The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18) Have you ever felt alone in your suffering? Maybe your heart was broken. Maybe you lost a child. Maybe you were betrayed. Regardless of the source of the pain, have you ever felt alone in it? This is the horror of being forsaken , left to squirm in your pain by yourself. It is worse than the pain itself, and even followers of Jesus can feel this way at times. But the question is this: is  God with you? Is the...

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2 ESV) Earlier this week, Lindsay and I were goofing around with ChatGPT. We were saying random things and asking it random questions. At one point, just to see what it would say, I told it I liked fried pickles with ranch. The female voice replied and said it also likes fried pickles and once tried them...

We are summit people, selfie on top of Mount Quandary people. See me with my trophy on Instagram people.  We are paradise people, give me my drink and my chair. Clear my calendar, and let the petsitter care for the dogs. We are defensive people, scrapping in arguments to settle the score of who we are. We play chess with conversations. But much of the life God has given is not lived in these cinematic moments — the accomplishment, the vacation, or the conflict. Most of life is in fact lived...