Joshua is probably best known as the guy who followed Moses. And how do you follow something like the Exodus? By opening a can and owning the Promised Land. People hear Joshua and they think Jericho. I have to admit, it's good stuff.
But there was way more to Josh's life than shouting his way to victory. 40 years before he rocked all over Jericho, he was being outvoted and sent back into the desert. Much like B.A. Baraccus and the rest of the A-Team, he was forced to wander for a crime he did not commit. I hadn't really thought before about how up and down his life was. He was on the verge of entering the Promised Land and then was pulled back to a nomadic lifestyle.
I often have a flare for the dramatic. When I dream, I like to dream big. But there are people who make me wonder if perhaps I dream too small. Maybe I don't have enough faith in God. What if I continually make Him to be small, or place Him in a box, or...or....choose your very own overused sentiment?
Yeah, I have to admit that it was all possible. But simply reading Stephen Furtick's book, Sun Stand Still, would change all that, right? Not so fast.
I've been around the evangelical block enough times to be tainted. Sure, amazing things happened and were recorded in the Bible. I believe those stories. Even the most miraculous, like Joshua simply praying for the Sun to stand still for an extra day's time, the story which gave this book its' title.
If God could do it then, certainly He could do it today. I believe that. And yet, I still struggled at points in this book. Some of it was terminology. One of Stephen's central terms was Page 23 Vision, based on the page number of another book from which he first caught his vision for his own life. The theme was so central, it made me wonder if I should be reading that other book instead.
I must also admit, I had to question if his story could relate. As he shared about his struggles early on with trusting his vision to come true and the years he questioned God and himself, it was hard to imagine that his struggle was all that bad. After all, he was writing from the other side at the age of 29. That may sound harsh, but how does the person who has been working the dead end job for at least 30 years get hope from that? Imagine the man or woman who has never even dared to dream taking this book to heart.
On the other hand, all that could very well be said about the Bible itself. After all, we read about a God who has everything offering what He has to a people who have nothing. We read of God's Son coming down, wowing people with His teaching and His power, then telling us we will do greater things.
Sensational? You better believe it! But what if it's true? What if we've underestimated all the dark, long and lonely parts of people's stories and overestimated what the light at the end of the tunnel looked like?
What would happen if we were to take the promises as serious as God did when He gave them? After all, many people have grabbed hold of that hope and changed their lives, as well as those around them.
Why not us? Why not now? Why not look at this coming year and imagine what could be instead of moaning about what is?
It's not the only book of its kind, but Stephen Furtick has written with confidence, the same kind that we should be living with. Let me add that I think Stephen is very self-aware of what he's talking about and how people may(or may not) respond. I also found that much of what was offered was very down-to-earth, not an easy accomplishement considering the book is about the miraculous things God can do in our lives.
This book was provided for free for the sake of review by my besties over at Waterbrook / Multnomah Publishing. You can purchase this book for yourself here.
But there was way more to Josh's life than shouting his way to victory. 40 years before he rocked all over Jericho, he was being outvoted and sent back into the desert. Much like B.A. Baraccus and the rest of the A-Team, he was forced to wander for a crime he did not commit. I hadn't really thought before about how up and down his life was. He was on the verge of entering the Promised Land and then was pulled back to a nomadic lifestyle.
I often have a flare for the dramatic. When I dream, I like to dream big. But there are people who make me wonder if perhaps I dream too small. Maybe I don't have enough faith in God. What if I continually make Him to be small, or place Him in a box, or...or....choose your very own overused sentiment?
Yeah, I have to admit that it was all possible. But simply reading Stephen Furtick's book, Sun Stand Still, would change all that, right? Not so fast.
I've been around the evangelical block enough times to be tainted. Sure, amazing things happened and were recorded in the Bible. I believe those stories. Even the most miraculous, like Joshua simply praying for the Sun to stand still for an extra day's time, the story which gave this book its' title.
If God could do it then, certainly He could do it today. I believe that. And yet, I still struggled at points in this book. Some of it was terminology. One of Stephen's central terms was Page 23 Vision, based on the page number of another book from which he first caught his vision for his own life. The theme was so central, it made me wonder if I should be reading that other book instead.
I must also admit, I had to question if his story could relate. As he shared about his struggles early on with trusting his vision to come true and the years he questioned God and himself, it was hard to imagine that his struggle was all that bad. After all, he was writing from the other side at the age of 29. That may sound harsh, but how does the person who has been working the dead end job for at least 30 years get hope from that? Imagine the man or woman who has never even dared to dream taking this book to heart.
On the other hand, all that could very well be said about the Bible itself. After all, we read about a God who has everything offering what He has to a people who have nothing. We read of God's Son coming down, wowing people with His teaching and His power, then telling us we will do greater things.
Sensational? You better believe it! But what if it's true? What if we've underestimated all the dark, long and lonely parts of people's stories and overestimated what the light at the end of the tunnel looked like?
What would happen if we were to take the promises as serious as God did when He gave them? After all, many people have grabbed hold of that hope and changed their lives, as well as those around them.
Why not us? Why not now? Why not look at this coming year and imagine what could be instead of moaning about what is?
It's not the only book of its kind, but Stephen Furtick has written with confidence, the same kind that we should be living with. Let me add that I think Stephen is very self-aware of what he's talking about and how people may(or may not) respond. I also found that much of what was offered was very down-to-earth, not an easy accomplishement considering the book is about the miraculous things God can do in our lives.
This book was provided for free for the sake of review by my besties over at Waterbrook / Multnomah Publishing. You can purchase this book for yourself here.
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