0033.

My friend Jenny got me Shane Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution for my birthday this year. I'm bad at not finishing books, but I am going to finish this one. Especially before he speaks at Belmont.
It's a very challenging book. It puts thoughts in your head that won't go away. And they probably shouldn't.

It makes me think about far bigger pictures than just college and getting "in" when it comes to the music industry. Because honestly, I don't really care about the corporate-ness of the music industry.
I would love to help out artists that I believe have talent and something worth relating to our generation. But helping Jessica Simpson hit platinum again? No thanks. The world doesn't need more of that perspective. I'd probably lie awake at night if I were helping to make the super-rich richer while the poor suffer.

ANYWAYS. All this to say, shane is an extremist for Christ's love.

Here are some great quotes from The Irresistible Revolution.

"It can be hard to hear the gentle whisper of the Spirit amid the noise of Christendom."

"Jesus was crucified not for helping poor people but for joining them. That is the Jesus we follow."\

"Rather than do what makes sense to us and ask God's blessing, we'd do better to surround ourselves with those whom God promises to bless, and then we need not ask God's blessing." (think: beatitudes)

(actually from his college professor)"All around you people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don't tiptoe." (A well-needed lesson for me to hear..)

"God, forgive us for all those we have lost because we made the Gospel boring. ...It's because we make the Gospel too easy, not because we make it too difficult."

"While the ghettos may have their share of violence and crime, the suburbs are the home of the more subtle demonic forces--numbness, complacency, comfort--and it is these that can eat away at our souls."

"If people really knew what idiots we are, in all our brokenness and vulnerability, they would know that they can give this thing a shot too. Christianity is for sick people."