Crossan

At the beginning of 2011, I made a resolution to read a book a week.  As with most resolutions, it hasn't happened.  But I am still striving to finish 52 books this year.  Admittedly, some of those books I have read have been short books to help me reach that goal (The Final Question of Jesus - Joseph Stowell), but I try to balance those with books that I know going in are going to take me longer than a week to read.

This past week, I finally made the dive into the writings of John Dominic Crossan.  His "God & Empire" is a Rob Bell-recommended book (a great resource that I would love to provide you with a link to, but I can't find it . . . ) and so I found it for $6 and decided now was the time to jump in.  For those of you unfamiliar with Crossan, his reputation is one of liberal scholarship at its finest.  Christians recognize him as one of the lead voices of the Jesus Seminar, while the media recognizes him as one of the foremost scholars on the historical Jesus.

I don't know what I expected from a book on Christianity written by someone whose theology undermines (in my mind) the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth, but I was absolutely blown away by Crossan's writing.  His synthesis of Scripture is phenomenal and his brilliance was evident.  Even in the places where he lampoons conservative scholarship (and usually, rightly so), he came across as engaging and generous.  I was reminded again why I believe so strongly in a God-follower's need to read books from across the theological spectrum.  I don't agree with all (or even most) of what Crossan says, but I walked away with a deep appreciation of the diversity of the kingdom and the greatness of our God.  Even the greatness of our Christ.

I'm still ruminating on much of what I read, as I imagine I will be for some time.  But I'm pretty sure that this will not be the last JD Crossan book that I read.  I hope it's not.

Rest

Rest has begun to play an important role in life at the Drake house.  For a week or so now, Wendy has been on bed rest due to some complications with the pregnancy.  Our friends and church family have been amazing about feeding us and helping out with the girls.  Our elders came over last night and anointed Wendy with oil and prayed over her.  It has been a neat thing to watch.

But it's been tough, too.  Man was not made to be a mother, and Tinsley has a hard time understanding that.  I really like my laundry to be clean and my house to be straightened up, and I prefer to have a minimal amount of work in those areas.  And when Tinsley comes into our room at 3:00 in the morning, my preference would be that she go to her mom's side of the bed and have Wendy put her back to bed.  But that's part of the job for me right now, too.

This past weekend, I began reading a book called "Apprenticeship with Jesus" by Gary Moon.  It is a 30-day experience toward, well, apprenticing with Jesus.  (I love it when a title captures what a book is about.)  Anyway, I was quite surprised by how it began.  The first day's exercise was to block out 8 hours every night for a month to get adequate rest.  I don't know about you, but I rarely associate good sleep with spiritual health.  But upon further reflection, it DOES make sense.  I am a much more patient and loving father when I am well-rested.  I do a better job as a husband when I have rest and margin.

And while I have actually done a crappy job of getting those two nights of 8-hour sleep, just the awareness of my rhythms has led to two very fulfilling and peaceful days.  My hope is that a month of such rest and awareness will help me to become more like Jesus.  Let me know if you notice any difference.