As a pastor I am always walking a fine line between grace and truth and naturally lean to the truth side. I believe that is what intrigued me about the book by Gayle Haggard titled, "Courageous Grace following the ways of Christ"
Gayle was the wife of a high profile pastor in a large church who failed morally. The book at times almost feels like a defense for her husband, but in the light of scripture forgiveness is from God.
I have always believed that certain people are placed on pedestals giving them a longer distance to fall. Just as if you dropped a bowling ball from 1 inch and one from 10 feet. The resulting impact is going to be much more pronounced. Gayle does a great job of putting things in perspective and asking the tough questions. One of which is why do we persecute and remove those who fail when the idea is to restore them? This is the amazing thing for a watching world, that we would treat each other nicely until someone fails and then we feed them to the wolves. That is not what the Christian faith wants to portray, but our pious, holier than though behaviors are flat out wrong. Grace is offering to someone what they don't deserve, just as Jesus did for you. Gayle shares some of the things they went through during this dark hour of their marriage and life, including the comments made from supposed friends. This book will challenge even the most grace filled people to a new level. I am truly glad I read this book and will be taking a good look at how I react in situations from now on to see if more grace is warranted. I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers for my review. Happy reading.
