Customer Reviews

Grace Notes: Daily Readings with a Fellow Pilgrim

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Philip Yancey's introspective, wise writing has been both a mirror and a pair of binoculars in my life. The reflective nature of his work has forced me to take a good look at myself in Disappointment With God; the binocular view of the struggles of others in Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants. But the truth is that most all of his beautifully-crafted writing is both mirror and binoculars. I've been a fan since his days writing for Campus Life magazine in the 1970's.

Grace Notes: Daily Readings With A Fellow Pilgrim (Zondervan) offers up 366 daily one-page readings from Yancey's prolific career (so far). The readings center on themes like faith, prayer, forgiveness, suffering, church and grace, and are arranged will sensitivity to the days and seasons of the year. For example, the September 11 and 12 entries both offer reflections on the grace Yancey discovered at New York's Ground Zero in 2001.

The simple volume would make a perfect gift for a Yancey fan or a friend who values the kind of thought-provoking, soul-surprising writing that is both mirror and binoculars.

A spoonful of Philip Yancey for everyday! If you're as fond of his writing as I am, you'll appreciate this book of daily readings.

Each reading is one to two pages taken from some of his best work such as Disappointment with God; Finding God in Unexpected Places; I Was Just Wondering; Rumors of Another World; The Jesus I Never Knew (my personal fave); and The Bible Jesus Read (highly recommended.) There are also a few writings from his road trips and a few excerpts from his Christianity Today articles.

If you're a Philip Yancey fan, as I am, you'll want to read this book often.

For instance, from the December 14th reading: "Although I cannot learn from him why a particular bad thing occurs, I can learn how God feels about it. Jesus gives God a face, and that face is streaked with tears. " PY

Philip Yancey seems humble, but he also seems like he's super smart. This book would be a nice gift for that intellectual friend who has everything he or she needs; that person who throws around words like "hubris" and knows all the names of the characters in Homer books, but is still sitting on the fence when it comes to faith. You know...that person

Philip Yancey's writings both encourage and challenge me. The insights and observations he offers in his work bear witness of his contemplative walk with God. It is for this reason that I anticipated reading his new devotional Grace Notes: Daily Readings with a Fellow Pilgrim.

In this 366 day devotional, he includes key sections from previous works such as The Jesus I Never Knew, What's So Amazing about Grace?, and Where is God When It Hurts?, as well as many of his other writings.

The form of this devotional is quite different from most. The majority of devotionals I've read take the form first of a select scripture, then perhaps a related quote, a short grouping of text to illuminate the scripture and sometimes a prayer.

In Grace Notes: Daily Readings with a Fellow Pilgrim, scripture is mentioned and referenced in the text but not listed separately at the beginning or ending of the devotion for that day. It is a different approach to devotional reading and brings a more conversational tone to the book.

So many areas of Christianity are covered in this devotional which makes it one to keep and return to year after year. If you are new to the writings of Philip Yancey, a descriptive bibliography is included referencing many of his books and articles.

If asked which one of Philip Yancey's books was my favorite, I would be hard pressed to give only one. Yancey is thoughtful and provocative, engaging and inspiring, and always sincere and genuine. This makes this devotional rare indeed.

Consider the following concepts:

* From June 1st, entitled 'Atrocious Mathematics' - "I hear a loud whisper from the gospels that tells me that I did not get what I deserved. I deserved punishment but I got forgiveness."

* From August12th entitled 'Downward Surrender' -"Jesus suggest that we discover self not by staring inward but by gazing outward, not through introspection but through acts of love."

* From November 4th, entitled 'Weapons of Mercy' -"If my activism, however, well-motivated, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus' Gospel. I am stuck with the law, not the gospel of grace."

This would be a wonderful gift for any occasion. I recommend it highly. The review copy I received at no cost and was donated to my local church.

Reviewed by: Keiki Hendrix
Reviewed for: Zondervan

Once I opened my copy of Grace Notes by Philip Yancy, I was unable to put it back down on the coffee table! It's beautifully written and inspiring to read, as I found myself traveling on a journey with the author, page by page. Each page opens my eyes and awareness to something I'm not normally exposed to. In the devotional, I saw the faces of those inside and outside prison walls. I visited the largest church in Tokyo, read about life in Chicago or life in Colorado, all through the eyes of a fellow Pilgrim, as Yancy titles himself. What appealed to me most in the devotionals is the authors sincerity and openness to share his life experiences with others. He's transparent and authentic and real- and shares a journey of faith. While the book does not quote a scripture verse on each page, it does give us a center thought and focus for the day. Recommended as a gift for someone with a sense of adventure, someone who enjoys travel or history, and someone who is a Philip Yancey fan. Not recommended for someone who prefers more scripture and biblical content in a devotional. I'm giving a copy of this book to both my husband and my father for Christmas gifts.

I know of no better writer who feels his Christianity more deeply and penetratingly than Philip Yancey. He can take the most mundane of situations or events and discover the divine in them. He writes with such intellectual honesty that detractors often see in him a weakness concerning his spiritual bearing. However, this is the human side of him that people either misunderstand or fail to accept. After all, he expresses the many doubts, fears, and concerns that we all face from time to time as we travel through life. Christ did not make any promises as to the ease or pain-free experiences that one might surmise accompanies the Christian life. Indeed, he did promise persecution, separation, and ridicule from a secular and unbelieving world. Yancey helps us, through his extracts from numerous prior works, to realize our failings and shortcomings and gives us hope by God's grace that we will prevail by trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit that indwells all who accept the Son who is " the way, the truth, and the life".

