As Tall as Giants in the Presence of Death

While attending college in NYC I was placed within a school assigned fraternity (or "house"). The fraternity is called The House of Dietrich Bonhoeffer; the name comes from the German theologian and Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was put to death while a prisoner within a German concentration camp. He died in 1945 only a few days before the camp was liberated by allied forces.

A couple of days ago I started reading a biography about this man. The title of the book is called Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy written by Eric Metaxas. I have only just finished the first chapter, but already I am fascinated by the young Bonhoeffer and his family. A fiercely intellectual and well educated family whose strength was in their unity, love, respect, encouragement, and determination of the parents to do right by their children. Now in saying this, there was also a respect by the parents of the Bonhoeffer family for Christian ideals past down through Dietrich's mother's lineage.

There is much more that I could talk about regarding the book, but I found myself thinking while reading the book, What is it the Lord has for me? Now that is a general and broad question that I have found myself asking at many stages in my almost 27 years on this earth. Like Bonhoeffer, I was brought up by parents who had a deep respect for Christian ideals, but both my parents also were believers of Jesus Christ and what is said about Him in the New and Old Testament. I have never questioned my belief in God or Jesus. This is a funny statement for me to write because I did not cement my faith in Jesus or in eternity until I was 9 years old, but I have no memory of ever questioning the truth of the Bible even when I was younger than that....

....Actually, that's not entirely true. One time I remember my Sunday School Teacher asking me if I believed Noah could fit two of every animal on the Ark and I said no. But then I was asked, If God created all of the animals, then why could He not get them inside of an ark? I was little and could not answer the question, and realized I only said no because I wanted to be disagreeable.....

This does not mean that I do not get frustrated, angry, or sad with life situations. I think that if we are determined to carry through with the plans God unveils for us at different times in our lives, that even if those plans lead to our eventual martyrdom, we would stand firm in the face of death as Bonhoeffer was known to have before he was hung. This means that even in times of uncertainty regarding what God's plan is for us individually we still continue to seek His face, so that as we continue to walk forward, perhaps with uncertainty, He can still speak to our hearts if we find ourselves heading in the wrong direction.

I need such determination.