click to view on Amazon I am currently reading the book How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home , by Derek Thomas. It has been an interesting book so far: well written, Biblical, and practical. Today I ran across a quote in the book from John Calvin: (John Calvin, commenting on I Peter 1:11) The Church of Christ has been from the beginning so constituted, that the cross has been the way to victory, and death a passage to life ... The order is to be noticed; he mentions sufferings first, and then adds the glories which are to follow. For he intimates that this order cannot be changed or subverted; afflictions must precede glory. So there is to be understood a twofold truth in these words, -- that Christians must suffer many troubles before they enjoy glory, -- and that afflictions are not evils, because they have glory annexed to them. Even as I type this, my thoughts are, "That is profound. Suffering is a hard truth, not a soft one... But what an important truth!...
Striving to be a Samwise Gamgee in a world of Smeagols.