Read This

I know this is my second post of today, but I just finished reading this book that I wanted to recommend to you all. It is Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller and my friend Emily suggested it to me. I read through it twice and just felt that anyone would relate in someway to this book. It isn't new. It was published in 2003 so maybe you have already read it or heard of it. But for anyone looking for a book about God and faith that isn't written at a scholarly level and will make you laugh, this is a great book. I have a few passages that I really liked and wanted to share.

Describing his old view of God as a slot-machine God metaphor.

If something nice happened to me, I thought it was God, and if something nice didn't, I went back to the slot machine, knelt down in prayer, and pulled the lever a few more times.

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I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God.

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If you don't love somebody, it gets annoying when they tell you what to do or what to feel. When you love them you get pleasure from their pleasure, and it makes it easy to serve. I didn't love God because I didn't know God.

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He said that when we are watching television our minds are working no harder than when we are sleeping. I thought that sounded heavenly. I bought one that afternoon.

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"I have a better life for you, not only now, but forever."

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What metaphors do we use when we think of relationships?

We value people. We invest in people. People are priceless. Etc.

All economic metaphors.

The problem with Christian culture is we think of love as a commodity.

With love, we withheld affirmation from the people who did not agree with us, but we lavishly financed the ones who did.

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He started praying and got regular about going to church. He was a great human being getting even better. I could feel God's love for him. I loved the fact that it wasn't my responsibility to change someone, that it was God's, that my part was just to communicate love and approval.

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And even now going through the book to pull out just a few of the many passages I loved in this book, I want to read it again. I loved so many of the chapters and stories he writes. It makes you laugh and it makes you think...I like that. Anyone who wants to read it is more than welcome to borrow my copy!