Fearfully and Wonderfully Made Many of us have traveled and seen amazing things in this country and around the world (see the devotional of February 13, 2026). Here in Montana, like few other places, we only need to look out our window to get a glimpse of the glory of God. I’m going to suggest today that you don’t even need to go as far as the window to see God’s glory. You need only look down at your own body to see one of God’s most incredible creations. Now I heard what you just said: “You’ve got to be kidding, Brad.” Most of us are pretty denigrating and critical when it comes to our bodies. Almost everyone could stand to lose a few pounds, or they think their nose is too big, or they wish their eyes were another color, or they have been disappointed their entire adult life that they never quite reached a height of six feet (or maybe that’s just me). We all have aspects of our bodies that we’re less than thrilled about. Not to mention the fact that almost every one of us has reached the age where at least a few things on or in our bodies don’t work nearly as well as they used to. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the extraordinary and intentional creation of each of us, affirming that every individual is a unique and valued masterpiece fashioned by God. In Psalm 13913-16, David sings, “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.” Charisse Compton, in a very good article entitled Your Body is No Mistake , dated March 11, 2025 on the Desiring God website, says, “Psalm 139 is here for such a time as this. Not only does it reframe our thoughts about our bodies, teaching us to see them for the glorious works of God that they are, but it trains our hearts to worship God for his artistry. The Bible makes it very clear that we are God’s finest creation. In Genesis 1:27, we read, "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Created in God’s image, we are imbued with inherent dignity and purpose. Of course, God is spirit and therefore has no physical body, but the body that God created for us is nothing short of a miracle. It has been described as “divine artistry,” and, I believe, is one of the most compelling arguments for the existence of God. Each of the hundreds of trillions of cells in your body is almost unfathomably complex. Not only that, but God has designed each cell to work in concert with trillions of other cells to form tissues, which then together form organ systems. God links these systems flawlessly to produce a body with remarkable functionality. I’d like to share some information about your body. Now, I don’t want this devotional to become a science lesson, but as I did teach middle and high school science for several years, please bear with me. In reality, though, it’s not the former science teacher in me that gets enthusiastic about these facts about our bodies; it’s me as a child of God, looking at the profound creativity of my Father when He made you and me. The human heart, which weighs about eleven ounces, about the same as two baseballs, pumps about 100,000 times each day (that’s about 3.6 million times each year) to move your six quarts of blood through 60,000 miles of your arteries, veins and capillaries. Your brain houses 86 billion neurons, each with about 10,000 connections. A typical non-specialized patch of skin the size of a quarter includes three million cells, four yards of nerve fibers, 600 pain sensors, 1300 nerve cells, 9000 nerve endings, 36 heat sensors, 75 pressure sensors, 100 sweat glands, and three yards of blood vessels. The human eye is the most complex camera known to man. Light entering is precisely adjusted by the iris for brightness and by the lens for distance. The back, or retina, of each eye contains approximately 100 million rod cells to register light and approximately 7 million cone cells to register color. Your nose contains over 400 different types of receptors and can detect approximately one trillion different smells. The ears are no less remarkable. Sound vibrations enter the ear at over 700 mph and are converted into nerve impulses through a complex series of transfers. Those impulses are then conveyed to the brain for interpretation. Your liver performs more than 500 different functions. Your stomach contains strong digestive acids. However, it is lined with mucus-secreting cells to protect itself from its own acid. As the mucus is dissolved away by the acid, more mucus is produced at just the right rate to replace itself. The combined surface area of your lungs is about the size of a tennis court. Carbon dioxide is exchanged for oxygen in several hundred million microscopic sacks called alveoli (which is stressed and pronounced similarly to “identify,” not “ravioli”). Your body creates 25 million new cells every second. You have approximately 206 bones, and many of them are incredibly strong, outperforming steel pound for pound. Not only that, your skeleton replaces itself about every decade. All of the DNA in your body could stretch the 93 million miles to the sun and back twenty times, but it weighs less than twenty grams. That’s about the weight of four nickels. Your voice is as unique as your fingerprint. Your body conducts trillions of chemical reactions every second. Just three months into his or her life, an unborn child already has fingerprints. Those fingerprints are your own unique bar code for the rest of your life. No two people have the same prints. I’ll conclude with an extended quote from the Desiring God article I referenced earlier in this devotional, by Charisse Compton. She guides us from an academic attitude of: “Okay, the human body is pretty amazing – what’s for lunch?” to a heartfelt, life-changing mindset of: “I’m going to thank God for the incredible body He gave me and continue to use it to serve Him until I die!” “Has God strengthened your body to do many good works? Praise him for it! Do not flinch at the toll it requires. Rejoice that he has sustained you thus far. Has he sidelined you with affliction? Even so, your body is accomplishing God’s glorious, if mysterious, purposes for it. Has God gifted you with an unusual measure of beauty or strength? Offer these in service to him, attracting others to his unparalleled divine beauty. Are you stooped from many years of load-bearing? Are your knuckles gnarled with arthritis? Your time may be drawing to its close, but God will grant your body sufficient strength to walk in good works until the end. This is why he made you! Until that day when you wake in the presence of your Maker, serve God with the strength he supplies. Like Jesus, offer your body in service to those entrusted to your care. Invest your strength in carrying on the work of the One who sacrificed his body for you. Fellowship with Jesus in his life, in his work, in his death; share in his delight of knowing and obeying God. And like Jesus, lay down your body in eager expectation of taking it up again, this time glorified and imperishable.” We are all, indeed, “fearfully and wonderfully made.” And one day, our new bodies will be exponentially more incredible even than these that we wear now! Glory in that!

