i was excited to hear that mike foster was rolling out another good book. this one, GRACENOMICS: Unleash the Power of Second Chance Living seemed aptly titled as many of us need to be both a larger giver of grace and also probably at the same time a bit larger at receiving grace.
in a funny sort of way its a paradoxical title as the suffix tends to imply a “law”. So when reading it i was stretched in a lot of different ways on a number of fronts. With the idea simply being we must live our lives in such a way to allow for each persons larger part of the Story to shine through…and to more deeply realize that there is a larger purpose we are called to but in our pursuit we must walk corporately…realizing that each person has their place and dignity.
here’s a clip on giving each other more of break in the context of our relationships, particularly in the area of divorce…
It makes no sense….And if you think we’re bad to the people we love, think about the people we used to love.
Take our ex-spouses for example. Isn’t it amazing how we can come to thrash on a person who we…
• once thought was the funniest, hottest human being on the planet?
• loved enough to make us rent tuxedos, dress up our friends in silly bridesmaid dresses, and drop thousands of dollars on wedding cake and finger sandwiches?
• got naked with and made babies with (or at least enjoy the attempts)?
But now, all of the sudden, these once fabulous, glamorous, intelligent people are the epitome of evil.
I’m not buying it. Our exes can’t ALL be mentally deranged monsters.
The more likely scenario is that we let the grace get sucked out of our families and marriages. And it all went downhill from there. Instead of unleashing second chance living we sent it packing.
that clip just rocked me as i’ve seen more disconnects between husbands and wives in our outpost then i care to process. mike sets up this observation with a discussion of how we are quick to use what he calls a “pricing gun” to assign value to others and when we feel as though the value has gone out of something…we are quick to label it or them and push them to the “clearance rack”.
This book is an excellent read. I appreciated the space in the book that invited the reader to think out and develop some action steps on how to be more of a grace-giver. it was also helpful to have many practical stories of how folks are trying to make second chances a reality. the book closes with an invitation to anyone who is willing to accept to join into what he calls a “scandal” of second chance living…to a place where we live our lives in the “economy of grace”.
I for one am wrestling through what that means and how i can live that out daily, personally and professionally. the book gets released next week at catalyst. til then you can hop over here to sign up and join in as people of the second chance.