Favorite quotes...actually quotes that make me think is a better way of puttin git

"Jesus was not simply a missionary to the poor. He was poor...That is the Jesus we follow." Shane Claiborne
Not saying that we all need to be poor, but what does this mean to us as followers of Christ? Does it mean anything? Could possibly living with so much stuff in this life make it more difficult to follow Jesus who had nothing?

"Today, as in days past, there is no way to tell from a person's life, from his deeds, whether or not he is a believer." Leo Tolstoy

"Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Whosoever boasts that he is a Christian, the same must walk as Christ walked" Menno Simons

Kinda harsh, direct...kinda scary eh?


"As we consider what it means to be "born again"...we must ask what it means to be born again into a family in which our sisters and brothers are starving to death...It also becomes scandalous for the church to spend money on windows and building when some family members don't even have water. Welcome to the dysfunctional family of Yahweh." Shane Claiborne"

"The man that can spend money in extending his already broad acres, while his brother and his brother's children cry for bread--the woman that can spend money in purchasing a stylish bonnet, an expensive cloak, or a fine dress, merely to appear fashionable, while her sister and sister's children are shivering with cold and scarce able to cover their nakedness, are no Christians... they are on the broad road that leads to death." (David Lipscomb quoted by Lee Camp)

I think these two quotes really illustrate how being rich really does not make sense as a true disciple of Christ.


"But if we are the bodyWhy aren't His arms reaching?Why aren't His hands healing?Why aren't His words teaching?And if we are the bodyWhy aren't His feet going?Why is His love not showing them there is a way?" Casting Crowns

I love these lyrics b/c they really emphasize what it means to be the church, to be the body of Jesus.

"Jesus came not just to prepare us to die but to teach us how to live." Shane Claiborne
I totally agree. I don't believe that being a Christian is just about being saved and going to heaven when we die. To be honest if our lives aren't transformed or being transformed and if we're not living for God's kingdom now, I'm not quite sure if we've really met Jesus.

"The greatest cause of atheism is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." Brennan Manning
I believe that Jesus should be evident in a Christians life. This is my prayer. That people may see God evident in my life by the way I live. If I am truly a part of the body of Christ, then people should be encountering Jesus when people encounter me. This is my prayer. That I may carry the good news wherever I go by the way I live and bring God's kingdom everywhere with me.


"Love God, love people, and follow Jesus" Simple Way
I believe church needs to keep it simple...like this. It is simple and to the core.

"Love is a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, but it is the only answer" Dorothy Day
"This love is not sentimental but heart wrenching, the most difficult and the most beautiful thing in the world." Shane Claiborne.
Christianity is not easy...b/c we must rise above human nature and everything this world our body and mind tells us to do... and just love in a way that makes no sense at all.

"The call to "radical discipleship" is thus not a call to a burdensom moral perfectionism, but a call to leave the old ways of death and darkness, and walk in the new way of abundant life and glorious light, with the Christ who is Light and Life. There, on the path with Christ, we are loved even when we do not deserve to be loved. And there, on the path with Christ, we too are called to love those about us who do not deserve to be loved." Lee Camp
Loving the unlovely, the undeserving, the annoying, the difficult to love, the enemies. We are called to love them ('like' is a feeling. 'love' is an action) just as Christ loves us. hmmm.... He calls us to do some crazy difficult things... but if you say so... since you tell me that this is the way to living an abundant life!

"I'm not too concerned about what I am going to do. I am more interested in who I am becoming. I want to be a lover of God and people." Shane Claiborne
This is very challenging...especially in a society where our career, education and jobs are....essentially everything...how else do you survive? how else do you make money? what else would you do? If our career or achieving our career is consuming us and preventing us from becoming the person God created us to be, would God ask us to give it up and trust Him? Would God really provide for our needs when we choose to become more like him?

"When the poor meet the rich, riches will have no meaning. And when the rich meet the poor, we will see poverty come to an end." Shane Claiborne
So true. Read his book...so good.

"It is among the wealthy that we can find the most terrible poverty of all---loneliness." Mother Teresa

"The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give it away" unknown
Wow!

"There is something scandalous about grace. It's almost embarrassing that God loves losers so much." Shane Claiborne.

"Don't spin today away, cuz today will soon be gone." Switchfoot

"Oh remind me that I have not reached home" Downhere