Soul Cravings
We can spend our whole lives trying to satisfy the one insatiable part of our being, our soul craving.
Our capacity for spiritual experience both proves our need for something greater than ourselves and leaves us wanting when we fill it with anything but God.
Soul Cravings is a powerful, down-to-earth exposition that interprets our need for intimacy, meaning, and destiny as common sense apologetics pointing to the existence of and our need for God. The book will deeply stir the reader to consider and chase after the spiritual implications of their soul’s deepest longings.
Order a copy now at the Awaken Resources website.
« Personalize your comments with
October 18th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
I’m looking forward to another radical book by Erwin grounded in our revolutionary Jesus.
November 13th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
I just wanted to say thank you for writing “Chasing Daylight” and thank you for doing the Lifes toughest questions they both inspired me. You came to Mosaic Inland for the last one I believe and I didnt get a chance to meet you except for when you gave me a domino I look forward to meeting you and reading the rest of your books I think your awesome.
November 15th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Erwin,
I want to thank you for writing “Soul Cravings.” I began to read it today and I can’t put it down; it seems I am going to be up all night gladly drinking from it.
Thank you for speaking to the human heart whether Christian or not.
Thank you for your courage to break down the illegitimate notion that in this matter Christians are so different from others. We Christians talk a lot about “heart” but sometimes it seems we forget we have one.
Thank you for honestly let seekers see what we can’t hide: Our souls crave for the same. There is no “they” and “us.” There is God and people, and we all thirst for him.
Soul Cravings will help to erode this imaginary wall we have, intentionally or not, built between seekers and believers.
Thank you, bro. I really appreciate you.
Joining the quest,
Ozzy Cocarelli
November 15th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Erwin,
Your insight dives into the very depths of an individuals soul. Upon reading any text you have scripted or listening to any words you have spoken I find myself with an uncontrollable desire to move into the epicenter of God’s will for my life. Thank you, not for your talks and books, but for living a life that validates everything you say and write.
-Until the Nets are Full
November 20th, 2006 at 7:40 am
my youth pastor gave my father this book, and my dad passed it me. i am in awe of this book. its depth is amazing! it has really helped me undertsand some of the questions i have been asking God. so cheers to erwin!!
November 20th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
There are two issues today that stand out to me that we need to address in our stores. One issue is the current national dialogue about God vs. science being fueled by a couple of secular bestsellers and the national media. The other issue is the need for an updated look at evangelism in the 21st century: How do we reach a n0ew generation with the Gospel of grace in a way that speaks to them?
I believe this new book by McManus touches both of those issues in a new and fresh way. In his intimate style, he looks at the human experience and why our souls crave more than just living from birth until death. He breaks down these cravings into three categories: intimacy, destiny and meaning. With many illustrations from Solomon to “Star Wars,” he moves the reader masterfully to a place where God is the destination. In McManus’ own words, “When we are searching for truth, what we are really trying to do is figure out who can be trusted.”
My goal for this book should be to get it in the hands of anyone who is buying a book for a seeker or those looking to have a meaningful conversation about faith in Jesus. McManus gives many examples from his own life as a pastor, speaker and friend that are refreshingly poignant and innovative.
The marketing folks at Nelson have created a guerilla campaign for college campuses with posters and stencils with sidewalk chalk spray. I ordered one for our local campus.
This book is a report of the great commission in the 21st century. I hope you read it and get excited about it as well. This book could be the catalyst for a whole new generation of Christians to serve with your stores.
God bless,
~Tim tim.blair@parable.com
November 20th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Erwin- this is your 4th book I read (bellissimo!) my friend and I have created a blog to share what we learn from the pages into our souls…
site: http://soulcravingsstudy.blogspot.com
GRAZIE- thank you for using your talents by writing with passion and edge- hope to meet you face to face some day!
Your wife sounds wonderful- God bless you both and your children.
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:36 pm
dude i listen to your podcasts as much as possible ever since my youth pastor got me interested a couple weeks ago and i cant wait to get one of your books. your awesome!
