If Jesus doesn’t miraculously fix our problem, He will ugly cry with us through our problem. Or, he may do both: miraculously fix and ugly cry. The scene in John 11 of Jesus and His friends dealing with the death of their friend Lazarus gives us great insight into the question “Where is God?” when we find ourselves in the middle … [Read more...]
Vlog: Expectations and Breaking Up with God
Many relationship problems can be traced back to incongruent expectations. The same can be said regarding a relationship with God. We expect certain things from an all-powerful, all-loving God. And if God doesn't meet our expectations, we break up. But as a scene in Acts 12 shows us, we may be ascribing the wrong expectations to … [Read more...]
Questions of God’s Goodness
Hurricane destruction, like that of other natural disasters, starkly displays the conundrum that we live in with regard to bad things happening under the watch of a good God. One family prays for preservation and rescue and is preserved and saved. God is good! Another family, maybe even next door, prays the same … [Read more...]
Exploring Loss and Suffering with Teens
Today’s teens experience loss in varied shapes and sizes: loss of innocence, loss of security, loss of dreams, as well as daily frustration losses like loss of homework, loss of phone, loss of friendships. And all too many teens face the ultimate loss through the death of classmates, friends, and parents. In my own work as a … [Read more...]
God’s Presence is a Present
It’s an unlikely moment from a power-hungry pagan king, a moment that gives us great insight into the very nature of God and into long-asked questions about suffering. We’re all familiar with the story in the book of Daniel of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—the “three Hebrew children”—as they’ve come to be known. … [Read more...]
Nose to Nose with Evil…Again!
What is our fallen world’s greatest manifestation of evil? Is it a school shooter pathologically pulling a trigger while aiming at defenseless, innocent students as we’ve just witnessed in Parkland, Florida, and in way-too-many other schools? Is it a ruthless dictator acting out his personal ethnic or … [Read more...]