Rudy Rasmus - Love. Period.: When All Else Fails

Praise for
Love. Period.

Rudy Rasmus is the real deal. Not only is he my friend, but hes a true Catalyst leader. His ministry and example have shaped and changed the lives of countless thousands of people in Houston and around the world. Hes a shining example of Love. Period. Were all called to love, and Rudy shows us how.

Brad Lomenick
author of The Catalyst Leader;
former President and Key Visionary, Catalyst

Rudy sees with Gods vision: He sees assets where others see deficits. The principles of his life and his book are based on the simple but powerful premise that Gods love radically changes lives.

Dr. Kirbyjon Caldwell
Senior Pastor, Windsor Village United Methodist Church

Rudy is a pastors pastor and a true inspiration. He lives a life dedicated to fully loving people, and this book will touch your heart to do the same.

Leroy Barber
Global Executive Director, Word Made Flesh

In a neighborhood of folks our society has thrown away, Rudy Rasmus leads us to dispute the idea of expendable people. Love. Period. inspires and instructs usespecially the churchon how to love without conditions. If you really want to change the world, you must read this.

Vance P. Ross
Senior Pastor, Gordon Memorial United Methodist Church

In Love. Period. Pastor Rudy Rasmus does something fresh and timelyhe pulls back the curtain on all the ways love has been malformed in todays world, exposing many of our notions of love as frauds, and highlights on center stage the simplicity of loves essence. Resisting worn-out clichs, Pastor Rudy presses into the heart of the matter: that love loves for the sake of love. This book offers a much-needed invitation to be shaped by love in its purest essence. Not only challenging, but compelling and timely, Love. Period. will no doubt inspire you to live and love with a new sense of freedom!

Christopher L. Heuertz
Founding Partner of Gravity,
a Center for Contemplative Activism; author of
Unexpected Gifts: Discovering the Way of Community

There is one word, one theological concept, one command that is the essence of the Christian faith. My friend Rudy Rasmus has written one of the most compelling books Ive ever read about this word. Through story and insight hell inspire you to pursue the most excellent way.

Adam Hamilton
Senior Pastor, United Methodist
Church of the Resurrection;
author of Making Sense of the Bible

After reading this book you will never think of love the same way. Rudy calls us to a Love Revolution where we love without conditions. The love Rudy describes is what we all long for, its what the church desperately needs, and its what the world is dying to see. Its revolutionary. Its transformational. Its love. Period.

Shawn Casselberry
Executive Director, Mission Year

Rudy
Rasmus

2014 Rudy Rasmus

Published by Worthy Publishing, a division of Worthy Media, Inc., 134 Franklin Road, Suite 200, Brentwood, TN 37027.

HELPING PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE HEART OF GOD

eBook available at www.worthypublishing.com

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Rasmus, Rudy.

Love period / by Rudy Rasmus.

pages cm

1. LoveReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.

BV4639.R33 2014

241'.4dc23

2013041133

Unless otherwise designated, Scripture quotations in this book are taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Published in association with the Ted Squires Agency, tedsquires.com

For foreign and subsidiary rights, contact

ISBN: 978-1-61795-215-9

Cover Design: Christopher Tobias, Tobias Outerware for Books

Interior Design and Typesetting: Christopher D. Hudson & Associates, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

14 15 16 17 VPI 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Juanita, a love supreme

Love. Period. has evolved out of my lifes journey through sorrows and joys, valleys and plateaus, and from not believing in anything to believing that all things are possible through love. So, in many ways, this book is an accumulation of encounters with the best and worst that life has to offerand realizing that it was never as bad as it could have been were it not for love.

To all of the people who have shown me love throughout my life, taught me the importance of love, and acted as examples of love, thank you. To all of the people who gave me a perspective on the importance of love by denying me love, withholding love from me, and by making a poor demonstration of the significance of love, thank you too. Every experience has been a learning experience on love.

My spiritual gift is hanging out, and writing this book was really a community endeavor that evolved out of years of being with people on their journeys through life and love. If I started naming the beautiful souls who have touched my life I would miss the one person who has made the greatest impact. So to everyone who has cheered me on, encouraged, motivated, and believed in me... thank you!

I want to thank my friend and agent Ted Squires for always believing from the first book until now in the importance of my message on the power of unconditional love. Thank you also to the team at Worthy Publishing for taking a giant step with me to influence the world to love.

To my beautiful daughters, Morgan and Ryan, and my son-in-love, Hamilton, who have always been living reminders of the power of love, thank you.

Finally, to my wife, Juanita, whose life has been a window into the true meaning of what it means to Love. Period. Thank you for reminding me that love never fails.

Every one of us wants to be more than just accepted; we want to be loved. We all want to be loved fully and completely. Loved for who we areregardless of our race, background, abilities, gender, economic status, identity, or physical condition.

Deep down, we long to be loved. Period.

When we consider what the Bible has to say about love, most of us think of the love chapter of the Bible. We have likely heard these words recited during a wedding ceremony or a sermon about marriage. So whenever we encounter 1 Corinthians 13, we tend to assume these principles apply only to romantic love.