Different perspective on the continual Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Very convicting and eye-opening.
After reading this book my heart was once again grieved about the tiny bits of history and humanity that I truly understand.
It's when I finish books like this, or speak with others with different perspectives on life than I, that I become overwhelmed with 'littleness.' Sometimes I even think -perhaps it is better if I don't know.
But this is where the great mystery of life lies...in books, people and relationships.
I am so thankful that the Lord has given me opportunities to meet the people I have met and travel to the places I have seen. What a true honor to meet and hopefully serve/enjoy fellow mankind. So many times I want to hug the disgruntled man/woman walking down the street(there are many in DC). I want them to understand their worth. (And for my tabloid/lack of good news, so read the horrible news junkies- I think The First Lady's sweet shoulder embrace to the Queen mum was fantastic! Way to go woman.)
Now I'm rambling- anyways... I am reminded of what Packer writes on living with an eternal perspective in mind-
The everlastingness of this life was spelled out in the vividest possible way by the anonymous benefactor who appended to John Newton's "Amazing Grace" this extra verse:
When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.
I have been writing with enthusiasm, for this everlasting life is something to which I look forward. Why? Not because I am out of love with life here- just the reverse! My life is full of joy, from four sources- knowing God, and people, and the good and pleasant things that God and men under God have created, and doing things which are worthwhile for God or others, or for myself as God's man. But my reach exceeds my grasp. My relationships with God and others are never as rich and full as I want them to be, and I am always finding more than I thought was there in great music, great verse, great books, great lives, and the great kaleidoscope of the natural order.
As I get older, I find that I appreciate God, and people, and good and lovely and noble things, more and more intensely; so it is pure delight to think that this enjoyment will continue and increase in some form (what form, God knows, and I am content to wait and see), literally forever. Christians inherit in fact the destiny which fairy tales envisage in fancy: we(yes, you and I, the silly saved sinners) live, and live happily, and by God's endless mercy will live happily ever after.
We cannot visualize heaven's life, and the wise man will not try. Instead, he will dwell on the doctrine of heaven, which is that there the redeemed find all their heart's desire: joy with their Lord, joy with his people, and joy in the ending of all frustration and distress and supply of all wants. What was said to the child- "If you want sweets and hamsters in heaven, they'll be there"- was not an evasion, but a witness to the truth that in heaven no felt needs or longings go unsatisfied. What our wants will actually be, however, we hardly know, save that the first and foremost we shall want to be "always...with the Lord" -1 Thessalonians 4:17.
Often now we say in moments of great enjoyment, "I don't want this ever to stop"- but it does. Heaven, however, is different. May heaven's joys be yours, and mine.
What a writer. Beautifully coined.
Benjamin and Toni were able to visit DC this weekend. It was a brief, but sweet time. We were able to visit the White House Garden's- a tradition which First Lady Pat Nixon began. 
