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Francis Chan's dad


Last Friday I heard Francis Chan at the bay area Collide event. It was awesome. Packed house. Great time of worship and prayer. A very diverse group was gathered including the most Polynesian Christians I've ever been around. Francis Chan gave a powerful talk - it wasn't a rah-rah, go-get-em' talk that would have been appropriate for the venue. It was a gospel message. Straight-up radical, transforming grace of God that showed how amazing the love of our Father is. He shared about his own abusive dad and how he projected his dad's emotional absence onto God. He identified the idolatry that many Asians struggle with. Its not that we worship our parents. Its that we view God as being similar to our parents. He called it sin and he's right. "I wish I had your dad" is what other people should say when they hear about God our Father - the one who celebrates us in the midst of our failure and rebellion.

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