Brennan Manning - What He said I'll Never Forget

I just heard the sad news that Brennan Manning transitioned from this earth yesterday. You’ll find two of his books on my Best 100 Christian Books Ever Written List. If you don’t have them, you should.

I had the privilege of spending time with Manning in 2007. We both spoke at a conference along with N.T. Wright.

In one of the sessions, we all spent time in a living room together. I had time to talk with Manning one-on-one and I asked him a few questions about writing . . . seeing that he’s a remarkable author whom I wanted to glean from.
He said to me, “If you write something and it doesn’t move you, then throw it in the trash. It’s not going to move anyone else.”

I kept these words firmly in mind when I wrote God’s Favorite Place on Earth. A good bit of that book is in delete-land. I hope that what remained moves others.

During the course of our conversation, I also asked Manning about his photographic memory. It was a gift. He said all he had to do was read something once or twice and he could recite it.
Amazing! I saw him do just that when I heard him speak in his two sessions during that conference.

I found Manning to be a very humble man with a large heart, an incredible story that magnifies God’s grace in the midst of human frailty and fallenness (which we all share), and an amazing gift for writing and speaking.

Brennan Manning knew grace, he lived grace, and he taught grace . . . even in his last day of blindness and weakness.

I’m privileged to have met this giant in the faith. And I shall never forget him.