From a Muslim friend …

Here’s an encouraging note I received from a Muslim friend recently. I share it because so many of my Christian friends have never been in an authentic friendship with a Muslim … and I think this gives a window into the heart of a good man, a man of peace.

I hope this message finds you and yours in good health, good spirits, and blessings from God.
I watched your video at the Q conference where one of the premises of the talk was that some people think you are heretical. It always strikes me as funny that the most authentic people are always considered heretical. Moses was criticized for giving up the throne of Egypt and embracing his destiny. Jesus was always held in suspicion by the Jewish and Roman old guard. The tribes in Arabia couldn’t stand that Muhammad was even opening his mouth. You are doing more work to help the new generation of young Christians to ask better questions–and yet you are a heretic?! You, my friend, are growing out of Christianity as a fixed system of thought and growing into Jesus as a living agent of God who gives rise to new living branches of thought in the minds of his followers. Jesus is larger than Christianity and always will be because the Holy Spirit which he embodies is always going to be larger than the human mind. Keep up your work, Brian. Keep moving forward. Keep walking, keep talking, keep teaching, keep writing. My Christian brothers and sisters need you now more than they will ever know. And the rest of us need you to. We like your style, brother…
… I hope you are doing well in your life and in your heart. And if the cynics and skeptics ever get to you and you feel like venting to a listening ear, just pick up the phone and call me at xxx. Your work is far too important for even 5 minutes of you feeling disheartened.

God has blessed me in remarkable ways through my Muslim friends – and my Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian friends too, not to mention my atheist and agnostic friends. I am blessed indeed.