Hello Lovelies!

For the next few weeks Kristen and I will be switching off each week in sharing our thoughts (we will both be in the community though!) on the chapters we are reading.  We really wanted our main focus to be on the chapters we will be reading in May.  The next 10 chapters really focus in on the personality of Jesus and how He truly is.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

I must admit to being thrilled that I get to share my thoughts on this chapter it is one of my favorites. (Kristen’s MMM is from this chapter!)  The Playfulness of Jesus.  This chapter did so much for my heart.

The chapter begins with a great point by John Eldredge, You can learn a lot about an artist by the work they leave behind.  When we look at the art Jesus left behind we really get a glimpse into who He is.   What are do you see that He left behind?

One of my favorite things John Eldredge does is use his own personal stories.  The story of the chipmunks made me laugh and made me think.  Not only is God creative but He has also shown us His playfulness through nature.  Eldredge points out that if something in nature makes us laugh, for example the chipmunks, He did that.  Even better…. He laughs with us!

God is more playful than we are. (pg 20)  What a thought!  When we look, really look at the world, ourselves, and His Word we see His playfulness.

Orchestrated moments.   Moments of timing where you know without a doubt He had His hand in it.  I call them God moments.  I usually thought of orchestrated moments as  serious thing…. but after this chapter I see that God not only uses orchestrated moments to show us things but also to makes us laugh!

He created laughter.

Jesus laughs.

I must admit that one of my favorite take aways from this chapter is a image in my head of Jesus sitting with His friends and something funny happens and all the sudden there is a loud guffaw and the deep sound of belly laughter.  They look over…and there is Jesus laughing.  Oh what that image does to my heart.

Laughter is from God. (pg. 22)

We are meant to laugh to enjoy this life.  I have always said laughter is one of my favorite things but this chapter reminded me… it is one of His too!

I really could go on and on (Sarah and Abraham’s laughter, the meaning of Isaac…)

Laughter and God moments.  His timing shows us His humor and His playfulness with us.

What does the image of Jesus laughing do to your heart?  What does it say to you about who He is?

Share a recent orchestrated moment from Him that made you laugh. 

 

Chapter 4

Fierce means furiously eager, intense.

Intention means purpose.

Jesus at times has a furiously eager, intense purpose while on earth.  At times He is leisurely and playful but when the situation calls for it He is fiercely intentional.

He knows the pressure is on.  He is a hunted man (pg 32) and yet He continues with purpose to teach, travel, and heal.  He is very intentional about going about His Father’s business.

John Eldredge gives several examples of Jesus being very intense emotionally yet being very intentional with his actions.

The clearing of the temple.

The healing of the woman on the Sabbath.

The raising of Lazarus from dead.

Each time a different emotion drives him and yet his intentions remain the same.

We see His fierce intentions when something stirs Him deeply.  I am once again reminded that He is an emotional man with deep feelings of love and angry and compassion.

The scene at the temple is one some people have trouble grasping.  After reading this chapter about Jesus and his fierce intentions does this change the scene for you?  What do you see differently about it?

Are you fiercely intentional in your own life?  If so how and if not is this something you want to work toward?

 

Now it’s your turn to share your thoughts!  You can leave a comment (we do reply there) or even better join us in the community!  We had a great discussion last week!

 

Welcome to our first book club meeting!  Each week we are going to open with the prayer John Eldredge closes the introduction with.  For me (Christy) it really captures what we want from this.

Jesus, I ask for you.  For the real you.

The introduction and first 2 chapters of Beautiful Outlaw are a wonderful glimpse of what is to come for us in the coming weeks.

Now let’s get this meeting started!

Introduction: The Tipping of the Landslide 

The introduction to Beautiful Outlaw may be one of my favorite chapters of the entire book. It paints such a picture of intimacy – how knowing Jesus can be personal, real, an every day experience and not just something wrapped up in words and far-off unattainable religion.

Eldredge writes, “More words about Jesus are helpful only if they bring us to an experience of him.”

WOW.

That is enough to make me take inventory of all the talking I do about Jesus & the things of God. Is it moving me and others toward fully experiencing Him or is it just more talk? If you were to take inventory of your own “God speak” would you say it brings your and others into the experience of  Him?

 

Chapter 1: The Playfulness of God & The Poison of Religion

Believe it or not, I’ve always thought of Jesus as playful. I think maybe because of my mom – she made learning about Jesus so fun for me when I as little. So, I grew up laughing and noticing little playful moments within Scripture. But the way John Eldredge talks about this – it brings an entirely new level into the mix. I think Jesus’ playfulness is so absent from the norm within the Christian community that to read through John’s words is like drinking a cool cup of water on the hottest day of year. REFRESHING. One of my favorite parts of this week’s read.

For chapter 1, for me, it is the section on The Poison of Religion that gets me. Every. single. time.

On page 8 when Eldredge writes, “If you were reading the Gospels without bias or assumption, you would have no trouble whatsoever coming to believe that religion is the enemy – or in the hands of the enemy.”

Oh my goodness. That cuts right through the heart of a major personal struggle of mine over the last few years. This chapter and a few others within this book are so freeing because they are JESUS and nothing less. What good is knowledge about Jesus if I do not know Jesus and experience Him in real ways on my own? Is it religion we serve or Him?

 

Chapter 2- The Missing Essential – His Personality

Oh, how I relate to the tone of voice example presented in the second chapter of this book. Sometimes when texting or emailing tone of voice can be crucial – especially if you have a love of sarcasm or constant joking around!

