What a thrill it was yesterday to click on Amazon.com and discover the listing of The Insanity of Obedience: Walking with Jesus in Tough Places. I was privileged to write this book with my friend Nik Ripken. The book will be released on January 1, 2014. I knew that it was coming, of course, but it was still overwhelming to see a picture of the book cover on my computer . . . and to see my name on the cover.
In 2012, I was invited to do a rewrite of The Insanity of God. That book was published on January 1, 2013. The book has sold well this year. It tells the story of Nik and Ruth Ripken: their decades of service in Africa and the Middle East, their crisis of faith precipitated by both their apparent lack of success in ministry and the death of their sixteen-year-old son, and their subsequent discovery of a new calling from God to walk in the world of persecution and learn its lessons. If I didn't personally know that the story was utterly true, I would be inclined to believe that much of it had been made up. The story is just that incredible.
This past year, Nik and I have been working on the second book. The purpose of The Insanity of Obedience is to challenge followers of Jesus to cross the street - and to cross the oceans - with the Good News. And the book highlights the high cost that will be required to do that.
This past year, Nik and I have been working on the second book. The purpose of The Insanity of Obedience is to challenge followers of Jesus to cross the street - and to cross the oceans - with the Good News. And the book highlights the high cost that will be required to do that.
We may be initially encouraged by Jesus' declaration:
"I am sending you out."
But how will we respond when he then tells us
that he is sending us out like
"sheep among wolves"?
"I am sending you out."
But how will we respond when he then tells us
that he is sending us out like
"sheep among wolves"?
Jesus sends us out as sheep among wolves. As the introduction of the book explains: "We have the high privilege of answering Jesus' call to go. But let us be clear about this: we go on his terms, not ours. If we go at all, we go as sheep among wolves." The Insanity of Obedience was written to help us at least be wise sheep.
I have spent much of life hoping that one day I would be a writer. Seeing my name on the cover of a book was a moment I will remember for a long time.
It is the teacher of Ecclesiastes who says, "There is no end to the publishing of books . . ." (Ecclesiastes 12:12, The Message)
At least in this case, I'm glad that's true.
I have spent much of life hoping that one day I would be a writer. Seeing my name on the cover of a book was a moment I will remember for a long time.
It is the teacher of Ecclesiastes who says, "There is no end to the publishing of books . . ." (Ecclesiastes 12:12, The Message)
At least in this case, I'm glad that's true.