Me Tarzan. You Jane.

Some years ago my friend, Tracy, was working with children as a volunteer in the Bronx.  One day, she opened her storybook Bible to read to the children about the creation.  She showed her little audience the colorful picture of Adam and Eve and asked: “Do you know who these people are?”  One little boy proudly replied:  “Tarzan and Jane!”

            Smile. 

            I’ve grown up in the church so the creation story is not new to me.  It is, in fact, more familiar than the legend of Tarzan, the “ape man” and his leading lady, Jane.  Until recently, I took for granted the basic facts…

God created the whole world in seven days. 

He made Adam, and then He made Eve. 

He made Adam and Eve “in His image”. 

Yada…yada…yada… 

            What a tragic impact this cursory understanding has had on my walk with God, on my marriage and my family.  Ok.  “Tragic” might be a little strong, but it is such a testimony of His grace that the Spirit has peeled away the hardness of my heart and opened my eyes to the brilliant and stunning details of this creation account, particularly as it relates to the pinnacle of His creation:  people.  I could wax eloquently about this for pages and pages, but I’ll spare you the details and just give you a preview.

“God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them…Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”[1]

These 31 words articulate a few fundamental principles that together create the layers of beauty that is the story of creation.  They are, however, a "hot topic" in the Church today.  Pause here for just a minute:

God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him…

            I mean, seriously.  That statement in itself is sufficient to baffle great theologians. My grandson is the spitting image of his dad.  It’s actually a little uncanny.  Micah looks just.  Like.  Milas.  Milas fathered a son in his own likeness.  It’s a paltry comparison (really cute, but paltry), but it’s what we have. 

God fathered children in His own likeness. 

We image Him. 

Not exactly. 

Not perfectly. 

But uniquely …

no other created being boasts such design status.

            Interestingly, however, it is not our divine image-bearing that is the basis for debate.  While perhaps uncertain of the depth of its meaning we are, for the most part, agreeable to this character description. 

Instead, our angst becomes apparent with the peculiarity of male and female, the distinction made here just 27 verses into what would become a sixty-six book narrative.   Just the mention that Scripture makes a gender distinction here is enough to shut down a discussion. 

And I mean crickets shut down. 

            Why?  What makes us so uncomfortable?  What is so radical about the idea of our being created in the image of God -- male and female?  What makes us such a hostile audience when this subject is raised?

Maybe, in part, it’s because the Church’s history is fraught with our own failure
to honor women as having been
created equally with their brothers in the image of God.

Sadly, we have often trampled the dignity of women and marginalized their gifts.  We have dismissed their fears and concerns and treated them with some level of condescension.[2]  But the idea that men are more valuable to Him and that women are somehow inferior is unequivocally unbiblical.  The male superiority and dominance that have plagued the Church are not and never have been the character and nature of God’s design for gender.

            This is a detail of the account of creation that we must not miss: 

God created all people, men and women, equal in His image. 

God created humanity, male and female, equal in His image. 

Equal in importance. 

Equal in personhood. 

Equal in worth. 

           Any discussion of gender that is biblical must begin with this truth: God created men and women equally in His image.  The New Testament affirms this equality in image-bearing and value.  The Holy Spirit is given to both men and women[3].  Baptism is offered to men and women as is church membership[4].  Spiritual gifts are given to both men and women equally[5].

            Because God created us together in His image, men and women can be assured that we are equally important to God.  The Church must set the pace here.  We must promote the value of all of God’s people, irrespective of gender, race, heritage, or socio-economic status.  Whatever we do, in whatever direction our thinking leads, we must not ignore this truth:  God created all people, men and women, equal in His image.

            It is not as simple as “Me, Tarzan.  You, Jane.”  But the extraordinary plan of God for His people is worthy of our careful and thoughtful contemplation.  What a marvelous truth penned as a prelude to God’s redemptive story:  God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.  It is a tragedy to lose the spectacle in familiarity or to dismiss it because we're uncomfortable.  May it not be so. 

 

           

 

 

           

 

 

Note:  This is the fourth installment in a series                

 

---

[1] Genesis 1:27 & 2:26

[2] This is a generalization of the history of the church.  It is not a sweeping statement that encompasses every individual church and its leadership.  I recognize that many churches and churchmen have worked hard to honor women, but this is not our collective historical story.

