Augustine said of God, “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” Our relationship with God is the thing that makes everything else in life make sense.
So, based on the title of this book, what exactly is an extraordinary relationship with the Lord? I took an informal survey while working on this book and found that most people equate “extraordinary” with ideas like “exciting,” “thrilling” and “sensational.” Although there may be a dimension of that excitement involved, the true definition of extraordinary is simply, “beyond ordinary.” That's the real goal: that we are moving forward, not becoming stagnant. True Christianity is not achieving some particular level, a plateau, and staying there. Unfortunately, that is the ordinary scenario. Real life in Christ is meant to be a progressive forward movement in our relationship with the Lord.
This book has taken me a long time to complete. Several times I was certain it was finished, and each time there was a delay in publishing it. When that happened I added to and adjusted what I had already written. One day during this process I was with a group of people and asked them to pray for me to be able to finish the book the way God wanted it to be done. I said, “I keep having this recurring sense that each delay has been orchestrated by God because what I thought was the finished product was really not yet finished. I want it to be thorough enough that I don’t have to look back a year from now and say, ‘Oh, I wish I would have added this or that.’”
As the group prayed for me, a young lady—obviously the youngest of the group—said, “God, I pray that Tom will want to change it in a year.” My initial reaction was, “She’s got a lot of nerve!” Then I realized she was right. If indeed our relationship with God is progressive, then a year from now I should be more mature and have more insight. That should be true for all of us.
My experience has been that Christians long for a progressively closer walk with the Lord but often fall short. There can be many underlying reasons for this (some of which we will address in this book), but one common reason is simply a lack of understanding. We often do not understand how to relate to God, what is involved in such a relationship or even why He wants a relationship with us.
Once we begin to understand the relationship, then old patterns of the unfulfilling relationship need to be replaced with new ones. The practical concepts in this book will help you do just that. Each chapter is designed to be read and meditated upon. There is a personal application section at the end of each chapter to assist you in reflecting on the material.
Please realize that this is not meant to be a book that causes you to marvel at the wisdom of one who has “arrived.” Far from it. I am simply a fellow-pilgrim who wants the fullest possible relationship with God. Some days are better than others in accomplishing this in my own life. However, when I remember and practice the principles in this book, I see a marked difference in how I relate to my Creator.
Let us—you and me together—learn and grow as we consider how we can live beyond the ordinary and, indeed, have an extraordinary relationship with God.