i am not but i know I AM

welcome to the story of God by louie giglio

i finished reading the book, i am not but i know I AM this morning and i thought i'd share my thoughts. it's a good read, giglio is a well regarded christian speaker and author with good reason. he's a friend of andy stanley, and it seems stanley's penchant of picking a key point and driving it home emphatically is shared by giglio, in this book anyways.

as you would expect from the title, the main point is the insignificance of our lives on our own and the overwhelming love and significance in our lives when connected with "the truest, purest, most potent, most beautiful being in existence. giglio doesn't range far from this theme throughout the book. i found it repetitive with the range of stories and examples a little weak.

that said, it was a good reminder. i came away built up and put in my place, playing my role in God's story. the highlight of the book was this section:

Furious rest, you see, is not about doing nothing. It's about doing
everything we do with the quiet confidence that our lives, families, businesses,
ministries, relationships, and dreams are in His hands.

Maybe for you the circumstances are different, yet the weight is the
same. You know, the weight of trying to make yourself out to be bigger
than you are - of trying to figure out how to run your life on your own, of
always trying to determine the outcome, control the relationship, close the
deal, run the show, hold it all together, know the future, protect your
interest, build your kingdom - the weight of playing the role of God in your
life and the lives of those around you.

But be encouraged. Today is the Sabbath. Oh, it may not
literally be Sunday, but Sabbath is a state of mind and attitude of the
heart. Sabbath happens anywhere and everywhere we let go of the controls
and lay the cares of our lives at His feet.

So where is your future right now? Where is the outcome of your
pressing dilemma? Is it in your hands? Is it in the hands of the
businessman or woman on the other side of the table? Is it in the hands of
a boyfriend or girlfriend? Is it in the hands of a team of doctors?
Or is your life, and all that concerns you, in the hands of the God who
constructed the universe effortlessly in one week?

If you want more rest and less "stressed," declare this very moment to be
your Sabbath - the place where you pry your fingers off the circumstance and
people you are trying so desperately to control, the place you discover that
life really does work better in His hands instead of yours.