Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to shatter sibling rivalry? Or send an inferiority complex spinning into the galaxies like a Frisbee, never to be seen again? How about having an exciting purpose to wake up for each day?
This book is packed with wisdom to do all the above. It’s amazing.
Heather Holleman has an “up” on us amateur writers since she is a writing professor at Penn State and loves verbs. She is the wife of the Campus Crusade (Cru) pastor there and tells the exciting story of how God led the Hollemans to “gather in” their sphere of influence and wrap their arms around neighbors within a one-mile radius of their home.
My son’s church in Maryland gave this book to moms in the congregation last Mothers Day. Joel made sure a copy found its way into my hands. At first I thought he was trying to tell me something through its lessons; then I realized God was trying to tell me something, in fact many “somethings.” I have underlined numerous passages, taken over eight pages of notes from the tips and text boxes, and researched the King Arthur references on YouTube. After all, my grandsons are into knights. There are Sir Aidanhoe, Sir Gabrielhad, and Sir Little John.
Heather uses the comparison of being seated at King Arthur’s round table to the Eph. 2:6 reference of being seated with Christ in the heavenly places. A round table—not a head table with levels of subordination—implies equal nearness to the king, equal status of the knights. Competition is eliminated since all are united for a common cause.
I was already familiar with the seated concept in Eph. 2:6 from the classic Watchman Nee book, Sit, Walk, and Stand, so popular in the Jesus Movement. Heather develops that concept more by using her life examples in a Pennsylvania setting among neighbors, kids, and college students. She asks:
Can you imagine knowing that you are seated at a royal table in the heavenly realms no matter what’s actually happening in your physical experience? Paul did this, and so can I. And so can you. Do the implications take your breath away? (p. 24)
With this seated mindset, “when you greet me, I feel neither inferior nor superior. I feel honored and amazed at you as a beautiful creation who has a seat at the table with me.” (p. 33) This mentality frees us from jealousy or comparison (p. 115) and teaches us that “this day will look nothing like your best friend’s, your coworker’s, or your neighbor’s” (p. 61)
Triple A coverage:
The book uses three pairs of A words to expose and combat three downfalls in our culture: Heather advises us to get free from obsessing about (1) APPEARANCE but instead be filled with ADORATION for Jesus. Ignore (2) AFFLUENCE by focusing on all we have ACCESS to through the promises of God and be content with that. (3) ACHIEVEMENT is a false goal; let ABIDING in Jesus be our constant intent.
After establishing our “seated” position in the non-competing family of God, Heather does an excellent job of describing our responsibility to share the good news of the kingdom to others in Chapter 10, “Seated and Sent.” She stresses the importance of training for this role. She studied a simple gospel presentation and memorized Bible verses along the lines of the plan. She probably used Campus Crusade’s Four Spiritual Laws. I found the same thing to be true in my life. I chose Evangelism Explosion’s Two Questions & Five Points. Others use the Romans Road to Salvation. Whatever we use, God brings the results to fruition.
Heather Hollemon does a daily blog called Live with Flair, www.livewithflair.blogspot.com. There she offers free devotional material and access to her book on writing, How to Write with Flair. See also heatherhollemon.com.
Thank you, Joel, for this tremendous Mothers Day gift. I thought other mothers needed to know about it.