Radical

Isn't it amazing, the timing of things...  In the middle of all the hoopla with Mike's job (prior to the actual end of that chapter), we attended our second Secret Church event.  It rocked our worlds, to say the least. So, in the midst of all of the stress about work, God was at work in our lives - especially regarding our stuff.

Who would have thought that attending a Secret Church service in April of 2010 would be the beginning of understanding for our family.  That Friday evening, God really opened our eyes to what His Word REALLY says about our posessions.  That night, we purchased a copy of Pastor David Platt's new book, Radical.  Mike and I both began reading it immediately.  It was like our eyes had been opened to the truth of God's Word and what it says about stuff.  Reading Radical also drove us into God's Word fast and furious.  We didn't just accept scriptural references.  We looked them up for ourselves.  Studied them, and prayed about them. 

We were challenged to dive deeper into our Bibles and our relationship with Christ.  Through that, we realized that we were harboring so much idolatry in our own lives.  We had sought after the American Dream, and somehow explained away Jesus's call to the rich young ruler in Luke 18, or when Jesus explained the cost of following in Matthew 8.  But, faced with what we knew we needed to do... how could we make it happen?  We felt compelled to downsize in so many areas, but the pull of posessions and the American Dream was still strong in our lives... or was it?