Brennan Manning has been one of my favorite authors for a number of years now.  A former Catholic priest, Manning graduated years ago with a journalism degree from Northwestern which, in my mind, simply makes him a great writer.  Brennan also jokes (but seriously) in one of his books that he is one of the only people he knows that became an alcoholic after he became a Christian.  He is self-deprecating, but in reality, he is transparent about his life, and about his struggles.  Which also means he is very human.

It is this humanness, though- this transparency- that makes me really love what he writes.  He has a heart like David’s to me.  He has known his share of victories as a minister and evangelist, speaking to a broad range of people about his faith and about God’s love, a strong warrior for the kingdom of heaven.  And after some of his greatest accomplishments, he has dealt with moral and spiritual collapse, wrestling with demons that cease to leave him alone.  And yet, he returns to God the Father in praise and humility, and leans on Him publicly.

I started reading one of his books again this week, “Ruthless Trust”, and find within it some truly simple and deep fundamental lessons about life that in the hustle of each day I push into the closets of my heart and ignore.  In life, good happens to (and for) us all, and so does bad, but the thing that God most deeply desires and appreciates from us is when we trust Him.

In one paragraph in the book, Brennan mentions talking to a friend, and asking him if he could give Brennan a sentence that sums up what it is to live the Christian life.  The friend quickly responds that he can sum up the Christian life not in one sentence, but rather, in one word.  “The Christian life is trust.”

“The righteous will live by faith.”  God is more delighted when we look to Him in the solitary and solemn moments of our life and our hearts exclaim, “Father, lead me on- I trust you”, than when we spend our time frantically trying to read His Word and going through our spiritual rituals of service and penitence without giving Him a thought.  “You are my child, and I delight in you.  Walk with me.  Let me show you what great things I have ahead for you.”

I love Brennan Manning’s writings because as a person, he is a self-proclaimed mess.  But as a mess, he demonstrates a trust in God that lets him tell others how deeply God has carried him through trials and troubles.  The man may be a mess, but he is a mess in God’s grace, and about God’s grace.  And like him, as a frequent mess myself, I am striving to be a mess that trusts in Him.