Crazy Love, Revised and Updated

This is an amazing book!!! My only issue is for some reason I can only listen to one chapter at a time it won't play consistently.

Definitely a life changing book!!!

Look no further... What we all want is around the corner that we aren't willing to go around. He hit the ceiling we set for ourselves usually somewhere comfortable. This book shows why we don't need anything but Jesus and to be simply obedient

We are working through this book right now in a small group setting from our church. I love that there is an audio on it! and that Francis Chan is the reader as well! He is so encouraging and really helps open our eyes and question things we do and why we do them. Praise God for him!

Great book.

Francis challenges us to a greater love for a God who is crazy about us. While it's definitely a message the Western church needs to hear, the problem is about half way through I started to feel like I was being beaten around the head with a big stick. I didn't find it convicting, I'm not sure even guilt-inducing. While Chan tries to avoid a works righteousness, I think, that's what it ends up feeling like. I gave up around chapter 7. Given that, 3 stars may be being generous.

I am familiar with Francis Chan via the Right Now leadership series that he's part of. This book deals from an "Am I doing enough?" perspective. Based on this book, that answered is definitely no! While you are brought to think more globally in several spots in the book, I felt somewhat empty when I was done. I felt like I had no chance of living up to the mark that the author suggests in the book.

This was an incredible book! I have already recommended it to several friends before I realized that I could review it. Francis pointed me back to my relationship with God and his overwhelming love for me. I was reminded to read his word and experience the relationship. I recalled how I felt when I was dating my wife years ago. No one had to tell me what to do, I had no checklist of requirements, I was not legalistic in my behavior.

The book was balanced and realistic, the insights will stay with me. I am motivated to really follow Jesus with my whole heart and to experience his love.

I think this is an excellent read for anyone. I am very happy I purchased this audio book, and I am going to listen again. I absolutely enjoyed the book from beginning to end.

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan is an Oasis Audio book distributed by Christianaudio(http://christianaudio.com)

I have listened to this twice. It has been well worth the listening. The Church needs to hear this message, especially the American Church.

The author, himself, reads with a calm even voice. It is not the dynamic voice which I usually like to listen to (it took some getting used to). But, I will say it again; I have listened to this twice. It has been well worth the listening.

In the first part of the book the awesome glories of God are extolled. Chan then contrasts man with God. Yes we are the pinnacle of God’s creations but we are marred by sin. This is where the title of the book especially comes in. In light of our sin, how crazy is it that God would even be mindful of us. Then, on top of that, He sends His Son to die for our sins?

In light of this wonderful knowledge we are encouraged to follow God’s lead. By living what seems to be a radical life of crazy love. But what seems to be radical and crazy is actually biblical. Chan basically says that such a life is not only reasonable but the only rational choice in light of God’s overwhelming relentless love of us.

By the way, he is not just another writer telling others what to do; he and his church are living this Crazy Love life.

As a part of the christianaudio Reviewers Program it is my pleasure to highly recommend this book.

I actually listened to the Audio-book version of this book, which is available at:
http://christianaudio.com/product_info.php?products_id=891
There is an introductional video there which gives you a good overview of the book, and a PDF download of the 1st chapter as well.
Plus there are reviews from other readers.
My personal opinion is that this book should be compulsory reading for every Christian.
Francis Chan challenges what some term as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, without actually using those words, he lovingly and gently challenges the complacent and luke-warm Christian with the truth of the Bible.
The book is an easy read - no big theological words, and is very easy to understand.
Be prepared to be callenged though, but don't get discouraged that you are not living a perfect life,
that is why our faith is in Christ, the only perfect being, but allow what Chan says to guide and encourage you to grow in your walk with Christ.
I have been personally challenged on fostering a "Crazy Love" for God, as well as many other areas of my life.
This book when taken as a whole may see overwhelming, but, as the saying goes, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Take one thing, and work on that, keep this book as a reference, read through it fully, and then go back and work on one thing a month.
I actually thought the way Chan read this book was fantastic, it was slow and clear and being the actual author of the book, to tones and emphasis were in the places they were intended to be.
So, go out and buy the book, or audio book, read or listen, and then apply it to your life.

This book will CHANGE your life! HIGHLY recommend!

Chan's view of how great a God we serve is infectious. The fact that God is crazy about me was somewhat foriegn at first, but he has a way of helping to understand it.

The book was a great read, but I more enjoyed the audio book. To hear him read it the way he wrote it allows for the expression the way he intended.