December 5th, 2006 at 7:09 am
I am Loredana from Romania.I read The Barbarian Way and God used this book to give me more passion for him.I also listen to your sermons on my ipod.I would love to read Soul Cravings. Love you in Christ, Loredana
December 11th, 2006 at 11:28 am
Fantastic book! A must have! This book is really insightful into the love and destiny God has for us. This book is inspiring in helping us to “create” the future, rather than just letting it happen.
December 12th, 2006 at 6:30 am
Just got the new book yesterday. looking forward very much to what God is going to teach me through it.
December 16th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
I just finished Entry 8 on “Love Lost and Abandonment” and I must say the idea of “home” being found in our relationshipes really hit home to me (no pun intended lol). I think there’s incredible truth to that idea. For me, my sense of “home” the last few years has been found in the Young Adults group that I led, and in the pastoral team we had at our church in Vernon BC. In the last year numerous things have come to disrupt those things in my life, and I couldn’t quite nail why it was that I was feeling “lost” being the only staff member to remain, while everyone else was gone, and seeing young adults leave for college, and being the one still at home. I guess I’ve realized that I was finding my sense of home in those relationships, and without those - the sense of loss/ lostness (if that’s a word) was quite great. I’m not to sure hot to resolve this yet, but I just wanted to say that this Entry made me realize in part what I’ve been going through this past year. So thank you for that!
December 17th, 2006 at 12:58 am
i’m almost finished this book, and i’ve really enjoyed it. i highly reccomend it.
December 18th, 2006 at 7:33 pm
My husband bought ‘Soul Cravings’ for me at a conference he attended a couple of months ago after hearing Erwin speak. It has become one of my most favorite books ever. Not only was the book full of incredible insights, it was beautifully and compassionately written. Thank you for this work. I would love to order copies for several people I know (I’m unwilling to part with my own copy). Where can I purchase more? We are actually interested in ordering a large quantity that we could sell (at cost) at our church as well. Can you please let me know where we can place that order? Thanks very much. - Rima Mealue
December 19th, 2006 at 10:23 am
hello i cant wait to go look for your new book. it sounds good. soul craving. i think my soul needs God and all the ways i have tried to find him, and the places I ve been to have not satified me. I’m from Orange County and i would like to be part of your group. if there is any way you can send me the addres of how to get to the mayan? so i can go check you out. thank you
may god bless you and all that you are doing to get young people to find god. see you around!!
Elena Flores
January 1st, 2007 at 9:19 am
A few months ago I went to the Christian book section at the bookstore looking for something to give a friend of mine who doesn’t know God and she is wondering why she feels empty and can’t explain why. I was there about an hour and found nothing. I felt a little disillusioned and I was angry that we are so comfortable and self absorbed as Christians that we only write books for people who already know Christ. They should call it the Christian therapy section instead of Christian inspiration. If Jesus was here he would probably knock over that bookcase because we missed the point entirely. Then I got mad at myself for needing a book in the first place. But that is a whole other book right?
Then Eric Bryant at Mosaic church suggested this book Soul Cravings. I read it and have given it to several of my searching friends since then. It starts where your soul starts when it begins the search for meaning. You know, when you are lost in the forest of the mess you made of your life and you don’t know how to get out? But you start to feel that someone or something knows how to get out (or at least you hope) and you start to look for that something. I wish I would have read this book in college when I was searching.
This book starts in the beginning. It is the Genesis of the search for meaning. “And then there was light.” It starts with the general need for love (which is really God) instead of the rules of following him. Nobody really likes starting with the rules because the rules don’t make sense without the love first. The obedience comes from the love.
I think the Erwin’s personal “search journey” enables him to take this general viewpoint. Someone who has always been soaked in Christianity doesn’t have to start from scratch, usually. And it makes it difficult to go back to a place they have never been. I think this gives Erwin an advantage when it comes to speaking to the masses who like him, have had to wander a bit before getting to the beginning of the journey with Christ. The book lets you make the call about Christ and provides many places to eject if you so desire. It doesn’t trap you into Christianity but it will force you to ask yourself honestly to at least consider Christ in your search. This is the only way someone who is skeptical can listen. It has to be gentle, it has to be honest, and it has to allow for doubt. Otherwise it is not authentic and most people can see through that. I remember that from my own experience.
