"Almost Already" by Jonathan Tony

 


Insecurities and failures are immune to no man. While those may indeed be fun things that no one wants to talk about, it is exactly what we need to be talking about. We're all on this Christian journey wanting to make the most of it for ourselves, our families, and for the glory of our Savior - and yet we all sometimes get mired in discouragement, run into closed doors, or flat-out make stupid mistakes because we're human. 

Jonathan Tony invites readers into an honest discussion with vulnerability, humor, and Biblical wisdom. There's a lot of great stuff here, guys. I kept highlighting passage after passage because it was either relatably funny or sharply insightful, and I've found myself talking about this book with many different people over the past couple weeks. I couldn't believe how applicable it felt to right where we all live - the daily choices to keep on going even when it seems like all we're doing is spinning our wheels.

I liked that there were plenty of pop cultural references sprinkled throughout the book, bringing needed levity into such a soul-deep topic. Here's an example from Chapter 2 that really made me chuckle: "I started thinking the movie 27 Dresses was written about my life. I'd never seen it, but I assumed she died alone in a bunk bed and still owed about $15,000 in student loans." Each chapter starts off with a quote from a movie or TV show to set the tone, and this lighter content flows seamlessly with the weightier ongoing discussion.

I appreciated that the author used a lot of Biblical examples and brought these stories home in new ways. Some were familiar, like Hannah or Naaman. Others, like Amaziah, are not in the regular Sunday School rotation. Here's a great observation about Joseph: "We all want to be [Genesis] Chapter 41 Joseph. We want to be standing on top victorious, but we wouldn't have had the Joseph of Chapter 41 without the Joseph of Chapters 37-40" (Chapter 9). God shows up in varied and unexpected ways all throughout the lives of these Bible characters, just as He does in our lives. His ways are so far beyond ours.

This is a book I would recommend to everyone who has ever had questions or hit a snag in life. In other words, I'd recommend it to everyone! We're all trying and failing, being hard on ourselves, and occasionally growing frustrated. But we're not alone and we are not helpless. As Jonathan says in Chapter 5, "If we can learn to accept the reality of God's grace in our weaknesses, we can then learn to give ourselves grace, too." May there be much grace to fill our days as we keep trusting the Lord one step at a time!

I received my copy of this book from the author. All opinions in this review are my own.