Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller

I remember years ago that a friend read the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. She was blown away by it and talked about it quite a bit. I didn’t read it at that time. More recently Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing tweeted several links to Donald Miller’s blog which intrigued me so I visited his little home in blogland.

I loved his easy writing style and the way his posts made me think. He writes much about his faith and his journey to find why he believes. So, wanting to read more, I trekked to the book store and purchased Blue Like Jazz. It was definitely money well spent.

In Blue Don takes the reader through his own walk in faith. The subtitle on his book is “nonreligious thoughts on Christianity spirituality.” Don doesn’t tear down the long held traditions and rituals of Christianity, instead he encourages his readers to delve deep into their beliefs.

Don has questioned his faith and in that questioning it has grown. His writing shows a moving past the rote of Christian life into a real, life changing relationship with the living God. Don openly discusses his quest and the way it has changed him.

One of my favorite parts of the book was his chapter on worship. Worship is one of the buzz words within Christianity these days. It is used to describe both the Sunday morning service as a whole or a musical time of praising God. But worship is so much more.

Worship is about living a life of wonder and awe of the amazing God we love. Worship is an everyday thing that may or may not involve music. It’s watching the sun rise in brilliant colors across the sky. It’s listening to the sound a baby’s laugh. It’s loving someone through a tough time. It’s about looking for God in everyday life.

Don knows this. He writes, “Too much of our time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little is spent allowing our hearts to fill awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder.”

Nonreligious thoughts are Don’s way of making sense of his spirituality. His book is an invitation to the reader to really make their faith their own. God is big enough to handle our questions. It is in our questioning that we grow and become more of a spiritual being and not a little Christian robot.