Phillip Yancey

I think I have mentioned my love of reading. I confess that I need to be in the Word more. It's not that I am not in it, but I need to be in it MORE! Having laid those cards on the table, I want to let you know that I love to read ANYTHING that Phillip Yancey writes. He is one of my heroes. His book "What's So Amazing about Grace" REALLY REALLY impacted my life. If you haven't picked it up, get ahold of it somehow. I am currently reading one of his latest books "Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church". I am only about a third of the way thru, but it has impacted me. He talks about different people that were positive influences on his life, to counter the negative experiences he had with church. One of these people was Dr. Robert Coles. I don't have the time to relate what an amazing person Dr. Coles is........get the book and read for yourself. But I did want to tell one story he tells. Dr. Coles wanted to see if the theory that says religion dulls the moral and political indignation for things that are wrong was true or not. He concluded that this theory was a myth perpetrated by irreligious social scientists who had very little actual contact with people. One example he gives is the witness of a young man from the Civil Rights era of the mid 60's. Here is this young demonstrator's account. It is important to remember this person is from the deep south.....Birmingham, Alabama.

"I don't know why I said no to segregation. I'm just another white Southerner, and I wasn't brought up to love integration! But I was brought up to love Jesus Christ, and when I saw the police of this city use dogs on people, I asked myself what Jesus would have done.....and that's all I know about how I came to be here, on the firing line."


What firing line is Jesus calling you and me to? Doesn't true discipleship demand it?