Sandy! I've never watched much star trek myself - but come to think of it, it might be odd to be reading any of this if you don't have much context for it :) I agree with you. Great thoughts. Being with overly pessimistic or darkly cynical folks can suck you in and tempt us to abandon hope (and fun and joy tend to get abandoned too).

forgot to mention, though scott probably has - my dad and I get to come out there next week for a couple days. Major props to him for getting that thing to TX and not on the east coast :)

glad it served you in that way!

thanks carita!

I read that I think in 9th grade I want to say and liked it, but I would agree I no doubt would enjoy it WAY more. my book club is reading "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" so that'll have to do me for a while :)

Frank,

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I can see how I left some room for doubt as to what position I might take on "honest with God". I wasn't addressing issues of honesty with God, but about people funneling their anxiety in a blaming way so as to allow them to feel justified to do whatever they want to do. I thought that was clear, but looking at it again I can see how I left the door slightly ajar for a different interpretation. Scapegoating and honesty with God are two very different issues. My bad for not distinguishing the difference more clearly.

If you read a lot of the content on my blog or knew me, you're not going to find someone more comfortable in allowing room for people being honest with God and others and giving voice to their struggles and frustrations. But that's different that fixing all frustration on an outside source to serve as license for inhuman behavior. So the issue is not whether God can take it, but whether people can take responsibility for their behavior without trying to find an excuse for it.

I have no idea what you're meaning as far as ridin' with JC or that God has signed his book for you. I can't tell from the context if it refers to Jay Cutler or Jesus Christ. I doubt those two have ever been confused before :) I am not a huge Jay fan, but like him better than any chicago qb in 20 years. As far as where I'm coming from, I am a follower of Jesus Christ and serve as a full-time Christian minister with multiple seminary degrees and 15 years of ministry experience of helping people navigate personal, spiritual and emotional struggles as it relates to God.

So maybe I am ridin' with both JC's, just with different measures of allegiance!

So I apologize for any inference that honesty with God is not ok. That to me would be an abhorrent position to take on who God is for sure.

Thanks Amy! I love that a true posture of love, respect, and humility can help guide us through so many differences and even communication limitations. So often like you say it's about choosing to value other people and relationship over our own comfort!

I thought I might hear from you or Scott at some point on these posts :) Too funny. I'm glad that referencing star trek increases my intellectual stature in your eyes. I'm not sure everyone would agree with that!

Roberta, I fixed it and tested it out so it's good to go. Right click, click save link as... and it will download the zip file. When it's downloaded double click it and the folder with the mp3s will pop up.

Well said TJ. I've been in numerous conversations, some with just myself about the 5% vs. the 95% dynamic. I can also relate to living life in the 95%, which reflected more of a obliviousness to the fact that something really bad would ever happen or that something significant to me would be taken away. I remember well the three year stretch in which I lived in that 5% and it was so hard on so many levels.

One of the things I liked about what you wrote is the challenge of extending grace to others from the position of pain or being wounded. Man that is so hard and a true test of our connection to a power greater than ourselves. The biggest discipleship lesson I learned while in pain besides just trusting God from an unstable place and more tenuous existence was beginning to learn to love others when I was in a place of being so needy. By that I mean being patient, kind, and gracious when I felt like a walking raw nerve.

I think this is something you've demonstrated this year in amazing ways - going through pain in community with all of the messiness that it brings. One of my highlights of the year (and definitely of that conference) was when you shared your story at the Epic staff conference in TX. It was a such a picture of body life and family, but to me only someone learning to continue to love well while in pain could have done what you did. Really spoke to me then and now.

That makes me think that the 5%, while the temptation is to survive and endure (sometimes that's all we can do though), there's often an opportunity to teach the 95%. By that I don't mean we blatantly instruct, but we model how to persevere and learn and stay in relationship. You've done that wonderfully and I among many others have learned from you!

It's a true test of discipleship to be learners while in deep pain. We grow as we face challenges for sure, but deep pain can shut us down and even tempts us to shut us off our learning posture.

I wish more people would freely dialogue about these things in community! The 5% made me think of something C.S. Lewis wrote tongue in cheek in the Problem of Pain about how really all people in pain should just go to a special island so they could do community (and not infringe on those that wish to continue living their pleasant lives). It's a humorous anecdote, but does resonate with me sometimes :)

Thanks TJ! My wife and I so appreciate who you are.