I’ve now read “Blue like Jazz” by Don Miller ( reveiwed here a few months ago) and have the effrontry to suggest it as a good partner to the Bible in the Connect ‘09 handout. Simply because it applies the Bible to reality at the present time. It’s only one mans experiences but he had a lot of experiences and he wrote about them with the fervour of a man with God in his heart. Something like C.S Lewis who was able to influence so many people,even now, in another era. Like C.S.Lewis he does not claim any theological title or knowledge but both have influenced many churchmen, including Bishops, of all variety.
I would like to share with you one aspect of his travels with Jesus, his extraordinarily perspicacious climb to complete devotion to God and Jesus. Don Miller had probably the best grounding in Christianity----- from his mother. He attended church and Sunday school and so was a sort of Christian robot, to please his mother if nothing else.
Many years passed, experiences and eternal questions (why was the greatest massacre in history called the great flood?), until he finally fell into the lap of God.  As he explains:- “ There is something quite beautiful about the Grand CAnyon at night.  There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by God who knows what he is doing----------- And as I lay there , it occured to me that God was up there somewhere. Of course I had always known he was, but this time I felt it, I realized it----------- The knowledge of GOD seeped out of my brain and into my heart”
I had a similar experience ( not in the Grand Canyon) It’s great, especially for a man to find a soul mate and that is how Don Miller makes me feel. But my journey to God was quite different to Don’s.  No religious mother, just an attempt to know girls as a young adult.  That’s why I went to church. No rebelling against brainwashing or doubts about my faith. I just felt comfortable in God’s house and that was all I needed at the time.
The “Jazz” part of the book comes from Don’s belief that God created and touched everyone in different ways, yet they can all come together to make BEAUTFUL and FREE music, Jazz.  Don’t know about the “blue”.