[3] Acts 2:17-18

[4] Acts 2:41

[5] 1 Corinthians 12:7 and Ephesians 4:7

It's a Boy!!!

Grandchildren.  Hands down, the best thing about “growing old"!  Can I get an amen??

 

Our first grandson is just over a year old, and we’re expecting grandson number two in mid-September.  Baby Jack was showered this weekend by dozens of family members and friends with more gifts than he will ever receive on this side of his mom’s tummy.  While he was given lots of practical things…like a crib mattress, stroller, car seat, and a diaper pail…the really fun stuff were the tiny little outfits, shoes, and hats that celebrate his miniature manhood.  From football jerseys to shark swimmies, no one will mistake this little fella for a girl!

Our kids, both of them, made the now sort of routine decision to find out the gender of their baby.  I was a little ambivalent, since for so many years (like thousands) families had babies without this information and it seemed to me that the mystery was part of the fun.  However, I have to admit that it has been so sweet to call these boys by their names from before we actually held them in our arms and we have had so much fun preparing for their arrival with boy stuff.  

 

That said, I have been thinking this weekend about how odd it is that the generation so enamored with discovering, preparing for and celebrating the gender of their babies while still in their mommies womb is the same generation clamoring for our culture to stop insisting on gender identification.  Isn’t that weird?   

Recent headlines have announced the increasing demand for gender-neutral restrooms (there’s one in the White House) and locker rooms.  Sweden has adopted a gender-neutral pronoun.  And the University of Vermont is now recognizing a third gender:  neutral.  Over the weekend, I noticed among the posts and pictures about the lives of my friends and family on Facebook an illustration of a woman with this “thought bubble” above her head: 

“The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be

rather than recognizing how we are.”

What?!?!  This from the young people spending millions of dollars on elaborate “gender reveal” parties that include secretly colored baked goods, or sealed boxes of pink or blue balloons, or some equally creative means to announce the gender of the as-yet-to-be-born baby.  Couples then register for gender-specific clothes, design nursery décor with gender in mind, and agonize over a name (or two) for their little prince or princess.  Honestly, I’m scratching my head. 

 

Never in our history has so much been made of the issue of gender.  And, while I’m not exactly sure what she means, to whatever degree the lady with the bubble articulates the direction we’re headed, we’re on a pathway that leads not to freedom, but to destruction.

It should go without saying that the gender “idea” began in the mind of God, the only Being who actually possesses the power to create whatever His will determines. 

 

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him; male and female he created them.” [1] 

 

The audacity, therefore, to even articulate a thought that begins with “the problem with gender” demonstrates both an ignorance and a willfulness that is worrisome as I think about the future for my grandsons.

There are (at least) two equally challenging issues before us as Christ-followers.  The first is that we must rediscover (or discover for the first time!) the glory of God’s plan for gender.  This was not an afterthought on His part, a casual slap of paint on the canvas of creation.  People were created by God in His image – male and female.  That statement is stunning in its significance.  We’ve heard the details over and over from the days of picture books and coloring pages to felt boards and “Bob and Larry’s Creation Vacation”[2], but I’m afraid we’ve lost the marvel and power of this incredible act of grace at the hand of the Creator of the Universe.  How will we, as a church, recover the joy-filled, God-glorifying, hope-inspiring plan of the Father for male and female if all we know of that plan is relegated to caricatures and stick figures?   How will we “recognize how we are” without digging deep into the heart and mind of God through His Word?

Second, and perhaps more sobering, is that we must examine our own hearts to identify the willfulness and self-rule that entertains (aka “likes” on Facebook!) such a thought that begins with the words:  “The problem with gender…”   Those four words, strung together as they are here, are a powder-keg of rebellion because the suggestion is that

God made a mistake.

               That His plan was flawed. 

                               That the creation is better, wiser, more clever than the Creator. 

So we make our own way.  Choose our own path.   Live independently.  This is, after all, the American way.  (Cue the Battle Hymn of the Republic.)

 

Except that several thousand years ago another woman had a similar thought to the one that appeared on my Facebook feed.  Picture Eve as she is depicted in the first few verses of Genesis 3.  With the beautiful but deadly serpent in the background, the “thought bubble” above her head reads:  “The problem with God’s plan…”

Turns out we’re not terribly original.  Sigh.

