Month: April 2015
MJ Kirby ~ Theodicy Lived Out
April 30, 2015
Our youngest, Duke, was one of these tender branches grafted into the faith that had been nurtured in him from birth.
Duke took the oath he was making seriously.
A week prior our son wrestled with whether or not he was actually ready to make such a hefty proclamation. His reservation? An unanswered (and I would add unanswerable) question that loomed heavy on his fledgling heart…
“Why did God ‘allow’ his brother to die?”
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ Invisible Growth: Because Evil Doesn’t Win
April 29, 2015
Seasoned Christians seem stable because they know the enjoyment of measuring growth – but they don’t depend on those outward signs of success to affirm their character.
MJ Kirby ~ Rewriting the Story
April 27, 2015
So, why do we make this annual trek to mark Jeremy’s birth, death, Christmas, Easter and other special occasions? I guess somehow in the ritual of the rhythm of returning to the grave we find comfort as we remember. We seek closure. We find consistency. We seek to make sense out of a situation that otherwise makes little to no sense.
Claire Matheny ~ Easter: Bonus Material
April 25, 2015
But here at the site of the empty tomb is our leap beyond lip service. When we take up the mantle from Mary and open our mouth to the truth. There is something bursting below the surface. A little seed of germination. This is Easter…we are the outliers who believe that despite all the impossibility of being raised from death that our God did just that.
Michael Smith ~ Staring into Loss: The Tomb
April 23, 2015
Now that light has dawned, one cannot simply stand and look at a symbol of defeat and the past. New life has broken in and we are not allowed to just look; we are invited and commissioned to go and tell.
Matt Douglass ~ Why Animals Need Heaven: God’s Love and the Problem of Animal Suffering
April 22, 2015
It seems, then, that God would not want anything bad to happen in the world, and he certainly has the power to stop them from happening. Yet bad things—unimaginably horrific things—happen every day. Over many centuries, philosophers and theologians have attempted to solve this problem by explaining why God would choose to create a world like ours, where humans and animals frequently endure physical pain and emotional anguish.
Don’t Be Afraid
April 20, 2015
But I do know this. In the midst of uncertainty and danger and fear, they chose not to give into the fear. They chose to do the right thing, even when they were afraid. They chose to trust that God had a plan, even in the midst of human brokenness.
Maxie Dunnam ~ Ministering Angels in a Dark World
April 18, 2015
The promise is not that we would be safe but that we would be faithful. The angel of God does not always spare us from tragedy or troubles, but enables us to look at tragedy troubles through different eyes.
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ In Awe of the Resurrection
April 16, 2015
I’m shaking again, my knees are weak because I don’t know what I’m seeing – lightning with hands and feet? A thousand stars looking at me, blinking? I’m shaking all over, and then the light begins to speak, and it sounds like the voice is coming from the night sky, from the farthest stars, and from right next to me, at the same time.
Maxie Dunnam ~ A Call to Holy Compassion
April 15, 2015
We must be honest about our failures and sins. None of us lives up to the standards our faith demands. But this doesn’t mean we cease wrestling with and proclaiming the Word.