Adventures with Tiff Tam: A Day with a Perfect Stranger

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

A Day with a Perfect Stranger

Finished A Day with a Perfect Stranger today.

Found some new music to listen to: Kina Grannis playlist on youtube that's on repeat right now :)

Some parts that stuck out to me while I was reading:

Mattie (Nick's wife): "I just have a hard time believing that any God would have much use for people, much less want to connect with them. I mean, wouldn't he have more important things to do?"

Jay: "What would God be like? Would he just create everything, let it go, and watch it from a distance? Or, even further disconnected, would God be an impersonal force, like in Star Wars? Or would God be an involved being who thinks, chooses, and feels--who loves--like we do?"

Jay: "What I am saying is this: God far surpasses any person or thing or experience this world could possibly offer. God is infinitely more delightful than anything or anyone he has made."

"But God--I mean, even if there is a God--reaching out to Him... who would know where to start?

"You don't have to start," he answered. "God has already started. He is already reaching out to you. That's why he became a person."

"Faith is a lot easier that you think. And you don't really need Jesus to show up. You do need to let go of what keeps you from trusting him and connecting with him."

"When humanity turned its back on God, it plunged itself into a world of great evil. Because of His love for people, God is at work making them into what he intended them to be. But he doesn't force them. That's the only way love can work. You have to choose to receive love, and you have to choose to give love. If you don't choose freely, it's not love."

"So are you saying that Christianity is sitting around quietly and listening?"

"No, hardly. Life with the God who loves you is many things. Loving God and loving others, when you boil it down. But no one can do that adequately. Only God can. That's why he joins himself to people, to live his supernatural life through them. A life of love is simply the outflow of God through a person."

"And that comes through listening?''

"In large part. Your heart is changed by deeply knowing God's heart toward you. Hearing how you are loved. Hearing how you are forgiven. Hearing how you are accepted and delighted in and how you have a special place in God's family. What if you lived in a place where these were the constant messages you received? It's available to you now. You can find that place in Jesus Christ, through faith in Him."

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them."

Yuppp. Those were some parts of the book that caught my attention. This book is not as good as the first one, Dinner with a Stranger but it's still pretty good. The main character is just confused how her once unreligious husband (from that first book) is suddenly all about God. Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! She doesn't like it and wanted to get rid of him. But after sitting on this plane and talking to this rando man who she thought also hated religion, her opinion was altered. This man hated man hated religion because of all the controversy of the things people TRY to DO for it and the arguments that arise, but he did believe in Jesus Christ. I dunno if you can tell by the excerpts, but she def was more curious and open towards the end.

Once again, I am confirmed about my faith after reading this book. I love that and am still amazed that someone as talented and powerful as the One who created the universe would want to ignite and maintain a relationship with measly little me. Incompetent and weak. He always gives me the strength to pull through in the end and has not failed me yet. I love how He loves us. So much. And I hope that others will want this too. No one can fill that Love void the way God does.