For this evening, I’m clinging to the last few verses of Genesis 3 --- the Gospel verses where Jesus defeats that lying enemy[3] --- as I enthusiastically and without reserve declare:  Yup…it’s a boy!   Anybody got a problem with that?   J

 

---

[1] Genesis 1:27

[2] A Veggie Tales “I Can Read” book – Bob & Larry take a seven day tour of God’s creation

[3] Genesis 3:15!

My Voice has an Echo

So, now you know the not-so-lovely side of me*.  My struggle --- just what exactly is godly womanhood and what does that look like for me? – has been costly.  To me, personally.  To my gracious and patient husband.  To our kids and, to some degree, their spouses. 

But the issue of disdain for men, of prideful independence, of haughty condescension is not a singularly personal matter. I have read dozens of books on the subject of what it means to be a godly woman, and while I’ve learned a great deal, I’ve been surprised by the disregard of many Christian authors for their husbands and brothers --- for the male species in general.  One such book came across my desk recently and within the first twenty pages I had highlighted four sarcastic, condescending (presumably funny?) quips about the laziness, stupidity, and general “cluelessness” of men. I did not finish the book.

 Just a cursory glance at Facebook offers plenty of examples of women who are quick to mock and/or criticize their husbands.  Status remarks like:  “I sent Mike[1] to the store for whipping cream and he actually came home with Cool Whip.  This is why it is easier to do everything ourselves.”  Followed by these comments:  “Actually, I think that’s why they do it.  So we will stop asking them to do things”, and “The truth is that I doubt they know the difference.  So why bother.”  Ugh.

One episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond” reveals its title as a misnomer.  Ray, whom “everybody loves,” is repeatedly typecast as an unthinking, unfeeling, disengaged, television-watching, sports-loving mama’s boy.  Deborah, his wife, is smarter, kinder, more savvy and productive.  She corrects him, condescends to him, and dismisses him in every episode.  If Deborah’s relationship with Ray is “love,” it’s no wonder this generation is slow to marry.

These examples are not meant to cast dispersion on the “world out there”.  To quote Susan Hunt in her book The True Woman, “I don’t mean to stand in judgment of others.  What is so terrifying is that too often this is my voice.”[2] Deborah’s disdain for Ray too often mirrors my own – for my husband, my brothers, our pastors, for men in general.  

Unfortunately, however, the voice that emanates from my wicked heart has an echo that reverberates throughout our culture in ways that are far more worrisome than snide facebook commentary or sarcastic sitcom humor.  And while it’s easy to spot the dramatic consequences of our collective gender rebellion – such as the recent decision of our Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage - the more subtle but equally disastrous effects can be seen in our judicial, economic, educational, and even our healthcare systems.

The ramification of my own failure and disdain as a woman for the men in my life is not strictly "personal".  It echoes the moral sin of our nation -- sin whose influence has had dramatic impact on almost every area of our lives.

If you are skeptical, take this challenge:  watch one hour of news (local or “world”), or read a popular magazine, see what’s trending on twitter, or watch one hour of primetime television.  Ask yourself:  how has the demand for gender equality and uniformity influenced what I am reading/watching?

Do you hear the echo...echo...echo...?

 

 

* NOTE:  This is the second installment in a series

---

[1] This is a fictitious name

[2] The True Woman, Susan Hunt, p. 50/51

 

Away in a Manger. In July.

I have had the distinct privilege of enjoying more than thirty years with the same man.  Our children are married with children of their own (almost…our second grandchild is coming soon!).  We have had a good marriage.  Chas and I have enjoyed our years together.  He is a great dad and a fully-committed husband who is probably my biggest fan.  He has been “for” me over all of these years and has contributed to my effective ministry in ways that I cannot begin to define.  He is steady and faithful and funny.  He has been a formative influence on both of our children, on my own brothers, and on many other young men who have worked with him over the years.  I am forever grateful for the gift of our life together.

But our story, like most I suppose, is not without its disappointment.

Several days before Christmas, our little family gathered around the advent wreath to hear from God’s word and light the candle.  My then two-year old, Hannah, while enamored by the ritual, had no idea of its significance.  She stood on a chair between her daddy and me, with her arms around us for both balance and affection.  My husband read the little devotion for the night, and then read the Scripture.  Following the instructions, Chas encouraged us to sing “Away in a Manger” together.  Hannah loved to sing, so we launched into the first verse.