Encoura gement in a Discouraging World I have had a hard week. Maybe you have, too. Maybe, like me, you’ve had a new ache or pain announce its ugly self. Maybe, like me, you’ve felt a bit out of the loop, like you’ve been sidelined from the game. Maybe, like me, some memories of your past sins and their terrible consequences, have taken hold of your heart and squeezed until it hurt. Maybe, like me, the sadness of loss is threatening to overwhelm you. Maybe, like me, the current challenges of dealing with the imperfect people around you, has discouraged and frustrated you. Maybe, like me, observing what has become of our country over the last generation or two, makes you want to weep. But you know what’s happening, don’t you? You know we have an enemy, don’t you? One who hates us with every fiber of his being. Our enemy, satan (I read a book recently where the author stated he didn’t feel satan deserved to have his name capitalized – I thought that was great!) delights in our misery, gloats over our discouragement and rejoices in our dejection. He and his followers, the demons, enjoy nothing so much as seeing us take our eyes off our Creator and Savior and instead focus on ourselves and our troubles. But that is the very way out of the pit of despair. To lift our eyes and focus on God! Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to “lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” The author of Hebrews makes a distinction between “encumbrance” and “sin.” I believe all those items I listed in the first paragraph of this devotional fall into the category of “encumbrances.” They weigh us down and prevent us from running the race of the Christian life like we could and should. Picture the Olympic 200-meter race. The runners are all lined up. Tension fills the air. These are the fastest men in the world. This should be an incredible race. The pistol sounds and they’re off! But, look, one seems to be falling woefully behind the others. Something looks strange. What are those things on his legs? Why, it looks like he has a fifteen-pound weight strapped to each ankle! How could he possibly expect to run the race carrying that extra weight?! We would be incredulous if we saw that in an actual race. Far too much is at stake to be weighed down and held back. But go back to the first paragraph of this devotional and you’ll see that all the problems that have been getting me down this week are a result of my figuratively carrying extra weight. So the author of Hebrews tells us to dump the negative, the encumbrances. But he also gives us something positive to do. Look up. I find myself very often figuratively looking down at those weights around my ankles as I run the Christian race, completely focused on all the negatives here and now. Should we, then, you might ask, ignore all our problems and simply trust that God will miraculously take care of them? Of course not. Nor does God promise a trouble-free life. But if I raise my eyes to my Maker, “fixing my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God,” it does something amazing to my attitude toward the problems. I suddenly realize that no matter what the problem is, I’m not alone in dealing with it. I always have the help and love of the Creator of the universe. In the last day or so, I’ve lifted my eyes, and it has brought me closer to where I should be. I encourage you to do the same. But beyond lifting your eyes to “the author and perfector of faith,” make sure you’re listening to His voice. satan and his demons love to whisper discouragement and despair into your ear, but you’re not required, or encouraged, to listen to that nonsense, as seductive as it sometimes is. I think an appropriate way to encourage us is to, right now, listen to the voice of God. That’s His Word, the Bible. Every time you read Scripture or speak Scripture or listen to a passage of Scripture, you’re listening to God’s voice; His words to you specifically. And there is no voice so encouraging. These passages will follow the progression of the first paragraph of the devotional, addressing the things that might discourage us. Psalm 76:12 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Isaiah 40:29-31 He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. Isaiah 43:18-19 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Psalm 34:18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” I Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Psalm 147:5 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Colossians 3:12-17 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Romans 12:1-2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Philippians 2:14-15 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. As I close this devotional, I’d like you to do something. Think of one or two of your favorite hymns or songs, find a place where you feel comfortable, and sing them to God as a further act of worship. Maybe you’ve never done that before and the very thought of it makes you uncomfortable. Or maybe you do it every day! Singing our praise and worship to God, alone or with others, does wonders for the soul. Maybe, like me, you have had a hard week. But I pray that, like me, the heaviness of your spirit has been lifted at least somewhat after listening to God’s voice. Listen to it every day. Put aside the encumbrances and look to Jesus. Keep that up and you will be amazed at how much less power your problems will have over you and how much more joy you will have!

