Category: Suffering

Thinking of Wendy

Heavy hearts bend a soul and the pain of lost love stifles us. Bible verses and lessons-for-life from well-meaning friends won’t help. Grief is much too heavy. So it’s hard to walk, talk, think, or see. Kind words feel like thin plastic. Poetry is hollow. Once rich colors now come in shades of gray. Yet …

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Sound Faith

Why do some people seem to have more faith than others? Are there special keys for spiritual success? Do some believers generate more spiritual determination than others? The question reminds us of the despairing father in Mark 9:23-24 who asked Jesus to rescue his demonized son. When he asked, “If you can do anything…” Jesus …

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Finding Voice

Antwuan Malone is black. He’s a pastor. He loves Jesus. And in an online interview this Friday he asked listeners an important question. Why has the church been so passive—so silent—during the national upheaval of recent days?  I shared the question so his voice was encouraging and stirring. In the welter of angry speeches and …

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Bonhoeffer on Bible Reading

I’m reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s little book, Life Together, on Christian community. He promoted reading the Bible as a whole. It’s something worth noting. He wrote that narrow readings—reflecting on just one or two verses—will always have value. It allows believers to discover the depth available in any part of the Bible. But this approach can’t …

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Encouraged?

Last night I watched the Washington State High School football championship. Our local team won so our crowd was ecstatic: undefeated! Smiles were everywhere. At least on our side of the stadium. Not so much on the other side where their crowd slipped away quietly, many before the game ended. The world is full of …

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It’s all OK

“Nothing is too hard” for God. God reminded Jeremiah of this just after he warned his prophet of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, where Jeremiah lived and ministered (see Jer. 32). And with this warning God also promised a time to come when Jerusalem would again be restored. Then everything would be OK. God, after …

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Disappointed

We’ve all been disappointed. And the source of that disappointment is often a person we trust and care for. Someone we expected would say yes said no. When we waited for a text or phone call it never came. When we offered a tender gift it didn’t draw a “thank you” or even a smile. …

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Waves

We watched the waves start to form over a hundred yards out. Our family visits to the Kailua beach on Oahu where Dad was based in the Air Force were common and we boys got the knack of bodysurfing. The trick was to swim like crazy in the low stage just before the peak of …

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What God has prepared

Paul is blunt: anyone outside the faith is as thick as a brick about God. Without faith no one will ever grasp God’s ways or wisdom. Even if they happen to be otherwise bright and able. Yet once faith comes alive the promise of Isaiah 64:4 is available to all: “‘What no eye has seen, …

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The Branch

Isaiah is a special read in the Advent season. The book offers a spiritual GPS or Satnav in a world with muddled moral maps. It sets out a reassuring bigger picture of life: in the end everyone will get to a proper destination. Amid job losses, Brexit votes, uncertain elections, crumbling social values, broken marriages, …

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