God tells us that suffering isn’t pointless. We are to rejoice in our sufferings because of the outcomes they will produce: perseverance, character, hope, and the certain expectation that God will make all things right and work all things for our good and his glory.
Because of my daughter Angie’s pending surgery and diagnosis, and because the subjects of trust and trials are all pertinent in my heart right now, I wanted to share some thoughts about how the Lord uses pain and suffering in our lives.
Being a hero is something entirely different than being a celebrity. Fame is one thing. Virtue is another. The two aren't even remotely related. In fact, the more famous you become the harder it is to cultivate and retain virtue. Celebrities are just people with good looks, talent, money, and the ability to draw attention to themselves. Heroes are people who stand courageously for what is right, often against the tide of public opinion, and at great cost to themselves.
Fame is deceptive, isn't it? There's lots of school teachers and nurses and people who work with ...
After seeing my recent post about Francis Schaeffer, my friend Doug Nichols, founder and international director emeritus of Action International Ministries, emailed me this story. To me, given my respect for both men, it's priceless. Thanks for sharing it with us, Doug. And thanks for being the same kind of man Francis Schaeffer showed himself to be the night you met him.
Francis Schaeffer slept here
by Doug Nichols
In 1966 I joined Operation Mobilization for a year of ministry in France, but spent two years in India instead. While in London that summer, at the one-month OM orientation ...
In our last EPM quarterly newsletter I included an excerpt from Alex Harris’s The Myth of Adolescence. I’ve known the Harris family for many years. Gregg and Sono have been used of God to raise extraordinary children. Not just the ones you’ve heard of either, though you’ve likely heard of the oldest, Josh, author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, A New Attitude Toward Romance and Relationships.
“There is a God,” Portland Trailblazer head coach Nate McMillan said when Portland won the NBA draft lottery, giving our city the number one pick. It’s an understatement to say that event dominated news coverage here. Had Philadelphia been vaporized by aliens, it might have made page three.
“There is a God” is a common response to good news these days, so I’m not picking on Coach McMillan. But this expression reflects wrong thinking. The reasoning goes like this: when something happens that we like, it means there is a good God watching over us.
Of course, that ...
I'm the author of over 40 books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. I love Jesus, my wife Nanci, and our daughters, sons and five grandsons!
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