I want answers!

I (annie) am a bibliophile. Reading is one of my favorite things to do and has been as far back as I can remember. I can lose myself in a good story, staying up way to late just to read one more chapter. But as much as I read, not everything deeply affects or changes me. There have certainly been a few times in my life where I have come to the end of a book and have had to pause just to say "wow, that was amazing." Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell), Roots (Alex Haley), East of Eden (John Steinbeck), Tess of the D'urbervilles (Thomas Hardy), and Wives and Daughters (Elizabeth Gaskell) are a few such books I have encountered in my life. Books that have made me think, made me laugh, made me swoon. Books that have changed the way I view the world and which I either have already read more than once or plan to read again. Theology, however, is one area in which my reading has left me feeling a bit incomplete.

I recently finished reading Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright. Dan had been encouraging me to read it for quite awhile before I finally got around to picking it up and now, having finished it five months later I feel as though I am a better person for it. It is a very complex book that deals with some big ideas and issues, all revolving around the idea of heaven and the hope we as christians purport to hold. I do not feel equal to the task of writing a summary of the book so I am not going to do that but I will say that I feel like I got some answers. One of his main ideas is that every good thing we do here on earth helps to build the coming kingdom of God. It matters! And not just in a "do good because Christians are supposed to do good" kind of way. In a "I am a vital member of God's kingdom and the work I do here on earth is important" kind of way. I have struggled for years with not feeling like there were real, solid reasons behind the way I was supposed to live. This gives me hope. I feel like I am a part of something larger than myself and that gives me hope. It might sound kind of silly but it makes me feel more alive, more whole, more purposeful. And so I will keep on keeping on, now with something more solid to keep me motivated.