Jon Weece - Me Too: Experience the God Who Understands

PRAISE FOR ME TOO

Me Too is a great reminder of how wonderful the Fathers love is for useven in a world of pain and suffering. Thank you, Jon Weece, for giving us a glimpse of what Heaven will be like.

MARK BATTERSON, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE CIRCLE MAKER AND LEAD PASTOR OF NATIONAL COMMUNITY CHURCH

Me Too is a message that Jon Weece taught me long before writing this book. He will help you see that you are not alone. God is with you, he understands what you are going through, and its safe to be vulnerable and ask for his help.

KYLE IDLEMAN, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NOT A FAN AND PASTOR AT SOUTHEAST CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Looking back over my years as a radio host, I can name a handful of guests that have so deeply impacted me that I find myself still thinking about those conversations long after the interview is over. Jon Weece is one such guest. And I didnt see him coming. His humility and self-deprecating humor disarmed me. His Kingdom heart undid me. Even so, Ive tried to identify how and why heout of hundreds of interviewsstood out to me. I think its because he loves people like Jesus did and does. If you long to be comfortable in your own skinjust the way God made you, and if you desire to be at home with the love of Jesus in a way that heals you, and if youre willing to see that same love transform the world around you, youve come to the right place. May Jesus himself meet you on the pages of Jons excellent new book, Me Too. Whatever youve experienced of Gods love, know this: he has more for you.

SUSIE LARSON, TALK RADIO HOST, NATIONAL SPEAKER, AND AUTHOR OF YOUR SACRED YES

2016 by Jon Weece

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scriptures marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible. 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked PHILLIPS are taken from J. B. Phillips: THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MODERN ENGLISH, Revised Edition. J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

Scriptures marked MSG are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Certain names and details have been changed to protect privacy. Permission has been granted for use of real names, stories, and correspondence with some individuals.

ISBN: 978-1-4002-0693-3 (e-book)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Weece, Jon.

Me too : experience the God who understands / Jon Weece.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4002-0692-6

1. Christian life. I. Title.

BV4501.3.W39845 2016

248.4--dc23

2015027221

16 17 18 19 20 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Ava & SilasGod loves you. God died for you. God will never leave you. God knows you. God is for you. God lives in you. God sees you. God hears you. God will guide you. God will protect you. God will discipline you. God will challenge you. God collects your tears in a bottle. God has written your name on his hand. God knows how long you will live. God will not tempt you. God will forgive you. God will speak to you. God will defend you. God runs to you. God sings over you. God enjoys you. God is preparing a place for you. God is coming to get you. God will spend eternity with you. God will be a better Father to you than me. You can trust God with your life.

CONTENTS

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, MY PARENTS HAD A RECORD PLAYER AND I HAD a record filled with famous nursery rhymes. As the needle moved across the vinyl, I would hear a man with a British accent say, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the kings horses and all the kings men couldnt put Humpty together again.

The Bible doesnt use the name Humpty Dumpty, but it does say that one thing all of us have in common is all of us have fallen: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23, emphasis mine). It doesnt say some have fallen or a few have fallen.

All of us have fallen. All of us have sinned.

And if youve ever tried to pick up the shattered and scattered pieces of your life and put yourself back together again, youve come to realize its an impossible task. When divorce divides your family, when a loved one commits suicide, when cancer claims a close friend, when you lose your job, its easy to lose perspective. Its easier to feel broken than it is to feel put back together again.

My daughters friend recently spent the night, and they were sitting on the couch eating ice cream and giggling. I heard Ava say to her friend, Do you like firecrackers?

No, Im afraid of firecrackers! her friend replied with great animation.

Me too! Ava said with excitement. As middle school girls do, they screamed and hugged each other! They went back and forth asking each other questions, and I bet I heard the phrase Me too! a hundred times in five minutes.

C. S. Lewis once wrote, Friendship, I have said, is born at the moment when one man says to another What! You too? I thought that no one but myself...

I can say, Republican or Democrat, and we wont all agree. I can say, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, or, rock, rap, or country, and we wont all agree. But if I ask, Have you made at least one decision in your life that you wish you could take back? my guess is you would nod your head.

Sin is a universal me too. All have sinned and all have fallen. Because all of us have sinned, all of us need a Savior. All of us are like the rest of us.

All of us are struggling. We dont like what sin has done to us and everyone around us. We dont like fear, sadness, or the pressure we feel to fit in or stand out. We dont like tension in our marriages or worrying about our finances. We dont like war and corruption and abuse and terrorism.

And what we dont like, God likes even less.

We are far from Eden. Perfection is a distant land, and paradise has been lost. Will we ever experience Eden again?