11 Quotes From “The Last Arrow”

April 25, 2018 — Craig T. Owens

Erwin McManus will get you fired up to make the most of the life God has given you! Check out my full review of The Last Arrow by clicking here. 

“I do not believe anyone is born average, but I do believe that many of us choose to live a life of mediocrity. I think there are more of us than not who are in danger of disappearing into the abyss of the ordinary. The great tragedy in this, of course, is that there is nothing really ordinary about us. We might not be convinced of this, but our souls already know it’s true, which is why we find ourselves tormented when we choose lives beneath our capacities and callings.” 

“Here is the painful reality: we will find ourselves defined by the average if we do not choose to defy the odds. … We can refuse to be average. We must refuse to be average. We must war against the temptation to settle for less. Average is always a safe choice, and it is the most dangerous choice we can make. Average protects us from the risk of failure, and it also separates us from futures of greatness.” 

“Most of us underestimate how much God actually wants to do in our lives and through our lives.” 

“I wonder how many victories are lost before the battle has even begun. I wonder how much more good God desires to usher into the world that has been thwarted by our own lack of ambition.” 

“If one day we are to have a conversation with God about the measure of our lives, I would rather have Him ask me why I tried to do too much than to have Him ask me why I settled for so little.” 

“Many of us keep longing for a new future while holding on to the past. We desperately want God to create something new for us, but we refused to let Him tear away all the old from us.” 

“The tragedy of a life that is never fully lived is not solely the loss of that one life. The tragedy is the endless number of lives that would have been forever changed if we had chosen to live differently.” 

“We do not help the world by choosing to be less or to do less; we help the world by choosing to be more and give more.” 

“Be ready when you get there. Don’t make the mistake of living your life waiting for good things to happen—make good things happen. Be faithful in the small things that do not matter to you as much and treat them with the same level of respect and importance as the big things connected to your hopes and dreams.” 

“The great tragedy would be to live your life waiting for that moment to come instead of living your life preparing for when that moment comes.” 

“If you truly live before you die, your life will have a power that not even death can conquer.” 

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The Last Arrow (book review)

April 24, 2018 — Craig T. Owens

When I read an Erwin McManus book, I always feel like an arrow shot out of a bow: ready to launch into areas where I should be living. So it’s very appropriate that McManus’ newest book is entitled The Last Arrow! 

The premise of the book comes from a story in the Old Testament where King Jehoash has come to the prophet Elisha for help and counsel. Elisha tells Jehoash to strike the ground with his quiver of arrows, Jehoash does so, but only three times and then he stops. Elisha is furious with the king! In essence, Elisha is saying to Jehoash, “Why are you holding back? Why are you trying to store up resources for the next life? Now is the time: keep on striking until the very last arrow is spent!”

Erwin McManus writes, “My intention for this book is that you would never surrender, that you would never settle, that you would save nothing for the next life. May you die with your quivers empty. May you die with your hearts full. … This book is about not underestimating how much God intends for your life.” 

YES!!

In chapter after chapter, Pastor McManus encourages us to keep pressing forward, not letting our past holding us back, getting the right people around us, standing our ground, and living for a greater future. He shares examples from Scripture, his own life, and the lives of some extraordinary “last arrow” people he’s met along his journey. All in all, this book will fire you up! 

Near the last page of the book you will be cheering as McManus writes, “If you truly live before you die, your life will have a power that not even death can conquer”! 

I am a Waterbrook book reviewer.

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The Barbarian Way (book review)

February 15, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

With so many to follow or listen to, Erwin McManus is one of the select few pastors I tune into on a regular basis. I was never really sure what it is about Erwin that so resonates with me until I read The Barbarian Way. Now I have a reason for what I’ve always felt: I’m a barbarian too.

Religion bores me.

Religious people are de-motivating.

Denominations spend too much time with the already-churched.

Civilized Christianity is unremarkable.

Keying in on the life of John The Baptizer, Erwin takes an entirely different tact. John was so out of the religious mainstream: a long-haired, weird dresser who lived in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey, and preaching about Jesus. And, by the way, his ministry drew both the seeker and the civilized God-follower.

The seekers were both fascinated and motivated by John’s message. The religious were repulsed at the barbarity of John’s call to repentance. It was the same with Jesus’ ministry: the seekers were energized and liberated by Christ’s words; the religious were incensed.

What about me? Are my message and lifestyle barbaric enough to resonate with those seeking a relationship with Christ? Does it draw them into that relationship? Or do I live so tamed and civilized that only the religious people like my lifestyle?

Here’s how Erwin puts it:

“Civility focuses our energy on all the wrong places. We spend our lives emphasizing our personal development and spiritual well-being. We build churches that become nothing more than hiding places for the faithful while pretending that our actions are for the good of the world. … It may seem counterintuitive, but the more civilized we seem to become, the more detached from the pain of others we end up finding ourselves. The most civilized churches have really no practical concern for people outside their congregations. The brokenness of a lost and unbelieving world is not enough to inspire the painful changes necessary to make the church relevant to the world in which we live.”

I love the barbarian way of living. The Barbarian Way simply put words to what my heart was already crying out.

I am a Thomas Nelson book reviewer.

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Gaining Reason By Becoming Mad

May 12, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

An excerpt from Kahlil Gibran’s The Madman—

Once there ruled in the distant city of Wirani a king who was both mighty and wise. And he was feared for his might and loved for his wisdom.

Now, in the heart of that city was a well, whose water was cool and crystalline, from which all the inhabitants drank, even the king and his courtiers; for there was no other well.

One night when all were asleep, a witch entered the city, and poured seven drops of strange liquid into the well, and said, “From this hour he who drinks this water shall become mad.”

Next morning all the inhabitants, save the king and his lord chamberlain, drank from the well and became mad, even as the witch had foretold.

And during that day the people in the narrow streets and in the market places did naught but whisper to one another, “The king is mad. Our king and his lord chamberlain have lost their reason. Surely we cannot be ruled by a mad king. We must dethrone him.”

That evening the king ordered a golden goblet to be filled from the well. And when it was brought to him he drank deeply, and gave it to his lord chamberlain to drink.

And there was great rejoicing in that distant city of Wirani, because its king and its lord chamberlain had regained their reason.

When I was in high school some of my peers from my “Christian” school were behaving in ways I thought un-Christlike. So I challenged them on their behavior. Their response was something like, “Quit being like John the Baptist—quit being so holier-than-thou. Why can’t you just go along with us?”

In other words, they were mad (in regard to biblical behavior) and they wanted me to drink from the same cup to ‘regain their reason.’

When confronted with their poor decisions or less-than-desirable behaviors most people would rather pull the wise, reasoned man down to their level of ‘madness’ than aspire to a higher level of ‘reason.’

Check out Erwin McManus’ thoughts on this, “When we live below a standard, it is simply human nature to redefine the standard as unreasonable and establish standards that our patterns are already accomplishing. We keep lowering the bar until we clear it.”

Instead, why don’t you raise your standard today? Don’t partake of the madness of others just to be accepted by them—you set the standard for decency, holiness, nobleness, self-sacrifice, self-control, and temperance!

Live right,
speak the truth,
despise exploitation,
refuse bribes,
reject violence,
avoid evil amusements.
This is how you raise your standard of living!
A safe and stable way to live.
A nourishing, satisfying way to live. (Isaiah 33:15-16, Message)

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