Free Book by Brian Tome

Free Book is the latest work by Brian Tome, pastor of Crossroads in Cincinnati. This book is about freedom. Freedom from fear, freedom from sin and freedom from the legalism that Christians often wrap themselves in. It is not a license to do whatever we want, but freedom to really live within the boundaries God has laid out for us.

I absolutely loved this book.

The review copy came at exactly the right time for me. I plowed through it as quick as I could and found myself writing notes and underlining quotes and searching the web to find out the background of some of the statements Brian makes. I don't often do that.

Brian speaks in clear language that is often humorous and self deprecating. He backs up his thesis through thorough biblical references that are not taken out of context (I looked them all up).

Throughout the book, Brian lays out practical steps for freeing you from bondage. I was often reminded of Neil T. Andersons book: The Bondage Breaker. This book will challenge you.

Not everyone will be ready to take a critical look at themselves and their beliefs. But I have been in a church that was more interested in pleasing the community than in pleasing God. I recommend you read this book with an open mind and I do recommend that you read it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fawkes

For Christmas my son gave me an XBox 360 game: Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition.

Really an addictive game. Wandering through the wasteland around Washington DC a couple hundred years in the future.

A lot of the decisions that you make affect the course of the game and how it plays out. You can be good or bad or neutral (karma in the game).

At one point you will come across a character named Fawkes. Depending on your karma he may be recruited to help you out in the future.

I am not really good at video games and tend to die a lot (think it has to do with the fact that I was in college when Pong came out). But it sure makes it a lot easier to have Fawkes along with me during this game.

He has saved me from a lot of grief along the way so far. The big guy can carry whatever I give him. And he has unlimited ammo. And his thick skin lets him take a lot of damage. And he tends to see danger before I do. He's got my back.

Now I realize that this is just a video game and Fawkes is just a figment of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) of the game engine.

But it really points out just how tough it is to "go it alone." Having someone to rely on is valuable.

Kind of like life. God did not make us to go it alone, he made us to live in community with others. This includes not only our spouse and kids, but other members of our families and our friends and others. Life is easier in community

We will still have challenges and trials and things won't go the way we want to go. But having others that we can rely on when things get tough can make all the difference.

Oh, sure, Fawkes can be annoying at times. He makes the same stupid Zen comments that don't make sense, over and over and he blocks the door all too often when I am trying to get out of a room.

But it sure is handy to have him around to help me get over my mistakes...

The Cyst

For the past several years I have had a cyst slowly growing on my head. It started out pretty small.

It has gradually grown bigger over the years. For most of the time, it has not been a problem. Until recently. Then it started to get in the way. I started to ding it every time that I cut my hair. And it became more and more obvious when I looked in the mirror.

This week I got fed up and had it removed.

The doctor did a good job. He made a small incision and took the cyst out. Three stitches. No bandage. Hard to see. I will have a small scar though.

Took away all the jokes I had planned about getting the hole in my head spackled. Kind of depressed about that.

Anyway, as I thought about this I realized that the cyst is kind of like sin in my life. It can start out kind of small and hidden. Then, over time, it grows and becomes more obvious and starts to interfere with things.

It can't be tolerated or I will be totally disfigured.

So I have to deal with it. I have to cut the sin out.

But I will have been changed by the sin.

No matter how good and completely that I remove the sin, scars will remain.

But the scars are not the same as the sin.

Scars are a sign of character...

Anniversary Cold

This past Saturday Loralie and I celebrated our twenty-eighth wedding anniversary.

We got married on the coldest day of the century. Wind chill was 98 below and we have the paper to prove it. We flew out the next day to get to North Carolina where we were stationed in the Marine Corps.

Flew from Fargo to Minneapolis to Chicago to Atlanta to North Carolina. Three plane changes seven takeoffs and landings. The cold followed us down. In Chicago it was so cold that the ramp that swings out to the plane was frozen and we had to get out on the tarmac to get off the plane.

And it was right around freezing in Atlanta.

Then this past weekend we saw some pretty cold temperatures again. Brought back memories of that weekend in 1982 even though we weren't in Minnesota.

And the snow was just as deep in Kansas as it was in Minnesota...

The Winter of Our Discontent

Here it is: Three days into the new year and I've shoveled about a dozen times already.

Pretty unusual.

You see, where we live here in Kansas, most of the snow that falls melts within a few days. We spend a lot of the winter with no snow on the ground. But this winter is different. We are having snow after snow. And it is staying cold.

By my calculations we are at roughly 18 inches for the winter already. There is around eight inches on the flat.

As I was shoveling early this morning, I had the realization that this was just like a Minnesota winter. Piles of snow and cold weather.

I realize that it is not near as cold here as it is up north, but it is cold enough.

Many people have not shoveled out from the first big snow storm preferring to just ram their way through the snow and ice clogging their driveways. I, on the other hand, subscribe to the: Shovel Early, Shovel Often" philosophy of snow removal. It is better to get out and shovel several small snow falls than to try and clear it all at once after the snow quits falling. Keeps ice from forming and the snow loads from being too heavy.

And there is a certain sense of accomplishment from looking out at a clean driveway and sidewalk several times.

So for the time being, I'll keep on clearing snow as it falls.

But there is another "heavy snow event" due in on Wednesday...