BOOK REVIEW: Epic Grace

I like this guy. I like him a lot.

Kurt Bubna calls himself a "recovering idiot." He also calls himself a "professional repenter".  Why do I like that? Because I feel like that almost every day. Kurt's book, Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot, conversationally details his walk through life and how he's learned that God's grace truly is, like the famous song tells us, "greater than all our sin".

Through transparent accounts of the ways he's blown it in his life, he shares with us the ways that God has been greater than his mess-ups and has worked through them to accomplish what He wanted to do anyway. He covers issues like comparison, expectations, the importance of community, and even lessons he learned on a scooter. He shares the lessons he's learned about how deeply God loves us and how there's nothing we can do to change His mind. This book should give hope and comfort to all the "idiots" out there--I know it has to me.

My favorite chapter is probably the second one, "Driven by Destiny". It is the story of how God overcame Kurt's reluctance to be a pastor, gently and persuasively calling him to surrender to what God's purpose was for him rather than what Kurt wanted for Kurt. God told him, "You can do anything you want to do and I will bless and use you, but you were meant to serve me as a pastor." I just felt so encouraged to see how God spoke to him and shaped his life; it didn't take anyone's nagging or confrontation, just God's firm but gentle involvement in his circumstances. As an intercessor for our church's youth ministry, I pray often for the God-purposes in our young people's lives. It's good to know God's pretty much got it all figured out and can be trusted to call them to who He wants them to be (grin).

Read this book and take a deep sigh of relief. Read it again every once in a while just to remind yourself that God is way bigger than our messes.

Super thankful to have received a copy of this book for free from Tyndale Publishers for review purposes...but with this title, it would have found its way onto my bookshelf anyway!