                “Away in a manager, no crib for a bed.  The little Lord Jesus, lay down his sweet head….”

                Now maybe this doesn’t happen to you, and I’m certain it reveals my own immaturity, but sometimes, when I feel awkward, my instinctive reaction is to laugh.  You can see where this is going.  For some reason, our little family standing there singing “Away in a Manger” in the quiet of our living room made me feel awkward.  And I laughed.  Ugh.

                My sweet husband, with no hint of the irritation that I’m sure he felt, responded:  “Well, that’s the last time I will do that.”

                And it was.  Chas never led devotions for our family again.

                As I reflect on that evening, I realize that my reaction to that scene was really just a nervous response.  However, even if unintentionally, in that moment I robbed my husband of his rightful place as the leader of our home.  My presumed disdain (it wasn’t actually disdain…but that’s how he felt) stole his confidence and the respect that he deserved.  And that moment informed what was to be the next 25+ years of our marriage.

                While not exactly an earth-shattering scenario, my response to that scene has characterized much of my life as a wife and mother...and that makes me incredibly sad.  Over the years, I became increasingly independent.  I had my own friends and pursued my personal agenda, rarely consulting my husband except on details that might impact his schedule.  I excluded Chas from the spiritual nurture of our children.  I never asked his opinion about spiritual matters nor did I encourage him in his faith journey.

I’m not exactly sure how this happened.  It’s not as if I set out to take over, to “lead” our family in any way, to be self-sufficient.  It just seemed to work.  Serving in children's ministry, I had training.  Chas did not.  I read all the child-rearing, marriage books.  (Apparently not the right books.) Chas did not. I was the family expert.  The marriage expert.  The spiritual expert.  And he was busy.  So I just sort of took over.  And it worked.  After a fashion, and for a while.

                You already know that our family is flourishing; our marriage is intact.  So this story has a happy ending.  By His marvelous grace, God has gradually and faithfully revealed the effect of my failure that December evening and the intervening years.  Our children are grown now, and interestingly, it has largely been their journey that has informed my faith in this arena.  Their honest questions as they navigate their own relationships, together with the convicting presence of the Holy Spirit, have peeled away layers of my self-promoting and self-preserving womanhood.  What I found, to my dismay, was a desperately wicked heart in need of transformation.  I had an uninformed perspective of feminine godliness and, perhaps more importantly, a basic disconnect between my thinking faith and my practical life.

                My ignorance was not due to lack of training.  My mother raised six children in a home characterized by her own walk with God and her love for my dad.  She was not Mother Teresa, and her marriage to my father was not perfect.  But my mom loved Jesus and her life was a visible demonstration of her commitment to Christ, to the church and to her family.  Mom’s example of godliness was not lost on me; her life was rooted in a strong foundation of Scripture and her confidence in God’s person and work was evident in every season of her life.  When my father went to be with the Lord at the age of 64, my mother’s faith sustained her and helped her to go on to a full and effective life. However, even in the shadow of my mother’s godliness, I did not have much knowledge about what it means to be a godly woman.  While I watched my mother closely over the years, and aspired to be like her in many ways, her godly womanhood somehow missed me completely. 

During different seasons of my life, I have studied passages about godly womanhood:  Proverbs 31, Ephesians 5, 1 Peter 3, 1 Timothy 2 (not my favorite).  If asked, I would have affirmed godly womanhood as a “good goal” for sanctification.  I would have offered a list, or a profile, of what a godly woman should be.  The profile would include (but not be limited to) the following:

Submissive

Respectful

Quiet

Gentle

Some lesser qualities might include serving, hospitable, not-distracted-by-outward-appearance, and not given to gossip.  Even as I read that list now, I smile on the inside because I know that person is so not me.  Who was I kidding?

What I did not know is that these texts, considered without the context of the whole counsel of Scripture and adjunct to my relationship to Christ, led me to isolated applications that were oriented to fixing my “behavior” rather than transforming my heart and mind.  Should I be submissive, respectful, quiet, and gentle?  Clearly.  But 1) I did not realize that my list fell woefully short of God’s plan for womanhood and 2) I did not understand that my strategies to become that woman routinely failed after only a few days (or hours) because they were not connected to my faith.

