Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller,Chapters 1-5

I am on the "sexy carrots" chapter, and my impression of this book so far is that he has good thoughts, but at the same time the book is a little...disorganized. Maybe not disorganized, but there is no…unity between the chapters. It seems as if it a bunch of good essays thrown together into a collection. I think that's it: it seems to me to be more of a collection of Donald Miller's essays rather than a book. There is no thread linking them all together. However, he does write some good thoughts and he makes good points.

Author's note

"Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way" (Blue Like Jazz, page 10). I really liked this idea. I think that is so very true! I have seen it in many different ways, but one way has been in traveling. Before I went on my Southeast Asia trip, I emailed my friend Anne, who's been to Thailand, and I asked her some advice about what we should do, where to go etc. she responded back, and just reading her email and the obvious enthusiasm she had about Thailand, made me so excited and so ready to go there. Last Saturday, my friend Lina and I were having lunch in the cafeteria of North Campus of Harbin University of Commerce in Harbin, China and we were talking about my trip to Xi'an next month. She went there as a tour guide during the winter holiday, and so she was talking to me about it. she actually got to meet one of the two (the other passed away) men who discovered the Terracotta Soldiers! Hearing her talk about her trip and about the soldiers, made me even more excited to go and experience it as well. I think that is something like what Donald Miller is talking about here. Sometimes, someone's passion and/or enthusiasm for something is what kindles your own passion for it. at the very least it makes you want to go experience it and/or check it out to see what the big deal is.

Chapter 2

"if you don't love somebody, it gets annoying when they tell you what to do or what to feel (Blue Like Jazz, page 21). I have to say that I do not necessarily agree with this. Myself personally, even when I love someone, I do not like it when tell me what to feel. That is mostly what gets me, when they tell me that what I am feeling is wrong and instead I should feel "this" way. Of course they do not say it in those words, and I am sure that they are watching out me as their friend. Still, it's one thing for people to tell you that they do not agree with you or think that you are not right, but it's another for them to tell you how you should be feeling instead. For example, one of the things that I am…working through is divorce. I know how Christians feel about divorce, I know why they/we believe it is wrong, and for the most part, I agree. However, the one hinge, the one thing that keeps me from sharing their belief in this point,is that…I just cannot see why someone who does not want to be married to someone anymore, someone who is no longer happy in their marriage or no longer is in love with their spouse, should stay in that marriage when they are no longer happy in it. well, I know why, marriage is a vow, in front of God, for forever, but…I just cannot seem to believe that someone should stay married when they do not want to. I have talked about this with my friends, and while they have not agreed with me, they have not told me that what I am feeling is wrong, that I am feeling the wrong thing and should instead feel this other way. They make it clear they do not agree with me, but they do not tell me how I should feel instead. So for me personally, whether I love the person or not, it does annoy me when people tell me how to feel. So on this point, I do not agree with Miller.

"he said that when we are watching television our minds are working no harder than when we are sleeping" (Blue Like Jazz, page 23). Actually, that is not necessarily true. When you are sleeping, your brain is still working; it is "awake." It's kind of like a night shift at a hospital.  The hospital is not closed or anything, it's just the night shift running things instead of the day shift.

Chapter 3

"and, perhaps, I was judging the idea, not by its merit, but by the fashionable or un fashionable delivery of the message" (Blue Like Jazz, page 36).  I really think this is something that in our society today, we do a lot. at my church, Southern Hills, they use a lot of video clips, power points, etc. during the sermon, and I like it, it is creative and helps make the point and it is a good supplement to the sermon. Still, when sermons or speeches do not have nice powerpoints or visuals, or even supplemental sounds, music, etc., people do not tend to get as into it. in my classes in China, my students tend to pay attention when my lesson includes pictures or powerpoints rather than just me talking, and writing stuff on the board.  And when someone is giving a powerful sermon, and they do in what I call the "yelling" style, all of a sudden people get into it; they are moved by it, etc. oh, and of course, the "fashionable" Spiritual Story has to have a low moment of course. it seems as if the most "powerful" Spiritual Stories, the ones people are asked to share, to speak on, etc. are the ones where people overcome something, where people have low moments, dramatic events. No one ever gets up there and shares a spiritual story where they became a Christian; they have a good relationship with God. Not perfect, a few struggles, but good overall. How come those of us with those types of stories are never asked to speak? Because our stories would not be "fashionable." That is what I got from this quote. Sometimes, we depend too much on the dramatic, on the cool video clips, or the forceful yelling in the sermon, or the low moments in the Story. Shouldn't it be about more than that in order for it to be good?

"the decision was simple once I asked myself, is Jesus the Son of God, are we being held captive in a world run by Satan, a world filled with brokenness, and do I believe Jesus can rescue me from this condition?(Blue Like Jazz, page 37)" this is indeed simple. when we look at it in these simple statements, it becomes so much easier. And it takes away all the differences that divides us, that creates different denominations, different "camps." This is what it should be about, this is what the main focus should be on instead of what the bible says about Marriage, about Tattoos, about Homosexuality, about instruments in the service, etc. because I have a feeling that when we are judged in Heaven, on THAT day, I don't think God will be asking you about these things.