This is a great book if you are starting your search for meaning. It is also a great book for follows of Christ to help you refocus if you are off track or just a little dry. I found myself crying and aching from the joy of knowing where I have been and where I belong. I found myself beaming and brimming with the message inside my soul and I got off my rear and did something about it. I passed it on and you will too.
If there was a small group study for this book I could invite all sorts of people on this journey in a small group setting. The book is best read by an educated person. The writing style is for those who are thinkers. Perhaps there is a way to answer the same call for a less educated or a younger crowd? I would love to see a teen version in spanish.
January 1st, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Piercing, calming, funny, sad and all so worth the read. This book forced me to realize TRUE PASSION was missing from my life. I’m 30 years old and I want to be a world-changer again! Thanks Erwin for allowing Christ to use you and your family to change so many lives…….so many.
January 16th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
I live in the deep south where religion is all around. For years a group of my college friends and I always thought there was something missing from our worship and our lives. Soul Cravings has reaffirmed my thoughts on how God wants our realtionship with him to be. Convincing people of this can really be draining on the soul. Thanks for the refill
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:09 pm
I would like information on any study programs or small group studies that you have to offer.
Thanks
Glen
January 22nd, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Small group materials will be available soon through the mosaic.org website. Please check it in the coming week.
January 25th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I am really not sure what to say. I am so very thankful to God for leading me to buy this book. I can not put it down. My prayer is that God will continue to breath fresh wind upon you that is coupled with his abiding love and revelation. Absoluty a must read for the Body of Christ today. I am so full as I read. I have so much to say, but I so overwhelmed. Truly all praises be to God from whom all blessings flow. I wrote a note to myself as I do with each book that I buy, and it says, “The day I began to know, accept, and love you (meaning me). I truly believe it is going to lead me on the journey of discovering just who He is in me.
Much Love, TGMiles
February 16th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Just finished the book! Awesome,Inspiring! Makes you want to be a better person.My dad read it in two days,he can’t believe what a great writer Erwin is and even wondered if Erwin’s publisher helped with the words! I laughed and said “No dad”, he is a brilliant man and it comes from Erwins’ God given talent! I’m blessed to be apart of Mosaic and hope just a little of Erwin and Mosaic community/fellowship rubs off on me and allows me to the best servant I can be! Amen.
February 26th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
[...] Soul Craving Published February 26th, 2007 Culture Watch , Books , News So, I got picked up today to head out to lunch with Sue, our “Admin Pastor” and Garnett, our sho’ nuff Pastor and hit up Albasha for some Greek & Lebanese! On the way, Sue had me reach in her Lifeway bag and pull out the sexiest lil black book I’ve ever seen! Completely black with a red thumb print that was underneath mine interestingly enough. Simple text read ERWIN RAPHAEL MCMANUS in off grey type with SOUL CRAVINGS underneath. I immediately popped it open to see what it was all about. It looked amazing. I got a little peeved on Erwin’s book a while back: Chasing Daylight that I got on his Student Life Tour because it’s Seizing Your Diving Moment with a new title! It was all good though because that’s a great book and the title and cover is sweet. [...]
February 28th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
[...] So I just got done listening to Erwin deliver a few minutes on Soul Cravings. His new book and journey his church is going on. It is a journey of the search of every human being for what will fill their soul. It was fun watching his directness ruffle more than a few feathers in the room. He said lot’s but here are a few of the nuggets I left with… - We need to be asking more questions than giving more answers. - God is actively engaged with every human being on the planet. - When Ted Haggard goes into Christian rehab and walks out three weeks later saying he is cured and no longer gay…the world knows he is lying. Why don’t we? - We need to let their minds catch up with what their soul already knows. [...]
March 6th, 2007 at 10:41 am
The podcasts are great - I have many laughs as I listen. The book is phenomenal also. I’ve only begun and barely can put it down myself.
March 7th, 2007 at 5:33 am
Soul Cravings gave me a lot of good insights into myself, into God’s creative purposes and passions, into the purpose and meaning of relationships, into an unregenerated person’s thoughts about life & God…
Soul Cravings gave me a look in the mirror to see the part that is yet unformed and gave me some proactive solutions to incorporate into my life. This book exposed to me some areas that I have kept hidden even from myself. Now that I’ve seen them, I can take them to God so that He can bring about change.
