I have been going through books like crazy lately!! ...Well, for me, anyway.  My beautiful wife noticed me with a book this morning and made this comment...

"You have read more in the past six months than you read in the first nine years of our marriage."

Very true! I just can't get enough. God has placed such a desire in my heart to learn and grow as I seek to fulfill his call on my life. I am currently reading The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out without Selling Out, by Mark Driscoll. Just finished watching Trees, by Rob Bell, to review for my Sunday School lesson (9-12 Grades) tomorrow . The combination of reading last night and the video today... rocked me for a good one. They both discussed how we deal with the culture around us. Are we just here to live to get to Heaven... Or are we here to impact this world the way Christ intended?

Here are a few quotes from the book and video:

“We live between the trees, in a world drenched in God. And some people seriously ask, you know, ‘Where is God?’ Maybe a better question would be, ‘Where isn’t God?’ I mean, his fingerprints are all over our world. Or maybe it’s his world and they’re our fingerprints.” -Rob Bell in Nooma video "Trees"

On both sides of the river was the tree of life bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing it’s fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations. Revelation 22:2 - The Bible

"First, to change a culture, we must change the people in that culture. The question that arises is whether people do what they are, or if they are what they do. The answer to this is imperative, because if we are what we do, then all we need to do is train people to act differently, and they will change themselves. But if we cannot do good until we become good, the very thing which bad people cannot do, no matter how many dollars are spent and organizations are founded to help them.
The Bible clearly teaches that we do what we are. It also repeatedly teaches that our sin comes from out hearts, the center of who we are. ...
The sinful nature of our hearts is the root of all cultural problems and sins. The unredeemed heart is a glutton for sin and death. Only God can give a person a new heart, one with new desires for a redeemed life that contributes to a transformed culture." -Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission, p.109.

God has called us to be the "salt of the earth"... We are not called to just "get more junk and leave this trailer park of a planet before God's tornado touches down on all sinners" (Driscoll). We are to reach out to the world/culture in which God has placed us.

God has put us here, as leaves on a tree to provide fruit; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,meekness, self-control.

Have you ever thought about that tree? Jesus spread his arms wide open on a tree, to shed His blood, that all may be saved! Are you reaching out to make a difference?  We are here on this planet, in our respective towns/cities, during this particular time in history, to complete HIS purpose our lives...to impact our world..."For such a time as this"!!!

(Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with everything Driscoll says in the book... but it's a great eye opener to a "Sheltered Christian", and I must say, his passion for reaching others is contagious).