Bono and Me

Well, I know it's been a while since I've updated, so if you're back from before, thanks for looking again. I don't want to talk about books all the time, but I still am kind of. I've been reading, among other things, Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas. I would consider myself a U2 fan; I mean I have all of their albums, but I always was skeptical of Bono's faith. I guess the thing that sticks out to me most about the book is Bono talks about faith a lot. It's real to him. Even though I don't agree with everything he says (oh, though, that could be said of about anyone), he seems genuine to me. Here's an article with an excerpt from the book. Simple concept with profound consequences.

If you think about how grace is such a foreign concept to the world it really boggles your mind, the grace that God shows to us. At the Passion conference, John Piper said "Christ suffered to display the glory of God's grace" (my paraphrase). I think it's a subtle difference than just saying to display the "glory of God." Sometimes I think Christians fall into a performance trap thinking "we'll do all this stuff in Jesus' name and give God all the glory", when in reality, God receives the greatest glory when we point to what Christ did. In the end, again, it's simply not about us.

I'll end with one of my favorite Psalms and one of my favorite U2 songs.

Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

How long to sing this song......