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| Danger Isn't Enough: A "Fully Awake" Interview with Author & Filmmaker Joel N. Clark Posted: 02 May 2012 02:56 PM PDT
If you had to pick five words to describe the Christian life, would these make your list: wonder, whimsy, beauty, magic, adventure? Awake: Discover the Power of YOUR Story (The Book You Can Watch) bursts at the seams with those five elements. In Awake, author and filmmaker Joel N. Clark shares stories that challenged him to live a bigger story, more deeply connected to God. And as Joel discusses below in this exclusive interview, he believes God created all of us to live "fully awake." -Adam Forrest, Zondervan
ZBLOG: You write that you want to live "fully awake." What does a fully awake life look like? JOEL: For much of my life I've heard pastors say, "God is not just found in the four walls of the church, but he's found in our places of work, in our homes and in our daily lives." Yet for many years my relationship with God came down to the times I prayed, read the Bible, worshiped (which usually meant singing) and went to church. This was the entirety of my relationship with God and therefore I was bored with him and all things Christian. Living "fully awake" is about more than finding God in the midst of ALL of my story. It's about experiencing him fully, his pleasure, his heart and his presence in the midst of every part of it. This is something that doesn't come naturally, but he is speaking and acting constantly throughout the day. When I am "fully awake" I am able to see and hear him in all of it and my life is filled with wonder, beauty and magic, even in the seasons of pain and heartache.
ZBLOG: In Awake you recount many of your adventures, and some are dangerous! Some readers may be tempted to say, "Joel is just addicted to danger" – but you claim you've never been an adrenaline junkie. So what drives you in what you do?
JOEL: Honestly, I am not a thrill seeker. What drives every choice in my life is STORY. I am addicted to it. Story implies the unknown, adventure, danger and new experiences. I believe with my whole heart that every truly great story leads toward God. I think many people live out of a fear of failure or doing the wrong thing. What drives me is a fear of missing an opportunity to awaken my heart to a new dimension of my creator. With every new experience, whether mundane, exciting or disappointing, there is an opportunity to engage a deeper life and more intimate relationship with God. Danger only excites me when it is in direct proportion to the story lying within it.
ZBLOG: You share some striking insights about loving God, others, and ourselves. In Christian circles I hear the least said about that third part: loving ourselves. What's one thing you've learned about how we can love ourselves well? JOEL: The revelation of the importance of loving ourselves was part of the inspiration for writing Awake. Most Christians can quote the greatest commandment, but we often skip over those last two words, "as yourself." Most people are unsure of how to love their neighbors or themselves. Many are afraid that if they love themselves, it is prideful or excessive. One way I have learned to love myself is by cultivating the things in my life that make me feel most alive. By assuming God is for me and has put his passions deep within me, I give myself freedom to follow these passions, becoming fully who God created me to be. And only when I become who I am created to be can I love the way God has created me to love.
ZBLOG: Your motto is "Do it for the story." Could you give a bite-sized version of what this means to you? JOEL: Every day I am presented with opportunities. If I am not actively looking, I will not see most of them. Yet when I live awake, I am usually able to see the larger story. Each time I choose to seize the day and embrace the opportunities before me, my story becomes larger and filled with more beauty, magic and wonder. It starts with the choice to take advantage of life's opportunities and to live fully.
[In Awake I] show what it means to find the story in every aspect of my life. Awake is full of stories, large and small, which have influenced me to lead the life I am living now. I believe all of us are meant to live lives filled with magic and wonder, beauty and whimsy. Pain and heartache will enter every life whether they are invited or not, but beauty must be chosen.
ZBLOG: Has your view of "Do it for the story" changed now you've recently become a father? (Congratulations, by the way!)
JOEL: Thanks! Awake was released the same day my daughter Juno was born; she is absolutely amazing and beyond beautiful. I don't think my view of "Do it for the story" has changed as much as my story has changed. When I was single I made choices that, for the most part furthered my story. When I finally got Megan to marry me and now with the arrival of Juno, my story has expanded. I still embrace the fullness of my own story, yet my story is also much larger than before. Doing it for the story is as much about the new experiences I get to have as it is about those WE get to have. And with each added story our collective stories grow more beautiful and magical than they were before.
Learn more about Joel N. Clark's book Awake: Discover the Power of Your Story (The Book You Can Watch).
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| Adventures in Undoing Idolatry: How our House Became a Home [Excerpt] Posted: 02 May 2012 07:38 AM PDT
Want to change harmful habits? First change your beliefs, explains Craig Groeschel in this story about breaking free from materialism. [Excerpt from Craig's new book Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World.]
Instead of trying to convince you of the importance of budgeting, saving, and planning (all of which are important and necessary), I'm going to offer something often overlooked that should come before we try to change our behavior. Remember our first problem is a belief problem. Belief overflows to behavior. First we need to change what we believe. When we truly change what we believe, we'll gladly change how we behave.
I'll give you an example. Amy and I have always enjoyed keeping our house nice, especially for company. Years ago, if you called and told me you were coming to visit in an hour, our routine would have looked something like this: I'd run to tell Amy that you were coming. She'd ask when. I'd tell her in an hour. She'd panic. For the next 59.5 minutes we'd run around throwing stuff into a closet and explaining to the kids that "under no circumstances do you open that closet!" Then we'd light some candles to give our home that welcoming scent. My job included putting on a worship tape to set the spiritual mood. (If you don't know what a tape is, ask someone over forty.) After freshening up we'd wait for you for the final .5 minutes to put on the ourhome- and-family-are-perfect show.
As Amy matured in Christ, her priorities started to visibly change. I still remember the day Amy approached me with her new idea. "Instead of putting so much emphasis on our home, what if we chose to value relationships over our image?" she asked, revealing her well-thought-out passion. "I'd like for our place to be the house!" Amy said, with a spiritual strength that rivaled a Billy Graham sermon. I immediately knew what she was talking about.
She didn't want the house that everyone wanted or the house that won the yard of the month award. Amy wanted something else that I'd never experienced firsthand. Every neighborhood has the one house that every kid wants to come to for fun. It's the house where everyone spends the most time, creates the most memories, and can't wait to come back to visit. It's the house that's never perfect but always full — of food, of love, of people.
Amy carefully explained to me that we could continue to work hard to have the "perfect" house (something that is unattainable anyway), or we could relax our standards and invest more energy in the people we love. So we decided we'd no longer kill ourselves to impress you with our image but instead serve you with our love. We'd have the house that felt like a home.
Now if you come over, chances are pretty good you'll have to walk by a bicycle or two, a rip stick, some faded sidewalk chalk, and a Frisbee in the driveway. You'll step over several toys in the entry way, and the cushions probably won't be straight on our sofa. You might see a half-finished board game sitting out on the dining room table and four stuffed animals sitting in chairs like they're having a tea party. But I promise that although the house may not be perfect, you'll feel welcomed and loved.
When we became more secure with who we were in Christ, we didn't need to impress others with our image but could serve them with our love. When we changed what we believed (valuing people over things), our new beliefs changed how we behaved. And with our new beliefs we found a better way to live. We don't have to live with the constant nausea of materialism; we can be settled and truly full with Living Water and the Bread of Life. - Craig Groeschel
Learn more about Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World, which just released yesterday (May 1, 2012).
Suggested Posts"Lukewarm Christians" and other Oxymorons via Craig Groeschel
(Some styling above is web-exclusive and not included in the text of Soul Detox.This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's personal opinions are shared only for information purposes. To receive new Zondervan Blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)
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