Posts that led to a blog: Book Notes (Torn) – Beautiful Reminder

Now that all the kids are in school a few hours a week, I have the luxury of reading again! Woohoo! Just finished “Present Perfect” by Gregory Boyd (simple but challenging) and also “The Reason I Jump” by Naoki Higashida (absolutely wonderful – written by a 13 year old boy with autism) and I’m in the middle of a couple of others that I can hardly put down. Recently finished one other book that I wanted to share, but let me just be clear that I am not trying to start any conversations or make any political statements here (not my thing) – just sharing a book recommendation. It’s called “Torn” (Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs-Christian Debate) by Justin Lee and it’s a very honest and raw and beautiful book about a young man who has a wonderful family, was raised in a conservative Christian home and community, who loves the Lord passionately, but who was born gay. His journey and how he wrestled through all the issues, how he managed to still love the (sometimes very hurtful) church, etc., was fascinating and eye-opening. By the end of the book, I was inspired and reminded of our calling as Christians which is to LOVE (not judge or hate or ostracize or pretend to have all the answers). He had a lot of great things to say but my favorite quote was this: “Grace sees people for what makes them uniquely beautiful to God, not for all the ways they’re flawed or all the ways I disagree with them. That kind of grace is what enables loving bridges to be built over the strongest disagreements.” This book has given me a new prayer for the Christian community and it makes my heart ache for all those who have been pushed away from God and Christian fellowship because of the misplaced intentions of the church. A great book. . .