I finished the book!
And didn't even have a night where I had to read more than one chapter. I'll give my full summary tomorrow, after we wrap-up at church, but want to review what I've learned or thought this week, since I didn't do any posts here.
This week primarily focused on purpose #5--mission, which is the drag of christianity to me. In my sales job, I am used to selling to people who are interested in my product and receptive to my message. Depending on how you tackle your missionary purpose, you can't avoid appearing pushy, just because the other person doesn't want to listen. But if you rationalize that you are just an incremental influence to get them interested, I think you aren't doing what you are supposed to either.
Perhaps Rick gives us a way to have a mission that isn't a drag. He says that God will give us a passion for something that is important to Him. This passion will be something that becomes easier to talk about and share, so that we can use it to draw people to our mission. So, if I share my passion about playing the harmonica, I can tell about playing with others at church, which could lead to sharing about my beliefs. Or joining a band for a mission trip (when I'm ready to play in a band).
Rick suggests a 'cause' to be passionate about, more likely to be out of pain or a life-lesson. In probably the only story in the whole book, Rick tells about his dying father imploring "win one more for Jesus", which sound like one of the reasons why he is doing what he is doing. I don't have a pain to draw on, so I'll stick with the harmonica mission for now (okay maybe other stuff too, but still no pain to find a mission in -yet-.
