Carl Medearis - 42 Seconds: The Jesus Model for Everyday Interactions

Jesus is the most disruptive person who ever lived, because hes always focused on growth, not on perpetuating the status quo. Likewise, my Jesus-loving friend Carl Medearis is one of the most disruptive people Ive ever metyoull see what I mean when you read 42 Seconds. These short bursts of truth, at times hilarious and at times profound, will move you deeper into a lifestyle that produces fruit in others lives. Listen and learn from Carl, and youll leave the status quo behind for something like an epic adventure.

RICK LAWRENCE , author of The Jesus-Centered Life, general editor of the Jesus-Centered Bible, and host of the podcast Paying Ridiculous Attention to Jesus

I am a big fan of Carl Medearis. Hes always fun yet challenging, provocative yet deeply biblical. In 42 Seconds, he is no different. Exploring the art of getting to the point with people just like Jesus did is so necessary in our present cultural moment. You will be blessed and challenged by this book.

DANIEL FUSCO , pastor of Crossroads Community Church (Vancouver, WA, and Portland, OR) and author of Upward, Inward, Outward and Honestly

Carl Medearis does it again. He brings enormous ideas down to earth where we all live and helps us to see howas Dallas Willard used to sayWe can live our lives the way Jesus would live our lives... if Jesus had our lives to live. And Jesus is supposed to have our lives to live. Carl brings amazingly simple, insightful, and practical suggestions directly from the life of Jesus... and offers them to us to practice in our real, everyday lives.

BART TARMAN , speaker, artist, and former chaplain of Westmont College

Its amazing how often our words and actions can make the Good News Jesus proclaimed and embodied sound and look like Bad News. Our world is in desperate need of Jesus people to take seriously our invitation to speak, think, and act in ways reflective of the One we follow. In this book, Carl offers a relatable, thoughtful, and extremely tangible guide for how to not only say we believe in the Good News but also narrate it with our lives.

JON HUCKINS , pastor and coauthor of Mending the Divides

Thank you, Carl Medearis, for helping the church untangle herself from the anxiety of evangelism and the imposter syndrome of apologetics and providing a beautifully practical and Jesus-centered way to embody the gospel! 42 Seconds helps ordinary Jesus followers learn how to both speak and become Good News to the people around us.

BRUXY CAVEY , teaching pastor at The Meeting House and author of The End of Religion and (Re)union: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.

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42 Seconds: The Jesus Model for Everyday Interactions

Copyright 2018 by Carl Medearis. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

NavPress and the NavPress logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. Tyndale is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

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Cover photograph of men copyright Sparky2000/iStockphoto. All rights reserved.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, 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 ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version. 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 NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

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Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-63146-489-8

Build: 2021-04-20 21:42:28 EPUB 3.0

I WAS LEANING OVER THE BACKYARD FENCE, talking to my neighbor, when the idea lodged itself in my brain and refused to leave.

John was raking leaves. I was raking leaves. And Im a personable guy, so when I saw him in his backyard, I called out, Hey, John, how ya doing?

In the usual way of introverts everywhere, he tried pretending I wasnt there for a bit. When that didnt work, he replied with something fairly profound and pithy: Hey.

My first instinct was, of course, to simply move on to my next backyard chore, making sure to look incredibly busy, almost as if I hadnt noticed that he hadnt really noticed me. (Yep, Im as insecure about all this as the next guy.)

Im not sure why, but I suppressed that instinct and barely mustered up enough courage to stroll over to our common fence. I leaned over it nonchalantly, as if I didnt have a care in the world and wasnt thinking about all the things I could be doing instead of talking to this neighbor who was clearly busier than I was and didnt want to talk to me anyway. It was a pretty darn good backyard-fence lean. I asked, So, John, whatcha doin there?

He looked up, leaning on his leaf rake, and said, Raking leaves.

Like most of my neighbors, John wondered what I did for a living. They had asked me probably hundreds of times (with tilted heads, squinty eyes, and slightly crinkled noses). Their impressions ranged from a very important author (okay, not reallyI made that one up on their behalf) to some kind of US spy to the Middle East. All they knew was that I didnt have a real job. Sometimes Id be in my PJs until noon, talking on the phone or writing on the front porch or working from my computer on our back deck. I was constantly leaving our cul-de-sac in a sudden rush or coming back home from somewhere with my little carry-on suitcase. My wife and I usually had a houseful of guests coming and going, and one of our daughters lived in Beirut. Not exactly the typical American family.