I attended the Women of Faith (www.womenoffaith.com) conference last weekend in downtown Columbus. It was a wonderfully refreshing time for me, as I seldom get to just sit back and be a recipient of great Biblical teaching. Each person that attends such a conference could probably choose one speaker who stood out the most to her…the one who spoke mostly deeply into her particular situation and soul. For me, that person was different than I expected. The speakers were announced ahead of time, as was their theme: amazing freedom. I didn’t expect Max Lucado to be the one who spoke to me most profoundly, but he was. (Though Max Lucado is not a “woman” of faith, he was—for some reason—a speaker at the all-female conference).
I have to confess, I am a bit of a Christian literature snob. I like to critique Christian books, because many of them seem so superficial to me. What they say is not bad, it just doesn’t go deep enough for my taste. (In reality, I’m probably not as deep as I imagine myself to be!) My need to look disdainfully down my nose at some of the Christian sub-culture’s writings is changing, especially after last weekend. You see, Max Lucado has not escaped my critiques in the past.
I have read many of Lucado’s books and, while they have a nice devotional feel, they don’t plunge the depths like C.S. Lewis, A.W. Tozer, and Francis Schaeffer (just to name a few of the great authors who brilliantly unravel and proclaim the mysteries of the Christian life and experience). I will publicly admit, however, that I once received a “Max Lucado Award” from the Women’s Chorale, during my freshman year at Wheaton College. This was precipitated by my frequent use of Max’s books as material for devotions before choir practice. Like I said earlier, I’ve always admired his work for its devotional appeal, but that is where my admiration stopped…until last weekend.
Max was the keynote speaker on Friday night of the conference. I was instantly struck by his warmth and authenticity. If I had to give the same talk/sermon over and over again, all across the country, I wouldn’t have appeared so gracious and kind! You can’t fake caring. Somehow, Max seemed genuinely concerned for the souls of each of the 20,000 women present that night. He smiled a lot, but didn’t come across as cheesy. I have seen so many smiley, plastic-like mass communicators who want to seem authentic, but the harder they try, the more of a caricature they become. That was not the case with Max. He meant what he said. I liked that about him. As he spoke, I thought, “That’s the kind of guy I would want as my pastor”. Somehow, all of his fame has not gone to his head; he has remained a faithful servant of Jesus. There are some Christian speakers I hear and think, “They say pretty words, but I wouldn’t want to share my darkest wounds and fears with them; in fact, I’d be scared to talk to them”. With Max Lucado, I felt he was someone I could go to coffee with and it would be like talking with an average, every-day, normal person who passionately loves Jesus. I liked that about him.
Max spoke about the “giants” in our lives. He has a book out called “Facing Your Giants”. The talk probably came from there. I like his stuff better as a sermon. You can tell God made Max to be a pastor. His pastor’s heart shined through the whole time. Maybe that’s why he was instantly trustable in my eyes…why his words got past the barriers I often place around my heart.
You see, I’ve been going through a season of giants, myself. Max’s words spoke straight into my situation. Now I get why people often say to me on a Sunday: “Did you give that sermon just for me?” There are some messages that seem tailor-made for our unique situations. So it was with the idea of giants.
Max talked about David and his battle with Goliath, the giant. David, apparently, picked up 5 stones from a stream as part of his arsenal against the giant (a detail mentioned in Scripture that I somehow passed over). I think Max made 5 points, one for each of the stones (very clever, I thought), but that is not what spoke to me. The idea of having 5 stones stuck with me. At some point, Max read Scripture concerning Goliath’s siblings. The Bible lists at least 4 brothers that Goliath had, but there may have been more (and what if Goliath was the runt of the family?). Max said David had no way of knowing it would end with Goliath. For all David knew, the minute he slew Goliath, 4 more giants could have come up over the mountain, looking to avenge their slain brother. David would have had the ammunition to face them, with his 5 stones. It made me think of all the times in life when you are facing something that feels insurmountable, and then even more overwhelming things happen on top of it. Somehow, just naming that reality helped me (the reality that we might have more than one giant in our lives; or the reality that, the minute we conquer one problem, several more may rise up in place of the slain one). It is nice to be reminded that other people have faced giants…and that they have won the battle! But more importantly, Max kept reiterating the idea of letting God fight your battles and standing firm in the Lord—that we can only slay the giants through God’s power, never through our own. I often try to do it all in my own strength—and always get pummeled by the giants. That reminds me of the title of a book by Ellsworth Kalas: “If Experience is Such a Good Teacher, Why Do I Keep Repeating the Course?”. You’d think I’d know better by now that I can “do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, not through my own efforts. But I forget!
So, blogging friends, in my giant-fighting absence from my blog in recent weeks, I pray that you have experienced more and more of God’s presence. May you find Him more than capable of handling anything that comes your way, even the giants that seem so big. They ARE big, but not from God’s vantage point. He has a different definition of what “big” is. I pray for me, and for you, for new eyes, to see God’s perspective on the situations of our lives. May we stand firm in God’s strength and find that He never fails us.
