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Lifespace: The practice of life with God

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Reading Lifespace is similar to the sensation you feel as you stretch out your cramped and lifeless limbs after being confined to the backseat of tiny car for an extended road trip. The newfound freedom brings an almost involuntary grunt of satisfaction, and yet you sense simultaneous bursts of pain as well. Bob and Joni have done a masterful job of reintroducing an expansive understanding of Christian living into a landscape that has become cluttered with models of sanctification bearing more resemblance to straightjackets and organized cubby holes than freedom in Christ. The authors explore the truths of Christian orthodoxy seeking to discover how the natures of and relationship between God and humanity matter to our next gasp of breath. They passionately argue from a perspective that honors both Scripture and church history while challenging some modern conceptions of Christian holiness. Their conclusions will likely be startling to some, reassuring to others, and the first step in a exhilarating journey for many more. All should love the symmetry between sound doctrine and evocative expression, biblical truth and genuine vulnerability. The final result is both a theological treatise on walking with God and a explosion of emotion, creativity, and insight. It is is tangibly practical and inspiringly beautiful at the same time. But more than anything else, Lifespace is a cry to stop obsessing over our own navels for just long enough to be overwhelmed by the all-encompassing panorama that is the glory of God.

Have you seen that Capitol One Credit Card comercial where the girl kisses a frog in the hope that it turns into a prince? Well, the frog turns into ape, and then into something else, and each time the new creations has some sort of clause as to why they are not quite the prince yet.

While the commercial is funny, it hits to close to home with the way that most talks/books on spirituality go. Do this...Don't do this...Really don't do this...you have to do this. It is a frustrating existence that one can never quite live up to.

Powers and Pyne have carved out a nice, little book here that flies in the face of such spiritual hogwash. They paint a picture of a lavish life with God that is not exasperated by lines and boxes. Upon reading this book, you will get a clearer picture of what Christ meant when he talked about giving life to the fullest.

Capitol One asks "What's in your wallet?" because they claim to be able to help you avoid the hassle. Powers and Pyne want to likewise free you from a tired and heavy existence and give you some help to find the expansive life that God has put out there for you. You will not be disapointed.

So much more than just another book on the "How-To's" of living the Christian life! What you will find here are incredible insights expressed on every page into what it means to truly find and walk in REAL and LASTING LIFE! Let Bob Pyne and Joni Grace Powers lead you on a life-changing journey through the process of learning to breathe once again!! A true treasure of a book. I highly recommend it! Pick it up today, and begin the experience of learning to walk in the expansive life that God holds out to each of us.

In LifeSpace: the Practice of Life with God, authors Powers and Pyne depart from the well-worn path of reductive analysis of the Christian life. Here is an expansion rather than a contraction of what it means to live as a Christian. Here, the reader will learn, in the authors' own words, how "to breathe again." The text could easily have veered into solipsistic navel-gazing, given its focus on personal organic union with Christ as the foundation for any real vitality in the Christian life. But the reader need not fear that kind of shallow and selfish preoccupation.

LifeSpace exalts Christ as the Fountainhead of all spiritual refreshment. He is not merely an Academic Savior, who came to make sure all the juridical "t's" were crossed, and "I's" dotted. He came not merely to save us from our sins by satisfying God's righteous requirements that included a letter-perfect sacrifice. The Christ of LifeSpace is the Christ of the Bible, who came to give us life, and to enable us to live that life with joyful abandon. "I came to see that we are like God in that we are created to enjoy God. The Holy Spirit transforms our affections to love the beauty of God." (p. 40).

The twelve chapters successfully sensitize the reader to the possibilities of "inbreathing" Christ - the very antithesis of hermetic intellectualism. As we breathe in the life of Christ, the authors argue, ours will become a life fully engaged in the day-to-day business of reflecting Jesus Christ to the world: "We must not be a people in waiting, holding our breath until this earthy offense to our senses ends and real life with God begins.... God breathed life into us for the purpose of reflecting God's glory and delighting in God." (p. 209).

The chapters are copiously illustrated with a variety of experiences drawn from lives of the writers, as well as from a diverse congeries of authors ranging from Madeline L'Engle and Maya Angelou to Augustine, to Barth, to Buechner, and thankfully, to Flannery O'Connor. The reader will feel enriched and refreshed through the surprising array of Christian thinkers included in the text. Such unconventional thinkers as Annie Dillard and Emily Dickinson reflect the truth of Christ, but tell it "slant." Their perspectives on Christ catch us a little off balance, forcing us to reconsider our sometimes wobbly presuppositions about the Christian life.

Lifespace invites readers to celebrate Christ in real living - to be a people whose lives are marked by "the fire of God's wild breath" on our face. It is a book to be read, and then lived.