Tag: suffering
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Suffering on Mission
I Peter 4:12-19 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Back in March I traveled overseas to…
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Death and Resurrection
He was a young man, and I could see fear in his eyes as he gripped the railings of the bed and struggled to breathe, sucking in heavily through the plastic mask feeding him oxygen. His body was wasting away from cancer, and the infections that had crept into his lungs were now forcing every…
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Never Normal
I got up before the alarm yesterday even though my sleep was fitful and restless. Though it was hard for me to know for sure, I was fairly certain that a series of gunshots had woken me up in the middle of the night, and that what had followed was a series of nightmares about…
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Part 2: On Hope
After a brutal series of Christmas shifts in the ER, I had finally come home for the holidays. My mother and I were in the kitchen, talking like we used to. We had seen and loved the new Les Miserables film, and so I brought up an interesting question from an interview with Samantha Barks,…
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Reasons [Reprise]
Note: Originally written several years ago. My mom looks for Reasons the way some people look for spare change on the ground. She always has an eye out for them, an ear cocked to hear the faintest whisper of a consequence or a lesson. Most were simple illustrations of basic character: an irritating person was…
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I didn’t think about that
People wonder why I have such an unhealthy obsession with human suffering and frailty, as if there were some other mystery, some other unfathomable principle in the universe more puzzling, infuriating, and crucial to the human experience. “Tell me,” I ask, with some trace of smugness, “What drives the human spirit more, reaches out to…