Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts

Thursday, August 14, 2008

An excerpt from Red Moon Rising...

(from an amazing book I'm reading right now!)


So this guy comes up to me and says,” What’s the vision? What’s the big idea?” I open my mouth and words come out like this...


The vision?
The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army.
And they are FREE from materialism.
They laugh at 9-5 prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn’t even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the West was won.
They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the vision?

The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure. Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation. It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers
choose to lose
that they might one day win
the great “Well done,” of faithful sons and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night.
They don’t need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards
and hear the crowds chanting again and again:” COME ON!”
And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing...
This is the sound of the underground
And the army is discipl(in)ed.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back boasts,” For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes.
Winners.
Martyrs.
Who can stop them?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed?
Can fear scare them or death kill them?
And the generation prays
like a dying man
with groans beyond talking
with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and
with great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24-7-365
Whatever it takes they will give;
Breaking the rules
Shaking mediocrity from its cozy little hide.
Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs,
Laughing at labels, fasting essentials.
The advertisers cannot mold them.
Hollywood cannot hold them.
Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties
Before the cockerel cries
They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside.
On the outside? They hardly care.
They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives – swap seats with the man on death row – guilty as hell.
A throne for an electric chair.
With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.
Their DNA chooses JESUS (He breathes out, they breathe in.)
Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make demons scream in shopping centers.
Don’t you hear them coming?
Herald the weirdos!
Summon the losers and the freaks.
Here comes the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes.
They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension.
Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.
And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon.
How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God.
My tomorrow is his today.
My distant hope is his 3-D.
And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous resounding, bone-shaking great “Amen!” from countless angels, from heroes of the faith, from Christ himself. And He is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.
Guaranteed.

(Red Moon Rising by Peter Greig)

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Here it's You and me alone, God.


Everything Michael did had purpose. She thought of her own life and how meaningless and miserable it had been before him. Her very reason to be alive depended on him. And Michael depended on the earth, the rain, the warmth of the sun. And his God. Especially his God.
I'd be dead by now if Michael hadn't come back for me. I'd be rotting in a shallow, unmarked grave.
She was consumed with gratitude and filled with an aching humility that this man loved. Why of all the other women of the world, had he chosen her? She was so undeserving. It was inconceivable.
But I am glad, so glad he did. And I'll never again do anything to make him sorry. Oh, God I swear...
A sweet fragrance filled the darkened cabin, a fragrance that defied definition. She filled her lungs with it, so heady and wonderful. What was it? Where did it come from? Her mind whirled with words and phrases Michael had read to her over the past weeks and even before that, words she thought she had never heard but had somehow found their way into the deepest part of her, somewhere inside, a place she'd been unable to close off.
And then a still, quiet voice filled the room.
I am.
Angel sat up abruptly, eyes wide open. She looked around the cabin, but there was no one there other than Michael, who lay sleeping deeply beside her. Who had spoken? She felt fear sweep through her, and then she trembled with it. Then it was gone, washed away, and she was calm again, her skin tingling strangely.
"There is nothing," she whispered."Nothing." she waited an answer, not moving.
But no answer came. No voice filled the stillness.

Angel lay down slowly and curled as tightly against Michael as she could.

-------------------------

This is an excerpt from Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. This book is something I have put off reading for quite a while now, mostly because of the content, I wasn't sure I could handle it yet. The reason being the story is about a harlot, its theme derived from the book Hosea in the bible. If are you are familiar with Hosea, then you know it is about a prophet who married a harlot to bear witness God's love for His own people, the people of Israel. This harlot left Hosea again and again to return to her wicked ways from before. So as you can imagine how the a story like this can be difficult to read. Francine Rivers has transposed this prophetic tale into the 1800's of northwest America, during the a California goldrush. She takes the story into extreme depth. It was a breathtaking, hearting rendering portrayal.

God had an appointed time, and this last week was my time to read it. It was amazing! In the beginning this harlot, who goes simply by the name Angel (though she is known to her husband by many names...Amanda, Tirzah, Mara), cannot except the unconditional love of the man that God sends to marry her and save her from her terrible life. She doesn't believe he can love her, and then when convinces her, she doesn't feel worthy enough, so runs back to her life as harlot. He brings her back, forgives and continues pursuing her heart. Soon she learns to love him herself, but scared of being vulnerable, she runs away again, not to her life before, but never the less away from him. He searches till he finds her again and brings her home. Still unable to feel worthy, she leaves him a third time. He does not go after her, realizing she must first find her worth in God now, instead of him. And she does...in a harlot house, she finds herself forced into, when she is kidnapped. She finds God, and saves not only herself but many others. Then she returns finally to her husband, fully complete.

