So today was my first of three days off from Future Shop. It was nice. A friend came over and him, my brother, and I all hung out for the afternoon. It was nice and relaxing. Of course, we ended up walking over to Future Shop to look at music and DVDs, so I couldn’t completely stay away from the store today. But at least I wasn’t working.

Before my friend came over however, I did tons of transcribing. Hopefully the interview will be up on Monday alongside some new reviews, if not then it definitely will be up the week after. Because even after I get it all transcribed, I have to do a couple of post-transcribing details with it that might take a little time… That’s the only reason it would be delayed a week. Either way, make sure you read this one when it’s up.

It was asked in a comment two posts ago about the book The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within that I finished not too long ago. So what did I like about it? Hmm. I’ll try to do this briefly but also in a way I can be understood, which will be a task in itself since I really feel like falling asleep on this keyboard right now. I really should do these entries earlier in the day…

The Barbarian Way is a book for believers, whether new or old. Basically, it encourages us to break free from the “lukewarm faith” that we see so often nowadays and live the barbaric faith. Here are a few excerpts from the book that I found in a comment on Amazon:

“Somewhere along the way the movement of Jesus Christ became civilized as Christianity,” he writes. “We created a religion using the name of Jesus Christ and convinced ourselves that God’s optimal desire for our lives was to insulate us in a spiritual bubble where we risk nothing, sacrifice nothing, lose nothing, worry about nothing. I wonder how many of us have lost our barbarian way and have become embittered with God, confused in our faith because God doesn’t come through the way we think He should.”

“For years I have made it my mission to destroy the influence of the Christian cliché, ‘the safest place to be is in the center of the will of God.’ God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance. God created you so that your life would count, not so that you could count the days of your life,” he writes.

He goes on to say, “When we fear God and God only, we are no longer bound by all of the other fears that would hold us captive. The fear of death, the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, the fear of insignificance — all of the fears that we know by name and haunt us in the dark of the night become powerless when we know the fear of the Lord. And if this is not enough, we discover that perfect love casts out all fear. Not even God will hold us or control us by fear. When we fear Him, we in essence begin to live a life where we are fearless.”

Basically, it’s a book that encourages us to throw all safety and comfort aside and go into the world full blast. Live the barbaric faith, not the civilized… I love it.

It is done in a serious but also witty fashion, filled with scripture references as well as humorous tidbits thrown in. Of course, he may take a few things to an extreme, but for the most part I would agree with what he says. Too many Christians are comfortable. Too many Christians have created a nice bubble of their own, only stepping outside to go to work and get their job done. It’s hard to be “in the world but not of the world” when you are in your own subculture in the corner of the room, trying to be as far from the world as you possibly can.

Anyway, I just found it an enjoyable and encouraging book. Check it out. It’s not long, it’s actually quite short.

Hope that helps. I’m off to bed now.

Godspeed.