By Sarah May
Sarah May is working with Camp to collect stories and memories of the Camp Arcadia experience all season long. She has seen that everyone has a Camp story to tell – no matter whether they’re a generational guest or a first-time camper! Sarah lives in Arcadia, MI, with her husband Chip and their three children.
The Big Relief, written by David Zahl, director of Mockingbird Ministries, and Camp Arcadia Dean, is a must-read book. Zahl gives us a fresh and inviting way to understand the incongruity of God’s love for us. He writes, “Grace is one-way love. Grace is a gift with no strings attached. It is noncontingent, a compassionate alliance, unmerited favor, sacrificial love that seeks a person out at their most unlovable.”
His emphasis on grace permeates throughout the book’s nine chapters, providing readers with powerful illustrations of what grace means to us in modern life. He moves us emotionally by revealing our innermost fears, struggles, and weariness. Zahl structures the book by connecting our need for relief with what God offers. For instance, he equates forgiveness with the relief from regret and imputation with the relief from status anxiety.
According to Zahl, this book represents a culmination of years of gathering stories and illustrations about grace. He draws from a wide range of sources and topics, including sports, movies, documentaries, and music. “I selected the stories that had broken through and achieved a deeper resonance across demographics because I wanted the message to sing as loudly as it can,” comments Zahl.
Chip May, executive director, reflects, “For me, I think I had become too comfortable with the concept of grace, and it had lost its transformative power. Through fascinating stories and popular culture references, Zahl helps clarify and define what grace is and what it is not. He gives us keen insights into God’s radical love for us. By reading The Big Relief, I have come to understand that grace is a well of life-giving water I need to return to over and over again.”
Zahl recounts a powerful story of forgiveness from Rwanda. He tells how a widow offered forgiveness to the young man who had murdered her family during the genocide. He explains how they have developed a close relationship and now rely on each other daily like family.
“Reading about their relationship brings tears to my eyes. I need to hear such stories, not only because they put my own grievances into perspective but because they testify that there is nowhere the Big Relief cannot reach, no damage so deep or ghastly it cannot be healed. Such stories inspire hope. They suggest that no matter who we are or what we’ve done – or what’s been done to us – we need not be defined by the worst day of our lives. Forgiveness may be a miracle, but that doesn’t mean it’s unavailable,” writes Zahl (p.31).
The Big Relief is a rare, deeply Christian book written for a general audience. It balances being theologoically substantial and easily approachable regardless of your background. Zahl explains, “I’m writing to both Christians and those curious about the faith. While I hope this book encourages Christians and deepens their faith, I am also always thinking of the rest of the world. How can I present the concept of God’s grace in a compelling way to all?”
He continues, “In everything I do with Mockingbird Ministeries and these books, I hope to shift the picture of Christianity in our culture from oppressive and judgmental to one that aligns with my actual experience of it, which is needy people finding grace and forgiveness.”
While we live in this “worn-out world,” The Big Relief reminds us of the life-giving hope we have received in Christ. We are recipients of the greatest of all gifts, which is undoubtedly the relief we so desperately need. God’s grace frees us from guilt, rescues us from sin, and grants us the true rest we seek. Let’s keep sharing this story again and again.
Order your copy of The Big Relief here.
Learn more about Mockingbird Ministries at https://mbird.com/.
