#dmingml "The lust for clarity is a disease of the soul"

Ever been given a book months ago, only to finally open its cover to discover that it's words were meant for today?

That's how I felt about Conniry's book. I have just finished reading an excellent book by Dr. Charles J. Conniry Jr, called, Soaring in the Spirit: Faith in an Emerging Culture.

This book is not for the fainthearted. It is deep and wide in terms of its content and rich in the manner in how it draws philosophy and faith together. It refreshingly provides a very candid and transparent look at a person's journey who had been deeply hurt by 'church' life, and yet gracious in the way it carves out a rocky path from those dark moments to discover that 'church' life is not meant to be a bed of roses. It is both the vehicle and structure that God chooses to refine us and reshape us, albeit not necessarily in a way that it meets our expectations.

He opens up topics such as 'Messy Spirituality', the 'Perils of Sin Management', 'Consumer Christianity' and my favorite, 'The Way of Mystery'.

I love the following paragraph, which in itself is worth buying the book for, "The lust for clarity is a disease of the soul whose symptoms, ironically, include much talk about knowing and doing the will of God. "But wait a minute!" someone will object. "Aren't we supposed to know and obey God's will?" The answer of course is yes. But the problem is matter of focus - hence the myopia. Instead of concentrating our discernment focus on Christ, we are focused on ourselves and a given set of desired outcomes. Clarity leaves no place for faith."

This book is not merely for those who have been hurt by the church, disappointed by God, or desperately seeking where he is trying to lead you. It is for those who realize that they are not to function in isolation as an individual, but in the context of a community of people who are also hurting or have been hurt. It is for those who want to discover not what is next, as much as needing to know that Jesus wants you to experience him in the now of this moment.