The Blue Man

As Eddie has now died the author begins to describe to us the journey Eddie takes as he travels to heaven. Eddie ends up back at Ruby Pier but it's different, it's back like it was when he was a child. Eddie even feels better, like he had when he was a child, gone are all the aches and pains. Eddie comes across the blue man and is confused because this isn't what he thought his heaven would be like. He's not sure why he's there talking to him. The blue man explains all of this and the process of meeting the 5 people. He also explains that the five people Eddie will meet will help explain his life as they all crossed paths with him before they died whether he realized it or not. Eddie finds his voice to talk to the Blue Man and finds out that Eddie was the one who killed him.

Of course this knowledge causes Eddie to become defensive and confused. The blue man begins to tell Eddie his story and we find that this isn't Eddie's heaven, it's the Blue mans. The blue man tells us the story of what happened that day when he died and the way his and Eddie's story unfolded. Every story can be looked at from more than one angle because always more than one will be affected by every action. Eddie feels terrible and confused as to why he is here finding all this out. The blue man assures him it is because he has a lesson to learn and that each person he meets will be teaching him something. The blue man explains to him that, "There are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." He continues, "Fairness does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would ever die young."

Eddie learns that he was there at the man's funeral but was too young to know or understand what was going on at the time. He wonders what good came from the death of the blue man and it is a very simple answer. He lived. Then the blue man reminds him that the fact that they were strangers does not matter because "Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know." It's time for the blue man to leave and Eddie wants answers as to what happened when he died so that he knows that he saved the girl and his life wasn't a waste. The blue man leaves him with no answers but one more bit of wisdom, "No life is a waste, The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone."

Now I know that this is just an inspirational novel and there is no clear representation of our gospel even though the characters do reference God. But I do feel like these are truths that we need to be reminded about. Remember that God does have a plan, we are all connected as we are all children of God. Even though others may be strangers to us or Christ, we are ambassadors of Christ and must remember to reach out to others. Because no matter what you may feel or think at the moment your life is not a waste nor meant to be, No matter what or where you are, you can always Glorify Christ. I found some discussion questions online at ReadingGroupguides.com and thought I would share them with you below:

- What affect does it have on you when you look at the same story from two different points of view -– The blue man and Eddie's? Can you share any events that you have been involved in that can be viewed entirely differently, from another's point of view? How aware are we of other's experiences of events that happen simultaneously to us and to them? Why?

- Think about what it means that "That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." What does this mean to you when you read it? Why?


I hope you are enjoying or have enjoyed the book thus far. Let us know what you think of the lesson the blue man taught Eddie. Have you ever thought about the way our lives intersect with others so easily?



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