Grace in the Gray by Mike Donehey Book Review

Donehey is a musician. He shares lessons he has learned from collaborating and critiquing. He gives plenty of personal examples to illustrate his teaching. His personal stories are many and long. I have to admit I skimmed through some of them to get to the point. He has a good sense of humor as the exploding blender story testifies. The book is more in the light hearted sense rather than rigorous teaching and may well appeal to younger readers rather than older ones used to more straight forward instruction.

Topics covered include forgiveness, unconditional love, parenting, who the real enemies are (spiritual), how we need to get along with those unlike us, prayer, social media (going from anger to curiosity to compassion), the gift of emotions and more.

I liked his example of the disciples. Matthew was a tax collector. Simon the Zealot was one who would have considered Matthew a traitor and would have wanted to kill him. Yet, following Jesus, they got along for a greater purpose. Another interesting teaching was Donehey saying that how we talk to God in prayer affects the way we talk to other people. I think his chapter on deconstruction was the best one, reminding us of kindness, wisdom, not being quarrelsome, and having deep knowledge.

Donehey does not touch on specific nor controversial issues hotly debated today. Like the farmer who said to leave the weeds until the harvest, we are encouraged to worry less and believe in God more. God is not freaking out and we shouldn't either. As Donehey says himself, this book “isn't about changing your mind about certain things. It's about reconsidering the posture we take when speaking with one another on those things.” (2807/3147)

This is a good book for those desiring to learn how to disagree better.

You can watch the book trailer here.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Mike Donehey is the bestselling author of Finding God’s Life for My Will, a singer, songwriter, podcast host, and former lead singer of the Christian contemporary band Tenth Avenue North. Mike, his wife, Kelly, and their four daughters live in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo by Debbie Ewing.

WaterBrook, 240 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)