Wednesday, June 4, 2008

An Evening at Regent

So.

Five us went to Regent tonight to hear Paul Young talk about his book.

Do you remember me reading this a few weeks ago?

I wasn't crazy about it.

But this book is causing a sensation, so I thought I should take advantage of the opportunity to hear what the author has to say.

Plus, after a lunch hour discussion last week, I was curious to see how he'd handle the red-hot, theologically questionable paragraph on page 96.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I love being surprised like I was tonight.

What an awesome, awesome evening.

William "Paul" Young? Wow. Just wow.

He shared his heart. His pain. His shame. His journey to wholeness.

He was transparent. And real. And articulate. And endearing. And funny. And humble.

"I wrote this story for my 6 kids. I wrote God as good as I know how... and really? He's even better than I wrote Him."
"When we pray, 'Heal me' ... He hears 'permission granted - enter'. So He says (to Jesus and the Holy Spirit) 'OK guys, we're going in'. "

He had me in tears when he shared a story about his mom as a young nurse and how she saved Harold Munn's life. You just never know how God will use you.



And the other surprise? John Stackhouse.

Dry, dry, parched dry and Gillette Mach 5 razor sharp wit. Impeccable delivery. Wise observations. I adore this man. I will consciously seek out opportunities to hear him speak again and I will read some of his books.

And then? The 6 hour drive home? Was awesome because of the depth of the conversation. (It really wasn't a 6 hour commute.) We talked about shame and low self esteem and insecurities and how when you have any of those things, observations become value statements. (Example, "Wow. I love the way you wear stripes and plaids together", (an observation) becomes, "She thinks I have no taste. I don't. I should have known not to mix these two fabrics. I'm an idiot" (a value).

Anyway, I guess I'll read the book again. Now that I've seen the heart of the man who wrote it for his children (the first edition was 15 copies, printed at Kinko's in time for Christmas), I'll be less critical.

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Smart people
2. Good books
3. Lively conversation

Shalom,

1 comment:

raych said...

Noooooooooo! Be critical!!! This book was junk!!!!!!! I mean, yes, the guy has pain and such, and he's probably really dynamic in person, but even if (ESPECIALLY IF) your topic is so huge that it's pretty much its own entity, you can't just sluff off crappy writing on us. *hrack!*

I have a review in the wings for this book, which I will now email to you.