Chapter 5

"there are things you choose to believe and beliefs that choose you" (Blue Like Jazz, page 53). I totally agree with this. This is basically my being a Member of the Family in a sentence. It's almost like it chose me, like God just…gave me love for Him, and belief in Him.

The Nook

I thought that it would be interesting to write a post about my thoughts on my Nook. well, interesting for me anyway. at first, I will admit that I was not into the "E-reader" phenomenon. I am a huge bookworm; I love reading, but I also love books themselves. I think that you can love reading, and not neccesarily love the concept of a book in general if that makes sense. I love having a book in my hands, holding it. I love turning the pages, I love stroking the page as I am reading it, that beautiful sound it makes when I do that. I love the smell of books: the new book smell, the old book smell. I love stroking the cover of a book as I hold it in my lap. I love the feeling of knowing that I am holding a story, another world, in my hands. you do not get that with E-readers. however, in the end I decided to get a Kindle. it did feel like I was going over to the other side, but I loved it. it was nice because I would do Weekend Campaigns, and I would fly during Christmas to go see my parents, so it was nice not having to carry lots of books with me when I went on those trips, especially during SBCs. also, I found it nice because I could put books on it that I knew I would not read over and over again. I still prefered books, but it was nice being able to get the classics for free, and a lot of "complete works of..." collections for free or for less than a dollar. however, my Kindle kept breaking, the screen would half freeze, and I would have to keep sending it bacl for a free replacement. it happened when I first got to China, and that took weeks for a replacement, because they sent it to my parents because they could not sent it to China, and my parents sent it to me. eventually I got it, but during my trip to Southeast Asia, it broken again and so that was the last straw. same problem, about 4 times! I decided to get a Nook instead, from Barnes and Nobles. I was worried since my Kindle was 3G, and the Nook was only Wifi, but in the end, I decided I could just use the USB to download the books to it, and Aubrey, one of the teachers I was traveling with, had a Nook and she said it had not really mattered to her that it was not 3G, she just used the USB. so, I went for it. from our hostel in Vietnam(after emailing my parents and asking if they would mind buying me a Nook)I ordered my Nook. the Simple Touch Nook, is only $99, so it was not too expensive. I bought a case for it, and a Power Outlet for it, and a screen protector kit. all in all, less than buying a Kindle, at least the $180 Kindle. they could not ship it to China, so I shipped it to my parents, and my parents shipped it to me when I got back to Haerbin a month later, so I had to wait a good  month and a half for my Nook.

   My thoughts on the Nook are that I LOVE it! I actually prefer it to the Kindle(when I say this, I am talking about the version of the Kindle that I had. I hold judgement on the new versions of the Kindle all throughout this post). It was a little frustrating when I was setting it up, because you needed Wifi to set it up, but the teachers downstairs have wifi, so I used theirs. so that is what I use when I want to download the Nook Books I buy online on my laptop to my Nook, so it had turned out pretty well, and in the USA, finding wifi is not a problem. I love my Nook. It is smaller than the Kindle, and thinner, so it does not feel like it takes up as much room, and the kindle is pretty light so that is saying something. the kindle I had also had a keyboard, and the Nook does not, so that helps me to feel like I am reading a book. I also think that the Nook is more organized than the Kindle. on the Home page for the Nook, it shows me which book I was last reading, and what page I am on, along with the total number of pages in the book. it also lists the last 3-4 books that I bought, and it also gives Barnes and Nobles recommendation based on the books I've bought. in the Library, instead of a list like on the Kindle, it shows the cover of the book(I also have the option of putting it as a list). which is another thing I love. I think that the Nook does a better job of giving you the actual cover picture of the book, unlike the kindle which just gave you the kindle version of the cover, which was the name of the book and the author. I love having the actual cover picture of the book, and I love having the library be the cover pictures. also, if you wanted to make group of books, a collection, it has its own section for that(shelves) and it does not show up on the Library, unlike the Kindle where when you make a collection of books, it shows up in the library. same with magazines. the magazines still show up in the library, but you can go to the Newsstand section and see them there as well. it's a lot more organized than the Kindle, at least the version of the Kindle I had. some things I do not like about it is that because it is a Touch, it's easy to accidently turn the page when you are reading, and highlighting is a little difficult, but i am getting the hang of it. other than that, I love my Nook and I definetly think it an improvement over the Kindle I had.

   I do still love my books, and I have bought some at the bookstore in Center Street in Haerbin where they sell English books, and I have bought several of those. I think that aside from my DVDs, my books will be my heaviest things I'll bring back, at least as a whole. I love e-reader, because I can buy books at a less and see if I like them, and if I do, then I can make the choice to buy the actual book. and my Nook is super good! I truly love it!