Good News Florida

ENCOURAGEMENT 38 NOVEMBER 2017 Good News • Broward Edition ǇÙÊĀÙǇN¿Ä ¬ ͯ XXXSFEDIBJSDBUFSJOHOFU 1FNCSPLF3E6OJU#)PMZXPE'- Ǥÿ¯¿¿>BhY'Q\'Q*TY=ǤT 1BDLBHFTTUBSUJOHBU 'SFEFMJWFSZJGCPLFECZ/PWUI Warning: If modern church culture makes perfect sense to you and you always fit in seam- lessly, don’t read this. Christian radio host Brant Hansen is under no illusions that his latest, Blessed Are the Misfits, is for everyone. He’s just convinced that who it is for are ready for some good news. And we are. Misfits is for all of us who are not particularly extroverted, confident, or even happy. Those of us who wonder if God didn’t mean us when putting to- gether all those promises. Those of us haunted by the question of whether there re- ally is a seat at the table for us. But we would expect no less from a book by our tell-it- like-it-is, even-if-the-emperor- is-naked, accordion-playing, toast-fixating friend known as Brant Hansen. During our recent inter- view, Brant talks about life, his latest project, and your seat at the table. AP – In Unoffendable : How Just One Change Can MakeAll of Life Better , you persuaded us being offended and holding on to our anger was off the table. (Despite the daily com- mute on I-95). Now it seems like your goal is to convince us God would shout our names first and with great joy if He was picking teams (even though we’re used to standing there until the bitter end). Am I the only one who has to read what you write five times before I can really start to believe it? BH – Ha! Yes, I do write about hard-to-believe things. That's a great point. Maybe I write hard-to-believe things because I'm struggling with them myself. I just need to get it on paper, these implications of the gospel. AP – You could almost hear the collective exhale as we read: “The absence of feel- ing is not the absence of love.” I want to believe it, but it’s al- most too good to be true. Why are you so confident that feel- ings are not a required indica- tor of God’s existence or the fact that He has chosen to be in relationship with me? BH – We presume feelings must be a huge part of our spir- itual lives, but that idea simply isn't biblical. We hear it all the time in certain churches or Christian cultural settings, like, "I can just feel God's loving arms around me," or some of the lyrics to Christian songs, and it becomes an expectation: This is what a relationship with God must look like! ...but that can be deadly. So many people do not experi- ence those feelings, or get emotional during worship serv- ices, or "hear God's audible voice," and they can suspect that it's because something's wrong with them, or maybe God doesn't even exist. The truth is if we trust in Christ, He is with us, always, Blessed Are the Misfits Is A Book for the Rest of Us Anitra Parmele Good news /DXGDGLR DQG $VVRFLDWHV &HUWLILHG 3XEOLF $FFRXQWDQWV &3$ 6HUYLFHV $XGLWLQJ DFFRXQWLQJ WD[ SODQQLQJ DQG WD[ SUHSDUDWLRQ ZZZ O DXGDG L R FRP 3D\UROO 6HUYLFHV )OH[LEOH DQG FXVWRPL]HG SD\UROO VROXWLRQV WR PHHW \RXU QHHGV 2XWVRXUFHG 6HUYLFHV &)2 FRQWUROOHU DQG ERRNNHHSLQJ VHUYLFHV DUH DYDLODEOH RQ DQ DV QHHGHG EDVLV :K\ KLUH D IXOO WLPH HPSOR\HH" 6SHFLDOL]LQJ LQ PLQLVWHUV FKXUFKHV DQG QRQSURILW RUJDQL]DWLRQV (Continued on page 39)