Jesus for Prez

so after 10 months, i have completed the book Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw.

and I could probably turn around and read it again. It took me so long for several reasons. first, it's a pretty deep read for the first 2/3 of the way. sure the pictures make it nice, but it was a lot to take in! secondly, i just had a lot of nursing crap to read. and thirdly, if i read more than say....10 pages at a time, i usually got so fired up i couldn't sleep or had to turn to the person next to me and give them a summary.

the book was incredibly thorough and i appreciated it so much. I held many of the beliefs discussed prior to reading, but it gave me such great detail, history, and just relevance. It blows my mind how misinterpreted the Bible really is..simply because we (most times blindly) completely ignore the culture surrounding the text. even just getting a small dose of culture can turn a verse you've heard hundreds of times (and thought you just looooved already), into an extremely bold and powerful statement that goes against every grain of "norm."

not only did i enjoy the depth, but also the compilation of such wonderful stories, quotes, and insights gathered. i couldn't turn a page without numerous references and jarring quotes--even quotes from the time of Jesus, not just modern (many of those were my favorite).

in the end, this piece added fuel to my fire and encouragement to my soul. i desire so much to live apart from the empire, pledge my allegiance to my King...the slaughtered lamb..love my enemies (not bomb them), and embrace my duty of being a blessing to the world by sharing love, peace and hope and remember my job is NOT to rid the world of evil by violence (or encourage it)...that's His job, and I'll let him take care of it when the time comes.. (check out the parable of weeds/wheat in Matthew 13).

Until then, may we live out Acts 2:42-47 :)

...oh, and i'll probably post a few of my favorite excerpts from the book later.