I have had the opportunity to read some wonderful books lately which include Erwin McManus’ The Barbarian Way and just recently Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.

When I first started reading Blue Like Jazz, I thought, “Oh great, another flakey Brian MacLaren type that calls himself a Christian, but questions the valiidity of Christians and Christianity.” Actually, I got mad at Don Miller and laid the book down never to pick it up again. I had heard about this book from my daughter who is a freshman at Cedarville University and from a mop headed high school senior named Adam who plays electric guitar at our church. Something kept calling me back to this book to pick it up. My thought was that i would read it, then dissect it so I could trash it on my blog. God does work in mysterious ways.

As I began to read this book I began to see myself as he described Christians of today versus how Jesus must have envisioned what His work would be like when He left. We are caught up in making sure the doctrine is pure and theology is correct that we forget to see what Jesus did and wants us to do.

I don’t like tomatoes. I never have. As a kid I thought it was cool to throw tomatoes at my friend who lived next door, but I never really wanted to eat one. One day I decided I would eat a tomatoe. It was as disgusting as I thought it would be and to this day I avoid them like the plague. I also handed down this hate for tomatoes to my oldest daughter. I have always thought that God made a mistake with tomatoes. They are beautiful on the outside, but gross on the inside. You know, that gooey jelly stuff inside of them. One of the things that Don made me realize, is that this is how I view people, I like what is on the outside, but I am disgusted by what is on the inside and God told me I am wrong. I have to love the inside as much as I love outside, to love both their body and soul. The whole of the person. I liken this thought to the scripture that tells us to teach the whole counsel of God. We have have to take the whole creation of God -human and love him or her.

What can I say? I am convicted. I am a pastor who has been taken to task by a sometimes weird writer who loves Jesus for who He is and not what He has done or will do for him. On page 238, Don describes this kind of love when he talks about one of his friends, “After I got Laura’s e-mail in which she told me she had become a Christian, I just about lost it with excitement. I felt like a South African the day they let Nelson Mandela out of prision. I called her and asked her to coffee at Palio. I picked her up in Eliot Circle at Reed, and she was smiling and full of energy. She said we had much to talk about, very much to talk about. At Palio, we sat in the booth at the back, and even though Laura had been my close friend, I felt like I had never met this woman. She squirmed in her seat as she talked with confidence about her love for Jesus. I sat there amazed because it is true. People do come to know Jesus. This crazy thing does happen. It isn’t just me.”

Thanks Don for your words and your heart.