Blue Like Jazz...Beginning...

So I started Blue Like Jazz for the second time, and this time I’m going to write some stuff as I go…thoughts…ideas…heart-felt movements…You know, the good stuff, just being real and going from deep inside…Any one who has read the book and feels a need to correct or comment on me, please do so, as I am no genius… :)
At the beginning, the author, Don Miller, is mostly giving an overview of the first twelve or so years of his life, how in childhood God was more the boss of things like commandments and strict about things, instead of someone you could relate to and talk with. Miller then goes into how religion is something you can hide behind, something that waters down what really is going on. The feeling of having to redeem yourself keeps nagging at you…Anyone can walk around inside religion and miss the fact that God is a person, a Being with thoughts and feelings. It waters Him down to an idea. The term Miller uses for God like that is a slot machine, a “set of spinning images that dolled out rewards based on behavior and perhaps, chance.” This God will provide relief for immediate guilt and a sense of hope that your life will get organized. This pretty much is me most of the time. I simply pray for forgiveness, thinking it will all work out and the slot machine will spill out tokens of goodness. Miller says this is more like superstition than spirituality. What happens is that every time a good thing happens, it’s God, and every time a bad thing happens, you kneel in prayer, pulling the lever again. It’s really easy actually, because you never have to talk to this God and it won’t talk back…“But the fun never lasts.”

Grace...

Grace...a word that is thrown around a bit... I think maybe Christians sometimes they are the only ones who get this insane gift from God...Never did Jesus treats anyone as unequal, which is almost the complete opposite of how most live today...What He did say to Paul in 2 Cor is that His grace is sufficient for us, for His power is made perfect in weakness...Weakness, something we all have in one form or another...No matter how hard we try we seem to always fall back into something because of weakness...
Have you ever stopped and actually thought about grace from God? I really tried a few times and it went kind of nowhere…I could not wrap my head around the fact that the creator of us, our body, mind and soul, loves us, no matter what we do. And by us I mean everyone. No one is discriminated by God’s love, not by their looks, actions, or thoughts. For all the crap we do and say, I really don’t see how He finds it in His heart to forgive us for everything, with no strings attached. I use and abuse God for His forgiveness, only coming with desperation and a heavy heart most of the time. And he is right there to say, “Hey, you screwed up, but, you’re just in luck. I have this thing called grace that will repair and mend any hole in your heart and fill it with Me. Dude, don’t you see? The stuff you keep doing will only keep tearing it open and bleeding out. Just put your trust in me man, and it will work out somehow, you’ll see.” Now, I can’t speak for God, but hey, everyone has their own way they talk to God and hear His voice. (My favorite part :) All in all, I really have to say God blows my mind everyday…All I have to do is take a peek and concentrate on what he doing in my life and the lives around me…
Random I know…but it’s the only way to live…

So it begins...

Well, here it is...my first post...Never done one of these before...But we are just gonna go with it and hope for the best...Hope that if you read it you put some comments down and rip into me if need be...But we shall see where it goes... :)