Crazy Love
"When you love someone, you'll do anything. You'll do all the crazy things that you can't explain."
I used to really like this song, and it popped into my head the other day. I was praying for my friends here, praying that God would change their hearts and open their eyes. Praying Romans 8:21, that they would be liberated from bondage and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. I love these people. I want to see them live free and satisfied, with passion and purpose. I love them so much it hurts.
When I came here almost two years ago, I was hoping to like the place, enjoy the work, make some good friends, and see God work in miraculous ways. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with a group of people. I wasn't expecting God to change my heart in the way he has. I wasn't expecting to learn more than I could ever teach anyone. And I definitely wasn't expecting this crazy love.
Why is it crazy? It's crazy because it's completely opposite of the kind of love I am used to. I am used to loving my family. They are easy to love. They loved me first. They treat me great. They do all kinds of things for me. I love God. He is easy to love. He loved me first. He takes care of me. He has given me life and all good things. That kind of love is normal and natural.
This love is crazy because most of these people are never going to love me back. They can't love me back. They don't even know what love is. Most of these people will never have any idea that I live for the opportunity to share with them how they can have life. If they did, most would think I am nuts. Maybe I am. Or maybe it's the rest of the world that is nuts. Maybe that thing we have been calling love for so long really isn't love. Maybe this crazy love is the real thing. I am starting to think it is.
Romans 5:8 says God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's how God demonstrates love. That's crazy. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us to demonstrate God's love. He died for a bunch of people who didn't love him back. He died for a bunch of people that didn't even understand him. He gave his life for a bunch of sinners like you and me. That's love. That's crazy love. That's the kind of love I am just starting to learn about.
I know I can't love these students quite like God loves me, but I'm going to try. And everytime I am misunderstood, or rejected, or heartbroken, I am going to remember our example, Jesus, who gave his life in the ultimate demonstration of crazy love. That's the only kind of love God has, the crazy kind. Maybe we could be a little crazier.
posted by Josh @ 1:02 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Josh, I don't know if you're a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman or not, but he's got a song on his new album that says this same thing. It's called "Something Crazy," and you can read the lyrics (and theoretically, listen to a sample)
here or on iTunes.
Nice to see you on the blogosphere again, by the way. I've missed your insights and hearing about your life in Mexico.
Hey Josh,
It was good talking to you the other night. Good post. It pretty much sums up exactly the way I have been feeling these past few weeks.
which is why you love me
and i think part of what turned me away, is having that crazy love for people that straight up refused him
its easier to be numb than hurt.
and its easier to die than live.
and maybe if i could suck it up, i could deal with the pain. and maybe when you told me that i wasnt as strong as i thought i was, you were right
which is, of course, probably the only time you've ever been right in your life
=)
eitak-
Thanks for the comments.
Kelly, I will check out the song. Haven't heard it. Haven't heard any new english music for a little over two years. :-) I am so out of the loop. By the way, I have reconnected with your little bro. Good stuff.
Laura, it was good talking to you too. Frustration isn't always such a bad thing. It means there is conflict, and you know how I feel about that.
Eitak, it's not about you sucking it up. It's about you giving it up. Not by being stronger, but by trading your weakness for his strength. Quit trying to do this on your own. You can't, and that is why you are so frustrated. Your pride is holding you back, just like it does your twin brother. Give it up!
I love you my son!
Thank you for once again putting it ALL in perspective!
God is faithful beyond our our greatest realm of thought, imagination and invention!
You are my blessing!
as always,
Mom
I was blog hopping tonight and randomly came across yours. Being a missionary in Mexico myself (in Chihuahua city), I was encouraged reading about your ministry to the Tech kids. It looks like you guys have a lot of fun, yet you are seeing some neat fruit. Keep up the good work, and I pray that the Lord continues to bless you as you strive to further His kingdom!
I’m writing this to inform you about a project I am working on something that will help missionaries like you raise awareness and support. I am in the planning and design stages of launching a missionary news website (GodWitness News) and I would like you to be part of it. The purpose of the website will be to increase awareness about what missionaries are doing around the world. It will be missionary related news, by missionaries. The design I’m working on will be similar to the Yahoo News or to the BBC News websites.
I’m a professional Internet marketer, SEO expert and web designer. I have been thinking for some time that there must be a way I can use my skills to further God’s kingdom. After doing some analysis, I discovered that although there are many missionary blogs and websites, there are not many that have been optimized correctly to get a lot of readership traffic. You are probably aware of this, but a couple of the most important ways to get a lot of traffic is by having a high Google (Google, because it gets the most search traffic) PageRank and by having new content – A LOT of new content.
That is were you come in, with the content. Before I launch the news website, I would like to get 100 (eventually, I hope to have even more than this number, but this would be a good start) missionaries around the world to agree to be “news journalists.” If you are interested, I would like you to be one of the 100. If successful, there would be thousands of hits a day on the website. You would benefit by having many thousands of people around the world read about how God is using you, the work you are doing, and the people you are working with. Hopefully, some of the people visiting the website would support you with prayers and/or finances. Maybe some of them would want to volunteer to help with some of the projects you are working on. You could also benefit from having increased traffic to your website (each article you write could have a link to your website).
If you choose to participate, I would like you to agree to provide at least 12 articles in a year’s time. If you don’t want to write that many, you don’t have to feel obligated to do so though. The topic choice would pretty much be up to you. You could write about events in the country, challenges you are facing, tips for new missionaries, how God provided for your needs, and more. The articles don’t even have to be all that long. If you want to write more detailed articles, that’s fine, but if you want to write short ones(minimum should probably about 300 words), that’s fine too. You can also submit videos and photos. I just ask that everything submitted is good quality (you know, dot the i’s and cross the t’s, spelled checked, etc.) and original. It’s fine if it’s been published in print before, but if the content is already on the internet, the news websites PageRank will be reduced if the content has a copy somewhere out there on the web (yeah, the search bots are picky like that). Search engines don’t care about copies of videos and photos, so no worries there. The reason I say a year is because that is the time period through which I will evaluate how well the idea is accepted and whether I should continue the project. Call it beta testing if you want But that is about the necessary time needed to make the website a success.
If you are interested, please contact me by sending an e-mail to joe@josephkolb.info. Please let me know your name, the country you are working in, your missions name, your website, your contact information, your website, and any questions you have. Please provide as much of that information as possible as it will be hard to keep track of everyone if I have so many participants. Sometime after I get your e-mail and once I get the site going, I will send you a user name and password for your publisher account. I may also send updates or more detailed article criteria (good titles, photo sizes, etc.). I will also send a statement of faith that will have to be agreed to. Pretty much Jesus is the only way, the truth and the light and no one comes to the Father but through him.
I think that’s about it for now. Oh, yeah one more thing, I would like participants to add a link from their website (if they have one) or blog to the news website. In-links is another way that Google uses to establish PageRank.
Thanks in advance!
God Bless You!!
Joe<><
joe@josephkolb.info
Hi Josh, This is super random...but I did a random google search for missionaries in Monterrey and found your blog...I'm moving to Monterrey in two weeks to work as a 5th grade teacher. I am really hoping to get connected to a church/bible study/group of Christians when I move down there...do you have any suggestions?
sincerely,
Hannah
I know exacaltly what you mean!!!
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