My uninformed perspective of feminine godliness needed a good dose of Biblical reality laced heavily with grace.  God’s design for gender is much bigger, much more significant, much richer and deeper than a list of things for me to do.  His vision for what it means to be a woman who is His disciple and friend is not just about changing my behavior.  It is about Jesus -- the One who came as a baby in a manger --- changing me.

                More to come on this topic.  Stay tuned…

On digital alarm clocks and wake-up calls (Mark 14)

Remember the digital alarm clock? When I was in high school, its annoying BEEP-BEEP-BEEP was the dreaded signal that started my day.  We had a “radio” setting, but I tended to ignore that --- or sing to it in my sleep.  (Think K.C. & the Sunshine Band.)  Today, the digital alarm clock has thankfully been replaced by the alarm app on my phone, and I can awaken to the pleasant sound of “fog on the water”, “gentle spring rain”, or “midnight picnic”.

In my somewhat distant history, on a mission trip to Romania, I was introduced to nature’s alarm: the crowing rooster.  Not my favorite.  You don’t get to tell the rooster what time you’d like to be aroused from your jet-lagged sleep.  No sir.  The rooster crows just before the sun rises.  Literally.  It’s dark.  And he doesn’t quit until breakfast is served.  Ugh.  Not crazy about the unsolicited wake-up call.

The rooster turns up in the Gospel this week.  Mark 14.  The story of Peter’s denial of Jesus puts the rooster center-stage.  Well, at least “left-of-center.”  It was, for the Apostle, a monumental wake-up call.  (If you have not read the story, take a minute and read Mark 14!)

Hundreds, if not thousands of sermons have been written on this scene.  It is described in each of the four Gospels, which gives it a certain amount of import.  There is, obviously, much to be learned here.  Let’s focus on the rooster.

In a nutshell, here’s what happened:

·         Jesus had warned Peter that he would deny their association three times before the rooster crowed twice. 

·         Peter scoffed at His prediction, strongly declaring his allegiance to His friend. 

·         After the arrest of the Savior, Peter followed the crowd to the courtyard of the High Priest, where Jesus would be on trial. 

·         While the trial was going on, Peter did, indeed, vehemently dispute any association with the accused (Jesus). 

·         The rooster crowed once after his first denial. 

·         And again, after the third time that Peter renounced Jesus.

The crow of that rooster must have resonated as loudly in Peter’s ear as if he were standing in the bell tower of a church steeple.  For a moment, time stood still as the reality of his failure hit Peter.  One can only imagine the shame and disgrace that washed over him as he considered his treachery.

What is remarkable about the crowing of that rooster is that even the animals open their mouths (beaks?) at the command of the Sovereign King of the universe.  That particular rooster, far from signaling the rising of the sun, signaled a watershed moment in the life of the Apostle.  It was the ultimate wake-up call.

Two things happened simultaneously with the rooster’s crow:

1) Peter felt the weight of his sin…he recognized the seed of wickedness in his own soul.  For months, years, Jesus had been teaching, admonishing, illustrating, warning.  Peter did not get it.  Only his desperate failure would expose the sinfulness of his sin, beginning the transformation that would remake this hot-headed, prideful boor into the great Apostle on whom the church of Christ would be built.

2) At the very moment of the second “crow”, Jesus was being escorted through the courtyard.  At that moment.  Who made the rooster crow?  The Sovereign King who moves the vast machine of the universe for His own purpose and glory, and for our eternal good.  King Jesus, the unlikely Hero of this story, was being led as a captive through the courtyard. When the rooster crowed, He lifted His head and looked directly into the eyes of His failing friend.

This was not “the look” that a disapproving father gives to his wayward son across the dinner table.  It was not a look of reproach.  Or anger.  Or condemnation.

It was a look of compassion and mercy.  In that moment, Jesus forgave Peter…and Peter knew it.  It was this look that would forever mark Peter’s life and ministry.  Having faced the wickedness of his own soul, Peter remembered the Lord’s words and turned to Him.  Despairing of self, he found hope in Christ.

Read the story.  Peter is a different man going forward.

That rooster.  You have to wonder if, forever afterward, when Peter heard the unsolicited wake-up call of the crowing rooster…if he silently rehearsed his eternal gratitude for that blessed early morning remembrance.  The crowing rooster would ensure that Peter would never forget the unfailing faithfulness of the Savior.

