Vince Antonucci - Devo for the Rest of Us: The Next 40 Days on Your Journey of Faith

She sold the tickets. I tore the tickets in half. It was a match made in movie-theater heaven.

My wife and I met while wearing polyester as coworkers in college. We were in charge of letting people enter the theater. And in that theater we began a journey together. We quickly became friends. (She was probably immediately attracted to me. My animal magnetism does that to the ladies. Or... it may have been the constant smell of hot, buttered popcorn.) Later we started to date, and weve now been married for more than twenty years. I love her more now than I ever have. (Though I dont know if shes as attracted to me as she used to be. The only animalistic trait I still have is the shape of a potbellied pig.)

How does that happen? How do you start and grow a relationship? Looking back, I realize there have been two critical factors:

• Knowledge: You need to get to know a person to grow the relationship. And the more you know, the deeper the relationship goes.
• Habits: At the beginning of a relationship, theres a newness that generates excitement. As the relationship continues, its easy to get distracted and grow apart. My wife and I have routines that keep us connected. We go out on a date every week. We talk each night after work. We text each other to check in once or twice a day. We get out of town for a weekend away once or twice a year.

Thinking about it, I realize that increasing knowledge and repeating habits are the two critical factors in all my relationships. It looks a bit different, but these factors are how Ive grown my relationships with my kids, friends, and coworkers.

And the same is true with God.

What God is looking to have with us is a relationship, not a religion. Although it may look a bit different, the way you grow a relationship with God is the same way you grow a relationship with anyone else.

• Knowledge: You need to get to know God. The more you know God, the deeper the relationship can go.
• Habits: At the beginning of a relationship with God, theres a newness that generates excitement. But there are so many factors that work to distract people from God and pull them away from him. In the classic devotional book My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes, Routine is Gods way of saving us between our times of inspiration.

This book is designed to increase your knowledge of God and help you establish habits that will keep you connected and growing in your love for him for the rest of your life.

If youre new to faith or coming back to God after some time away, this book will be a perfect fit for your spiritual needs. If your faith is more established, this book will be a challenging refresher that will deepen your love for God and your commitment to living the life he has for you.

The book is divided into forty days. Each day theres a short reading, a passage to look up in the Bible, something to pray about, and an assignment. The assignment might be something for you to think about or to try doing that day. Why divide this book up into forty days? Because were establishing habits! My hope is that those habits will stay with you for a lifetime.

There are two ways you can use this book:

• You can read it on your own. That will work!
• You can use it in a group. In the back of the book are group-discussion questions. The people in your group can each do five readings a week and then talk through the discussion questions for that section at your weekly get-together.

However you use it, this book can help you as you start or continue on your journey.

As I move forward and stumble through my journey, I know I need hope, so I try to keep the end in mind; I think a lot about heaven. I have questions about heaven.

Will we receive a ticket and have it ripped in half to enter heaven? I dont know. (But if so, I am convinced the guy who does it will be wearing polyester.)

Will it smell like hot, buttered popcorn in heaven? I dont know. (But if so, I will not complain.)

One thing I feel sure of is that in heaven, the presence of God will be so real he will be impossible to ignore, and his love will be so tangible we wont be distracted by lesser things.

Until then, we will continue to struggle. Jesus promised that in this world we will have trouble. It wont be easy. We need all the help we can get. I pray this book will be a big help to you in growing your relationship with God as you journey with him toward heaven.

WEEK ONE

HUNGRY

We sense that something is missing. Were lacking something we know we need.

But many of us struggle to name that longing.

What if what were hungry for is God and what only God can give us?

And what if we can have it if we just turn to him?

Day 1

LONGING FOR LOVE

Jesus replied, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.

J OHN 6:35

D ADDEEEE, I M HUNGEEEE.

Silence.

Daddeeee, Im hungeeee.

My then three-year-old son was entirely cute and a little annoying. About twenty times a day he would call out from wherever he was in the house.

Daddeeee, Im hungeeeee.

Dawson, youre fine, I would respond. You ate just a little bit ago. Well be eating soon. Youre fine.