What's So Amazing About Grace

When you travel with your family I highly suggest reading something that will challenge you spiritually.  This is the third time I've done it and the results were fantastic.

Just when you start to think, "Ok, now I get to be selfish and demand my own way," you remember your book and stop yourself (most of the time).  

The book I read on our recent trip to Hawaii was What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey.  It was challenging and thought provoking and has changed my view of grace.

  

Yancey writes about the modern Christian experience with thoughtfulness and depth.  He does not leave any stone un-turned.  It was great to be reading along and have a question pop up and then have it answered in the next chapter.  He pulls from years of life experience and Bible study as he teaches about the grace of God and the grace we should have for each other.  I felt smarter reading this because every time I picked it up I learned something new about history, politics, or God.  

Grace tends to be something that seems too huge for me to distill into my daily life.  Grace is a big thing, not really necessary for the mundane.  Yancey encourages the opposite.  Every interaction can be processed through "grace-healed eyes" and even the way we perceive the things we read in the news can lead us toward a life of grace.  In our world committed to competition, "grace is not about finishing last or first; it is about not counting."  This is like a breath of fresh air.  

My two criticisms of the book were that the copy I read was slightly dated--I'm not sure if there is a more updated verison--and Yancey takes a little while to get started.  Most of the references to politicians and speakers were from the 90's.  This wasn't a huge problem, though, because so many of his examples could be easily reapplied to current events.  The first chapter of the book didn't grab my attention like I had hoped.  If I had been slightly less committed to finishing it or had other books lying around I think I would have been inclined to push this book to the side.  Fortunately, the deprivation of books while on vacation kept me focused and I pushed past the first chapter.  

 Philip Yancey must be an incredibly well read gentleman.  Throughout the book he talks about other philosophers and uses quotes from a variety of sources.  This helped to validate his claims about grace (and ungrace) and gave his writing a deeper dimension.  We are so used to reading blogs and books that just assert the author's opinion and it was kind of wonderful to read something that had been well researched.  Though it did take my brain a little time to adjust to the change.  Where were the catchy titles?  Why isn't he giving me a list of 10 things I can do to incorporate grace into my life today?  How can I possibly pin any of this???  Even searching for simple quotes to share was a little problematic because so many of his thoughts on grace are built up with the use of a few sentences.  

I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone curious about grace.  If you are a Christian you should know what sets your faith apart from so many other religious belief systems and grace is the heart of Christianity.  As I read this I became more aware of my need to forgive those around me and the role grace plays (or should play) in every day of my life--timely lessons for vacation with family...