Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel is the founding and senior pastor of Life.Church, an innovative, multisite church that created the free YouVersion family of Bible apps. He has written twenty books, including The Benefit of Doubt: How Confronting Your Deepest Questions Can Lead to a Richer Faith (2025). Known as a pastor with a heart for spiritual leadership, he hosts the top-ranking Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast and speaks frequently at leadership events and conferences worldwide. Craig and his wife, Amy, live in Oklahoma and have six married children and seven grandchildren. Connect with Craig at www.craiggroeschel.com.

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Weird

ZONDERVAN

Contents

Acknowledgments..........................................9Introduction: Why I Love Being Weird.....................111. Killing Time..........................................232. No Time like the Present..............................373. The rest is Up to You.................................494. Rich Relatives........................................635. The Best Money Can't Buy..............................776. A Generous Eye........................................897. Love Is ... Weird.....................................1038. Aiming at the Wrong Target............................1179. If You Please.........................................13110. An Affair to Remember................................14511. Sex Cymbals..........................................16112. A Different Kind of Education........................17513. Get My Drift.........................................18914. A Weird Blessing.....................................20315. Just One Thing.......................................217Conclusion: Weirder Than Normal..........................229Notes....................................................239

Chapter One

When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection. — A. W. Tozer

Just before Christmas, my whole family piled into our kid-moving vehicle and rushed to the nearest mall to grab some last-minute Christmas presents before dashing to a holiday party. As usual, we were running late and were slightly on edge.

Entering the mall parking lot, I was overwhelmed by the traffic. Cars crawled bumper to bumper, inching along like a million ants trapped in a puddle of honey. Instinctively I prayed one of those selfish "God, please get me a parking space" prayers (as if God wants me to get one before all the other ants). Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an old pickup truck near the mall entrance, leaving its space. God is so good. I punched the accelerator and sped toward my answered prayer, hoping to gain a few precious extra seconds.

I immediately staked my spot with eye-lock. (Eye-lock is the ancient practice of claiming a spot by looking directly at it. As long as you don't look away, the spot is yours.) Relieved that I might actually avoid the tedium of trolling up and down each aisle, I kept my eyes deadlocked on the spot and prepared for entry. Out of nowhere, a red sports car whipped in front of me—breaking my honorable eye-lock—and stole my parking space.

Unbelievable.

Frustrated beyond words, with the pressure mounting because of our tight schedule, I did something that I'm not proud of doing. While my wife pleaded with me and my kids prayed loudly, I backed up my vehicle, pointed it directly at the red sports car, shifted to neutral, then revved my engine.

The driver of the sports car glanced into his rearview mirror, only to see me glaring at him. Like a drag racer leaving the gate, I popped from neutral to drive, peeled out, and shot straight toward the rear of the enemy car.

It's hard to know what happened next. Maybe it was my wife threatening me. Perhaps God answered my kids' prayers. Maybe I realized that I was still in our minivan and not in a NASCAR race. Whatever the reason, right before impact, I slammed on the brakes and stopped just short of his car. With all the Christian love I had, I rolled down the window and shouted at the top of my lungs, "What do you think you're doing? You know I had eye-lock, you idiot! Now you're going to make me really late, you red-sports-car-driving loser!"

After rejoining the other ants, we searched for another twenty minutes and finally found a parking spot somewhere near the state line. Thanks to me, no one in my family had the Christmas spirit as we entered the mall (my wife barely speaking to me), running even more behind schedule. We dashed from store to store, breathing heavy in our rush. As we entered JC Penney, who should approach us but my old friend—the driver of the red car.

Just great. Images of my picture with the headline "Local Pastor Assaults Man over Parking Space" flashed through my mind.

"I can tell you're in a big hurry," he said, as my blood pressure continued to rise. "But it appears you have more going on in your life than you can handle." My wife gave me the remember-you're-a-pastor-and-better-behave look as the driver continued. "I'd like to tell you about someone who could really help—Jesus. I really believe you need him, and he could change your life."

Ouch.

WHEN MORE ISN'T BETTER

I can't blame my lack of self-control on our culture, but it surely doesn't help any of us manage our time well. We live in a time-starved society that relentlessly pushes us to the limits—and not just at the holidays. Buy more, do more, accomplish more, conquer more. Rush, rush. Hurry, hurry. More productive, more efficient, more expedient—more, more, more. It's insane what passes for the norm today. Most people work far more hours than they used to (who works only forty hours anymore?), trying to get ahead or simply survive. Our evenings or off times are crammed with activities—the kids' sports, music lessons, and, yes, church. Many families rarely have time to eat together. A typical family dinner now includes a round of Happy Meals from the drive-through in the fifteen minutes between dance and soccer practice.

Even kids are overwhelmed today. I know many families with seven-and eight-year-old kids who, on top of homework and school, are out four or five nights a week doing extracurriculars (not to mention the schedule they have to keep on the weekends). And in our culture this is normal—or even expected. We all want our kids to be well-rounded, don't we? We wouldn't want to deprive them of the lifestyle necessities that their friends have, would we?

For many of us, the schedules we impose on our children end up consuming us. If someone asked, "Are you really enjoying your life?" most of us would have to say, "No ... and I don't have time to talk about it!"

We're always rushed, always on the move, never having enough time. Almost everyone I know has little room for error in their schedule. Tragically, most people have little time for the things in life that they would say are the most important to them. When we overschedule ourselves in the belief that we can do everything, we stop being human and try to become godlike—not only impossible but also incredibly arrogant. Most of us are living at a pace that is not only unsustainable; it's also unbiblical.

Instead of our typical conclusion that we simply don't have enough time, what if we embraced the truth—no matter how weird or counterintuitive it might seem?

You have enough time to do everything God wants you to do.

God has given you everything you need to accomplish all that he wants you to do, including enough time (see 2 Peter 1:3). We don't need more time. We need to use the time we already have differently. You have time for what you choose to invest your time in. Every day most of us say, "I just don't have time to work out ... to read the Bible ... to go to church this week ... to meet for lunch ... to add one more thing." But the truth is, we find time for what's important to us. If golf is really a priority to us, we find time to play golf. If going to dinner with our friends matters, we make it happen. If tanning, working out,...