Begin the Journey
I’d heard about this book called “Blue Like Jazz”, by Donald Miller for some time. Different people that I respect; friends, peers, students, reviewers – all of these different voices, with their varying opinions about its merit came together on one clear note. They said it was different. That it laid bare the bones of Christian belief in a way that was frequently humorous (not that unusual… everyone tries to be funny, don’t they?) and just as frequently, honest in a rather disquieting way.
I find myself doing something all of the time that drives me nuts. As I get older, it gets worse. It goes like this: I have in my mind something I want to do, acquire or remember. The success of my desire is dependent on my remembering to do it, acquire it or write it down at a particular time. For instance, I may think, “I need to get milk”. My problem is that I will recall this detail at 2:00 in the morning when I’m searching for something on television that isn’t total crap. More annoying still is that I have been to the grocer once, sometimes twice, the previous day already. But while I was at the grocer’s I didn’t remember that I needed milk.
This book was like that. I’d be walking along the road, riding my bike, grilling a steak and the thought would crash through my head – “I need to get that book!” – but the thought never occurred to me while I was out at the mall, or driving about, or for God’s sake at the blinking bookstore.
One day, while I was buying milk, I walked past the book section of the superstore and there it was. Without hesitation I stuck it in with the groceries and took it home.
Over the next several weeks I want to explore some of the ideas and themes of the book. I’ll tell you what I think, and I’ll ask some questions. If you feel like it, post your comments, but that’s not required. It might be good if you read the book too, but I hope that won’t be necessary either. There will be times where I won’t even reference the book at all, but the blogs I post will probably have been influenced by something I have read.
If you have a website, or an online community, do me the favor of giving me a link. The more people in the conversation the better. Installment number one should be here early next week.
I find myself doing something all of the time that drives me nuts. As I get older, it gets worse. It goes like this: I have in my mind something I want to do, acquire or remember. The success of my desire is dependent on my remembering to do it, acquire it or write it down at a particular time. For instance, I may think, “I need to get milk”. My problem is that I will recall this detail at 2:00 in the morning when I’m searching for something on television that isn’t total crap. More annoying still is that I have been to the grocer once, sometimes twice, the previous day already. But while I was at the grocer’s I didn’t remember that I needed milk.
This book was like that. I’d be walking along the road, riding my bike, grilling a steak and the thought would crash through my head – “I need to get that book!” – but the thought never occurred to me while I was out at the mall, or driving about, or for God’s sake at the blinking bookstore.
One day, while I was buying milk, I walked past the book section of the superstore and there it was. Without hesitation I stuck it in with the groceries and took it home.
Over the next several weeks I want to explore some of the ideas and themes of the book. I’ll tell you what I think, and I’ll ask some questions. If you feel like it, post your comments, but that’s not required. It might be good if you read the book too, but I hope that won’t be necessary either. There will be times where I won’t even reference the book at all, but the blogs I post will probably have been influenced by something I have read.
If you have a website, or an online community, do me the favor of giving me a link. The more people in the conversation the better. Installment number one should be here early next week.
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1:43 AM
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