I put the book in the mail yesterday to a friend who is searching for Truth. He calls himself Agnostic because he knows the Truth is out there. He just hasn’t seen it yet within the church environment. I just know he will find the True and Living God and then pass the book along.
I see Soul Cravings being a book that doesn’t just sit on people’s shelves, but one that will be read and put such inspiration in them, that they will know the one they are to pass the book along to… a book of passion and reproduction in the best, Holy and Righteous sense.
Blessings on you. God is using your life to bless others.
March 12th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Soul Cravings - Meaning – entry 10 – page 2b – 3
a portion of your book quoted and my thoughts following (the 2 number 2s are on purpose):
‘In a brief conversation one evening with a guest, this became even clearer to me. I knew 1) he was uncomfortable, and I wanted to respect his space, but I wanted to give him a chance to share his story. … … The conversation could have gone a lot of places, 2) but I saw something in his eyes that I had seen many times before. I’m sure my next question must have seemed to him to come from nowhere. But if my question was a surprise to him, his answer was even more surprising to me. I asked him, 2) “You must have really been hurt at some time in your life?” … … So instead of asking him a philosophical question, I just asked him about his own pain, his own past, his own story. His response has never left. After a long pause, I could almost hear his brain working overtime. 3) He simply answered, “Maybe”. Maybe: what a strange answer.’
In your book, I have seen myself in a lot of places.
I have opened and shut down countless MySpaces and Xangas… those who know and love me are kind enough to re-subscribe when I come back into relationship.
The Spiritual outcome for the man you described in the story was different than mine… because of the Grace, Mercy and Loving-Kindness of the Lord; I am a Christian. My relationship with HIM is easy and open and good. When I am busy serving people, relationship is easy however…
1) as the man in the story… the ‘social situation’ of church is uncomfortable…
2) I believe the Holy Spirit saw something and used you to ask the right question
3) When the hurt has gone so deep there is no trust for any other human being… “Maybe” gives you no information to use against him.
I am learning that it is true that no human being can be trusted – even our own selves… but my life is in the Hand of my Loving Father… whether I live or die, whether I’m judged or abused, gossiped about… whatever… my life no longer belongs to me. I still run away, but then ask His forgiveness and ask for His Strength so that I can be woven into the fabric of the Body and used for His Glory.
From my own personal experience, that is my interpretation of the man’s “Maybe”.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:34 am
I just finished reading “Soul Cravings” which you gave me when I attended mosaic downtown LA and I already want to read it again. You are truly inspiring and I want to share your book with everyone I know.I can’t wait to read your other books. You are a messenger of God, and thanks for that.
July 10th, 2007 at 7:13 am
I want to give up. I’ve grown up in church with all the plastic people, fake smiles, and teachings that only drain my sanity and sap my strength - all in the name of God’s son. I’m angry with God the Father. I have Christian TV - money, money, money. I’ve given away so much money and I’m only 40. All I ever really wanted was to have my dad come back home and to be a successful entrepreneur and business executive. I’m so tired of the “church” beating me up and not knowing what the truth is. I want to buy your book, Soul Craving, but I’m hesitant that it will only be another book in a pile drawing dust.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Hola, Erwin I have not read your book yet, because I feel that there is no other book like the Bible. You see I saw you on a Christian tv show and I felt like you were me talking. I surrendered all of my life to Jesus Christ on Nov 4th 2005, and what a journey the Lord has me on I love it. I have not gone to church in acouple of weeks because everytime I talk to someone about my experience when the Lord Himself baptized me here at home, by the way it felt like waves of liquid LOVE from Him were coming in me, they say what are you talking about? I just love people and want them to know how God sees us and loves us, but in the church there is so much judging and unbelief of the MIGHTY POWER OF GOD. I’ll write back when I read it. Sylvia Elizondo. Angleton, TX. GOD IS LOVE:)
July 14th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Gidday Erwin,i saw you on telly this morning on the Robisons show .You intrigued me ,culturally and spiritually as a young man of faith honestly . My heart has not been stirred like this for a long long time .I am yet to read any of your books.But i will soon .I just wanna say thankyou simply for today .God bless Winnie Graham ,Queensland ,Australia.
