The Call of the Normal

Karen (my wife) and I spent a lot of time trying to come up with the right title for this blog. We brainstormed for quite a while before coming up with "The Call of the Normal." While there is a wordplay of sorts with "The Call of the Wild," that was not the primary intention of us choosing that title.

Several years ago, while I was worship pastor at WellSpring Community Church in Clayton, NC, we had a man from India give his testimony. He was beaten severely and often for the sake of the gospel, but never recanted. Once he finished speaking, the pastor got up and said, "Thank you for showing us the normal Christian life." That really struck me. The pastor was, of course, absolutely right. I had never considered it that way before. Missionaries and martyrs were doing nothing more than living the "normal Christian life."

Fast-forward to the last few months. Through our times with God, Karen and I have really been convicted about the need for radical obedience to Christ. At the present time, much of that involves our finances and our possessions. As I was reading through the Petrine, Pastoral, and Johannine epistles, it occurred to me that this radical obedience was required of everyone in the body of Christ. In other words, what we (and others) call "radical obedience," the writers of Scripture called "the normal Christian life" (in not as few words). Karen and I are trying to reclaim the "Christian normalcy" to which all the elect have been called.

With that in mind, I'm going to try to make sure that my theology-driven posts (or series of posts) will have some application--some bearing on the Christian life. I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes of this and how my life (and my family's lives) will be transformed. Perhaps you will be transformed, too.