Many years ago, author and professor Carl Trueman wrote—by his own admission—one of his most read and well-known works, an article titled What Can Miserable Christians Sing? In it, Trueman argues for the necessity of including songs of lament (especially from the Psalter) in a church’s corporate worship. He writes, in part: “A diet of […]

Jonah 4 provides a striking picture. God appoints a plant to give Jonah shade, and Jonah greatly enjoys its comfort. But the next day, God appoints a worm to destroy the plant. Deprived of its shade, Jonah becomes furious and cries out, “It is better for me to die than to live” (Jon. 4:8). Jonah’s […]

I stood alone in my apartment, still wrestling with the fact that the world had shut down. No training or seminary class had prepared me for 2020 and the questions rising in my soul. What do you do when you don’t know what to do? How do you tell your family that better days are […]

Storms are part of the natural weather of the Christian life. When black clouds gather, waves rise, the wind strengthens, and the light fades, our faith is tested on the stormy sea. This may be you right now—slapped about in the middle of a storm. Splashed, soaked, tossed, beaten, clinging with cold fingers to the […]

Counting the Days Ahead I tried to calculate what lay ahead. One emergency surgery. One tumor removed, along with part of my colon. An ileostomy bag. Six months of chemotherapy. An ileostomy reversal. Five weeks of recovery. Another month and a half of radiation. When I added it all together, the result came to nearly […]

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:20–21). I was in my early twenties when we buried […]

In Sickness and in Health How do I care for my husband when he is sick more than he is well? I asked myself this question as I sat beside my husband in his hospital room, feeling the weight of living in a sin-cursed world press down on both of us. Three years into our […]

There is a memory that will forever be ingrained in mine and my wife’s story. Within the past year, my wife and I became foster parents and received our first placement—a sweet two-year-old girl. Our connection with her was immediate. Within a day of picking her up from the hospital, it felt like she was […]

Maybe this question echoes faintly in the back of your mind. Perhaps it slips in unnoticed as sorrow fills your heart and quickly becomes something to dwell on. Even if this question has never consumed you, my guess is that you’ve asked it before. It’s a functional rite of passage for those interested in apologetics […]

It is the sustaining vision of eternal life in Christ that fixes even a lifetime of suffering to a fine point—a fine point that in the last day will be eclipsed by the glory of the radiant Christ, perhaps even distilled down to a jewel placed amidst your treasures, or placed in the crown of Christ himself…