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Sifted

I am going to a break from posting for a week, maybe two. I'll be back. While I am gone, you could fill your time by reading this awesome book by Rick Lawrence called Sifted.


Had I not read this book on a kindle I could have shown you a worn and dog-eared copy. When I read a book, I have a pen or pencil handy. I underline and write in the margins. To assure I can find again what inspires me, I fold over the page I marked.

The kindle allows me to highlight and bookmarks, which I use, but sadly you will not see those. But here are just a few of my many highlights.

Danger is an essential aspect of any adventure; without danger, it’s not really an adventure.
(Referring to Job and his friends) And if it seems crazy that mere men would dicker about their relative greatness while God sits a few feet away with a bemused smile on His face, then you don’t know yourself well.
 It’s so important to remember the makeup of this man—otherwise, all that happens next is lost on us. “Simon Barjona” represents all the man has been; “Peter” represents all he truly is. One is the name of his first birth; the other is the name of his second birth.
 (On why everything happens) It turns out that hurricanes literally keep our planet alive by roiling the waters of our oceans so deeply that their nutrients are widely redistributed, causing rapid growth of the carbon-dioxide-eating phytoplankton and, thus, keeping the earth from boiling over. Everything in the created world is a parable.
 In the garden and in our lives with God, the goal of grafting is intimacy, not behavior change.

Seriously, these are just a few.

Rick Lawrence bears his soul, to a degree that sometimes left me feeling bad for him. Don't get me wrong, this is superb writing and his honesty and vulnerability are what makes this book an incredible read. In fact, to write about being sifted without acknowledging your own dark moments might be considered dishonest. But Rick has been very honest, letting us in to his own baggage, inviting us to accept where we are, where God has placed us, knowing that it is for our own good.

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