me” by Mac Powell

[audio http://leftfield8.com/audio/mprestore.mp3]