Good stuff from John Fischer

Talking about the decision Jesus made to go to the cross and unpleasant responsibilities in this life:

"...Of course, the cup of death He faced and my pile of mundane responsibilities can hardly be spoken of in the same breath, but the principle is the same. Somehow, He got himself to be willing to do what He didn't want to do. 'Not my will, but thine be done,' He prayed. Maybe I could learn something from His experience...This time He said, 'My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, thy will be done.'

"There is something very obvious here, so simple it could be missed. There was a way to make the cup of death pass away: drink it."

From my favorite chapter so far, "Where's the Graffiti?":

"In contrast [to separate-from-the-world Christian mentality], it is clearly implied by His prayer that Jesus wants us to be in the middle of things, just as He was. He wants us to be vulnerable to the attacks of the world, out where His prayer is not just a nice idea from a morning devotional hour but a matter of survival. If we aren't out where it's dangerous, we mock Jesus's concern for our protection and undermine His reason for sending us as His ambassadors to the world."

Explains a lot of what Rich Mullins said.

And another favorite, "The Art of Fromming":

"Fromming is simply not enough. We can't stop at telling people what they are being saved from. They need a good dose of to--to excellence, to learning, to creativity, to exploration, to experimentation, to God, to risk, to love, to life! We are called to do all this in the world...Christ has not saved us from the world; He has saved us to the world. His prayer for all believers continues: 'As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world' (John 17:18).

"If we could just stop all this fromming, imagine what we could get down to!"

"Holier Than Who?"

He begins by complaining about people who stop mid-swear-word, saying he doesn't like it because it makes him feel "...as if I just sprouted wings and wore this silly glow over my head. (Is this what Jesus meant by being a light in the world--glowing in the dark?)."

"Christians get frustrated the same way other people do. We always worry about money, fight with our mates, lose our tempers, gossip, and distrust one another. We even swear; except we have 'Christian' swear words like 'gee,' 'darn it' and 'shoot.' Does changing a few letters somehow sanctify an outburst of anger?"

"...Sin has already been judged on the Cross, and righeousness will be established in Heaven."

I could re-publish this whole chapter.