Death About twenty-five years ago, a Minnesota man left the snow-filled streets of Duluth for a vacation in sunny Florida. His wife was on a business trip elsewhere and would meet him there the next day. When he reached his hotel in Miami, the man decided to send his wife a quick e- mail. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter. Without realizing his error, he sent the email. Unfortunately, it went to an elderly widow whose husband had just passed away. Upon returning home from the funeral, the new widow decided to check her email, expecting to be encouraged by notes of condolence from family and friends. After reading the first message in her inbox, she fainted. Hearing her fall to the floor, her adult son rushed into the room and, after making sure she was okay, read this on her computer screen: “My Dearest Wife, I’m sure you’re surprised to hear from me. I’ve just gotten checked in. Everyone is so nice! I was surprised to see that they have email here. Everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing you then! I hope your trip is as uneventful as mine was. Much love, Your husband. P.S. It sure is hot down here! We smile at that story, recognizing the humor in the miscommunication. However, death itself really is no laughing matter. In a four-week span from mid-April to mid-May, I attended three funerals. And I was unable to attend a fourth in late June. Three were Christian celebrations of life and one was an Irish Catholic wake. All four of the deaths were unexpected and all were sobering reminders of how fleeting is this life. When I was in college in Virginia, I got hooked on music by the Cathedral Quartet, a bit of Southern gospel for a Seattle boy. Quite a few of their songs dealt with heaven and the joy of going there. I remember riding in the car with my dad, who was a strong Christian, listening to a Cathedrals cassette and him saying to me, “You’re only twenty years old! Why are you listening to songs about death?!” He was probably right. Most young people in their teens and twenties don’t think or talk much about death, simply because they believe they will live forever. It’s been a while, but you remember that feeling, don’t you? It’s a different story now, isn’t it? Death is part of the conversation for us regularly. As I wrote above, I’ve experienced four deaths in just four months. My parents died several years ago, on the same day, both from complications connected to dementia. A couple of my cousins are gone now, as are all my aunts and uncles. I am relatively young and yet have experienced plenty of death. You have likely lost even more loved ones than I have, and probably recently. It simply can’t be helped. People often say, “Well, death has always been a part of life. It’s all just a big circle: we live, we die. It’s just the way it’s always been.” I know where they’re coming from, and I know they mean well, but I disagree. This is not the way it’s always been. This is not the way it is supposed to be. God did not include death in His design of the world. Do you remember the story of Jesus raising Lazarus in John 11? Do you recall Jesus’ reaction to all the suffering churning around Him as He walked to the gravesite? The grief and pain and loss and weeping impacted even the Creator. He was witnessing the devastating work of sin on His most precious creation, mankind. Even with the knowledge of exactly what He was about to do, His humanity and His deity merged to produce powerful emotion and He wept over His marred creation (John 11:35). God created man to live forever. He did not create him with designed obsolescence, as so many manufactured goods are today; He did not design the human body to deteriorate and break down just after its warranty expired. He did not design us to die at all. Cancer didn’t exist in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were in no danger of falling and accidentally damaging their bodies so that they no longer functioned. Disease did not exist. No accidents happened. Natural disasters were nonexistent. Aging and the accompanying deterioration of the body and, even more devastating, the mind, were simply nonexistent. We all know what happened to change that. I won’t detail the sordid, tragic story here. You can read it if you want to in Genesis 3. Death is the unwelcome guest at the dinner that God set for our lives; the guest whom no one likes and whom no one invited. Death has crashed the party and refuses to leave, though all of us would love to see it go, and all of us at one time or another have asked it to. Death sits there smugly and says, “I’m not leaving and no one can make me. I’m quite comfortable here. You can’t buy me off with money, you can’t bully me with power, you can’t intimidate me with prestige and you can’t impress me with good behavior. No matter how rich, powerful, well-connected, decent or respectable you are, I will have you all; it’s simply a matter of time.” Pretty tough talk, huh? And Death has done its level best to back up those threats, cowing a lot of folks over the centuries. It has instilled fear into countless millions and alters the way many live today. Folks spend thousands of dollars attempting to hold back the inevitable, purchasing lotions and vitamins, gene therapies and light therapies. You can even have your body frozen, if you have enough money. And did I say people spend thousands of dollars? There is a gentleman in California by the name of Bryan Johnson who has begun a social campaign called Don’t Die. He has thousands of followers and claims to spend approximately two million dollars each year on his body in an attempt to ward off aging and death. More power to you, Bryan, but you’re going to lose this battle. Everyone does. Death always wins. But it doesn’t really, does it? Death may claim our bodies, but if we are followers of Jesus; if we have repented of our sin, left our old life and asked Jesus to be in charge of our new life, then our souls belong to Him. One of my favorite passages of Scripture, and one that is becoming more meaningful the more I encounter Death, is found near the end of I Corinthians 15. In verses 54 and 55, Paul says this: “But when this perishable [our bodies during life] will have put on the imperishable [our souls after death], and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?’” I love the fact that Paul doesn’t refer to death as an impersonal thing and say something detached like, “And death loses the battle and can’t hurt us any more.” No, Paul takes Death personally and so he addresses Death personally! Read the passage again and revel in this wonderful news! “Hey, Death, because of the Cross of Jesus and His resurrection, you have lost! You have no more power over us Christians. We no longer need fear you. You have no teeth, no stinger, no claws and no fangs. You may be able to still our physical hearts, but now when that happens, our souls fly to Jesus for eternity!” In II Timothy 1:10 Paul tells us that Jesus Christ “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” And in Romans 8:38 and 39, Paul includes death in his famous list of things that are powerless to separate us from God’s amazing love; in fact, he leads with death: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Death is a defeated foe. Yes, we will all still die. But for the Christian, it’s simply a change of address. Billy Graham is famously reported to have said, “Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” And that new life will be unlike anything we can imagine here and now in this fallen world. A few days before his death, pastor and author F. B. Meyer wrote to a dear friend these words: “I have just heard, to my great surprise, that I have but a few days to live. It may be that before this reaches you, I shall have entered the palace.” And when John Owen, a Puritan pastor, lay on his deathbed, his secretary wrote in his name to a friend, “I am still in the land of the living.” Owen stopped the secretary and said, “Change that to ‘I am yet in the land of the dying, but I hope soon to be in the land of the living.’” What a great perspective. And he’s right; we are currently in the land of the dying, but soon will be in the land of the living; that land where Jesus awaits those who have trusted Him as their Lord and Savior. If you have never done that, I encourage you to contact me. A personal relationship with God is the very thing to reduce your fear of Death to zero!