Each reading is complete and a treasure based on its own merits. Having read many of Philip Yancey's in the past, I found this compilation a fresh reminder of why I both enjoy and am inspired by this gifted writer.

I love the popular saying "This ain't my first rodeo." It's often used to indicate that a person has more than a little experience in a particular area. In that sense, this ain't my first book of devotionals. But unlike many such daily readings, GRACE NOTES goes beyond the simple "scripture/story" formula; it is more like spending time every day with a bright, insightful friend who can both challenge and encourage you. That is something I enjoy regularly, but not nearly enough.

The daily topics include everything from learning about prayer with street people in "Word on the Street" to Yancey challenging believers to lighten up in their reactions toward others in "Church Hypocrites." He writes, "God is the ultimate judge of hypocrisy in the church, I decided; I would leave such judgment in God's capable hands." This also provides some encouragement to those who use hypocrisy as an excuse to stay away from church. As Yancey points out, just because we have imperfections in our families, we do not cease to be part of a family. One of the most significant needs of a Christian is fellowship with others. It's the way we were created.

Perhaps because he began his career as a journalist, Yancey refers to himself as "a Pilgrim" --- not the kind we picture having Thanksgiving dinner with the Natives, but the kind that is traveling towards a destination. This is a good indicator that he possesses the humility that God requires of His believers. Regardless of the years he or she has been a Christian or the numbers of books he or she has written, a child of God does not place himself or herself above others or thinks that he or she has arrived at his or her destination. When reading GRACE NOTES, the author's humility is obvious and causes the reader to be more open to his challenges and teachings.

For many believers and non-believers alike, the idea of "Grace" is a concept that is partially understood but often difficult to explain. Getting a clear understanding of Grace can be life-changing because it causes one to finally realize that God's love is given freely and is not based upon who we are or how we perform. Yancey provides an excellent illustration of this concept when he writes, "In short, Jesus moved the emphasis from God's holiness (exclusive) to God's mercy (inclusive). Instead of the message `No undesirables allowed,' he proclaimed, `In God's kingdom there are no undesirables.'"

If you have a person in your life who is struggling with his or her faith or having trouble understanding the importance of his or her relationship with God, joining Philip Yancey on his Pilgrim's journey could be exactly what is needed. GRACE NOTES is more than a five-minute read to satisfy your need for a "quiet time"; it will spark your conversations and move you to delve deeper into the wonderful plans of God. It will provide answers to questions that you might have about the Christian life and encourage you to continue your journey no matter how difficult it may seem. And what it won't do is beat you over the head with legalism or condemn you with verses out of context. Personally, I believe that GRACE NOTES will become a classic to be enjoyed over and over through the generations.

--- Reviewed by Maggie Harding

I have been reading this daily devotional every morning for a couple of months, and have found myself looking forward to each day instead of just surviving. There are rich treasures to be found here. A real Godsend

This book was decent. It is a collection of essays, readings, and excerpts of Yancey's other books. I don't have a big beef with any of the content I read, but the vast majority of the sections are de-contextualized. That is, some essays refer to previous chapters even though those chapters aren't in the collection. For the Yancey fan, this is a decent buy, and I did greatly enjoy about 15% of the writings. About 70%% were mediochre to decent. 10% were so decontextualized as to remove all meaning from the reading, and the last 5% were wretched. All in all, this is a good toilet book/ devotional. And calling it a toilet book is not bad, just indicative of the amount of time it takes to read a section. 2.5 out of five stars

I found this daily devotional very satisfying and inspiring...reminiscent of Frederick Buechner's work. It consists of excerpts from Yancey's other writings, some of which I had already read...some others, I've added to my To Read list.

To me, the strength of this book--as in most of Yancey's writing--is its honesty about doubts, fears, questions, and how religion plays out in a real life. I found it to be clear and powerful as he shared his ways of dealing with doubt, faith, temptation, and hypocrisy:

"In my spiritual journey as well as in my writing career I have long lingered in the margins, pondering unanswerable questions about the problem of pain, the conundrums of prayer, providence versus free will, and other such matters. When I do so, everything becomes fuzzy. Looking at Jesus, however, restores clarity."

"...Satan's power is external and coercive. God's power, in contrast, is internal and non-coercive...God became weak for one purpose: to let human beings choose freely for themselves what to do with him."

"...only love can summon a response of love, which is the one ting God wants from us...Love has its own power, the only power ultimately capable of conquering the human heart."

"But we dare not make sweeping claims about the promise of God's intimate presence unless we take into account those times when God seems absent. The great saints encountered it, Job encountered it, and at some point nearly everyone must face the fact of God's hiddenness."

Yancy states, "I have cast my lot with a gospel based on grace." Yet even in this statement, Yancey acknowledges the danger of falling into the trap of doing whatever we want because we've already been forgiven. "An individualistic society America is in constant danger of freedom abuse; its churches are in danger of grace abuse."


If you have trouble setting aside quiet time for God, using a daily devotional may be a good place to start since it's a small time commitment that can reap great rewards. A devotional of this sort is, by its very nature, just bits and pieces of wisdom and inspiration, but it touches on the core issues that a Christian faces in life, and it offers insight into ways that a seeker can strengthen his/her connection with God. This starts...and ends...by intentionally drawing near to a God who, Yancey believes, yearns for us as much as we yearn for Him.

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Though I love Phillip Yancy's books, at times I get information overload. Trying to remember all the valuable thoughts he expresses in a chapter can be a bit much for a 68-year-old brain. In "Grace Notes" we are given short, easy to handle thoughts each day, as the book is divided into one-page-a-day segments. One can think of the day's segment and digest it all through the day.