It’s been awhile since I’ve been told to write a book report. And it’s been never since I’ve been told by my husband to write one! But I just tore through The Grace Effect in ONE day. Which is remarkable since I have barely read a book in a year and a half . . . two sons in one year will do that to ya. And good thing I did because I could feel brain cells dying. Really, I could feel them.
Anyway . . . My book report.
The Grace Effect was written by Larry Taunton and is an examination of the relevance of Christianity upon culture. As a friend of Christopher Hitchens, the famous atheist, and, I believe, an apologist by trade, Larry had been grasping for fresh examples of the benefits of Christianity upon culture. Not old ones… hospitals, orphanages, schools, ect. He was fresh off of a friendly debate with Hitchens who insisted that Christianity had outrun its usefulness. Shortly after that conversation he left with his family to bring home their new daughter from Ukraine. In Ukraine his family experienced the horrific ugliness of a Christ-less, grace-less culture; one whose leaders have worked hard to stamp out the hope of the Gospel and the light of Christ.
He reveals a bleak, desperate and dark reality. His evaluation is scathing. I was heart-broken again and will probably be up most of the night thinking of the millions of orphans that the world wants to throw away and who the Church should not ignore. And this is where the book encouraged me.
When I think of the number of orphans in the world and the situation they are in, it makes me nauseous. When I play with my 4 month old baby, and he laughs and reacts, and grows and develops I am sick at the thought of the thousands who lie in cribs, untouched and unloved, their muscles, brains, and God-forbid, their hearts atrophying from the neglect. And honestly I am angry, thinking “Where is the Church?!” “Why don’t we care and why are we content to ignore such appalling injustice?”
Larry (I’m gonna call him Larry in case he is my friend one day) brought me some hope; that Christianity is still a major influence, that Christians are caring for orphans, but mostly that Christ is the one that fights. That God hears the prayers of these children. Larry described the simple, desperate prayer of his future daughter Sasha as a flare shot into the dark. And the Holy Spirit caused his family to respond to that flare. Praise the Lord.
Ok, I’m stopping. Go read the book. Now. The Grace Effect by Larry Taunton
And if you aren’t sold yet, watch this video …
Picture from Grace Effect webstie.
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Article by Mary Beth McLure. Mary Beth is the “brains-behind-the-operation” of The Adoption Law Firm. She is full time mother of two and helper, encourager, proof-reader, and now blog writer for her husband, founder of The Adoption Law Firm, Sam McLure.