THE SOUTH WIND Many years ago, I began to listen to the music of a terrific artist named Joanie Madden. Her music appealed to my Irish ancestry, and I have enjoyed it ever since. She plays an amazing Irish whistle (her group, Cherish the Ladies, has performed a couple of times at the Myrna). Inspired, I bought an Irish whistle and tried my hand at playing. Finding that I wasn’t cut out for that, I decided to write lyrics for one of the songs she recorded. Below are those lyrics. I pray that they are meaningful to you. I encourage you to look up the accompanying music rather than simply reading the lyrics. Go to YouTube or Apple Music. In the search field, type Joanie Madden The South Wind. Then read, or better yet sing, the lyrics along with the music. I have not titled the lyrics, and would love to get your input on what to call this Christian version of The Sound Wind! Verse 1 Feel the sweep of the canyon’s expanse See the glint on the waves, how they dance Stand in awe of the peaks cold and grand Be amazed by the works of His hand CHORUS I will praise You for all that You have done in my life I’ll praise You each day I have breath You have saved me, my Lord, from the dark night of sin My heart will forever be Yours Verse 2 You have flooded Your grace over me My response: not to do, but to be In the warmth and the glow of Your peace It is done – all my striving can cease CHORUS Verse 3 Now I see by the light of Your love How forgiveness is wrought from above I’m now free to let go of the pain Run to You, where Your loss is my gain CHORUS Following are some verses that support the lyrics. Psalm 95:1-5 O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. Psalm 46:10 Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 69:29 But I am afflicted and in pain; May Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high. Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. Psalm 116:6 The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Titus 3:4,5 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, PART 3 This is our third and final week taking an encouraging look at Joshua chapter 1. The man that Joshua was succeeding in leadership was arguably one of the most influential men who has ever lived. Moses, at age 80, had been called to be the instrument God used to release His chosen people, Israel, from captivity after four hundred years in Egypt. God gave Moses the Law, His set of rules designed to set His people apart from the surrounding nations, and Moses had disseminated it to the people. Forty years later, a new generation of Israelites had grown up. Moses led them to the doorstep of the land God had promised to Abraham hundreds of years before. And then he died. Unquestionably, he was a tough act to follow! But that was exactly what Joshua was called to do; step in and fill that void and lead the people to their inheritance. And that’s what the book of Joshua is all about – Joshua doing just that – fulfilling his God-given destiny as God’s leader. But if we’re interpreting Joshua 1 correctly, it appears that Joshua didn’t boldly and confidently step up from his former role as Number One Assistant into his new role as Top Dog. God tells Joshua three times in just a few verses to “Be strong and courageous.” In the Bible, for God to repeat a phrase indicates that it’s very important. Repeating it twice is pretty much unprecedented in the Bible. But God didn’t just repeat it twice. He used Moses to tell Joshua the same thing two more times, in Deuteronomy 31:7 and 23. And later in Joshua 1, the Israelites encouraged Joshua yet again with the same statement! So Joshua heard “Be strong and courageous” six times in a short span! God really wanted to get this encouragement across to Joshua. My guess is that Joshua needed it badly. We’ve been examining the three reasons God gave Joshua so that he could be strong and courageous. Because all three apply to us, too. We often find ourselves in a position of weakness or timidity, or both. Any number of circumstances can cause our strength and courage to wither: major life-change, such as a physical move or a job change; simple fatigue, illness or ministry burnout; a hostile work or home environment, where persecution or ridicule are the norm; fear of what people think of us, or people-pleasing; perfectionism; strife and problems in our families; guilt and shame from past sins; and unconfessed sin. Add your own strength-and-courage-sapper if I’ve left it out. God first told Joshua he could be strong and courageous because he had God’s promises (Joshua 1:2-6). We have God’s promises, too. They’re scattered all throughout the Bible. A second reason for strength and courage, which we discussed last week, is the fact that Joshua had (and we have) God’s power (Joshua 1:7,8). It’s in the form of His Word, available to us absolutely anytime and anywhere, even on our phones! The third reason, and perhaps the most impactful of the three, and our subject for today, is that Joshua had God’s presence with him. Little 5-year old Johnny was spending time in the kitchen with his mother as she made supper. She asked him to go into their deep pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn't want to go in alone. "It's dark in there and I'm scared." She asked again, and he refused again. Finally she said, "It's OK--Jesus will be in there with you." Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave when all at once, he had an idea. He said: "Jesus, if you're in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup?" Joshua 1:5 says, “Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.” That promise of God’s presence was specifically for Joshua. But we are included in God’s similar promise in verse 9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Do not tremble or be dismayed. That’s a phrase not found in any of the other five similar statements. Any time you hear the phrase, “Be strong and courageous,” you pretty much know the reason for the statement is that the recipient is feeling just the opposite; they’re feeling weak and timid and therefore need this encouragement. But in this case, God is saying (to us), “I know you’re feeling weak and timid right now. But beyond that, I know that you’re frightened. Don’t be. I’m right here next to you and I always will be.” Having God’s promises (Reason #1) and His power (Reason #2) are both wonderful. There is nothing better to strengthen our weakness and bring courage to our timidity. But Reason #3! God’s very presence with us! I think if we truly grasped what God is saying to us in that verse; if we really understood the magnitude of this reality, we would be stunned, and then absolutely fearless. I confess that my mind can’t comprehend the idea that the One who created this vast universe and every atom within it, the One who holds all life together without effort, the One in control of every interaction of every one of the eight-plus billion people on earth, the One who instigates and monitors the billions of chemical reactions taking place every second in every one of the thirty or forty trillion cells in each human body, that One lives within me! And He will never leave me. Our God, the God we love and serve, though almighty Creator, is a personal and present God. When I’m jubilant at a victory; when I’ve pleased Him with my thoughts, attitudes or actions, He’s there, rejoicing and celebrating with me, His hand up for a high-five. When I deny or betray him by my thoughts, attitudes or actions; when I’m despondent over my failure, He’s still there, ready to hear my confession, with strong, warm arms to wrap around me. When the grief of loss - the loss of loved ones or the loss of the self I used to be - threatens to overwhelm me, He’s there. He knows grief and suffering. And He offers an understanding shoulder for my tears as well as a perfect Word of encouragement if I will listen for it. If we think of the comprehension of God as the volume meter on the old stereo, my anemic perspective doesn’t come close to even moving the needle. My understanding God and His ways would be like a bacterium understanding quantum mechanics, only with that gap multiplied by a trillion or so. To say that God is beyond our comprehension is the understatement of the millennium. But the glorious truth is that He loves you so much He promises to come to live within you, to take away your fears and doubts and infuse you with strength and courage. And someday He will take you home and you will live with Him, worshiping, serving and enjoying Him forever. We have, like Joshua had long ago, God’s promises to us, His power for us and His presence with us. Knowing that, we have every reason to put away our weakness (He is our strength!) and our timidity and fear (He is our courage!) and live each day to bring Him all the glory.

BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, PART 2 Last week we took an initial look at Joshua 1. Moses, the hero of the Exodus and the man who had been used by God to personally hold the nation together through forty years of wilderness wandering, was dead. It is interesting to note that at this point in the history of Israel, only three men in the entire nation were over sixty years old, and two of them were Moses and Joshua! And with the death of Moses, there were only two remaining (if you’re interested in how I can say that no one else was over sixty, and if you’re interested in who the third man was, look up Numbers 14:26-30). Israel’s senior ministry was hurting for men and women who qualified by age! Over three weeks, we are looking at the reasons God gave to Joshua to encourage him to be strong and courageous, encouragement we can appropriate, too. They are: 1) God's promises to us. 2) God's power for us. 3) God's presence with us. The first reason, last week’s topic, was that Joshua had God’s promise that he would lead Israel to victory. “Every place on which your foot treads, I have given you (Joshua 1:3).” We are also in possession of God’s promises, though they are not for land and victory over our enemies. We looked at several promises from the Bible that encourage to us to be strong and courageous when we are feeling weak and unsure of ourselves. These promises included the facts that God will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5,6), nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:35), He provides all our needs (Matthew 6:25 and Philippians 4:19), He is preparing eternity in heaven for us (John 14:1-3), He works all things in our lives together for our good (Romans 8:28), He has removed our sin from us (Psalm 103:12) and our work for God here on earth is never in vain (I Corinthians 15:58). This week we shift to the second reason Joshua could at that time, and we can today, be strong and courageous; that is, God’s power for us. In Joshua 1:7,8, God says, “Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” After reading that, you might be thinking, “I didn’t see any mention of power!” God’s power comes through his Word. The Word is described as “the law” in verse 7 and “this Book of the Law” in verse 8. At that time, God’s Word consisted of just the first five books of the Bible – what is sometimes referred to as the Pentateuch, or the Torah to the Jews. Today, of course, God’s Word to us is much more extensive. We have 34 more books of the Old Testament as well as all of the New Testament. God gives the promise of power to Joshua in verses 7 and 8. Let me paraphrase, “If you do not turn away from My Word; if you are careful to do according to all that is written in it, then you will prosper and have success.” Just as the power Joshua needed to be strong and courageous came from God’s Word, so our power to overcome our tendency toward weakness and timidity, and to “prosper and have success” comes from our meditation on and resulting obedience to God’s Word, the Bible. But didn’t we see last week that God’s promise to the people of Israel was unconditional? There seems to be a condition in this promise. What is God doing? Changing the rules midstream? Well yes, there is a condition here. But God is not changing the rules. God promised Israel the land unconditionally, but success and prosperity depended upon their adherence to God’s Word. Think of it this way. Two brothers each receive separate parcels of land as an inheritance. One brother decides to go and build a ranch on his property and live there. He invests in the land, improves it and moves in to enjoy his inheritance. The other brother never touches his land. Both brothers own their land, but only one occupies his land. The people of Israel were promised the land unconditionally. But making it fruitful and enjoying it would only happen on the condition that they followed God’s Word. The same is true for us today. Eternal life is the inheritance of every believer in Jesus. That is unconditional. Our inheritance is secure. However, occupying the land – translated today as living a useful, God- glorifying, victorious, significant Christian life, is conditional. It is dependent upon our meditation on and obedience to the principles of the Word of God. How is your attitude toward the Word? Do you pull it out just occasionally, or is your reading, study and meditation a daily discipline? Can your relationship with it be described as that with a dear, familiar and much-loved old friend you love to spend time with, or is it more like a distant relative you invite in for an awkward minute or two on occasion? Is it just a book of facts and information to you, or do you realize and revel in the fact that it holds the keys to a rewarding life? Several hundred years ago, a man was imprisoned and given only a Bible as a companion. As far as anyone knows, he never found faith in Jesus, but when he died in prison more than thirty years later, they found the following statements inscribed on the walls of his cell: “Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible. Esther 8:9 is the longest verse of the Bible. The longest name in the Bible is Mahershalalhashbaz, found in Isaiah 8:3, Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except j. The longest sentence in the Bible is in Luke 3:23-38. Cats are never mentioned in the Bible, but dogs are mentioned forty-one times.” The man had become an expert on facts about the Bible, but it made no impact on his life! I hope that’s not you. In a strong Bible-teaching church like Hannaford, it’s easy to know a lot about the Bible. But the question that matters is, does it change your life? Are you appropriating the power source God has given you? The first verses of the first Psalm say great things about the man who “delights in God’s Word, who meditates on it day and night.” Verse 3 says, “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” I like that picture of fruitfulness, growth and success! And all I have to do is cultivate a loving, delighted relationship with the words of the One who created me and gave His life for me? That sounds like the best deal ever! Make the Word of God your constant companion. Read it, memorize it, meditate on it, let it germinate within you and then grow out of you, performing its transforming work in your thoughts, attitudes and behavior. Let it come out your mouth when you speak and out of your hands when you work and out of your feet when you move. To be continued...

BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, PART 1 Moses was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.* The nation of Israel was on the doorstep of the Promised Land and the man who had led them there was gone. Joshua was being called to fill some of the biggest sandals ever. If there has ever been someone who needed encouragement, it was Joshua. And God gave him just that. He told Joshua three times, “Be strong and courageous,” in Joshua chapter 1 alone. Maybe you need the encouragement to be strong and courageous today. Maybe in your walk with the Lord, you feel about as far removed from strong and courageous as is possible. Maybe you’re feeling sick and weak and timid today. Maybe you feel weak and timid because you’re being criticized when you feel you’re doing the best job you can. Maybe as a man, you feel weak and timid because you struggle with being the spiritual leader in your home. You’ve failed so many times that you’re afraid it’s weakening the integrity of your family. Maybe as a woman, you feel weak and timid because you’re having difficulty respecting your husband as you know you should and you have many regrets over some of the words you’ve spoken. Or your husband is gone and you feel completely alone sometimes. Maybe you feel weak and timid because you look back over your life and see so much you should have done differently to impact the world for Christ. Or you feel there isn’t much for you to do to be productive in the church body anymore. Maybe you feel weak and timid because of mistakes you’ve made that have caused great pain in your life and in the lives of others. Or maybe injustice or violence has been done to you that seems to have debilitated you and crippled you spiritually so that you don’t think you’ll ever recover. There is hope today for the weak and timid among us. God told Joshua to “Be strong and courageous,” three times in Joshua 1. And each time, He gave him a different reason for doing so. They are that Joshua, though he may not have known it, was in possession of three incredible gifts: 1) God's promises 2) God's power 3) God's presence Today we will look just at God’s promises. Joshua 1:3-5 is basically a reiteration of God’s unconditional promise to Abraham in Genesis 15, a passage Pastor John preached on a couple of months ago. Genesis 15:5-7,18: “And He took him [Abraham] outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. And He said to him, ‘I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.… To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.’” You’ll notice that I removed quite a bit from the middle of the above passage. That missing portion describes the process of ratifying the covenant. It was a one-sided covenant because God had caused Abraham to sleep through it! So this was not an “if you do this, I’ll do that,” conditional kind of covenant. No, it was unconditional. God was saying, “No matter what, this is My promise to you.” And that promise comes up again here in Joshua 1:3-5: “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.” God told Joshua to be strong and courageous because of the unconditional promise He had made initially to Abraham and then repeated many times to Moses and the people of Israel. How could this possibly apply to us? Sure, Joshua was encouraged to be strong and courageous because of God’s promise to give the land to the people. But God hasn’t promised me a land to call my own, or that He’ll conquer all my enemies or solve all my problems. What good is this story for me? God hasn’t promised me anything specific like that! Well, hang on just a minute. I believe He has. Let’s begin with Hebrews 13:5,6: “’I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you,’ so that we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?’” Is that not just about the most comforting promise you’ve ever read? Even when we look around and everyone we know and love is gone, even when we’re being treated unfairly, God hasn’t left us. We’re not really alone - ever! And how about Romans 8:35? “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” The implied answer is a resounding, “No, none of these!” We will never be cast adrift. Take a look at these two verses: Matthew 6:25 and Philippians 4:19. I’m going to combine them here: “Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” We never have to fear that our needs will not be met. God promises to take care of us. Now to John 14. In the first three verses, Jesus says, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also (:1-3).” Here we see that not only is Jesus preparing us a place in heaven, but He’s coming back one day to take us there to be with Him! We don’t have to be discouraged or defeated in this world; it’s not our home. It has no hold on us. One day we’ll leave it and spend eternity with our heavenly Father. That thought gives me strength and courage to meet head-on the challenges of living a godly life here. We all know Romans 8:28, but it’s not a cliché by any means. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” One of the greatest promises in all of Scripture. But wait, there’s more! Psalm 103:12 is a huge promise for all of us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” The mistakes of our past, confessed and forgiven, should be irrelevant to the way we live our lives today. Unfortunately, that’s not usually the case, is it? We carry the load of guilt and shame around on our backs. Drop that weight and give your sin and its consequences to God. He hasn’t stopped loving you. My son Evan loved video games as a teen. Especially shooting games. I played a few times with him. At first I struggled to simply keep level my field of view. Then I struggled with both aiming and firing my weapon. As a result, while he was chalking up hundreds of kills, I was a casualty time and time again. He thought this was the most fun ever, by the way. But the great thing was, every time I got killed, the game put me back together, stood me back on my feet, put a new weapon in my hands and let me start again! That’s the way it is with God’s grace, too. We crash and burn every day. But if we come to Him with a contrite heart, God is faithful to put us back on our feet and let us begin fresh. There’s a reason the Psalmist used the directions east and west rather than north and south. North and south have endpoints – you can stop going north or south. East and west go on forever. And that’s how far God has removed our sin from us! I Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Your service to God is not a waste of time. You may feel neglected, ignored and ineffective, but God doesn’t miss anything. He’s aware of your service. What an encouragement for the Christian laborer to gather new strength and courage to continue the fight! So although God has not promised us a physical land to enter like He did Joshua, there are many promises in the Bible that we can take to the bank. I challenge you to look up some more yourself this week. We can gather strength and courage from them, even as Joshua did. To be continued... *If that opening sounds vaguely familiar, it’s a slightly modified version of the first line of A Christmas Carol , by Charles Dickens.

