I hadn’t seen my sister Joy for more than a few minutes the previous Christmas. My wife and our infant son had arrived an hour before she and her family had to leave to spend […]
Tag: Suffering
The King and the chaos that beats us like pounding waves
As a kid, I grew up near Los Angeles in California. The beaches were spectacular and inviting. Every year, I got an equally spectacular sunburn since sunscreen was a fairly new fangled idea at the […]
1 Peter 5
A side note to church leaders. I write to you as a fellow leader, as one who saw firsthand the sufferings of the anointed king of the world, and as one who will get in […]
1 Peter 3
Thinking and acting in the same way, wives don’t fight with your husbands. Not-fighting is the key to “winning.” And the goal here is that unbelieving husbands would be won over. It’s your beautiful and […]
1 Peter 2 (a rendering)
So take a look inside yourselves and toss out everything with a hint of malice, deception, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. All of it. Babies are satisfied by one and only one thing: milk. Be like […]
Where is God when I lose?
My son had been practicing the Mozart piano concerto for three months. He’d put hundreds of hours into it. But when it came time for the competition, he made just a few mistakes. But they […]
The necessary violence of God
I like me the idea of pacifism and especially a nonviolent God. But human pacifism is impossible with a nonviolent God. Too many people have a theology centered on a God who cannot cause pain. […]
Journey with Jesus 5 — Loved into the desert (Mark 1:5-8)
Halfway through the exercise, a thought ran through my mind over and over again: “I don’t need this. Why am I doing this to myself? I hate this. I’m done.” And on that day, I […]
Psalm 69
A rendering of Psalm 69, a David psalm begging God for help and seeking justice as he dodges a crowd of haters.
Psalm 54
A rendering of Psalm 54, a brief David poem from when his back was up against the wall and a seemingly safe hiding place was uncovered by informers, putting him on the run again.
Psalm 22
A rendering of Psalm 22, a prayer in the middle of feeling abandoned by God and yet looking forward to when God comes through and personal praise spills out on everyone else.
Does God break his promises?
Sometimes life comes crashing down around our ears and the very things we were sure God wanted for our lives and for the world lay in rubbled ruin around us. A mission trip long prayed […]
When life slaps us across the face
I need a wake up call every now and then. Not a literal wake up call; I’ve got an alarm on my phone for that. But I need to be awakened from the soul slumber […]
The source of goodness in a world of suffering
Evil abounds. When we look around at the world, it’s easy to ask, “Why is there so much suffering and injustice?” But when we look a bit closer, we find a question hiding beneath the […]
How long, God? The waiting is killing me!
Pain can feel eternal. Suffering slows the clock to a crawl. In the hospital where I work, I see people in deep pain on a regular basis. Physical pain that so fills the senses it’s […]
True fans & true disciples
A friend of mine went to Washington State University and has been a fan of their historically terrible football team ever since. This year, they’re having a remarkably successful season, but that hasn’t been the […]
Where suffering & glory meet
We all know people who tend toward the pessimistic. These gloomy Eeyores are realistic about the hardships of life, but seem to see only obstacles and no opportunities. We also know people who tend toward […]
Honoring politicians we don’t like
“Honor the emperor.” Those three words hang by themselves in 1 Peter 2:17. The verse makes four imperative statements, the first three being pretty run of the mill for the Scriptures, until we get to […]
What pain reveals
I keep finding that I know myself less than I thought I did. I don’t remember who said it first, but our hearts have reasons that reason knows nothing of. And I find that to […]
God thinks you’re more resilient than you do
God has a pretty high view of you. Sure, he knows you’re a sinner. He’s pretty aware of that fact. But he’s also got a pretty high view of what you can handle. He’s fine […]
Pain gives definition to life
I celebrate the anniversaries of friends whose marriage survived the dark and harrowing days after his infidelities were discovered. I celebrate the birthdays of the son of friends whose asthma has almost taken down to […]
Living in a world with teeth
God is not afraid of danger, pain, or death. And he’s not afraid of seeing his loved ones on paths that will lead us through all three. In fact, he guarantees that every one of us […]
Finding the purpose in our suffering
Pain is one of the most personal things any of us ever experiences. Whether physical or emotional, pain has the ability to focus our attention unlike almost any other human experience. This past week, I […]
Welcome to a post-Christian world (it's not as bad as it sounds)
We Westerners live in a post-Christian world. But don’t worry. It’s not what it sounds like. What it means is that Christianity as a cultural force is no longer the power it once was. What […]
Justin Bieber and what it means to believe
A few years ago, Justin Bieber came out with an album called “Believe.” (Yes, I’m writing about the Bieber. He’s made some very interesting comments about his own faith recently and has a new album […]
Get over it!
If you’re an adult, you’ve had experiences where people have said and done hurtful things to you. I have. We all have. They were painful. They were inappropriate. But they’re over. Done. Gone. In the […]
Learning how to be a husband
I’m not a great husband. I’m not the worst, either. Just middling. After 21 years of life together as husband and wife, you’d think that I’d have it figured out. But it’s this same old […]
How to deal with a world hostile to faith
These are tough days to be a Christian. They always have been difficult, and each generation deals with different difficulties in different ways. But the hostility nob is getting turned up and it’s easy to want to […]
God's answer to a broken world
My wife had a great conversation with a friend who was raised without faith. In the conversation, our friend asked my wife a variation on a question that people have been asking ever since the […]
Laughter as liberation
One of the joys of the internet and social media is the many humorous posts and memes and photos and videos that are continually shared online. Laughter is liberating. Laughter liberates the weighed-down soul. It […]