A few of us on staff at Renovaré reside in Florida, so we’re watching and waiting, praying and preparing as Hurricane Dorian makes its slow approach.

It’s amazing the power a storm has to cause us to rearrange priorities. If we listened to God as well as we listen to the Weather Channel, the world would be turned upside down.

Obedience, like holiness, is a word that for some carries baggage. It may evoke images of slave and master or unhealthy parent-child interactions. Yet like holiness it’s a word worth reclaiming. Because obedience is better than sacrifice. It’s better than theorizing. ​“You cannot think a spiritual muddle clear,” Oswald Chambers remarked, ​“you have to obey it clear.

Thomas Kelly reminds us that obedience begins with inspired imagination, a ​“flaming vision” of the beauty of a holy life. Next, he says simply: ​“Begin where you are. Obey now. Use what little obedience you are capable of, even if it be like a grain of mustard seed.” 

That Kelly piece is enough to chew on for a week… or a year! But there are a couple more things I’m excited to share with you… 

First, an 18-part series (yes, eighteen) by Dallas Willard titled The Human Side Of Holiness: What Is Our Part In Putting Off The Old Person And Putting On The New. It is perhaps the most advanced course Dallas taught for which we have recordings. It is part of a wealth of Willard resources freely available on a new website called Conversatio Divina, created by our friends at Westmont’s Martin Institute.

Second, the Renovaré Book Club has just launched. This year’s lineup of books and facilitators is special, with Philip Yancey kicking things off with his book Fearfully and Wonderfully. Early bird pricing is available through September 6.

That’s all for now. May God give you a vision of the good life in him, and the courage to take the next step he’s inviting you to take.