It's not the kind of phone call you get every day. I had the privilege of doing an interview with Alexandra Alter with the Wall Street Journal. Alexandra called me to ask for feature story ideas. I asked her what kind of story ideas. She said she was looking for ideas for feature stories at the intersection of Christian faith and other spheres of life (besides business). I was intrigued. What ideas would you have suggested to Alexandra? What would you recommend?

One feature story idea Alexandra and I discussed, of course, were some of the key themes from my new book, If God Disappears. Why is it that so many Christians walk away from the faith before they go to heaven? One explanation, of course, is that we have overlaid the American dream on top of our Christian faith. As a result, we're expecting too much from this brief life and are too little focused on eternity with God and His people forever.

Another feature story idea I could have mentioned to Alexandra is how the evangelical church is once again beginning to understand its place within the broader Church, within the much larger family of God, and within the much, much larger kingdom of God.

God's kingdom. God's family. God's Church.

They're not the same, but how are they different?

At the risk of oversimplifying what the Bible teaches, allow me to use the image of three concentric circles.

In the first and smallest sphere, we see God's Church.

In the second sphere, which encompasses God's Church, we see God's even bigger Family.

In the third sphere, which encompasses both God's Church and God's Family, we see God's much bigger Kingdom.

Thankfully, Scripture doesn't blur the distinction between these three spheres. So, let's look at them briefly one by one over the next few days.

David Sanford is a literary agent, editor, and author. Among his many credits is the book, If God Disappears: 9 Faith Wreckers and What to Do About Them (SaltRiver, an "edgy" imprint of Tyndale House Publishers), www.IfGodDisappears.blogspot.com. David also is the executive editor of the forthcoming Holy Bible: Mosaic (Tyndale, October 2009).

It's never all that comfortable to live by faith, putting service of God's Kingdom ahead of accumulating wealth. I'm not sure how well we're doing at it, but we're giving it a go. I've been asking the Lord lately about what it means to seek first the Kingdom of God.

One phrase that helps me get my little brain around such a huge idea is: "Everything is on the table." I can't hold anything back from God, be such things personal goals or physical possessions.

We are in a time of transition, looking to move from Vermont to Storrs, Connecticut so my wife can attend the University of Connecticut. After accumulating items for living in a house, we're cutting back so we can fit into an apartment again. Many of these things are yard sale pick-ups that will be donated or sold for a few bucks. FULL POST

During the evening of 6 June 1944, as American, British, and Canadian troops were fighting to establish a beachhead on the coast of Normandy, President Franklin Roosevelt went on the radio to address the nation, saying, "In this poignant hour, I ask you to join me in prayer." His appeal to God at this pivotal moment in World War II reflected the concerns of families across the nation for their troops in danger on the beaches of France:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war. FULL POST

In my new daily devotional, Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II, I was honored to be able to include several stories about a young British soldier from Scotland named Dan Snaddon. The reading for September 30th is as follows:

Do We Believe in Prayer?
Dan Snaddon grew up in a small town in Scotland, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, and became a prisoner of war when the Japanese captured Singapore. For almost four years he lived in utter deprivation and was witness to horrible abuses against himself and his fellow prisoners. His story is an amazing witness to the power of his relationship with God and how his prayers sustained him through conditions that seem impossible for anyone to have endured.
After he was released he had time to reflect on what prayer meant to him. He first thought of his mother's promise to "go (every morning) into your bedroom at 8 am and kneel at your bed and pray for you." He thought of his hometown church and all his brothers and sisters in Christ who kept praying for him, even when they didn't know if he was dead or alive. He concluded firmly that, "I believe that God answers prayer." He then went on to challenge other Christians about the strength of their beliefs:

"Worldly men laugh when Christians mention the power of prayer. We are not altogether surprised at this, but let us take ourselves to task. Do we really believe in prayer? I am inclined to believe that deep down in our hearts we really doubt the power of prayer, although we acknowledge the power with our lips. This was my own experience, but prayer is real. It is something tangible. I have found out from my own personal experience that prayer moves the hand of Him who moves the universe. God answers prayer. It is one of the most powerful and potent means that God has put into the hands of the believer. In fact, one has written that ‘Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.'" FULL POST

I want to thank David Sanford for helping me become a Contributor to the Christian Post Blog. I have been an avid reader of his and the other writers' work on this amazing site for some time and have always been inspired by the thoughtful and spiritual articles that I have been blessed to read. It is an awesome experience to add my own first contribution.

In David's April 23 post on Mountain Climbing, etc. he made a statement that got me thinking. Talking about the risky actions taken in his life, he said, "I did some pretty stupid things as a young man." Most of us can identify with this assertion. I know I can. As a young Marine Corps officer with a spiritual void at the center of my life, I took a lot of risks, giving little thought to the long range, least of all, eternal, consequences. I seldom thought about God unless I was in mortal peril or in need of something to blame.