July 16th, 2007 at 2:43 am
please pray for me i want everything there is to GOD,i want to be spirit filled,have the wisdom and knowledge and be totaly in love with GOD. thank you lina van staden
July 17th, 2007 at 4:49 am
G’DAy from Adelaide South Australia,
Winnie I to saw the same show the Robinson’s and was inspired to tell everyone about how Erwin spoke about the importance of bieng greatfull. It has encouraged me in a very difficult time of which I am gratefull for God’s message through Erwin. It has stirred me to here from you that God has touched both our lives at the same time. How Awwsome.
July 26th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Erwin~ I saw you on television a couple of times and was impressed by how simply you put things yet they were profound at the same time. I saw you on TV just today in fact. I really appreciated your down to earth approach and I’m very interested in reading at least one of your books…. Soul Cravings.
August 9th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
[...] Soul Cravings: An Exploration of the Human Spirit, by Erwin McManus. In a series of “entries”, the book explores and interprets our cravings for intimacy, meaning and destiny, and shows how they point to [...]
August 12th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Soul Craving book has radically changed my views of my personal life, changed my marriage, saved my marriage… I have recommended this book to many of my friends… Erwin, I have so much reading to do.. need to catch up on all your book. Thank you so much.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
[...] to get creative inspiration for my work. Just last night I watched 2 of Erwin McManus’ “Soul Cravings” DVDs, and I was greatly inspired by the power of the story. Its great how God puts things [...]
August 21st, 2007 at 1:58 am
Erwin,
I live in New Zealand and was encouraged to read Soul Cravings by my friends the Crawfords. I finished it just two minutes ago.
I can not begin to express how much each word in that book meant to me and the way that God spoke to my through your words.
I’ve been brought up in a Christian family and so God has always been in some way apart of my life. However, i had a painful childhood in which i stuggled with depression. I am only 15years old now and it was but 2yrs ago that I fully understood my worth and that there was hope for my life and so was releaved from my depression. It was amazing reading soul cravings and understanding so much more of what i had experienced in my younger years. I now understand so much more of why i was how and was.
But more than that, soul cravings has left me craving. It left me wanting to grow. Wanting to really live. I don’t want to sit around and waste my life, i want to live, and i know Jesus offers life. I think that soul cravings really opened my eyes to me. It helped me realise my potenial is greater than i could have ever imagined. And that God is stirring up things in my heart. And those things are of him.
I have always been a questioner. One of those students at school which teachers get annoyed at because i question everything. It’s always why and how. And that is now something that i have been asking in my own life. Why do i believe in God? Is the church screwed up? How should i be relating to people? the list goes on and on… And sometimes i feel bad about asking these types of questions. Like maybe i have laking faith because of it. But your words at the end of your book were so comforting. To know that it’s ok to question, infact it’s good. I have often been told to stop questioning and just except things. But that’s never stood right with me. And now i get why.
So thank you. Thank you for writing such an amazing book and i look forward to reading others of your books as the Barbarian Way has just been recommend to me aswell.
It seems strange to me that someone who lives so far away from me could understand me so well. Thank you for your book. I think you’re pretty awesome!
August 26th, 2007 at 4:42 am
Caught Erwin on the James Robison Show and was thoroughly impressed with his approach to religion. For so long I have been turned off to religion, and so has my friends and family due to hipocrits in the system. I picked up a copy of Soul Cravings and loved the set-up of the entries. It was so easy to read portions and be able to finish quickly. It has shown me a new and quick approach to accepting the love that has always been there. Just a quick thank you to all who were involved in this great book.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
I just finished this book and it was GREAT. I’ve been a believer all my life, but this book still had a profound impact on my soul. I love his approach to God, life, love, truth, trust, religion…..it’s refreshing. I will most certainly recommend this book highly to my friends, both believers and non.
September 11th, 2007 at 6:04 am
This is the immortality of God/Love/Word/Life in a nutshell, that we each find our Way of continuing It. In your own words, Mr. McManus, you have shared the WORD.
You have loved me personally, and I am so very grateful! Your explanation of the true nature of questions, and that pain and discomfort are arrows pointing the way has empowered me to recognize all these opportunities I have been missing.
