We're going to break point in a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Years ago, in honor of Mother's Day, the late Chuck Col Olson described the devotion, the love, and the faith

of Monica, the mother of St. Augustine.

Here's Chuck Coulson.

A Christian, she was married to a prominent man who wasn't a believer. He was unfaithful and even beat her at times.

Monica's response was to go to church every day and pray for his conversion.

She hoped that by setting a godly example, even in the midst of her mistreatment, she might win him over.

And that's exactly what happened.

The suffering and anguish caused by her husband paled before what Monica's oldest son put her

through. He lived a dissolute life devoted to pleasure.

He left one mistress and took up with another. His only son was born out of wedlock.

His lack of faith and rejection of the Christian truth hurt Monica even more.

He belittled her beliefs and seemed to go out of his way to embrace Christianity's competitors

for the hearts and especially minds of his contemporaries.

He later recalled how his being dead to that faith and spirit

which as he put at my mother had from you, O God,

made her weep.

Still, Monica never gave up.

The greatest preacher of the time, knowing of her prayers and tears for her son, told her that it is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish.

That preacher, Bishop Ambrose of Milan, was right.

...