What I'm Reading

I often have two or three books underway at one time, so over the last couple of weeks I have had some time off that allowed me to finish two books. The first one that I'll talk about here is Same Kind of Different as Me. My sister was going to read it so I downloaded to my ipad. It is the first book I have read on the ipad, and that in itself takes some getting used to. I like books and turning pages and marking things I find important or interesting. Although you can still do all those things, it's going to take some getting used to for me to be a fan.

This book is alternately narrated by a white man, Ron, who became involved in a homeless shelter, and a black man, Denver, who was changed by the ministry of the man and his wife. It is a powerful testimony of God's grace, and the struggle of what you do when things go wrong, and you can't understand why God lets bad things happen to good people. Tears are guaranteed when you read this book, so have a tissue ready.

Here are a couple of passages and quotes I really liked:

(Spoken by Denver, who was a tough, homeless ex-con) "Ever man should have the courage to stand up and face the enemy," I said, "cause ever person that looks like a enemy on the outside ain't necessarily one on the inside. We all has more in common than we think. You stood up with courage and faced me when I was dangerous, and it changed my life. You loved me for who I was on the inside, the person God meant for me to be, the one that had just gotten lost for a while on some ugly roads in life."

(Spoken by Ron) "I remembered what C.S. Lewis said of the clash between grief and faith: 'The tortures occur,' he wrote. 'If the are unnecessary, then there is no God, or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary for no even moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren't.'" (C.S. Lewis lost his wife to cancer.)

(Spoken by Ron) "The pain of losing Deborah still brings tears. And I cannot mask my profound disappointment that God did not answer yes to our prayers for healing. I think He's okay with that. One of the phrases we evangelicals like to throw around is that Christianity is 'not a religion; it's a relationship.' I believe that, which is why I know that when my faith was shattered and I raged against Him, He still accepted me. And though I have penciled a black mark in His column, I can be honest about it. That's what a relationship is all about."