My husband has a soul craving that he has compartmentalized into one single question that he insists that without the answer he cannot believe or trust in God. Your words of love in Soul Cravings have given me the courage and patience to simply love him through the process of finding the answer, BECAUSE when we find the TRUTH it can only be GOD, no matter what the answer is or how unlikely it may seem to our understanding at the time. His question is, “If there is an omnipotent God, where did He come from and how was he created?”
As you can see, it is a tough question! I have been afraid to face this question for years, and have found it just easier to say that it is irrelevant. But, to my husband it is crucial! So, I am no longer afraid of the quest for the answer, because you have revealed to me that any answer in TRUTH must point to GOD, and is therefore desirable!
Peace and profits in all you do!
Anne
October 19th, 2007 at 7:27 am
I know I’m late in responding to a post from last year but I would agree with Tim Blair in that I hope that this book is a catalyst for a whole new Generation of Christians.
Colin - colin@all-things-christian.com
November 6th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
were can I purchase a book?
November 7th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
You can purchase Erwin McManus’ books in bookstores everywhere, but you can also get them online at:
http://awaken.org/resources
November 10th, 2007 at 11:40 am
I just wanted to thank you for writing Soul Cravings. I’m only 17, turning 18 in July, and novels with spirirtual insight have never intruigued my attention enough to read them. The cover is what caught my attention, so being curious I purchaed the book. Im glad I did. In your book you’ve answered many of the questions that once plauged my mind, about love, and such. I would recomend this book to anyone, it’s excellent and very inspiring! Thank you again.
Amanda C.
November 12th, 2007 at 6:07 am
Hi i am fron Germany, i am glad to be aable to read english, becouse of such good, Books, thanx Ervin!
December 14th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I just bought this book and I cannot put it down. It’s amazing! Thank you for such a wonderful book!
January 10th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I received this book for Christmas from my folks. One of the best gifts I’ve ever received. After I graduated from college I jumped into full time vocational ministry. I burned out in less than 3 years. Now 3 years later, I’m getting back on the path. I’m seeing signs, I’m hearing His voice, I’m using my imagination to live once again and for the first time in many ways.
I’m interviewing for a position at a church now and I have to say that reading His Word and your book as a companion are helping me get through the post-interview jitters.
Thank you Erwin.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I just got done watching the crave series and I can’t wait to show them to my youth! I know that it will spark interesting discussions and move us deeper into Jesus.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:13 am
Thank you for Soul Cravings. You have spelled out in words what I have been feeling in my heart and my soul all my life but have never been able to express to people.
Thank you
May 15th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
This book was given to me as a gift by my family. Another inspiring truth from a Godly person…Entry #11 (Chase by Love) was really a beautiful interpretation of how God pursue us with his love…Praise Jesus for your life Pastor Erwin.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Thanks for writing this book. I keep telling everyone that I have this great craving for love & desperately, as none of my current relationships can satisfy that craving. Since then, I have tons of questions asking myself what’s wrong with me. Am I sick? Thanks for the God’s given enlightenment from the book as it answers lots of my questions. And it also proves to me that it’s just because I’m a human being, that’s why I have the strong craving for love. It’s the nature of God who is LOVE.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Dear Erwin,
My parents go to City Life church in Melbourne,and they recently heard you speak there on Soul Cravings. So they purchased the sermons for me to listen to, which has spoken right into my very soul, and i have listen to it 4 or 5 times in my car! What a God intervention, that I would have never heard, seen or meet you, but God wanted to connect me to what he was saying through you, and he has turned my thinking upside down. Thank you for being so rea and so honest. Thank you for speaking to ‘humans’, not to just ‘christians’ or ’seekers’.
Continue walking with Him, what an amazing ministry he is doing through you.
All the way from Melbourne, connected in Jesus. Blessings to you and mosaic.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I just finished Soul Cravings tonight. It moved me to tears and has inspired my reawkening along with the acceptance of my present condition (and the true source of my pain…me). The book inspired this poem:
A Letter To God
Well, it’s been 20 years now
And I suppose I still haven’t forgiven YOU
Or me.
You snatched pure beauty, innocence,
Love
Right from the palm of my hands.
