tall thot dot com

My thoughts on “My Generation”

The first time I met Josh Riebok he was a guest at my house.  It was a wednesday night and a bunch of my buddies and I were hanging out in the garage.  (It’s the closest thing I have to a “small group” but it’s actually much more than that.  We call it mangroup.)  Josh sat with us as we talked candidly about life and pain and happiness.  

For some reason that night…I recall that one of us had a quarter stick of dynamite that we lit off in the park across the street.  And that’s just one of the many strange occurrences that happened …and continue to happen in our mangroup.  

For better or worse, Josh was introduced to myself and my friends completely unfiltered as we aired our dirty laundry and shared our lives with each other as we do every wednesday night.  He wasn’t afraid of us.  He wasn’t turned off by us.  He was genuinely interested in us.  

And partially because he’s such a good-looking, hip, artistic, well dressed, muscular, guy, we were immediately interested in him!

As I read Josh’s book, “My Generation”, I soon realized that Josh has a gift for connecting with people.  As I flipped through these pages I read story after story of relational encounters that Josh has with everyday people.  And then God shows up somehow.  

And, in this book, as Josh describes these encounters, he uses fresh, poetic language…sometimes to the point of breaking out into full-on-art as he tries to convey his message to us.  

And the message is this:  If God is in the worst places on Earth, I should be there too.

I should be acquainted with the tears of others.  

Josh has, in essence, trained himself to look for people who are “other”, to go to them, and simply look them in the eyes and show kindness.  

When I finished the book I felt a strange wave of inspiration, conviction, and restlessness.  

Probably because I can do this.

I can let someone in need move into my house until they get back on their feet.

I can develop an authentic friendship with someone who has a drastically different world view.

I can embrace the full story of the good samaritan and live it out, as Josh so articulately repaints for us.

All that to say friends, if you’re bored.  If you feel like God gives other people big callings and he doesn’t give you much to work with.  If you feel uninspired.  If you’re just sort of letting life happen to you…

God could use this book could unlock something inside you.