hope

Last evening we enjoyed dinner with a group of former young marrieds from a class convened in the early 1980s. In those days one key aim for the class was the development among the couples of authentic and lasting friendships.  The evening provided a glimpse into God's blessing of that intention and the value of it. 

“We will move forward when our hope for the future is greater than our stories of the past.”

There is a pain that is so potent and yet so personal that words fail to describe it.

It's the circumstance whose description will never escape your lips.

You don't talk about it, but it defines you; whether you run from it, attempt to cure it, or try to ignore it.

You've tried doctors, positive thinking, dieting. All of it has failed. Then you've tried isolating (no one understands, anyway), or feigned apathy, or turned to something, anything that would help you forget or at least dull the pain.

Do we have a theology of failure? Not of suffering, but of failure.

We tell one another, "God will work all things out for good." Or, "It wasn't meant to be. God has something else in store for you." And those may be true, but is that all we've got?

For centuries, the sound of a tolling bell has marked that a person has gone to meet his Maker. On this day, the seventh anniversary of the September 11th attacks, it is more than appropriate to remember and honor those who lost their lives in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.