I just recently completed reading "The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within" by Erwin Raphael McManus. Lisa got it for me for my birthday. I think she is trying to inspire me to be lessing boring -- less milquetoast and more salsa perhaps.

Anyway, this book has had sort of mixed reviews by the "mainstream" church in America. That alone made me want to dig deeper into it.

The book is an easy read as it challenges one's thoughts on what the life transformed in Christ is really called to be. I read this book the same week that I heard Donald Miller speak via simulcast. That was quite interesting -- very similar messages yet very different approaches. Miller takes a much more relaxed approach to calling us out of the traditional church setting and make sure that we are showing God's love outside of church. McManus talks of a much stronger approach.

McManus calls his readers to be bold and active in their faith. He is the founder and senior pastor at the Mosaic church in Los Angeles but his life sounds more like something out of Miami Vice. Because he was not raised in church, he claims that, when he came to know Christ in his 20s, he really wasn't forced into the limitations of traditional church but instead could be bold in his faith.

I suspect that God's call on our lives always has varying degrees of boldness. But I am wondering if that doesn't have a lot to do with our listening as well. If we're expecting God to ask us to be on the bold "barbarian edge" of Christianity then I believe that our heart will be more likely to hear that message. If, on the other hand, we're anticipating a more traditional call to service, then that is what we will hear.

In her blog, Maced with Grace, Jules is making plans to have "Dirty Feet For Heaven in 2007." It is a call to service but also to boldness I believe. I admire that and would love to think that I can join her in that quest. For me, though, the critical thing is to open my heart to the idea of bold faith moves. Something like inner city street evangelism -- which is something I never would have been open to hearing God call me to - I want to have a heart that will be open to hearing Him call me to even that. If my heart is not receptive to that, then I will never hear that call from God, I am afraid. While it's nice to think that God's message to us will always reach us and then we make the decision to follow or not, I am not sure that is the case. We need to have a heart that is open to hearing a bold call before we will even hear it let alone act on it.

I was thinking the other day about how we live in a country which probably gives us more ability to be bold in our faith than any other country. Yet I am complacent and apathetic in living out that boldness. In countries where God's voice and love are being squelched by those in political power, there are Christians, clearly at risk of martyrdom, who are living out their faith with so much more bravery and courage than most of us are willing to do here in a very friendly environment. That doesn't really make a lot of sense to me.

One cannot help but think that, as the environment starts to encourage religion or should I say freedom of religion, those who practice religion become very complacent. They take the freedom for granted. They figure that God's Word will reach everyone in their country because of that freedom. However, if we don't reach out on a personal basis with God's love -- and be the face of Jesus -- to even the "least of these" in our own country, then I am afraid they will never know Jesus.

Following the barbarian way indeed involves getting one's feet dirty but I think it involves an opening of our hearts to a degress that we never before imagine. When God works to reach us, it's not just in the listening, hearing, and following. It's in the initial reception as well.

Reading McManus's book may just start you on a path of receptivity to God's call that you never imagined possible.