It’s worth asking ourselves: is the rooster crowing?  As we consider this Sovereign King who moves the vast machine of the universe for His own glory and purpose, how is He using the circumstances of our lives…desperate, heartbreaking, disappointing, painful or blessed, peaceful and full of joy…to transform us into a more glorious likeness of His Son?  Pay attention.  Even the unsolicited wake-up call is for our good. Amen?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Garden and Peaceful Death

       He began to be greatly distressed and troubled.  It is rare that we are told of Jesus’ inner attitude toward His circumstance.  The Gospel writers only sparingly refer to how Jesus felt about what was happening around Him.  Here, however, it seems as if the whole being of the Savior was profoundly shaken. 

Why?  What caused His great distress?  Why was He so troubled?

        Was it the understandable fright of facing a horrific death?  We don’t think so.  He knew that He was going to die.  He had said so repeatedly to the disciples and, to this point, He was confident and calm.  What was it that caused Jesus such sorrow that He literally fell down under the weight of it?

        We get a glimpse into the source of the Savior’s dread from v. 36: “Abba Father, all things are possible for you.  Remove this cup from me.”  “The cup” in Hebrew literature represented, not just physical torture and death, but the two-fold threat of the unutterable weight of the sin of the world and the unleashing of divine justice poured out on injustice*.  The Savior’s agony exposed in Gethsemene was the dismay of being smothered by sin and separated from His Father.

       Jesus was about to be exposed to the one thing in life he feared, to the point of being “very sorrowful even to death”: 

              the indescribable experience of being “God-forsaken”

        In the face of such an excruciating end, Jesus begged His Father for relief. But His desperate prayer found its conclusion with these words:

 Yet not what I will, but what you will.

        This is the ultimate expression of the humanity of Christ in submission to the Divine.  Every fiber in His body wrestled against the pouring out of wrath that would separate Him from His Father.  The weight of that reality was too much for Him to bear, causing Him to fall down.

       AND YET He became sin.  Mortifying His own desire, the Savior’s submission to the will of the Father demonstrates a degree of perfection that is without equal. It is hard to imagine, this submission to be overcome by sin and suffer the wrath of God. But the covenant of redemption would demand this ultimate sacrifice -- that the Savior would drink of this cup, and drink it to the dregs.  "He will drink it now, and He will drink it to the full, and He will do His Father's will...He will pay the ransom price to set us free." (Thomas)

        The temptation is to consider this scene and to be overwhelmed with gratitude that is tender and genuine but not transforming.  The submission demonstrated by Jesus is not on display simply for our admiration.  Such submission is the sacred duty of all Kingdom-dwellers.  It promises our ultimate peace and lasting joy as the Father is glorified.  J.C. Ryle describes our imitation of the Savior as we

 learn to take patiently whatever God sends

       grow to like what He likes

              to long for the things that He desires

              to forego ease, if He chooses to send hardship

                   to prefer pain, if it pleases Him to send it.

       This principle informs a biblical consideration of the recent suicide of Brittany Maynard, the young woman who --- dying from a brain tumor --- made the decision to die “peacefully” in her own time, and in her own way.  Without mitigating the heartache and horror of a slow and painful death at the mercy of cancer, it is imperative that the will of God, however difficult, not be set aside.  We, like Christ, must learn to “know no will but His” (Ryle). 

        We must be very careful that we exercise our "freedom" in the context of God's sovereignty and His dominion in our lives.  Our American Citizenship does not usurp citizenship in the Kingdom of God.  The ultimate expression of our maturity in Christ is our increasing disposition to submit our will to the will of God, even when it is costly. 

        The “cup” would not be spared. 

              Jesus would bear the weight of the sin of the world. 

                       Of my sin.

                          And He would do so willingly.

 The world might call that “tragic”.  It is, in reality, the greatest Truth in all of history.  It is the Gospel.  Amen?

      

Note:  It may be helpful to know that I write this text with the perspective of having spent 6 months of the past year at my mother’s bedside as she, like Brittany, suffered the effects of a terminal brain tumor.  She died on February 1.  It was heartbreaking and painful and I’ll never understand the purpose of God…so I realize the dilemma.  But the Truth must not be set aside because it is hard.

 

*Ezekiel 23:32-34 and Isaiah 51:22

**2 Corinthians 5:21