Not even my tight or protective embrace made a difference,
Not even allowing me a Goodbye.
Baby Kristen was only 5 weeks old… A 3” skull fracture to the head,
She was dead!
My sister a very naïve 20…A bullet to the chest, another to the head,
She was dead!
The rest doesn’t really matter I guess.
You tested my faith in Good too young.
I instantly started my descent into
A very self-constructed hell.
Not consciously or purposefully,
But never the less very real.
Depression, alcohol, self-hate, adultery…
I figured if I destroyed myself from within
You would never be able to do it for me again.
At least I could see it coming.
If I broke my heart,
If I abandoned my family,
If I destroyed my soul,
You would never be able to do it for me again.
I hold on to this pain and corrupt belief system
So deep within
I rarely recognize or remember it’s there.
I just go day to day
Believing it’s just me, how I am,
This is how things must be.
Coming close, but never willing to fully surrender
To the spirit inside me,
To the beauty within, to the vulnerabilities I seek, to the God of men.
Never really willing to release my pain
I would rather slice my vein & watch
All the trauma & dysfunction seep from my body
And die clutching my agony to my chest
Than to rest on Your shoulder
And put all my trust there
And take the chance on You
Hurting me again.
But You still gnaw at me, paw at me
You continually claw at me
Because You saw in me and still see
Something so beautiful,
Something actually real.
I feel You come to me and ask me
To forgive life and forgive pain
And to accept what was, what is and what shall be.
And stop trying to grasp and hold onto and imprison
The world’s beauty,
But to just taste it, enjoy it and embrace it
And let it flow right through me.
You beckon me to step off this ledge and just come
HOME…
Where YOU will hold me & remind me,
There is no longer meaning to the word alone.
August 7th, 2008 at 5:15 am
Hi there Erwin,
I would just like to say how much I enjoyed Soul Cravings (even if it did make me cry in a train on my way to work, and had everyone asking me if I was okay!) as you can proberly tell I am a new Christian(6 months) and your books are just what I need.My boyfriend and I are glad to be a part of Riverview Church in Perth and he actually passed on one of your messages to me and I must admit that it is the most listened to message on my ipod.It is The Big Weekend:Summer 2007 when you spoke at Riverview.Whenever I feel down if I’m by myself I listen to it and it doesn’t take me long to cheer up and count all the blessings I have in my life.
Anyway keep up the insping work you all at mosiac do.
Dee
P.S Never stop being a barbarian! and when do you plan to come back to Aussie?
September 18th, 2008 at 1:23 am
I got this book for free in Canada hearing from the C4C and KCCC (Korean Campus Crusade for Christ) leader about this book last year… I couldnt stop reading it, it felt like it was just reflecting my own heart! The way the book expressed emotions, all the expressions, litterature and poems, I totally felt amazed how you put it all together…
most of all, I gave this book to my friend named Raphael as well in Canada… (I wonder if he read it), and now I was reminded of this book again, I really want to find this book again in Korea… I have few ppl I feel like I should give it to.
Thank you so much for writing this book and revealing that our soul thirsts for something that we didn’t realize, it could be our mind, or our worldly thought mixed, but still everybody has something in common about loneliness and the ‘nothingless status’ as humans, no matter how great they can be.
October 31st, 2008 at 8:12 am
This book reignited the God given passion and dreams which I tried so much to deny in fear of failure! I’m no longer a mediocre Christian who conforms to the dictation of the world. I’m liberated from the stereotypical nature of the world. I am free to live a life of passion, pursuit and hope. It was the most timely message, for at that moment in time, I actually let hope die for a while, and watched my soul wilter. Thanks for pursuing the dream God placed in your heart, for being so real and for impacting my life! =) Ps: am currently reading your book uprising. There’s already a stirring within my spirit!
December 10th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Well, where do I begin… I got a copy here in the Philippines of this book “Soul Cravings” yesterday from a discounted bookstore and I must say… you’re brilliant! I don’t even know if you know where my country is but as soon as I’ve picked up this book, I felt a connection already (ok, not being too magical). I’m still on the love chapter and you’ve put to words the very longing of everyone… that everyone needs love… everyone needs God. Thank you for this book! I’m still finding some of your books here but I really want to thank you for this book.