*Yours truly, and many other viewers, are hooked on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN much watch TV show, “The Book of John Gray.” The dramedy docu-follow hybrid about the life of John Gray and his uniquely humorous way of helping people has been renewed for a second season (and airs Saturdays at 10/9c). Full episodes can be seen at https://www.oprah.com/app/the-book-of-john-gray.html. When the OWN mobile app is downloaded, viewers have access to shows at anytime on any of their mobile devices.
Gray’s distinct dialogue centers not only on the power of prayer and the love of Jesus Christ, but his own failings. Pastor Gray tells his congregation that he has been at death’s door and struggles like many of them. “Throughout the season you will see that I had to take some proactive steps, not only from a medical standpoint, but from a diet, and holistic standpoint,” he says during dinner at The London Hotel in New York.
“In the hospital scene on the show, my blood glucose was 479, which is pre-coma,” continued, “but right now my daily blood glucose to around 98. Things have turned around and I still have a long ways to go. Diabetes is a killer, particularly in the African American community.” He says these things can’t be prayed away but that we must take aggressive action. “God is not going to heal what we can control.”
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However in the case of Pastor Gray’s mother who was once diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and wife Aventer’s mother who had three brain aneurisms, Gray recognized they became walking miracles. “I understand prayer and the power of miracles. We love God and we believe in Jesus. We’ve got a lot to deal with in our community. What Aventer and I were determined to do is show every page in the book, the good and the bad, to show flaws, to show the scars because real life is where miracles happen.”
Aventer, partly responsible for Gray’s medical and professional success, sees their ministry as an ongoing effort, she explained. “We’re not perfect. We’re completely transparent and make it in front of people. I believe that the more we fight for others, the more God meets us on our own struggles. I think that God has chosen a voice in my husband, and I want everyone to know that I’m standing and fighting with him for in the same journey.”
Before leaving the restaurant, Pastor Gray gave us a “nightcap:”
“We all have a purpose. Each of you here has a calling, a gift, a fingerprint that will never be seen again in the history of the planet. Each one of you was chosen I believe and I just happened to be a part of your book. You can use your gift and your platform to bless other people.
“What would happen if we all got on the same page, in the same book at the same time? What if the God who spoke you and spoke me and declared a destiny for each one of us in this room today? So my prayer for each of you is that you live your greatest life, that you fulfill your wildest dream…and be a beacon of hope in a dark and broken time.”
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