suffering – Page 3 – 300 words a day

From the middle of the congregation.

There was a man in front of me at church on Sunday. The long blond hair on his shoulder wasn’t his wife’s. But I wasn’t worried. It was her wig’s. They have spent the year learning about chemo and radiation. The woman with her hands in the air, singing isn’t with her husband. It’s because […]

by Jon Swanson

An interesting prayer story.

I love stories about people praying and then having answers. It’s exciting. I mean, look at this story. Paul writes a letter to some people in Rome. He talks about his travel schedule and his desire to visit them. And he asks them to pray for him. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers […]

by Jon Swanson

Not sure what to do

I’m trying to figure out what to do about Haiti. I know. It sounds dumb. Like it’s up to me to figure out massive physical damage, horrible family destruction, ruined infrastructure. Other people are doing lots of things, from texting donations to holding prayer services. The denomination I’m connected to is looking long-term, planning to […]

by Jon Swanson

it is going to get worse

Jesus told the disciples that he was going to come back to life. They were filled with grief. Isn’t it peculiar how looking at a portion of a text can create a false impression? What the text in Matthew 17 actually says is, “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son […]

by Jon Swanson

into the house

Two blind guys knew Jesus healed blind guys. They followed him. They called to him, “have mercy on us.” We don’t know how far the followed him. We don’t know where they started following him. We know that they were with him after he left the house of the formerly dead daughter. Whether they had […]