RESOLUTION One of my favorite pieces of classical music is Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. We listen mostly to Christian music around our house, but there’s a special place in my heart for classical. I grew up in a house where, if the radio was on, it was tuned to the classical music station. When we traveled, it was a classical eight-track tape in the car. And when I was small, I often rode my stick horse around the house accompanied by the Boston Pops (there were permanent scratches on some of our records as a result of my violent galloping next to the stereo console). Back to Barber’s Adagio for Strings. I bring it up as an example of the topic of this devotional – resolution. The dictionary’s general definition of “resolution” is “the act of solving or ending a problem or difficulty.” However, like many words, several sub-definitions exist. Some of the headings for the definitions of the word are: Literature – as in the resolution of conflict in the plot of a story Optics – as in a high-resolution image Character – as in the resolution of pioneer women Government – as in voting on a resolution And there is another: Music - the progression of harmony as a whole from a dissonance to a consonance. Adagio for Strings is a study in tension and resolution. For the first several minutes of the piece, it’s as if the music is trying to find resolution, but can’t quite achieve it. Two separate musical themes vie for your attention. They are content to weave back and forth, trading the melody line, but there is constant tension between them. Over and over they reach out for resolution, but the notes just miss each other and the dissonance remains. Then, at about the five-minute mark, the tension begins to grow in intensity until, at about the six-and-a-half minute mark, the dissonance reaches a crescendo in one long note. And my brain cries, “Enough!” And then the note beautifully resolves into an amazing progression of chords. And the dissonance disappears. And the composer spends the rest of the piece bringing the listener back down again to enjoy a quiet single melody line as the piece ends. I’m sure there are technical music terms to describe all that, but I don’t know them. Our ears love to hear musical dissonance resolve. The dissonance produces tension in us. It feels wrong; it feels like all is not right in our world. And when the blessed resolution occurs, we are able to relax and the negative pressure we’ve been feeling melts away into peace. The same thing happens with our spirits. When I have a conflict with Erin, or anyone else, it produces tension in me. It feels wrong; it feels like all is not right in my world. And when the blessed resolution occurs, I am able to relax and the negative pressure I’ve been feeling melts away into peace. Unless you live in a cave by yourself in the mountains, conflict in your life is inevitable. Some view conflict as a problem to be solved. I think as Christians we should look at it more as a challenging opportunity to demonstrate God’s love and grace. Paul summarizes our mandate in Romans 12: 18: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” But it is often impossible to avoid conflict. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul encourages a couple of feuding women to “live in harmony in the Lord,” a sentiment we can all apply to our lives (4:2). Earlier in the same letter, Paul asks the Philippians to make his “joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others (2:2-4).” Let’s take a look at that passage and see what it teaches us about conflict resolution. Two sets of four phrases each, make up these verses. Here is the first foursome: “Being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” Each of those four phrases describes two Christians who are moving together in the same direction; walking the trail hand in hand, with a common goal in sight. When in conflict with another Believer, it is crucial to remember that, as much as we might disagree on an issue, we are walking together; we’re on the same team, and our common goal is to glorify God! Is the personal conflict worth jeopardizing that? The next foursome is split into two pairs, a “don’t” and then a corresponding “do,” then another “don’t” and yet another answering “do.” Here’s the “don’t” of the first pair: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.” Most people, even Christians, have a pretty healthy opinion of themselves. Hopefully, now that we’re getting a bit older, our opinion of ourselves is becoming significantly more realistic after spending a lifetime with a front-row seat to the effects of our own destructive pride! I am reminded of Romans 12:16, where Paul commands, “Be of the same mind toward one another (we just heard that in Philippians!); do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” And the corresponding “do:” “But with humility of mind let each of you regard the other as more important than himself.” Ah, humility, that elusive creature. Can you imagine how many conflicts would die stillborn if we would just put away our pride and exercise humility? How many times have you and I created dissonance in the music of our lives and the lives of others because we thought far too highly of ourselves? Looking outward rather than inward is basic to the effective Christian life and absolutely necessary to the process of conflict resolution. Let’s move on to the second pair of the foursome. Here’s the negative: “Do not look out merely for your own personal interests.” Selfishness goes hand in hand with pride when it comes to producing conflict in our relationships. “Of course my needs, not his, are the most important ones in this relationship.” Conflict. “She did not fulfill my expectations.” Tension. “It’s not my problem if that bothers him.” Dissonance. “It may be important to you, but I don’t care.” Discord. And the final positive: “But also [look out for] the interests of others.” The website enduringword.com put it this way: “As we put away our selfish ambitions, our conceit, and our tendencies to be high-minded and self-absorbed, we will naturally have a greater concern for the interests and needs of others.” We can’t very well walk in their shoes, but we can try to see through their eyes to better understand their perspective. Of course there is more to conflict resolution than humility and selflessness. We haven’t even touched on grace, mercy, forgiveness or love. But these two attitudes are a very practical place to begin. I encourage you, when the dissonance in your relationship with that person begins to grow, like the dissonance grows in Barber’s Adagio, exercise humility and selflessness, and you’re very much more likely to experience resolution; peace and harmony and glory to God. For a much deeper dive into conflict resolution, read The Path of a Peacemaker by Ken Sande, the founder of Peacemaker Ministries in Billings. The organization is dedicated to walking folks through the process of reconciliation, relying on Scriptural principles every step of the way.

