I know the author.
Which pretty much makes me a stud.
Seriously. When girls in my youth group started talking about it, I was all like "Jess? Yeah, she's awesome. We're tight. I've played Taboo at her house before. No big deal." I've let my cousin borrow the book, but not before I mentioned that I was Facebook friends with the girl on the cover.
And let me tell you, being friends with the author has it's benefits. I know the back story to where she's coming from, I've been able to hear about how she got to the deep relationship and insight she has with God now. I've been able to talk with her, about her own writing! I also got the book for free- which was nice.
So I was thinking a few nights ago, wondering if my cousin had read Jessica's book yet. And then of course I started thinking about how neat it was to know the author of an actual book.
And then, as the guys at church say, I experienced some "heavy revy". (Guys, if I used this term the wrong way I apologize.)
I already knew an author of a book before. The minute I accepted Christ into my life, I had a personal relationship with the author of the Bible. How crazily awesome is that?! And it was funny how much it baffled me, because I always kind of took it for granted- being able to talk to God whenever I wanted. But after being so honored to get to know Jessica, author of The Waiting Room, I realized just how privileged I am to have not only the author of the Bible, not only the person with enough power to save people from damnation, but the Creator of the universe by my side whenever I pray, listening to me and actually caring about what I say.
That's crazy.
Now I'm going to switch gears just a little here. For the past two years I've been really struggling with grasping exactly who the Holy Spirit is, and what He does, and what exactly that means for me.
Here's my best sum up of my conclusion- the Holy Spirit is the version of God that is IN us. Like when we KNOW what the right thing is, the GODLY thing, to do is, that's because of the Holy Spirit. It's the part of God that we get to keep with us.
It's kind of like the present day version of Jesus. The apostles got to have the Son of God with them, helping them know what to do. We get the Holy Ghost.
So now the quote from Francis Chan comes in. "The God of the universe- the creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and e-minor- loves us with a radical unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing song, and try not to cuss."
Almost. First I have to set myself up for an analogy. :)
Growing up I had a best friend named Ashley. Ashley was my number one fan at school, and any time I wanted to argue something with someone or race someone on the track or even just do awesome with a classroom presentation I did awesome with her around for support.
But when she wasn't there, I didn't have my usual confidence. Because it's easier with two.
And that's how it is when we have the Holy Spirit with us. We're two. Which would make everything a little less scary anyways. But then add the fact that one of those two is GOD, well, that makes even the impossible seem probable.
Okay, NOW for the Francis Chan quote. If we have a God that loves us and cares for us and is PART of us, why are we settling? We can do so much more than the typical "go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss."
And now, because I haven't mentioned him enough already, I'm going to end with one more Francis Chan quote:
"What are you doing right now that requires faith?"
A. Diez