The entire book just slammed home into my face the unrelenting love of God for his bride. Angel discovers God was reaching through her husband, Michael Hosea, to show her this steadfast, forgiving devotion. She loses everything to discover this...and then gains everything.

----------------------------

When she looked up, she saw Michael standing in a field. The soft wind made the wheat look like a golden sea around him. The air was sweet and clean.
"Amanda!" he called out, running toward her.
"No, Michael, go back! Don't come near me!" She knew if he touched her, the foulness covering her would cover him as well. "Stay away! Stay back!"
But he would not listen. He came ahead.
She was too weak to run away. She looked down at herself and saw her flesh decaying and dropping away. Michael walked toward her without hesitation. He was so close, she could see his eyes. Oh..."God, let me die. Let me die for him."
No, came a soft voice.
She looked up and saw Michael standing before her. A small flame burned where his heart was. No, beloved. His mouth hadn't moved, and the voice was not his. The flame grew larger and brighter, spreading until his entire body was radiant with it. Then the light separated Michael and came the last few feet toward her. It was a man, glorious and magnificent, light streaming from him in all directions.
"Who are you?" she whispered, terrified."Who are you?"
Yahweh, El Shaddai, Jehovah-mekoddishkem, El Elyon, El Olam, Elohim...
The names kept coming, moving together like music, rushing through her blood, filling her. She trembled in fear and could not move. He reached out and touched her, and she felt warmth encompassing her and the fear dissolving away. She looked down at herself and found she was clean and clothed in white.

"Then I am dead."
"That you may live."
Blinking she looked up again and saw the man of light covered with her filth. "No!" she wept. "Oh, God, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I"ll take it back. I'll do anything..." Yet even as she reached out, the defilement disappeared and he stood before her perfect again.
"I am the way, Sarah. Follow me."
As she stepped forward and reached out to him, there was a thunder clap, and Angel awakened in darkness.


-------------------

Then when Sarah (her real name) returns to Michael for the final time it is so beautiful...mirror image of what she experienced with God)

------------------

...She knew then that she had doubted he would forgive her, but he already had. She could live with him forever and not know his depths.
Oh, Lord thank you, thank you! She went into his arms, spreading her hands on his strong back, pressing herself as close as she could, her gratitude so strong she could hardly bear it. He was warmth and light and life. She wanted to be flesh of his flesh, blood of his blood. Forever. Closing her eyes, she inhaled the sweet scent of him and felt she was finally home.
She thought she had been saved by his love for her, and in party she had been. It had cleansed her, never casting blame. But that had been only the beginning. It was loving him in return that had brought her up out of the darkness.
What can I give him more than that? I would give him anything.
"Amanda," Michael said, holding her tenderly," Tirzah..."
Sarah, came the still, soft voice, and she knew the one gift she had to offer. Herself. Angel drew back from Michael and looked up at him. "Sarah, Michael. My name is Sarah. I don't know the rest of it. Only that much. Sarah."
Michael blinked. His whole body flooded with joy. The name fit her so well. A wanderer in a foreign lands, a barren woman filled with doubt. Yet Sarah of old had become a symbol of trust in God and ultimately the mother of a nation. Sarah. A benediction. Sarah. A barren woman who conceived a son. His beautiful cherished wife who would someday give him a child.
It's a promise, Lord, isn't it? Michael felt warmth and assurance of if enter every cell of his body.
He held out his hand. "Hello, Sarah." She loo
ked endearingly confused as she placed her hand in his. He shook it and grinned down at her," I'm very pleased to meet you. Finally."
She laughed," You are such a crazy, crazy man, Michael."
Michale laughed with her and pulled her into his arm to kiss her. He felt her arm around him as she kissed him back. She was home for good this time. Not even death would part them.
When they drew breath, Michael swung her around and lifted her above him joyously. She threw back her head and spread her arms wide to embrace the sky, tears of celebration streaming down her cheeks.
Michael had once read to her how God had cast a man and woman out of Paradise. Yet, for all their human faults and failures, God had shown them a way back in.
Love the Lord your God, and love one another. Love one another as he loves. Love with strength and purpose and passion and no matter what comes against you. Don't weaken. Stand against darkness, and love. That's the way back into Eden. That's the way to life.



You won't relent until You have it all. My heart yours.

I'll set you as a seal upon My heart, as a seal up on My heart. For there is love that is as strong as love, jealously demanding as the grave. Many waters cannot quench this love.

Come be the fire inside of me, come be the flame upon my heart. Come be the fire inside of me, until You and I are one.



...here it's You and me alone, God. You and me alone.