thankful

Spent some time reading at my coffeeshop this afternoon after I put the boys down for their naps and David got home from his last day of Summer School! Wahoo!
My Online Bible Course at the moment is on the Gospel and how it is the whole Gospel for my whole life, from beginning to end. It doesn't just apply to my first time decision to follow Jesus but it is still relevant to my journey of faith today.
The Cross plays a central role in it all. The crucified Christ - the Son of God who loves me and gave himself for me. How amazing.
Read Brennan Manning's book "The Signature of Jesus" and he too writes about the Cross and how to be a radical disciple means to live the kind of life that Jesus lived, who chose the Cross. And at the same time knowing that our roots, our identity, do not depend on our popularity, success or possessions but in knowing that we are loved.
"Yet to the extent that we embrace the truth that our core identity is not rooted in our success in ministry or in our popularity with kids and parents or with power in the local church, but in the passionate, pursuing, infinite - what G.K. Chesterton called the "furious" love of God embodied in his crucified Son - to that degree we can let go of our need to judge our friends, spouses, children, pastors, gays, straights, Asians, Caucasians, and the sin-scarred wino on the street. We can be free from the need to judge others by claiming for ourselves the truth, "I am the disciple whom Jesus loves." (Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus)

I am thankful for the reminder of what it's really all about, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. A reminder of the price that Jesus paid, something I take for granted most of the time. It's so easy for me to get caught up in my own little world, my own needs and wants and desires, my own little problems. So I'm thankful for this shift in perspective. And am thankful to be here and to be invited to participate in all that He is doing. Even here.