blue like jazz

Over vacation I decided to re-read Donald Miller's Blue like Jazz. I had read it back in college and thought it was very good, but I couldn't have told you what it was about. So I decided to read again before telling another person that I thought I was good without actually knowing what made it good.

Well, it's still good. In the beginning I was a little uncertain because the writing style/grammar is not, well it's just not Dickens. It's very much "stream of consciousness" and has a bit of a tendency (in the beginning) to leave a topic behind without the feeling that the topic ties in with the topic that follows. However, as I continued on I was reminded of just oh-so-many little things that are part of being a follower of Christ that we sort of forget about.

Like loving one anther. We're told to do, we talk about, and we seem to understand what all it entails. But do we? Miller relates some experiences that show how he experienced someone loving him in a way that he truly felt loved for who he was. It was a sort of disarming love that allowed a person to be themselves and not feel like they had to hold back even the smallest bit of themselves. Now let's be honest, how often do you feel that love? More than that, how often do you extend that love to others?

I don't necessarily agree with all of Miller's thoughts, but he gave a fresh perspective that was easy to understand. And although I think the book has the reputation to be for readers who are either non-believers or new in their faith, I think that this could be most valuable to believers who've been around for a while. They need to be reminded of the rawness of following Christ, of what it really means to love others, of what it means to let go of your comfort and step beyond your self-centeredness for a while, and mostly they need to be reminded that Jesus was not your run of the mill type carpenter. I also think that this book is very much for this generation. (After all, it's written by a liberal guy in his 30s/40s.) It's very jazzy in approach and style, which is something that we seem to identify with much better than my parents' generation.

In conclusion, Blue Like Jazz is good. It's thought provoking and fresh.