Until the Other Side

It was once said of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that he was always, “thinking about thinking.” Being an avid reader now for over two decades, I have a similar feeling about reading and am always adding to my library even as I read great books. You might call it, reading while I read.

Currently, one of those great books in my reading pile is City of God, by Augustine. It is one of those books that the more I invest in it, the more I understand why it has so much influence.

There are times in our life where we may be going through a struggle, and wonder how on earth this could be of any benefit to us. It is only when we stand upon the next mountain, that we truly see how wonderful that moment of grace was.

None of us are made who we are by the easy times in our life, no, we are designed to rest in the weary times. Those incredible victories that some people praise and others disdain us for, those are merely a vapor of the work that has come before.

Sometimes it is evident how much work we have put in, but often it is more glaring how much He worked on us.

Great books, like City of God, remind me of why I love to read, and read while I read - there are people who have gone before me. Their God, is my God, and oh how good He continually shows Himself to be.

Rome was not built in a day, but it did fall in Augustine’s day, and making sense of that historic time, is no small matter.

There was a moment today, where I sat in my chair and marveled at how far Abi and I have come over the past 8 years. Making sense of it all is no small matter, and neither is putting into words the wonder I have for my Father.

Even the wonder I have now, is minute compared to the glory we shall see at the end. I await that, as my family before me did, with my sights set on the City of God.

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