I loved this book, it was so very convicting and eye opening. While it left a few questions unanswered it deeply challenged my faith. I sincerely appreciate Chan's humble challenge and will listen to the book again seeking to build my faith.

The original review was posted at http://jacobscafe.blogspot.com/2010/01/crazy-good-crazy-love.html

I recently finished listening to the audiobook version of Francis Chan's Crazy Love. It was not as part of one of the reviewer programs, although I did get it free through christianaudio's monthly free audiobook title (something I highly recommend everyone take advantage of if you don't already).

This is an absolutely wonderful book that I highly recommend (although I don't want to say too much and make people's expectations too high--that causes problems, too :) ).

One of the best parts of this audiobook is that Chan read it himself--a problem I noted in Piper's A Sweet and Bitter Providence. I've started listening to his next book, Forgotten God, and that starts with an interview with him, where he admits he is not a great reader. I have to agree--it sounds like he's reading most of the time. However, I would not want it any other way because you can hear his passion, and that's more important than other benefits of a professional narrator.

To the content of the book: This is one book that has made me remember to worship God. Those words sound so flat as I write them because they are overused and misused. But Chan does a phenomenal job of making this a bit of a devotional. Really, I think this book is best described as a devotional. You can get a sense of this from the videos on the Crazy Love website, which Chan integrates into the book creatively. As he says in the interview preceding the other book, one person introduced him at a speaking engagement by saying what he talks about is so simple. It's reminding us of the basic, fundamental things about life and God.

The premise of the book is that God is in love with us and wants us to love him. As I'm writing this, again, I'm finding my review sounds so lame and does not express the true beauty of Chan's words and God's creation.

Chan's argues that we need to respond to God with "crazy love," meaning actions that may seem "crazy" to the world because we are relying on God for everything. Not that we should be actively looking to be crazy, but that we should be willing to be radical. Honestly, some of Chan's examples of crazy love seem truly crazy (i.e. a missionary physician getting all of his teeth pulled so that he would never have to leave the mission front due to teeth problems again--I'm not sure God would actually ask us to do that). However, he also says that these are not prescriptions for what everyone has to do--we all have to listen to what God has called each of us individually to do. I appreciate and agree with that.

One of the points that I particularly appreciated from his book is that it helped me remember to act out my priorities. Many of us can say God and family is first, but what does that actually look like? It can have quite a few definitions, all of which can be good and valid. However, one of the things Chan reminds his readers is that all they do will basically be forgotten in 50 years. There's some exceptions, but at least for me, that helps my anxiety about feeling like I have to do something big, as I have discussed in an earlier post. Chan also states we should not be asking why God has allowed hunger and suffering in the world. Instead, God should be asking US why WE allow hunger and suffering in the world.

The way he approached this made me think of it in a new way that motivates me to act more and live out of love. It's hard to describe, maybe in part because I'm still processing. One of the ways I'm processing it will be in another post tomorrow.

Overall, this book does a great job of challenging our fundamental beliefs of how we act in response to God. Again, he does not necessarily say anything new that most of us haven't heard before, but for me, he says it in a way that feels quite new. Most of my posts focus on existential, cognitive beliefs related to faith, not necessarily how we live out our faith or believe we should live out our faith. This book tackles that in the best way I've ever seen.

I was unfamiliar with Francis Chan before diving into "Crazy Love" but I'm glad I've gotten familiar with him and his work.

In "Crazy Love," Chan challenges complacent Christianity, half-hearted attempts to follow Jesus. This puts Chan in the company of other Christian leaders like John Wesley who constantly sought to convert the converted into a deeper commitment to Christ. Wesley himself complained of the "almost Christians" in 18th c. England.

I'm incredibly sympathetic to Chan's point, though his message felt discouraging at times. His message is welcome and he certainly pointed the reader/listener in the right direction for change (i.e. God's crazy love), but I couldn't shake the discouragement the "average" Christian may feel. Perhaps this was conveyed in Chan's tone. Chan himself reads this audiobook, and while it's wonderful to hear the author himself read it, his pace is often slow and plodding.

Nevertheless, "Crazy Love" is worth a listen.

While I am only about halfway through listening to "Crazy Love", Francis Chan's book has already stopped me in my "complacent Christian" tracks! As a self-described Christian for 30+ years,I thought I was living "right" before God. Now, I don't just desire obedience. I desire to be RADICALLY obedient!