i'm reading a eugene peterson book

there. i said it.

even though wikipedia tells me he founded a PCUSA church and even though bringing up "the message" as a translation of the bible elicits an irreverent snort from most of those reformed folks i seem to hang around with.

the real reason i picked up "eat this book" was a need to read something that would challenge my heart and mind. i've really anchored myself to the notion that right thought results in right action. if my thinking about the Lord is in line then the responses of my heart should follow.

my life recently, though, has shown me that my version of this has come up short. peterson points out three ways that we "depersonalize" the text, the first of which is intellectualizing the Bible. (the second two, fyi, are coming to the Bible for practical wisdom and inspiration.) he goes on to say this:

"I don't want to be too hard on any one of these groups of Bible-readers, especially since I've spent considerable time in each group myself, but I do want to call attention to the conspicuous fact that in whatever group you find yourself, you will be using the Bible for your purposes, and these purposes will not necessarily require anything of you relationally."

i'm only on chapter two, so i can't endorse this book yet. so far, though, it's made me want to approach Scripture without an agenda and stirred in me a desire to open my heart up to the possibility that God (working through the Bible) is bigger than I think he is. that seems like a good thing.

(side note: i'm far from recanting the whole "right thought leads to right feeling" idea. i'm mostly pointing out my own tendency to bypass my heart and only engage my head.)

indecisive

i really don't like to use that word to describe myself, but it's usually pretty accurate.

i like to think, though, that it's not because i'm apathetic, but because i'm idealistic. it's hard to choose because i so build things up in my mind that deciding on something concrete feels like defeat. ok, it's only going to be this good. no fireworks, amazing soundtrack, or super-clever-i-can't-believe-i-didn't-think-of-that-first title.

that (really!) is what has kept me from starting this blog for so long. the title. so i made myself choose. take THAT idealism!

(i hope i stick with this for more than a week!)