 One day in Vietnam, I came under my first mortar attack. Being shot at in any fashion is frightening, but the straight down, slightly whistling incoming mortar shell is especially unnerving. The old saying is, "There are no atheists in a foxhole." What about the poor soul under mortar attack without a foxhole? On this occasion, I was definitely proof of the old saying. I prayed fervently to God that he would get me through this crisis. Even though my superficial effort at prayer apparently didn't go unanswered, I subsequently chalked up my survival to my own 'good luck,' and took away the conviction that I should thereafter dig better foxholes. How many times in my young life did I blame God for tragedies and give credit to 'good luck' for the near misses survived? FULL POST

                                                MAKING TIME FOR GOD
 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, Lord, I will seek. (David, Ps.27:8)

One of my bad habits involves turning on my email early each morning and spending way too long checking my inbox. Why is it a bad habit? Because, instead of spending time with God first, I cozy up to my computer and focus on what's temporary rather than eternal.

It takes more than inner yearning (which I believe is the Spirit wooing us back from our busy, dry lives) for us to enjoy God. It takes a conscious decision of our will to follow through on the words, "Your face, Lord, I will seek."

For God to work inner transformation and produce a deeper sense of His presence in us takes time and some level of self-discipline. But it is possible even for those of us who are more spontaneous free-spirits! We CAN discipline our bodies and our time, and Scripture tells us God IS ABLE to change us. I know it's true because I've experienced it in many ways. But I'm also aware of many more areas that need some applied discipline before I see needed changes! FULL POST

When it comes to sharing our faith with others, I think it's easy for Christians to forget that it is a "faith" we are sharing. On the April 12th, 2009 episode of the radio show This American Life, the story in the show's second act follows a woman's struggles with God and the hope she found in a coach at a Christian high school.

This coach told all of his own school's fans to cheer for the visiting team from a local youth penitentiary. These youths from the penitentiary didn't have family at the game and would be riding home on the bus in hand cuffs. The cheering crowd gave these visitors a memorable evening, and the story spread through a host of news organizations.

A woman, who had recently lost a dear friend, heard this story and wanted to believe in God, but her friend's death cast a shadow of unbelief that she couldn't overcome. In the midst of this despair she contacted the coach at the Christian school. In one sense, the coach reached out to her with compassion, but as he began to talk to her about his faith, he quickly turned the conversation into a lecture about philosophy, science, and moral values. FULL POST

For 21 more hours, you can reply to a Yahoo atheist named "Jefferson S" by logging onto http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090424080059AAcKGvO.

Jefferson's query: "Believers, what would you do if God disappears? I'm atheist but I'm just interested about what you would do if your imaginary god hypothetically poofs out of existence? What would happen to your morals when there is no reason to be righteous anymore? (no eternal punishment)."

As you can imagine, a lot of atheists and Christians alike have submitted responses over the past three days. FULL POST

In Part 2, I mentioned that one false move while I was glissading would have meant almost instant death. It certainly wasn't the first time I could have died on the alpine slopes.

When I was sixteen, my dad, brother and I decided to climb the western slope of Glacier Peak. It was our first climb up this particular mountain, but for three of our friends it was their first time ever mountain climbing.

A couple days earlier, my dad had dutifully explained all the rules about what to do and-more importantly-what not to do at high altitudes. One of my friends, Jeff, couldn't have acted more bored. In his mind, some of the rules didn't make sense. Like the rule about not resting on large boulders when you're tired. "Don't even go near them," my dad had warned.

Two days later, after reaching the top of a particularly large snow field, Jeff went behind my dad's back over to a car-sized boulder. All Jeff could think of was sitting down. Instead, he found himself falling headlong beneath eight feet of snow. We heard his cries, dug in the soft snow that had caved in above him, and with some difficulty used a rope to pull him back onto hard pack. FULL POST

In Part 1, I mentioned that I see myself as a fairly courageous person. The hard part for me is separating courage from recklessness.

In my new book, If God Disappears, I talk about my own adventures in extreme skiing or glissading. What follows is an abridged version of what I wrote...

As a young man, I loved to hike through the Cascades and Olympic mountains in western Washington state. Twice my father, brother, and I hiked into Glacier Peak (no small feat, since all roads stop long before you reach the mountain) and then traversed up its steep sides.

During our second trip, we decided to go straight up the mountain's largest glacier, a steep 12,500-foot diagonal climb, digging out every hand and foot hold for twelve straight hours until we reached the top of that glacier (only a few hours from the summit). FULL POST