I had never really considered the tone of voice of Jesus throughout the Gospels before. Such a shame! Can you picture His eyes twinkling now? Or His lips smirking? Or Him leaning in to listen a little more closely to the children who came to sit on His lap?

So much personality is lost when we read the Bible without it in mind.

Let me assure you: this book will unleash the personality of Jesus to you! And oh what joy that brings me!

This week in what ways can you embrace the personality Jesus? What is a personality trait you love in your friends or children or spouse? Can you focus in on that trait this week as you come to experience Jesus for yourself?

 

 

 

 

Introduction:

Words are no substitute for experiencing Jesus.  We get to experience Him in many ways daily.  Today alone I experienced Him in the wind on my face, my toes in the grass, the smell of the rain and a hug from my niece.  In retrospect I realize that when I am reading His Word I need to also look at the experiences of Jesus and those He comes into contact with.

To love my Jesus….everything else flows from this.   This is a perspective I think I lose at times.  First and most importantly… Love. Him.

Lastly is the prayer that John Eldredge ends with….

Jesus, I ask for you.  For the real you.

I have been incorporating this into my daily prayer.  It is what I most want in my life.  Him.  The real Him.

John Eldredge says words are no substitute for experiencing Jesus.  How have you experienced Jesus lately?

Chapter 1:

Jesus and the disciples are intimate friends.   I have never really thought of this aspect of their relationship.  However, the lived life together.   When JE says we too can know Jesus as intimately as His first disciples did… it does something so powerful within my heart.  Jesus as my friend.  My dearest my intimate friend.  What a most beautiful thought!

When reading the Word in the past I never really took into account that Jesus while fully God was also fully man.  Human.  With emotions that are plainly seen.  When I think of the symmetry between two scenes at the beach.  The first one and then the second one 3 years later I ponder the sentimentality of it.  The sweetness of the His relationships with his disciples, His Mom… they bring something special to who He is.

“To know Jesus intimately, as He is, as he wants to be know, is to release a redemptive landslide in your life.”  

To me the idea of Jesus as a close intimate friend is one I grasp….but don’t necessarily think about.  It has become important for me to see Him as a friend.  A dear friend just as heart friends are.  One who loves me and cares for me… and stand along side me with the beautiful things in life and the messy things in life.  How is Jesus your friend and how are you His friend?

Chapter 2:

John Eldredge’s point of missing Christ’s personality hits home for me.  As he says, “our personality is what makes someone someone and not everyone, or anyone.”  At times I am sure it occurred to me Jesus had a personality but I didn’t look for it….I didn’t get to know Him in a way that makes him more human.  More… like me.  To get to know Him, to look deeper into the Word and see how He is like us and we are like Him.

I was challenged by this passage:  We see Jesus’ great acts of humility, faith and compassion, but what about his playfulness, cunning, brilliance, wit, irreverence, the scandalous freedom with which he lives, his exasperation and impatience, as well as his humanity.  In seeing Jesus more than just God but as also fully a man who is playful and brilliant… yet also impatient at times we can connect with Him on a deeper level.  He truly understand our emotions because He experienced them too. (Also…scandalous freedom… when you read that did you long for it as much as I did?)

When reading the Word do you ever think past the Words, into His emotions to see His humanness?  How would seeing His Humanness affect your reading of the Word? 

So there you have our thoughts on the introduction as well as chapters one and two.

 Now it’s your turn!  You can leave your thoughts in the comments or even better… join us in the community as we discuss the book!

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Don’t forget you have until Wednesday at midnight to win a copy of Beautiful Outlaw!  Details can be found here.

 

Hello Ladies!

Kristen and I are so excited about our book club launch next week!

We wanted to give you as many details as we could about the book club…. And there is something exciting at the end of this post

 

The schedule:

April 24 ::  Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2.

May 1 ::  Chapters 3 and 4

May 8 ::  Chapters 5 and 6

May 12 ::  Chapters 7 and 8

May 22 ::  Chapters 9 and 10

May 29 ::  Chapters 11 and 12

June 4 ::  Chapters 13, 14, and 15.

June 11 :: Chapters 16, 17, and Epilogue.

 

You will read the chapters for the week before (or on) the Tuesday of the book club post.  (for example you will need to read the Introduction and chapters 1&2 by Tuesday, April 24)  If you are behind that is quite okay….we still want you to join us in reading the book and discussing when you can.

There will be a community on blogfrog where we will have our discussions and Kristen will be sharing more about that on Monday!

 If you haven’t signed up for the book club yet you can sign up here!

This week was an exciting one for us in several ways.

First, Karen from John Eldredge’s ministry, Ransomed Heart, contacted us and they have kindly offered to give YOU the OutlawCast Mr. Eldredge recorded after releasing the book!  It is a digital download and you can get it for free!

Visit this link:  http://ransomedheart.com/node/1727

Add the Outlawcast to your cart.

Once you go to your cart on the bottom left there is a place for a coupon code.  Enter this code:   KC123A

Then follow the directions to checkout!

(a secondary way to get the OutlawCast.  Go to: http://www.ransomedheart.com/  go to store, then watch, click on the OutlawCast and add to your cart, once in your cart add the coupon code: KC123A, then follow directions to checkout!)

Second, we were also contacted by Sarah of Faithwords Publishing, which published Beautiful Outlaw and they generously offered 5 copies of Beautiful Outlaw to giveaway to YOU!

There are several ways to enter to win a copy of Beautiful Outlaw below via Rafflecopter!  The giveaway will end Wednesday, April 25th at midnight (EST).  Best of Luck!

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