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This novel takes place in North Carolina during the sixties. Then, it skips forward to the Twenty first century. The novel is amazingly honest about decisions made for poor people and people who suffer with an illness like Epilepsy or people with  a low high IQ. During the sixties in the South, no one had any thought about special education or other programs to help these people become more responsible for themselves. Sadly, the answer for these women and their children was a Eugenics Program. Eugenics is thought of as a humane way to stop women from having more babies. Really, it's very inhumane. Jane, the Social Worker, is the only one who questions the decisions made by social workers and nurses. For example, Mary Ella who thinks slowly, is sterilized after she births Baby William. However, Mary Ella is told by the authority figures that her appendix burst. She is told this is the reason for the  black stitches on her stomach. It takes a courageous Jane, a new Social Worker,

Grace is defined as undeserved merit or love. At least, that is the way I would have defined it before reading Rich Miller's book titled 40 DAYS OF GRACE. Grace is a much deeper subject than I ever knew. It is boundless. I especially liked the chapter about guilt. At the end of the chapter about guilt and the other chapters in the book there are 4 units: A thought to chew on, A truth to remember, A question to mull over and Talking it over with God. Really, I am listening to the devil when thoughts of guilt are swimming through my mind. I can only conquer the devil by feeding my mind with God's love. Remembering I am most definitely His child. His plans for me are not for evil but for good. Neither is there condemnation found in Him. I really looked forward to the units at the end of the chapters. They gave me time to examine myself with a gleaming spiritual flashlight. It gave me a chance to release my thoughts of anger and shame to God. This is a wonderfully simple but

'" Iddo reached through the open tent flap behind him and picked up the ram's horn that the priest had given him to use for practice. As he ran his fingers down the shofar's long, gentle curve, another buried memory suddenly came to him."'

I liked the striped cover of this novel. It reminds me of wallpaper in a plain but safe home. Wallpaper is fragile. It can tear. Just like at different times our lives become torn. I didn't feel enthusiastic about the title of the novel until I began to read the book. MarGreat is a cartoon sketched by Timothy.  The main character in Please Don't Remove MarGreat's Glasses! by Josh Baker is Timothy. However, without the other characters in the novel including MarGreat he would have never moved forward. Just like real life other people enter into a person's life and make it not an arc but a circle. Along the way chances are given to lead lost people to a Savior. In Please Don't Remove MarGreat's Glasses! Jude is one person who has made saving people from trouble his life's goal. Josh Baker never evangelizes or preaches. In some way he gets the message across that we can't walk alone without people or a Savior. The novel is a coming of age story. It

'" Will you help me practice my Torah portion, Saba? I want to read it perfectly on the day of my bar mitzvah. I want you to be proud of me."'

' '"The Almighty One's hand is in this," the elder replied. "He promised that one day the Babylonian empire would fall, and last night it happened."'

Devotional Favorite verse Prayer  John 1:1-51 John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. From the time I could understand language my parents taught me that there was a Creator of the universe. My father called Him The Great Architect. He often said "without Him I couldn't twinkle my little finger." Some ideas my parents taught me I have questioned. I have never questioned or doubted the fact that a marvelous being created everything and everyone around me. For me that Creator is known by the name Jesus. Prayer Father God, today I thank you for all that you have created. You've given us so much on this earth to freely enjoy. Help me to open my eyes daily and see the magnificent around me whether it's a baby, a child, an elder adult or a tree, the ocean or just a puddle. Help me to remember to thank you for what you have given me including my mind, my hands, my feet, my whole body. Thank you. In Jesu