From my friend, Anne’s, FaceBook update: ‎”We desire a world that we can control, where suffering is a problem to be solved and everyone gets what he or she deserves: this is the gravitational pull of Original Sin. Like Job’s friends, we prefer the safety of “if-then” conditionality. Suffering, however, often serves as an unwanted reminder that reality does not operate according to our preferences.” Tullian Tchividjian in

Is anyone else having a “nothing to do but pray Psalm 40” kind of morning? (Water up to your neck? OK. If we’re being honest, it feels like it’s over your head. Bogged down in the miry pit. Going under for the last time. Throat parched from crying. Eyes burning.) Yep. Only one thing to do: Pray Psalm 40! I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to…

Given the seriousness of my mother’s diagnoses, we are all tentatively doing our best to say important things and discuss difficult topics. Like death. And life. And love too of course. Last night, I looked up one of the very first poems I memorized as a new Christian: John Donne’s Death be Not Proud. It is still as poignant today as the day I first read it as a teenager. But its power is really best experienced by reading it out loud. I encourage you to do so. Especially the last four words. They have rung out in my heart for 25+ years now: Death be not proud, though some have…

I am slowly working through D.A. Carson’s, “For the Love of God,” and today’s reading (like most of the other ones!) is worthy of reflection: “THE STORY IS TOLD of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of the most influential preachers of the twentieth century. When he was dying of cancer, one of his friends and former associates asked him, in effect, ‘How are you managing to bear up? You have been accustomed to preaching several times a week. You have begun important Christian enterprises; your influence has extended through tapes and books to Christians on five continents. And now you have been put on the shelf. You are reduced to sitting…

The above quote captures the essence of my day of tears. (The salt is burning my eyeballs so harshly now, that I feel quite sure that I need to find a way to stop crying, not only for my emotional health but my physical health too.)  And so I will end my day with one of my all-time favorite Tim Keller sermons. I hope it is a blessing to you too. (One side note? Please ignore the description of this sermon on the Redeemer Pres. page because MAN! Does the description make it sound BOR-OR-OR-ING. It is not. It is heart and life-changing!) The Two Great Tests  

[image_frame style=”framed_shadow” align=”left”]http://tarabarthel.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/dragon-aslan1.jpg[/image_frame]I’m assuming that most of you are familiar with C.S. Lewsis’ masterpiece, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. If not, I hope you go out today and read it! Well. Actually read the entire Chronicles of Narnia because that’s the way to really understand the depth of everything that happens. For the past four days as I was blessed to be learning and growing at the The  Gospel Coalition’s National Women’s Conference, I was also feeling a little bit like Eustace the dragon, right as he was on his back, and Aslan’s great and powerful claws were tearing off his scaly skin from head to toe. I believe the…