Blue Like Jazz

This afternoon I finished Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. After I read the last page, I turned back to the beginning and started it again. It's just that good.

Here's the deal with BLJ. I didn't actually want to read it at first. I heard (or read) several people talking about it on their blogs and in other places. It seemed like sort of a trendy book, so I wasn't really sure about it. Later, I came across it at Barnes and Noble and I picked it up to see what it was all about. I read the back cover. It did not impress me. Too many quotes telling me that the book was good, and not enough telling me what the book was about. So, I put it back down. A couple of months later (last week at Kadesh, specifically,) one of my kids recommended the book to me and told me a little bit about it. I figured if this was a book that could engage both Mike Cope and a fifteen year-old boy, it must have some value to it. I went to B&N the day I got back from Kadesh and picked it up.

I totally recommend Blue Like Jazz to anyone who is searching for more. Also, to anyone who is wondering what this Christianity thing is all about. I love the way the author writes, like it's a conversation between two friends, or as if he's telling a story to a small group. His humor is sarcastic without being overly cynical. His honesty makes him incredibly easy to trust and relate to. Everything he writes about are his own experiences. Not just theories, but things that really happened, and his reflections on those things. I love that! He presents these ideas that aren't new, or even particularly profound, but just really makes you buy into them. As well you should. His ideas are straight from the New Testament (and the Old, for that matter.) Feed the hungry, defend the oppressed, reach out to the lost, love your neighbor. And really, that's what it all boils down to, the loving your neighbor part. Love. That's what it's all about.

The book didn't particularly leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling, though. I was so challenged by this book- to think more, to act more, and to long for a more intimate relationship with God. I was uncofortable at points, and reassured at others. It helped me to realize some of the areas where I need a whole lot of work. Like I was telling some friends tonight, the social justice thing really bothers me. I feel so helpless. I don't like that feeling. So what can I do about it? It also made me question some things, which is good. It challenged me to think and to really begin to try to figure out some belief issues- or lack of belief issues. Basically, I've always believed. Never had much of a problem with it. After reading this, I don't really think the lack of struggle is okay. Also, though, I now understand a little bit better that there are lots of things I can't explain, and that's where faith steps in. New concept? Definitely not. Just a new way of looking at it.

So I'm not really sure how to end this blog, because I don't have any kind of great zinger to pull it all together and wrap it up perfectly. If you've read the book, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, and if you haven't, I'd like to encourage you to read it. It's really good stuff and I was so blessed by it! I'd let you borrow my copy, but like I said, I'm already reading it again.