CONSIDER IT ALL JOY Our Connect group has been studying what is, in my opinion, one of the most practical books in the Bible, the letter from James. If you have never done so, I encourage you to read the entire letter, in one sitting if possible. But brace yourself, because James pulls no punches. If there’s something in your life that is not the way God says it should be, James is going to let you have it, right between the eyes! I always think of James as kind of like that on-fire Christian – you know, the one you avoid at fellowship time because you know he’s going to ask you 1) whether you are reading your Bible consistently and 2) what God is teaching you right now. In chapter 1, James jumps right into the meat of his letter by urging the recipients, the Jews scattered by persecution, to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (verses 2-4).” We’ve all lived long enough to know that if you are not currently experiencing a trial, then either you are just coming out of one, or one is coming down the pike very soon. That’s not pessimistic thinking, it’s reality in this broken world. Chuck Swindoll says that often, the music of life is played in a minor key. Our perspective on the hardships and difficulties of life is directly influenced by how we view God. The world uses adversity and suffering as an excuse to reject God’s very existence. “I’d believe in God if there weren’t so much suffering in the world.” Or, “If there is a God, where was he when my fill in the blank with a family member got cancer and died?” But the Christian is to consider those hard, painful things “pure joy”. Why? Because hard times are fun and we just love and look forward to them? Of course not. No one enjoys difficulty and painful circumstances. No, the reason we’re to consider our sufferings “joy” is because we have God’s assurance of what it should produce in us –Perseverance. Endurance. Determination. Persistence. Stamina. Fortitude. Grit. Tenacity. Yes, I used the “thesaurus” function in Word! But perseverance is not the end product, as attractive a descriptor as it is. God doesn’t want to simply produce Christians with stick-to-it-iveness, who bear up under trials. No, that is just the intermediate goal. The final goal is growth; it is Christian maturity. We all like to think we’re mature, especially the older we get. But it’s certainly not a given. We’ve all met older folks whose outlook on life is about as deep as the kiddie wading pool in the park. It’s sometimes jarring when we encounter such a shallow perspective. We naturally assume by their gray hair (or the lack of hair), that the heart has gained some vigor and intensity. And occasionally, it’s not true. I would suggest that such a person has either not experienced much heartbreak and deep pain, or that they have not allowed that pain to change them. Maturity develops as we bear up under suffering and hard things and pain, and put our trust in God through it all. A.W. Tozer famously said, “It is doubtful God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” So are we to go looking for painful experiences, so as to increase our Christian maturity? We would speculate about the sanity of a person who held that view. No, it doesn’t require searching out; “trials of many kinds” naturally come to us. And unfortunately, as much as we would like to join the world sometimes in blaming God for those trials, we can’t lay the responsibility on Him. He created mankind with free will. Without free will, love, the basis of God’s economy, could not exist. But with free will arrived sin. And that sin caused the fall from perfection of both mankind and creation. The final result is all the pain, suffering and hardship we experience from the time we can recognize it until the day we die. So, yes, we want to: 1) persevere through the struggles and 2) come out the other side as more mature Christians. The first step is relatively easy. No, I didn’t say “easy.” I said “relatively easy,” as in comparison to step number two. When I was in the middle of some very painful and very public trials, I was asked, “How are you making it through this?” I have no recollection of how I responded then, but now, looking back, I think, “What is the alternative?” You’ve been there, too, I know. How in the world did you survive that devastating disaster? that catastrophic calamity? that awful tragedy? that horrifying event? I can tell you. You woke up every morning (assuming that you slept the night before), you asked God to give you the strength to survive until lunch, you put your feet on the floor, and you did what you had to do. We either persevere or we check out, ending up curled in the fetal position, sucking our thumb. So yes, we’re going to get through the painful things, but how to come out the other side with enhanced godly perspective, deepened godly understanding and more passionate love for God and for others? That is the question. The challenge is to come out the other side of the pain a more mature Christian. The answer lies in staying very close to God. It’s His work to do in our lives. Where else can we find our comfort and power and the love we need to make it through? Who else can we turn to who knows our situation better? Who else will listen to our cries and always respond perfectly? Who else can offer us the exact balance we need between compassion and tough love, to move onward and upward? And instead of viewing the trial as God being uncaring and callous, understand that it is almost certainly His way of making us more like Jesus. Because isn’t that the goal of our lives? Christlikeness? Steven Curtis Chapman, one of my favorite Christian artists, wrote a song back in 2001 called Bring It On . In it, he sings, “Now, I don't want to sound like some hero, 'cause it's God alone that my hope is in. But I'm not gonna run from the very things that would drive me closer to Him, so bring it on.” He knew that often the hardest things in our lives work to make us more like Christ – more mature! We cling to Him, we pray to Him, we hope in Him, we listen to His Word, we continue to love Him and others. If we do those things even through the pain, we end up looking a bit more like Jesus.  For further encouragement, read II Corinthians 4:16-18