Though I have already moved on to my next reading venture (Ed Stetzer’s new release Lost and Found, which I will be reviewing here shortly), I wanted to treat you guys to one more quote from the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan.
First off, let me say that I was completely, and happily, surprised by this book. Entering it I knew very little about Chan other than that he is based out of California (strike one, right?) and that he is (quietly) a Calvinist. I may be naive, but I will at least initially trust anyone who is said to be a Calvinist (unless they call themselves a moderate Calvinist a la Norman Geisler). Still, looking at his book and the title and the uber-hip layout, I was getting a little too much Rob Bell vibe to be completely comfortable. But, once inside (and past the first chapter) I found a man whose heart and brutal honesty I resonated with heavily for the remaining 150 pages. If you have ever considered buying Rob Bell or Brian McLaren because they presented a “fresh look at faith,” I would highly recommend Crazy Love instead since it does not come with the unfortunate side effects of being utterly heretical and helping people to get cuts in line for hell.
That said, the quote I would like to share of his comes from a section in which Chan is criticizing the mindset of modern American Christianity which more often than not balks at devoting any real time to serving God. He says,
Most of us use “I’m waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life” as a means of avoiding action. Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday? Or to go on your last vacation? Or exercise this morning? probably not, but you still did it. The point isn’t that vacations or exercise are wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet are slow to commit to serving God. [Crazy Love, p.169]
I was certainly affected by this comment, as not too long ago I found myself sitting around “Waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life.” Though I now know he is calling me into church plating, he still hasn’t revealed his intentions and destination completely for me yet. But, I realized that just waiting for the full plan to arrive is going to do no good, so I have dropped out of my graduate program, started teaching Sunday School and other events, reaching out to missionaries and seminaries for opportunities to learn and grow, and doing all that I can to build as many bridges of ministry as possible while anticipating a clearer destination from God. It would be so easy to just stay in the comfort that I already had, biding time waiting for God to fully reveal himself and his plan for my life, but such an attitude would miss so much, and, as Chan points out, is radically inconsistent when viewed against the rest of our daily “commitments.”
Posted by Todd Burus 
