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Gary Thomas is fast becoming my favorite Christian author (behind C.S. Lewis.) I am convinced that decades and perhaps centuries from now, people are going to consider Thomas one of the greatest authors of our time and his books will probably still be widely read and appreciated then. I am struck by the enormous truth and wisdom contained in the pages of his books. He thinks of things I had not considered before- deep, profound, important things. And he writes about them in a way that is easy to understand and challenges me to be more holy. I started with Sacred Marriage. Then I read Sacred Parenting. I highly recommend those two books. They are not manuals for building better marriages or relationships with one's children. Instead, they focus on how those human relationships can impact our relationship with God. There are so many truths and disciplines that we can learn and practice through our earthly relationships that cause us to be more holy, more like God. But the added benefit is that these books did inspire me to improve my earthly relationships too, indirectly.
Today I started reading my third Thomas book: Seeking the Face of God. I can already tell just a couple of chapters into it, that this book is going to challenge me yet again. The subtitle reads: The path to a more intimate relationship. Here is one quote I read today that has really got me thinking. The author is talking about balance in our spiritual lives (mostly between law and grace) and then he goes on to talk about the balance between work and rest.

"The problem with so many of us is that we don't labor during the six days and we don't rest during the seventh. We live in the gray wasteland of killing time, which is neither restful or productive. Thus we feel unable to keep one day devoted to rest because we failed to fill the previous six days with work."

This is the perfect example of something I know deep down, but rarely, if ever, think about. Then, when I see it presented so clearly, it has a way of shocking and motivating me to do better. All his books are full of these kinds of moments for me. His books help raise me out of complacency and instill a desire (and often practical means as well) to do life differently. They are full of Biblical references, and I really can't say enough wonderful things about them. Pick up a Gary Thomas book sometime- I bet it will make an impact.