Eugene Peterson

  I feel as though God is doing something mighty in this world.  For years, I've been trying to figure out what I have/need to do in order to take part in this.
  Of late, I'm beginning to recognize that it isn't about what I need to do--it's about who I need to be.  I need to be a disciple, and only then will my eyes begin to open to what God is doing in the world, and after this experience I will be ready to go out into the world and do.  I have spent years setting the cart before the horse and wondering why I do not progress down the narrow way; it is because my own efforts can never get me there--only by dwelling in the work and love of Christ can I ever become the person, the disciple, my soul longs to be.

  Eugene Peterson's Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places is the latest signpost I have on this journey of recognition.  It's not the book to read if you want easy answers on how to grow a church in two months.  But it's a fabulous book to read about what it means to be a disciple during this lifelong journey with Christ.  Peterson focuses on how Christ plays in creation, history and relationships, and I could expound for pages on each section, but the heart of Peterson's work on spiritual theology is the importance of discipleship, of a deep and abiding relationship with God.
  We can't solve our problems with enough thinking or neat solutions or packaged programs--only Christ centered discipleship that originates in the heart will help us see the way Christ is at work in the world, in our lives, and in our relationships.  Peterson drags us away from our idolatrous images of Christ in the heavens and points us to the dirt under the fingernails of Christ, God turned man who walked, lived and loved among us.

  This book isn't easy, and it may frustrate the reader if one enters the book expecting easy answers and to-do lists.  Just as with Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy, this book is about recognizing that all of life must be centered on Christ, and a discipleship focused life can only begin after this first step is taken.  It will take many months, many years on this journey--but it is worth a lifetime's effort of loving Christ above all and seeing Christ in others and the world, because that is who we are called to be, and all the easy answers we long for will never help us develop into the people we long to be, into the people God has created us to be.

  Read it and be challenged, that Christ may continue to work in you, forming you as a disciple.