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I like to read with a pen and a highlighter! When I’m done with a book… it’s a mess!

Some “Marked up stuff” from my reading this a.m.

Bible

• Proverbs 22:29 – “Do you see any truly competent workers? They will serve kings rather than ordinary people.”

• I’m seeking the balance between bringing the “Lost” to Christ and living in peace with Christians (The Bible tells us to do both). You’d think that wouldn’t be a problem, huh?! Romans 14-15 gives some perspective on this one.

Brian McLaren – The Secret Message of Jesus

• “Once you have the capacity for self-doubt, you find yourself more able to trust God.”

• Brian discusses “new metaphors” for the “Kingdom of God.” He says, “…for many people today, kingdom language evokes patriarchy, chauvinism, imperialism, domination, and a regime without freedom. Not a pretty picture – and the very opposite of the liberating, barrier-breaking, domination-shattering, reconciling movement the kingdom of God was intended to be! So for these and other reasons, if Jesus were here today, I am quite certain he wouldn’t use the language of kingdom at all…” He then suggest six “fresh ways of translating his (i.e. Jesus’) message into the thought forms and cultures of our contemporary world”:

• The dream of God

• The revolution of God

• The mission of God

• The party of God

• The network of God

• The dance of God

Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell – The Five Love Languages of Children

• “A great deal of research indicates that the emotional foundation of life is laid in the first eighteen months of life, particularly in the mother/child relationship. The ‘food’ for future emotional health is physical touch, kind words, and tender care.”

• “Children are behaviorally motivated. They respond to actions – what you do with them. So to reach them, you must love them on their terms, or behaviorally.” (It takes more than words!)

• “Your children will sense how you feel about them by how you behave toward them.”

• “Behavioral expressions of love can be divided into physical touch, quality time, gifts, acts of service, and words of affirmation” (i.e. the five “Love Languages”).