Crazy Love pages 1-38

So I started reading a new book a couple days ago called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I have actually read this book before a couple years ago and I really enjoyed it so I decided to pick it up and read it again. It's one of those books that you can read 10 times and still not pick up everything. It is packed with so many things that you need to hear over and over to really sink in. The whole book is about how God is love and how powerful and amazing His love is for us. Francis Chan's point in this book is to inform people that they might be missing out on the whole God is love thing and not really getting it. He tries to reinforce to the reader that your faith should be authentic and set apart, a faith that others can see how in love you are with God. I actually got the chance the summer before my freshman year to hear Francis Chan speak at a youth conference I attended in Florida with my church called Big Stuf. He was probably one of the most amazing speakers I have ever listened to. He really knows how to get a point across to people and he is not shy about it, he doesn't cut corners.

 The book Crazy Love starts off which is called Stop Praying. What Chan means by this is stop praying AT God and start praying TO him. With the world we live in today and the technology we have, sometimes words come too easily and mean nothing. We sometimes pray empty prayers that are not even directed to God. The next section of this chapter talks about how amazing and mind blowing our God really is. He talks about the 350 billion galaxies that are in existence, how a caterpillar has 228 distinct muscles in its head, how there are 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile of the Amazon forest, and other amazing things that exist on this earth. God created all of these. He had no reason to create all these intricate things but to remind us of how glorious and powerful he truly is. 

The next section of this chapter talks about our view, as humans, of God. There are many questions that we ask sometimes because we do not fully understand everything about our God. Francis Chan reminds you in this section what some of the most basic but most important attributes of God are. The first is that God is holy. He is "perfectly set apart, with no one and nothing to compare Him to." The next is that God is eternal. God has been here all along since the beginning of time and will be here forever into eternity. He "exists out of time." The next attribute is that God is all-knowing. He knows each and every one us us deeply and intimately and we cannot escape Him. Hebrews 4:13 says "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight." Next is that God is all-powerful. We were created for God, he was not created for us. Finally, Chan's last attribute is that God is fair and just. God is the only being who is good and therefore he is the only one who can decide what is fair and just. God hates sin and never excuses sin. Just think about the cross, where Jesus, God's son, was tortured and beaten because of Our sin. If God beat his one and only son who He loved more than anyone else because of OUR sin, obviously it is a big deal to him and he truly despises it. 

So far after picking up this book again I have already learned a lot. Even though I have read it before things are being reinforced and reminded to me. Francis Chan does a great job writing this book. One of my favorite parts is how he doesn't sugar coat anything. He tells you straight forward who God is and how we should be living for Him. Too many people these days sugar coat their faith and view of God and this is a great reminder of how we should not be doing that, how we should be living so everyone around us can see that we are Christ-followers and we serve a truly amazing God.