I have to confess, I am a bit of a Christian literature snob. I like to critique Christian books, because many of them seem so superficial to me. What they say is not bad, it just doesn’t go deep enough for my taste. (In reality, I’m probably not as deep as I imagine myself to be!) My need to look disdainfully down my nose at some of the Christian sub-culture’s writings is changing, especially after last weekend. You see, Max Lucado has not escaped my critiques in the past.
I have read many of Lucado’s books and, while they have a nice devotional feel, they don’t plunge the depths like C.S. Lewis, A.W. Tozer, and Francis Schaeffer (just to name a few of the great authors who brilliantly unravel and proclaim the mysteries of the Christian life and experience). I will publicly admit, however, that I once received a “Max Lucado Award” from the Women’s Chorale, during my freshman year at Wheaton College. This was precipitated by my frequent use of Max’s books as material for devotions before choir practice. Like I said earlier, I’ve always admired his work for its devotional appeal, but that is where my admiration stopped…until last weekend.
Max was the keynote speaker on Friday night of the conference. I was instantly struck by his warmth and authenticity. If I had to give the same talk/sermon over and over again, all across the country, I wouldn’t have appeared so gracious and kind! You can’t fake caring. Somehow, Max seemed genuinely concerned for the souls of each of the 20,000 women present that night. He smiled a lot, but didn’t come across as cheesy. I have seen so many smiley, plastic-like mass communicators who want to seem authentic, but the harder they try, the more of a caricature they become. That was not the case with Max. He meant what he said. I liked that about him. As he spoke, I thought, “That’s the kind of guy I would want as my pastor”. Somehow, all of his fame has not gone to his head; he has remained a faithful servant of Jesus. There are some Christian speakers I hear and think, “They say pretty words, but I wouldn’t want to share my darkest wounds and fears with them; in fact, I’d be scared to talk to them”. With Max Lucado, I felt he was someone I could go to coffee with and it would be like talking with an average, every-day, normal person who passionately loves Jesus. I liked that about him.
Max spoke about the “giants” in our lives. He has a book out called “Facing Your Giants”. The talk probably came from there. I like his stuff better as a sermon. You can tell God made Max to be a pastor. His pastor’s heart shined through the whole time. Maybe that’s why he was instantly trustable in my eyes…why his words got past the barriers I often place around my heart.
You see, I’ve been going through a season of giants, myself. Max’s words spoke straight into my situation. Now I get why people often say to me on a Sunday: “Did you give that sermon just for me?” There are some messages that seem tailor-made for our unique situations. So it was with the idea of giants.
Max talked about David and his battle with Goliath, the giant. David, apparently, picked up 5 stones from a stream as part of his arsenal against the giant (a detail mentioned in Scripture that I somehow passed over). I think Max made 5 points, one for each of the stones (very clever, I thought), but that is not what spoke to me. The idea of having 5 stones stuck with me. At some point, Max read Scripture concerning Goliath’s siblings. The Bible lists at least 4 brothers that Goliath had, but there may have been more (and what if Goliath was the runt of the family?). Max said David had no way of knowing it would end with Goliath. For all David knew, the minute he slew Goliath, 4 more giants could have come up over the mountain, looking to avenge their slain brother. David would have had the ammunition to face them, with his 5 stones. It made me think of all the times in life when you are facing something that feels insurmountable, and then even more overwhelming things happen on top of it. Somehow, just naming that reality helped me (the reality that we might have more than one giant in our lives; or the reality that, the minute we conquer one problem, several more may rise up in place of the slain one). It is nice to be reminded that other people have faced giants…and that they have won the battle! But more importantly, Max kept reiterating the idea of letting God fight your battles and standing firm in the Lord—that we can only slay the giants through God’s power, never through our own. I often try to do it all in my own strength—and always get pummeled by the giants. That reminds me of the title of a book by Ellsworth Kalas: “If Experience is Such a Good Teacher, Why Do I Keep Repeating the Course?”. You’d think I’d know better by now that I can “do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, not through my own efforts. But I forget!
So, blogging friends, in my giant-fighting absence from my blog in recent weeks, I pray that you have experienced more and more of God’s presence. May you find Him more than capable of handling anything that comes your way, even the giants that seem so big. They ARE big, but not from God’s vantage point. He has a different definition of what “big” is. I pray for me, and for you, for new eyes, to see God’s perspective on the situations of our lives. May we stand firm in God’s strength and find that He never fails us.
2 comments:
Hi tina, its BM (although now its BMK) :)
Is that my little beth mcgrew? Tell me where and how you are! Send me an email to: tdietsch@hotmail.com
you can also email me through the link on my blog but I don't check that one as often...and get a lot more junk mail through there, so I miss stuff sometimes!
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