Ordinary

In just over a month The Ordinary Way: A Unique Way to Live will be released.  For your reading pleasure I share a bit with you here.

Ordinary.

That word is much underrated. Words such as great, awesome, first class, and excellent receive more attention. Few will exit the highway to grab a bite if the billboard sign reads “Ordinary BBQ” or “Home of The Ordinary Burger”—even if the sign itself is extraordinary. Why? Because ordinary carries synonym baggage. The word is grouped together, quite unfairly, with boring, bland, common, and unimpressive.

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I officially call for a revolution. “The Ordinary Revolution,” perhaps? On second thought, that doesn’t sound very impressive. If you can find a better tagline, please let me know. In the meantime, that will have to suffice.

Eugene Peterson, in The Message, artfully articulates one of the apostle Paul’s central encouragements to those who set out to follow Jesus.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Romans 12:1 MSG

In the NIV, that verse reads that we are to offer (our) bodies as a living sacrifice. As one who understands the powerful imagery of “living sacrifices,” I, even still, struggle to apply those words. How does one actually do that? Through the ordinary. Certainly, extraordinary events hold value and excellent experiences prove worthy; the stuff of life is mostly ordinary—it is the meat that sustains rather than the gourmet feast and chocolate mousse that add flavor.

Follow this link to pre-order your copy of The Ordinary Way: A Unique Way To Live.

#ordinarylives